Visual analytics

Visual analytics is not easy to define, due to its multi-disciplinary nature involving multiple processes and the wide variety of application areas. An early definition was "the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive human-machine interfaces". However, based on current practice, a more specific definition would be: "Visual analytics combines automated Visual analytics combines automated analysis with interactive visualisations analysis techniques with interactive visualisations for an effctive understanding, reasoning and decision making on the basis of very large and complex datasets". So, in terms of the goal of visual analytics, we can elaborate on this definition to state that visual analytics is the creation of tools and techniques to enable people to: - Synthesise information and derive insight from massive, dynamic, ambiguous, and often conflicting data. - Detect the expected and discover the unexpected. - Provide timely, defensible, and understandable assessments. - Communicate these assessment effectively for action