SPE 84439

Using Visualization Tools to Gain Insight Into Your Data

C. Plaisant, G. Chintalapani, University of Maryland; C. Lukehart, D. Schiro and J. Ryan, ChevronTexaco

Copyright 2003, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

designers (e.g Tufte, 1983) provide guidance about presenting
This paper was prepared for pr esentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and static information, while the growing power of workers
Exhibition held in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A., 5 8 October 2003.
desktop allows user-interface designers to propose rich
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
interactions mechanisms to manipulate the data in real time.
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at The paper will now describe the results of the collaboration
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
between a university research laboratory and a major oil
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is company to investigate the application of two information
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicu ous visualization tools , Treemap and SpaceTree, to oilfield related
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
data.

Treemap
Abstract
When the term visualization is used in the oil and gas Envision the task of managing the performance of a hundred
industry, it is usually referring to the viewing of complex compressors to minimize production downtime. Treemap aids
geologic structures in three-dimensional space. This paper in this process by providing an abstract visual representation
illustrates insights gained by applying interactive visual of the compressors of interest in a single screen display that
environments to petroleum industry data that has traditionally can be grouped and arranged by geographic region, asset team,
been presented in spreadsheets, line graphs, and bar charts. field or platform. Each individual compressor is represented in
Two information visualization tools, Treemap and SpaceTree, the Treemap by a rectangular area whose characteristics are
will be shown applied to a variety of oilfield related data. mapped to attributes of the compressors chosen by the
engineer. For example the Treemap shown in Figure 1
Introduction represents 68 compressors grouped in a hierarchy of fields,
asset teams , and regions. Each rectangle corresponds to a
This paper explores how Information Visualization tools can compressor, the size of the box is proportional to the flow rate,
benefit the petroleum industry by providing novel interactive and color is a shade of red proportional to the number of
visual environments to explore data that has traditionally been abnormal compressor parameters. The engineer is now able to
presented in spreadsheets, line graphs, and bar charts. spot at a glance the compressors that need attention first (i.e.
the compressors corresponding to large red rectangles).
Information visualization can be defined as the use of
computer-supported interactive visual representation of The user interface provides many features to allow users to
abstract data to amplify cognition [1]. The abstract customize the display to their particular needs. Most
characteristic of the data is what distinguishes information importantly, users can specify what data attribute should be
visualization from scientific visualization. Information mapped to the size or color of the rectangles. For example
visualization is more likely to be used to display database users can map the size of the rectangle to the average number
content (e.g. recorded stock values, health statistics) than of monthly problems and map the color to the age of the
output of models or simulations. The display of geo- compressor.
referenced data is often a hybrid visualization that combines
abstract and concrete data. Interface features also help users focus on areas of interest or
get more details about the compressors. A window popup
Information visualization aims to provide compact graphical shows the long labels that may not fit on the rectangle;
presentations and user interfaces for interactively clicking on a rectangle displays all the detailed information
manipulating large numbers of items (102 - 106 ), possibly available about a compressor in the top right area of the
extracted from far larger datasets [2, 3, 4.] Information display. Users can zoom on part of the Treemap, for example
visualization, sometimes called visual data mining, uses the on a specific field, which is useful when the number of
remarkable human visual system to enable users to make managed compressors becomes very large. They can also
discoveries or decisions, or propose explanations about filter the display using dynamic query sliders or controls [5] to
patterns or exceptions. Perceptual psychologists and graphic show only the compressors that have characteristics that fall
2 SPE 84439

within specified ranges. Examples of dynamic query sliders Example of Use - Project Management Metrics Tracking.
are shown at the lower right of Figure 1. As users adjust the Another use for Treemap is to track the status and progress of
position of the sliders, the rectangles that fall outside the range capital projects. In this example the Treemap is dis playing
are grayed out dynamically (e.g. users can filter out the information on 180 capital projects being worked on in an
compressors with flow rates less than 20 cubic feet per offshore Gulf of Mexico business unit (Figure 3). The projects
minute). A click on the Hide filtered button removes the in this display are grouped by field and then by department.
gray rectangles and gives more room to the remaining The size of the rectangle represents the gross budget amount.
compressors. Color is used to highlight which projects have run over budget
by coloring them in red.
Other example of use: Daily Production Report. Treemap
has also been applied to the monitoring of daily production Treemap also allows users to change the hierarchy of projects
from oil and gas wells. The Treemap shown in Figure 2 interactively by changing the attributes used to group the data.
summarizes the production of 691 wells grouped by Business For example, users can select the attribute status to separate
Unit, Area, and then Asset Team. Each box in the Treemap the projects in the early stages of development from the ones
represents a well. The size of the rectangle is proportional to in latter stages, and then select owner to group projects
number of barrels of oil produced per day. The color indicates within those categories by the owner who manges the project.
lost production the difference between the actual and
expected barrels produced. The Treemap shows at a glance In all of the examples mentioned above, an employee in
which of the wells are the largest producers (i.e. the large charge of analyzing data and preparing reports can explore the
rectangles), and the color indicates which wells are not various possible Treemap settings and then save the preferred
producing as expected. settings for others to use. The data used to populate the
Treemap can be imported from a database at regular intervals
making up-to-date information easily available for monitoring.

