Visualization Analysis and Design

Chapter 8

Arrange Spatial Data

8.1 The Big Picture

For datasets with spatial semantics, the usual choice for arrange is to use the given spatial information to guide the layout. In this case, the choices of express, separate, order, and align do not apply because the position channel is not available for directly encoding attributes. The two main spatial data types are geometry, where shape information is directly conveyed by spatial elements that do not necessarily have associated attributes, and spatial fields, where attributes are associated with each cell in the field. Figure 8.1 summarizes the major approaches for arranging these two data types. In a visualization context, geometry data typically either is geographic or has explicitly been ...