We present SurfRiver, a new visual transformation approach that flattens stream surfaces in 3D to rivers in 2D for comparative visualization. Leveraging the TextFlow-like visual metaphor, SurfRiver untangles the convoluted individual stream surfaces along the flow direction and maps them along the horizontal direction of the abstract river view. It stacks multiple surfaces along the vertical direction of the river view. This visual mapping makes it easy for users to track along the flow direction and align stream surfaces for comparative study. Through brushing and linking, the river view is connected to the spatial surface view for collective reasoning. SurfRiver can be used to examine a single stream surface, investigate seeding sensitivity or variability of a family of surfaces from a group of related seeding curves, or explore a collection of representative surfaces. We describe our optimization solution to achieve the desirable mapping, present SurfRiver interface and interactions, and report results from different flow fields to demonstrate its efficacy. Feedback from a domain expert also indicates the promise of SurfRiver.

中文翻译：

---

SurfRiver：展平流表面以进行比较可视化

我们介绍了SurfRiver，这是一种新的可视化转换方法，可以将3D中的河流表面平坦化为2D中的河流，以进行比较可视化。利用类似TextFlow的视觉隐喻，SurfRiver沿着水流方向解开了旋绕的单个河流表面，并沿着抽象河景的水平方向绘制了它们。它沿河景的垂直方向堆叠多个表面。这种直观的映射使用户可以轻松跟踪流向并对齐流表面以进行比较研究。通过笔刷和链接，河视图被连接到空间表面视图以进行集体推理。SurfRiver可用于检查单个流表面，根据一组相关的播种曲线调查播种敏感性或一族表面的变异性，或探索代表性表面的集合。我们描述了我们的优化解决方案，以实现所需的映射，呈现SurfRiver界面和交互作用，并报告来自不同流场的结果以证明其功效。来自领域专家的反馈也表明了SurfRiver的前景。