Figure 1: Sixty eight compressors grouped in a hierarchy of fields, asset teams, and regions. Each rectangle is a compressor, the size of the
rectangle is proportional to the flow rate, and the shade of red is proportional to the number of abnormal compressor parameters exhibited.
SPE 84439 3

Figure 2: Each box represents a well. The 691 wells are grouped by Asset team. The size of the box is proportional to the barrels of oil
produced per day, and the color shade indicates lost oil (difference between actual and expected), dark areas indicate problems.

Figure 3: All of the projects managed by a

business unit are summarized in one display. Each
rectangle is a project. The color of the rectangle
indicate the amount of available funds. White to
light green colors indicates that funds are still
available, while brown/dark colors indicates
projects are over budget. (Note that red and green
would be more appropriate colors for budgets but
we chose colors that would be readable when
printed in black and white.) Size is not used here
so all rectangles have a similar area. Using the
hierarchy control panel, users can specify how they
want to group the projects, here by owner/manager,
then by budget type (capital or expense.)
 Figure 4: All of the projects managed by a business unit are summarized in a different display, this time grouped by field and department.
The size of the rectangle represents the project budget, with dark colors indicating which projects are over budget.

The next section looks at the second information visualization number of nodes in the subtree (e.g. the number of employees)
tool we explored: SpaceTree. and the height of the triangle can represents the depth of the
subtree hierarchy.
SpaceTree
SpaceTree is designed to help a user visualize complex Several SpaceTree layout options allow adjustments of the
hierarchical relationships in data. One type of data that has spacing between nodes, alignment, icon options etc. The
traditionally been viewed in a tree type of format is an choice of overall orientation of the tree layout, allows
organizational chart (Figure 5). In large organizations these designers or users to match the layout to the natural
charts can be quite complex and are often broken up into a orientation of the data. For example organizational charts are
series of graphs that make the overall reporting relationships often oriented top down (suggesting power), while other trees
difficult to understand. SpaceTree allows for the interactive, might benefit from being drawn left to right (suggesting time)
dynamic rescaling of the branches of the tree to best fit the or bottom up (suggesting progress). The choice of the most
available screen space. Large trees can be explored space efficient orientation depends on the tree topology and
dynamically. When users select a node to change the focus of the aspect ratios of the labels and the window.
the layout, the number of levels opened is maximized and the
tree is animated to its new layout. Users can navigate the tree SpaceTree also contains a search function to allow the user to
by clicking on nodes to open branches, or by using the arrow zero in on the data item of interest. For example in Figure 6
keys to navigate among siblings, ancestors and descendants. the user has typed the word scientist. Colored highlights
now show where in the organization chart all the scientists are
Branches that do not fit on the screen are summarized and to be found. Hitting the return key lets the user trim the
previewed as a triangle. The visual attributes of the preview tree to only show the branches leading to the scientists
triangle can reflect attributes of the branches. For example the (Figure 7). This facilitates reviewing the results of the search
shading of the triangle can be made proportional to the total in the context of the hierarchical structure.
SPE 84439 5

Other examples of use. SpaceTree has also been used to help leveraging support staff across Business Divisions, travel costs
manage the regional IT support of numerous Business are reduced and the customers problem is addressed much
Divisions with a number of remote sites. Employees can learn more quickly.
the structure of the organization by reviewing up-to-date
information online (8 and 9) and with that knowledge solve The SpaceTree can also be used as a tool for accessing
some problems faster. For example, imagine that the central documents in the context of the organization structure. In the
IT helpdesk receives a support call from a small Marketing regional IT support example, each Business Division requires
office in Baton Blanc, Louisiana. The closest Marketing office a different mix of IT services to fit their particular business
with onsite IT support with the knowledge to solve the needs. This information can be made easily accessible to the
problem is located in Dallas, Texas. By using the search Business Division or IT helpdesk personnel by attaching a
capability in SpaceTree the helpdesk is able to quickly identify copy of the different IT Service Agreements to each node (see
that the Pipeline Division also has an office in Baton Blanc example of figure 12.)
with the needed support personnel (see figures 10 and 11). By

