Supporting Data Analysis Through Visualizations

Information visualization is a process that transforms information into a visual form, thus enabling the user to observe it. By graphically presenting data, the user may discover new and useful properties, their correlations, and also detect possible deviations from the expected values. In this paper, after discussing some ideas about possible fruitful use of visualization for data mining, we present a visualization module we are developing in the context of a project funded by the European Union. The project aims at offering on-line innovative services to support the business processes of trade fairs, both real and/or Web-based virtual fair. This module generates data visualizations on the WWW, which are exploited to facilitate human-computer interaction, to allow easy access to the stored data, and to present the retrieved information in appropriate ways, thus helping users in their data analysis activities.