TRR 161:  Quantitative Methods for Visual Computing

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Biology ; Humanities ; Geosciences ; Mathematics ; Medicine
• Term: since 2015
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 251654672

The Collaborative Research Center is focused on the fundamental challenges of digitization and the information era, specifically, how to deal with (and make the best use of) the massively increasing amounts of data produced and processed by computer systems every day. We have seen a strong trend toward more and more automatic, purely machine-based approaches to handling the data deluge, but this trend comes with social, ethical, and political concerns: How can we still involve humans in the relevant decision-making and empower them to have agency? Visual computing is up to the challenge of responding to this question because it takes a human-centered perspective on data analysis, handling, and communication. Essentially, it combines different subfields of computer science that work with visual representations and interaction—visualization, computer graphics, image analysis, computer vision, and human-computer interaction—and makes connections to psychology. Only through this combined view can visual computing address the difficult problems that come with taking into account the various technical and algorithmic facets that interplay with human ones. We aim to advance visual computing as a combined field, not as separate subfields. To foster reliable and controllable progress, quantification needs to considered. Our long-term goal is to establish an overarching tradition of quantitative methods for visual computing that facilitates comparative assessment and reproducibility, thus building a sound basis to advance basic research in the field while also serving applications with real-world impact. So far, we have already developed, and we will continue to develop quantitative models and measures of visual computing, adaptive algorithms that make use of quantification, improved ways of human-computer interaction, and advanced applications of visual computing. In addition, the third funding period will approach new research questions such as measuring and improving how well visualizations explain the information shown; developing techniques and models for mixed reality; and bringing our research results in-the-world by providing our methods, datasets, and other outcomes to a wide range of stakeholders in academia, industry, education, and society in general. The Collaborative Research Center enabled us to advance quantitative methods in visual computing in the past eight years. With our adapted and extended foci, we are convinced that we can continue to provide substantial contributions to visual computing research and have an impact on our information society.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios

Current projects

• A01 - Uncertainty Quantification and Analysis in Visualization (Project Heads Deussen, Oliver ;  Weiskopf, Daniel )
• A03 - Quantification of Visual Explainability (Project Head Keim, Daniel )
• A07 - Spatio-temporal Models of Human Attention for Optimization of Information Visualizations (Project Head Bulling, Andreas )
• A08 - Learning and Explaining Dimensionality Reduction through Visualization (Project Head Sedlmair, Michael )
• A09 - Scalability and Complexity in Immersive Analytics (Project Heads Klein, Karsten ;  Schreiber, Falk )
• B01 - Adaptive Self-Consistent Visualization (Project Head Weiskopf, Daniel )
• B04 - Adaptive Algorithms for Motion Estimation (Project Head Bruhn, Andrés )
• B06 - Adaptive Algorithms for Graph Views and View Transitions (Project Head Storandt, Sabine )
• C01 - Evaluating Mixed Reality Experiences (Project Head Reiterer, Harald )
• C05 - Human-Machine Interaction with Adaptable Multisensory Systems (Project Head Ernst, Marc )
• C06 - User-Adaptive Mixed Reality (Project Heads Mayer, Sven ;  Schmidt, Albrecht )
• C07 - Optimization for Dynamic Mixed Reality User Interfaces (Project Head Feuchtner, Tiare )
• D02 - Visual Analytics for Linguistic Representations (Project Head Butt, Miriam )
• D04 - Quantitative Aspects of Immersive Analytics for the Life Sciences (Project Head Schreiber, Falk )
• D05 - Visual Computing for ERP-based Brain Activity (Project Head Ehinger, Benedikt )
• INF - Collaboration Infrastructure (Project Heads Schreiber, Falk ;  Weiskopf, Daniel )
• MGK - Integrated Research Training Group (Project Heads Deussen, Oliver ;  Schreiber, Falk ;  Weiskopf, Daniel )
• Z - Central Tasks of the Collaborative Research Center (Project Head Weiskopf, Daniel )
• Ö - Public Relations (Project Heads Schreiber, Falk ;  Weiskopf, Daniel )

Completed projects

• A02 - Quantifying Visual Computing Systems (Project Heads Ertl, Thomas ;  Frey, Steffen )
• A04 - Quantitative Models for Visual Abstraction (Project Head Deussen, Oliver )
• A05 - Visual Quality Assessment (Project Head Saupe, Dietmar )
• A06 - Quantitative Quality Assessment of Computational Photography (Project Head Fuchs, Martin )
• B02 - Adaptive Network Visualization (Project Head Brandes, Ulrik )
• B05 - Efficient Large Scale Variational 3D Reconstruction (Project Head Goldlücke, Bastian )
• B07 - Computational Uncertainty Quantification (Project Head Barth, Andrea )
• C02 - Physiologically Based Interaction and Adaptive Visualization (Project Head Schmidt, Albrecht )
• C03 - Immersive Virtual Environments (Project Heads Bülthoff, Heinrich H. ;  Chuang, Ph.D., Lewis )
• C04 - Metrics for Mobile Visualization and Interaction Techniques through "Research in the Large" (Project Head Henze, Niels )
• D01 - Perception-Guided Adaptive Modeling of 3D Virtual Cities Based on Probabilistic Grammars (Project Heads Becker, Susanne ;  Fritsch, Dieter )
• D03 - Visual Exploration and Analysis of Provenance Data (Project Head Herschel, Melanie )

• Applicant Institution: Universität Stuttgart
• Co-Applicant Institution: Universität Konstanz
• Participating Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; Fakultät für Mathematik, Informatik und Statistik; Universität Ulm; Fakultät Ingenieurwissenschaften, Informatik und Psychologie; Institut für Psychologie und Pädagogik
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Daniel Weiskopf