Figure 5: SpaceTree showing an organization chart. The 3 lower levels of the hierarchy were opened at once as users
clicked on Drilling Manager (the colored node in the middle.) Smooth animated transitions allow users to remain
oriented when the layout changes.
6 SPE 84439

Figure 6: SpaceTree allows users to specify the orientation of Figure 7: The final execution of the search prunes the tree to
the tree, for example here, setting the root toward the left. show only the branches that contain the result nodes, here all the
Here a search is underway, highlighting where in the tree the scientists, in the context of their place in the organization
word scientist can be found.

Figure 8: Another example of use showing a business division. Figure 9: Now the user has clicked on Gulf South under
The tree is opened to show as many nodes as will fit on the Marketing. Higher level branches were closed while Gulf South
screen. Here two levels are opened. was expanded to reveal its offices as well as the
other Marketing offices.
SPE 84439 7

Figure 10: A search for all the Louisiana locations. As the user Figure 11: After typing , La the user hit return or pressed
types , La all the nodes or branches containing that string are go and the tree is now pruned to only show the nodes
highlighted in yellow. containing the searched string, showing all the Louisiana offices
in the context of the hierarchy.

Figure 12: A right click on a node brings a menu that gives access to the documents associated with the node. When the document is
selected, here a strategy document, it opens on a separate window. The menu also reveals some of the tree editing functions that are
available only to users who would have editing privileges.
8 SPE 84439

Background on Treemap and SpaceTree Related research: Many other approaches to node link tree
visualization have been explored. SpaceTree shares many
Both Treemap and SpaceTree have been developed at the features with the Degree-of-Interest Tree developed at about
University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction the same time by Card and Nation [14]. Other approaches
Laboratory (www.cs.umd.edu/hcil.) include the Cone Trees [15] which allow users to rotate a 3D
representation of the tree to reveal its hidden parts, but
Treemap is a space-filling visualization method [6]. A treemap occlusion and the additional complexity navigating the tree or
works by dividing the display area into a nested sequence of keeping oriented can be a problem. A clever way to make
rectangles whose areas correspond to an attribute of the data better use of screen space is to break loose from the traditional
set, effectively combining aspects of a Venn diagram and a pie up-down or left-right orientation and use circular layouts. The
chart. Originally designed to visualize files on a hard drive, best known technique is the Hyperbolic tree browser [16] -
treemaps have been applied to a wide variety of domains now available as StarTree - which uses hyperbolic geometry to
ranging from financial analysis ([7], see also place nodes around the root and provides smooth and
http://www.smartmoney.com/marketmap ) to sports reporting [8]. continuous animation of the tree as users click or drag nodes
More recently alternative layout algorithms were devised to to readjust the focus point of the layout. The animation is
reduce the incidence of high aspect ratio rectangles and to striking but the constant redrawing of the tree can be
maintain ordering [9]. Others have focused on specialized distracting. Labels are hard to browse because they are not
techniques to visualize up to a million items without aligned and sometimes overlap. In addition, the
aggregation [10.] unconventional layout may not match the expectations of
users (e.g. it is not appropriate to present the organizational
SpaceTree uses the more traditional representation of a node chart of a conventional business.)
link tree diagrams. It adds dynamic rescaling of branches of
the tree to best fit the available screen space, smooth animated Conclusions
transitions to maintain orientation, and the use of preview
icons summarize the topology of the branches that cannot be Our exploratory work provides insight into how information
to expanded [11]. visualization can be used to support discovery and problem
solving during the examination of petroleum industry data.
Comparing the two techniques: Space filling techniques To help users cope with vast datasets, designers have
such as treemaps (or information slices [12]) have been improved on 250-year old visual designs such as histograms
successful at visualizing trees that have attributes values at the and plots that work best with only a few dozen data points.
node level. Space filling techniques shine when users care Information visualization provides new strategies for making
mostly about leaf nodes and their attributes (e.g. outlier stocks sense of abstract information spaces and user interface
or malfunctioning compressors) but do not need to focus on controls for coordinating them. As users move sliders, zoom
the topology of the tree, or the topology of the tree is trivial in on aggregates, and make selections, they can follow
(e.g. 2 or 3 fixed levels). Treemap users require some training changing patterns and find problems. While a picture may be
because of the unfamiliar layout. worth a thousand words, an interface is worth a thousand
pictures.
Traditional node link diagrams, on the other hand, make
inefficient use of screen space, leaving the root side of the tree
completely empty usually the top or left of the screen and Acknowledgement
overcrowding the opposite side. Even trees of a hundred nodes We want to thank Tommy Mertz, Charlie Guthrie, Bill
often need multiple screens to be completely displayed, or Kowalik and Trond Unneland for their support in the
require scrolling since only part of the diagram is visible at a development of the oil industry applications, Ben
given time. Specialized tools can help users manage the Shneiderman, Niem Dang and Ani Jain for their collaboration
multiple pages needed to display those trees (e.g. in the latest developments of Treemap, and Jesse Grosjean and
www.nakisa.com for organizational chart). Optimized layout Ben Bederson for their collaboration in the design and
techniques can produce more compact displays by slightly development of SpaceTree.
shifting branches or nodes but those techniques only partially
alleviate the problem and are often not appropriate for
interactive applications. SpaceTree use of preview icons, References
smooth animated transitions and filtering alleviates some of 1. Card, S., Mackinlay, J., and Shneiderman, B., Readings in
those problems while remaining and easy to use and Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think , Morgan
understand technique requiring no training. Kaufmann Publ., San Francisco, CA (1999)
2. Spence, Robert, Information Visualization, Addison-
Of course it is possible to combine the two techniques, either Wesley, Essex, England (2001).
to introduce Treemap users to the unusual layout or to explore 3. Bederson B., Shneiderman, B., The Craft of Information
two independent hierarchies simultaneously [13.] Visualization: Readings and Reflections, Morgan
Kaufman, 2003
SPE 84439 9

