Multivariate Data Glyphs: Principles and Practice

Abstract

In the context of data visualization, a glyph is a visual representation of a piece of data where the attributes of a graphical entity are dictated by one or more attributes of a data record. For example, the width and height of a box could be determined by a student’s score on the midterm and final exam for a course, while the box’s color might indicate the genderof the student.Thedefinitionabove is ratherbroad, as it can cover such visual elements as the markers in a scatterplot, the bars of a histogram, or even an entire line plot. However, a narrower definition would not be sufficient to capture the wide range of data visualization techniques that have been developed over the centuries that are termed glyphs.