1. ^aSPSS Inc., 233 South Wacker, Chicago, IL 60606, USA. E-mail: gwills@spss.com
2. ^bSYSTAT Inc., 225 W Washington St., Chicago, Illinois 60606, USA

Correspondence: Leland Wilkinson, E-mail: leland.wilkinson@systat.com

Received 20 June 2008; Revised 10 October 2008; Accepted 21 October 2008; Published online 18 December 2008.

Abstract

AutoVis is a data viewer that responds to content – text, relational tables, hierarchies, streams, images – and displays the information appropriately (that is, as an expert would). Its design rests on the grammar of graphics, scagnostics and a modeler based on the logic of statistical analysis. We distinguish an automatic visualization system (AVS) from an automated visualization system. The former automatically makes decisions about what is to be visualized. The latter is a programming system for automating the production of charts, graphs and visualizations. An AVS is designed to provide a first glance at data before modeling and analysis are done. AVS is designed to protect researchers from ignoring missing data, outliers, miscodes and other anomalies that can violate statistical assumptions or otherwise jeopardize the validity of models. The design of this system incorporates several unique features: (1) a spare interface – analysts simply drag a data source into an empty window, (2) a graphics generator that requires no user definitions to produce graphs, (3) a statistical analyzer that protects users from false conclusions, and (4) a pattern recognizer that responds to the aspects (density, shape, trend, and so on) that professional statisticians notice when investigating data sets.