4. Tufte, Edward, The Visual Display of Quantitative 12. Andrews, K., Heidegger, H. (1998) Information Slices:
Information, Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT (1983). Visualising and exploring large hierarchies using
5. Ahlberg, Christopher, Williamson, Christopher, and cascading, semicircular disks. Proc of IEEE Infovis98
Shneiderman, Ben, Dynamic queries for information late breaking Hot Topics IEEE, 9-11.
exploration: An implementation and evaluation, Proc. ftp://ftp.iicm.edu/pub/papers/ivis98.pdf
ACM CHI 92: Human Factors in Computing Systems, 13. Kules, W., Shneiderman, B., and Plaisant, C. (2003). Data
ACM, New York (1992), 619626. Exploration with Paired Hierarchical Visualizations:
6. Shneiderman, Ben, Tree visualization with tree-maps: A 2- Initial Designs of PairTrees. To appear in Proc. 2003
D space-filling approach, ACM Transactions on National Conference on Digital Government Research.
Graphics, 11, 1 (January 1992), 9299. http://www.dgrc.org/dgo2003
7. Wattenberg, M. Map of the Market (1998). Wattenberg, M. 14. Card, S., Nation, D., Degree-of-Interest Trees: a
(1999). Visualizing the Stock Market. In Proceedings of component of attention-reactive user interface. Proc. of
Extended Abstracts of Human Factors in Computing Advanced Visual Interface 02, May 22-24, 2002., ACM,
Systems (CHI 99) ACM Press, New York, pp. 188-189. New York
8. Jin, L., & Banks, D. C. (1997). TennisViewer: A Browser 15. Robertson, G. G. Mackinlay, J. D. Card, S. K. Cone Trees:
for Competition Trees. IEEE Computer Graphics and animated 3D visualizations of hierarchical information,
Applications, 17(4), pp. 63-65. Proc. Human factors in computing systems conference,
9. Bederson, B.B., Shneiderman, B., and Wattenberg, M. March 1991, 189-194
Ordered and Quantum Treemaps: Making Effective Use 16. Lamping, J., Rao, R., Pirolli; P. (1995) A focus+context
of 2D Space to Display Hierarchies, ACM Transactions technique based on hyperbolic geometry for visualizing
on Graphics (TOG), 21, (4), October 2002, 833-854 large hierarchies Conference proceedings on Human
10. Fekete, J. and Plaisant, C., Interactive Information factors in computing systems, 1995, 401-408
Visualization of a Million Items, proc. of IEEE
conference on Information Visualization, Boston, Sept.
2002 (2002) 117-124 Additional resources:
11. Plaisant, C., Grosjean, J., Bederson, B., SpaceTree: For more information and download demonstrations of Treemap see:
Supporting Exploration in Large Node Link Tree, Design http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/treemap3
Evolution and Empirical Evaluation, proc. of IEEE For more information and download demonstrations of SpaceTree
see: http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/spacetree
conference on Information Visualization, Boston, Sept.
2002 (2002) 57-64