Glyph (data visualization)


In the context of data visualization, a glyph is any marker, such as an arrow or similar marking, used to specify part of a visualization. This is a representation to visualize data where the data set is presented as a collection of visual objects. These visual objects are collectively called a Glyph.

Information Visualization (InfoVis)

Constructing Glyphs

Glyph construction can be a complex process when there are many dimensions to be represented in the visualization. Maguire et al proposed a taxonomy based approach to glyph-design that uses a tree to guide the visual encodings used to representation various data items.

Examples

Simple Glyphs

Complex Glyphs

Duffy et al created perhaps one of the most complex glyph representations with their representation of sperm movement.

Scientific Visualization (SciVis)

Key Advantages

It helps visualizing data relation in Data Analysis, Statistics, etc. by using any custom notation.

Considerations