Intuitive Sketching of Software ModelsDiploma Thesis
Eike Decker
April 15th, 2008 - Oktober 15th, 2008
involved peopleDipl.-Medien-Inf. Mathias Frisch and
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Raimund Dachselt
type of projectPhD Project
Creation and Editing of Node-Link Diagrams on Interactive Displays
Project Description
Visual representations of graphs by means of node-link diagrams play an ever increasing role for activities such as data, software or business process modeling. All these domains have in common that diagrams are frequently created or edited in a manual way. Though there is a multitude of modeling tools available, the handling of diagrams is still difficult as mouse based interaction techniques are relatively poor and time consuming. Beyond that, diagrams are often sketch on paper or whiteboards. As a consequence in many situations they have to be captured and remodeled in digital tools which is a tedious process.
This project investigates novel interaction and visualization techniques for node-link diagrams to address these issues. Thereby, software modeling and the interaction with UML diagrams shall serve as an example domain. However, the developed techniques shall also be applicable for other diagram notations and domains.
Interaction Techniques for Diagrams
For the creation of node-link diagrams, we consider novel interaction techniques such as multi-touch and pen input on interactive surfaces as very promising. Currently a diagram editor prototype is under development. It is designed for devices such as interactive tabletop displays or graphic tablets and includes the following features:
- Interaction by means of a combination of multi-touch and pen gestures. The implemented gesture set is based on a colection of user-elicited gestures.
- Support of two prevalent mental models: structural diagram editing (creation of graphs by dragging elements from a tool palette) and diagram sketching (drawing graphs freely like on whiteboards).
- Interaction techniques for digital pens and paper such as paper palettes or automatic recognition of diagrams drawn on paper.
Multi-Touch Interaction:
Node-link diagrams can be manipulated by means of multi-touch gestures.
Diagram Sketching:
Multi-touch interaction can be combined with diagram sketching.
Digital Pens & Paper:
Diagram elements can be picked up from a paper palette and placed on the display.
Gesture Set for Diagram Editing:
The Gesture Set allows Diagram Editing by Multitouch and Pen Input.
Master and Diploma Theses within this Project
Bachelor Theses within this Project
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System for Assisting Digtial Sketching of GraphsStudents' ThesisTobias Hann
May 1st, 2011 - September 9th, 2011
Related Publications
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Evaluating a User-Elicited Gesture Set for Interactive Displays
Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2011 (Oldenbourg Publishing, Munich, 520 S., ISBN: 978-3-486-71235-3).
Mensch und Computer 2011, (Duisburg, Germany, September 12.-15., 2011), pp. 191-200.
Downloads: Full paper (527KB)
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Grids & Guides: Multi-Touch Layout and Alignment Tools
Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2011) Vancouver, Cananda, May 7-12, 2011, pp. 1615-1618.
Downloads: Video (19528KB)
Links: Free ACM Download, and Statistics
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A Set of Multi-touch Graph Interaction Techniques
Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS 2010) Saarbrücken, Germany, November 7-10, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-4503-0399-6, pp. 113-116.
Downloads: Note Paper (2392KB), Video (23427KB)
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Best Poster
A Multi-Touch Alignment Guide for Interactive Displays (Best ITS Poster)
Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS 2010) Saarbrücken, Germany, November 7-10, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-4503-0399-6, pp. 255-256.
Downloads: Poster Paper (366KB), Video (15226KB)
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Editing and Exploring Node-Link Diagrams on Pen- and Multi-Touch-operated Tabletops
Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS 2010) Saarbrücken, Germany, November 7-10, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-4503-0399-6, p. 304.
Downloads: Demo Abstract (69KB), Video (7866KB)
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Best Paper
Off-Screen Visualization Techniques for Class Diagrams (ACM Distinguished Paper Award)
Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Software Visualization 2010 (Salt Lake City, USA, October 25-26, 2010), ISBN: 978-1-4503-0028-5 , pp. 163-172.
Downloads: Full Paper (842KB), Video (15077KB)
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Diagram Editing on Interactive Displays Using Multi-Touch and Pen Gestures
Proceedings of the International Conference on the Theory and Application of Diagrams Portland, Oregon, USA, August 9-11, 2010 .
Diagrams 2010, Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, LNCS Volume 6170/2010, ISBN 978-3-642-14599-5, pp. 182-196.
Downloads: Full Paper (1116KB)
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Prospects of user elicited gestural interaction techniques
Position Paper.
CHI 2010 Workshop on Natural User Interfaces: The Prospect and Challenge of Touch and Gestural Computing, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, April 2010..
Downloads: Position Paper (109KB)
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Investigating Multi-Touch and Pen Gestures for Diagram Editing on Interactive Surfaces
Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS 2009) Banff, Canada, November 23-25, 2009.
ITS 2009, ACM, ISBN 978-1-60558-733-2, pp. 167-174.
Downloads: Full paper (1286KB), Talk (1879KB), Video (3977KB)
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Towards a Framework for Supporting Software Modeling Activities Through Novel Interaction and Visualization Techniques
ICSE '09, Vancouver, Canada, May 16-24, 2009, pp. 359-362.
Downloads: Proposal (213KB), Additional Poster (2436KB)
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Benefits of interactive display environments in the software development process
Proceedings of the 2008 international Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (Leipzig, Germany, May 13-13, 2008).
CHASE '08, ACM, New York, NY, pp. 53-56.
Downloads: Paper (95KB)