Visualisation of large image collections

Abstract

Visual information, in particular in form of images, is becoming increasingly important, and consequently efficient and effective tools for managing these rapidly growing collections are highly sought after. Interactive image database browsing systems provide an interesting alternative to retrieval-based approaches as they let the user explore an image dataset in an intuitive fashion. Based on content-based concepts, large image collections are visualised so that visually similar images are located close in the visualisation space. Once an image collection is displayed, the user is then given the opportunity to interactively explore it through various browsing operations. In my talk, I will highlight the three main approaches to visualising image databases, namely mapping-based, clustering-based and graph-based visualisations and will then present some of the systems that we have developed in our lab for this purpose, such as the Hue Sphere Image Browser, the Honeycomb Image Browser and their recent ports to large multi-touch screen environments and mobile devices.