A Layered Architecture for the Exploration of Heterogeneous Information Using Coordinated Views

In a real-world decision support application, users often want to search data from various sources according to some criteria, build a visualization based on the data being retrieved, and use the visualization to explore the data. With our approach, these activities are supported within the same workspace. Views are dynamically created by binding each data set to a visualization template according to the user´s preferences. The resulting views are then arranged into a larger coordinated view. In our layered architecture, dataflows through the layers becoming encapsulated inside of metadata that describes the visual attributes being added, this metadata determines both the individual views and the dynamic interactions within a coordinated view. Dynamic interactions are implemented using a mediated notification services architecture