Taggram: Exploring geo-data on maps through a tag cloud-based visualization

Abstract

Searching and exploring on digital maps are normally performed through simple text boxes and zoom-and-pan interfaces. In this paper, however, we present a novel technique, namely Taggram, which combines texts onto maps to support geo-tagged data exploration. It is designed to show geo-tagged data in form of size-varied and colorized tags, benefiting by the concepts of Tag Clouds, and to support exploring those data interactively through a fisheye menu adaptation. The technique was demonstrated for geo-tagged data exploration; however, as other thematic geo-data can be partially represented in abstract form of texts, Taggram can be a method for the presentation and exploration of such geo-data in other application scenarios. © 2010 IEEE.