Polaris: a system for query, analysis, and visualization ofmultidimensional relational databases

摘要

In the last several years, large multidimensional databases havenbecome common in a variety of applications, such as data warehousing andnscientific computing. Analysis and exploration tasks place significantndemands on the interfaces to these databases. Because of the size of thendata sets, dense graphical representations are more effective fornexploration than spreadsheets and charts. Furthermore, because of thenexploratory nature of the analysis, it must be possible for the analystsnto change visualizations rapidly as they pursue a cycle involving firstnhypothesis and then experimentation. In this paper, we present Polaris,nan interface for exploring large multidimensional databases that extendsnthe well-known pivot table interface. The novel features of Polarisninclude an interface for constructing visual specifications ofntable-based graphical displays and the ability to generate a precise setnof relational queries from the visual specifications. The visualnspecifications can be rapidly and incrementally developed, giving thenanalyst visual feedback as he constructs complex queries andnvisualizations