trying to find the name of a particular data visualization technique...

Question

I'm having a hard time describing a Flash program that uses a sort of hub-spoke data visualization technique. As the user navigates to a particular term, any term that is directly related would be represented with a line extending outward from the current term to the related term. Similar to how spokes extend from the hub of a wheel.

Some popular examples of this are:

Visual Thesaurus

Google's Wonder Wheel

My question is: Is there a name for this kind of a visual navigation system?

I'm trying to find out everything I can about the methods of writing a good [whatever it's called] system, but am having a hard time finding the right search terms.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Take a look at this Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. :) I think it would be something similar to a semantic network or clustering diagram.

KurweilAI.net has a similar structure he somewhat over-dramatically calls "The Brain" which is a semantic visualization.

Answer 2

Sounds like a hyperbolic tree.

Answer 3

The data visualization community is still maturing, I have had similar problems with terminology.

I believe the technique you're referring to could be called the "Hyperbolic Tree." The javascript infovis toolkit includes an implementation shortened to "HyperTree."