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Visualization of how a car deforms in an asymmetrical crash using finite element analysis.

Visualization is any technique for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message. Visualization through visual imagery has been an effective way to communicate both abstract and concrete ideas since the dawn of man.

Examples from history include cave paintings, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Greek geometry, and Leonardo da Vinci's revolutionary methods of technical drawing for engineering and scientific purposes.

Visualization today has ever-expanding applications in science, engineering Product visualization, all forms of education, interactive multimedia, medicine etc. Typical of a visualization application is the field of computer graphics. The invention of computer graphics may be the most important development in visualization since the invention of central perspective in the Renaissance period. The development of animation also helped advance visualization.

Main article: Scientific visualization

As a subject in computer science, data visualization is the use of interactive, sensory representations, typically visual, of abstract data to reinforce cognition, hypothesis building and reasoning.

Information visualization is a complex research area. It builds on theory in information design, computer graphics, human-computer interaction and cognitive science.

Practical application of information visualization in computer programs involves selecting, transforming and representing abstract data in a form that facilitates human interaction for exploration and understanding.

Important aspects of information visualization are the interactivity and dynamics of visual representation. Strong techniques enable the user to modify the visualization in real-time, thus affording unparalleled perception of patterns and structural relations in the abstract data in question.

Main article: Knowledge visualization

Knowledge visualization - "the use of visual representations to transfer knowledge between at least two persons" (Burkhard and Meier, 2004), aims to improve the transfer of knowledge by using computer and non-computer based visualization methods complementarily.

Examples of such visual formats are sketches, diagrams, images, objects, interactive visualizations, information visualization applications and imaginary visualizations as in stories.

While information visualization (IV) concentrates on the use of computer-supported tools to derive new insights, knowledge visualization (KV) focuses on transferring insights and creating new knowledge in groups. Beyond the mere transfer of facts, knowledge visualization aims to further transfer insights, experiences, attitudes, values, expectations, perspectives, opinions, and predictions by using various complementary visualizations.

Knowledge Visualization has its roots in Visual Communication, Communication Sciences, Visual Perception and Knowledge Management, where it is not a key-issue to make knowledge visible so that it can be better identified, accessed, shared, discussed, applied, or generally managed. The capacity to generate effective knowledge visualizations is one aspect of graphicacy.

Main article: Visual communication

Visual communication is the communication of ideas through the visual display of information. Primarily associated with two dimensional images, it includes: alphanumerics, art, signs, and electronic resources. Recent research in the field has focused on web design and graphically oriented usability.

• Representation (arts)
• Representation (psychology)
• Imaging
• Rendering (computer graphics)
• Illustration
• Graph drawing
• Graphic design
• Human-computer interaction
• Configurator visualization
• Educational visualization
• Music visualization
• Treemapping

• Many Eyes Free IBM site where users can experiment with 15 types of visualizations
• Visual Complexity A visual compendium of techniques for displaying networks
• Graphic Organizers Index
• Overview of Various Visualization Methods and Tools
• The Dashboard Spy, a screenshot collection of over 1000 business intelligence visualization dashboards including this Dashboard of the Day.
• Periodic Table of Visualization Methods