Information visualization at 10

This fall (2004/2005) marked the 10th anniversary of the IEEE´s Information Visualization Symposium´s founding. At such an important milestone, the author takes the opportunity to comment on the state of the field: where we´ve been, where we are, and what comes next. Our challenge as a research community is to deliver on information visualization´s promise. The most interesting results in an applied field such as information visualization come from helping to solve our customers and sponsors´ real problems. To create the future, we need close interactions and exchanges with our customers. The Information Visualization Symposium started 10 years ago because some of us recognized a need to apply scientific visualization ideas to a new user base, in which an analyst, rather than a scientist, was the target user. The opportunity is even better today than it was then.