Towards Synchronizing Data Sources and Information Visualization in Virtual Research Environments

There are many systems that visualize abstract data in the context of Information Visualization (IVIS). However, most systems create unidirectional visualizations that represent a static product of the source data. Possible changes to the content of the visualization – if that is possible at all – are not reflected to the data sources. This paper recommends a theoretical approach to use modern Web technologies and state-of-the-art system architectures to conceptualize a synchronization-enabled Web-based 3D IVIS infrastructure. Within applications built on top of this infrastructure, clients are able to modify data properties within three-dimensional real-time visualizations. In consequence, these content modifications are automatically transmitted to the server-side data sources for persistence. Moreover, relevant content changes on the server side are broadcast to all registered clients to maintain a permanent consistent state between data sources and derived IVIS-products. Particularly, a Mediator-Wrapper architecture is used in order to semantically integrate heterogeneous data sources in Big Data scenarios. Note that this paper presents a theoretical approach and that validation and evaluation are future tasks.