Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Zooming Techniques

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Database Systems

  • 180 Accesses

Synonyms

Multiscale interface; Scaling; Zoomable user interface (ZUI)

Definition

Zooming facilitates data presentation on limited screen real-estate by allowing the users to alter the scale of the viewport such that it shows a decreasing fraction of the information space with an increasing magnification. Hence the system may first present a global overview of the information space for the benefit of orientation, and in a second step, the users can then dynamically re-allocate the screen space based on the information objects they are interested in. A navigation technique commonly used in conjunction with zooming is panning: a movement of the viewport over the information space at a constant scale.

Historical Background

The first application to use zooming as a fundamental interface approach was the Spatial Data Management System (SDMS) [1] in 1978 (see Fig. 1). The SDMS system relied heavily on custom hardware, including an octophonic sound system and an instrumented chair equipped...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 4,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 6,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading

  1. Donelson WC. Spatial management of information. In: Proceedings of 5th the Annual Conference Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques; 1978. p. 203–9.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Herot CF, Carling R, Friedell M, Kramlich D. A prototype spatial data management system. In: Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques; 1980. p. 63–70.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Perlin K, Fox D. Pad: an alternative approach to the computer interface. In: Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques; 1993. p. 57–64.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bederson BB, Hollan JD. Pad ++: a zooming graphical interface for exploring alternate interface physics. In: Proceedings of the 7th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology; 1994. p. 17–26.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bederson BB, Meyer J, Good L. Jazz: an extensible zoomable user interface graphics toolkit in java. In: Proceedings of the 13th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology; 2000. p. 171–80.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bederson BB, Clamage A, Czerwinski MP, Robertson GG. Datelens: a fisheye calendar interface for PDAs. ACM Trans Comput Hum Interact. 2004;11(1):90–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Furnas GW, Bederson BB. Space-scale diagrams: understanding multiscale interfaces. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems; 1995. p. 234–41.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Jul S, Furnas GW. Critical zones in desert fog: aids to multiscale navigation. In: Proceedings of the 11th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology; 1998. p. 97–106.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Igarashi T, Hinckley K. Speed-dependent automatic zooming for browsing large documents. In: Proceedings of the 13th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology; 2000. p. 139–48.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Jog NK, Shneiderman B. Starfield visualization with interactive smooth zooming. In: Proceedings of the 3rd IFIP WG2.6 Working Conference on Visual Database Systems; 1995. p. 3–14.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Olston C, Woodruff A, Aiken A, Chu M, Ercegovac V, Lin M, Spalding M, Stonebraker M. Datasplash. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data; 1998.p. 550–2.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bederson BB, Boltman A. Does animation help users build mental maps of spatial information? In: Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization; 1999. p. 28.

    Google Scholar 

  13. van Wijk JJ, Nuij WAA. Smooth and efficient zooming and panning. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization; 2003. p. 15–22.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Donskoy M, Kaptelinin V. Window navigation with and without animation: a comparison of scroll bars, zoom, and fisheye view. In: Proceedings of the CHI’97 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems; 1997. p. 279–80.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kaptelinin V. A comparison of four navigation techniques in a 2D browsing task. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems; 1995. p. 282–3.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Gutwin C, Fedak C. A comparison of fisheye lenses for interactive layout tasks. In: Proceedings of the Graphics Interface; 2004. p. 213–20.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany

    Harald Reiterer

  2. Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Thorsten Büring

Authors
  1. Harald Reiterer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Thorsten Büring
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harald Reiterer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ling Liu

  2. University of Waterloo School of Computer Science, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. Tamer Özsu

Section Editor information

  1. Computer Science Department, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

    Daniel A. Keim

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Reiterer, H., Büring, T. (2018). Zooming Techniques. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8265-9_1128

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation