可视化中的标签放置方法综述

A Survey of Label Placements in Visualizations

标签是可视化图表中图形对象的文本注释.标签放置方法自动地为图形对象寻找合适的文本注释放置位置,从而满足标签的可读性、标签与图形对象关系的可辨识性等要求,该方法已历经半个世纪的演进过程.近年来,数据驱动的图表生成技术的广泛应用进一步推动了标签放置方法的快速发展.文中收集和整理了近50年的相关文献,以点、线和面3种典型标签放置对象为主视角,从标签候选位置模型、标签放置算法和标签放置评价指标3个方面对标签放置方法进行梳理和讨论,并对标签放置技术的未来发展方向进行展望.

Labels are text annotations of graphical objects in visualization diagrams.Label placement methods automatically find appropriate positions for graphical objects to place text annotations while achieving high readability and unambiguity of labels.The methods have evolved over the past half century.In recent years,the wide application of data-driven visualization generation technology has promoted the rapid development of label placement methods.We survey relevant literatures of the last 50 years.Taking the three types of graphical objects,namely point,line,and area,as the main perspective,we summarize existing label placement methods by graphical object type from three aspects:label candidate location models,label placement algorithms,and label placement evaluation indicators.Furthermore,we discuss on the prospects of challenges and directions for the future research of label placement methods.