T-61.271 Visualization project description
11. Comparing MDS methods

Autmn 2002

Read the project description carefully. Questions and comments can be sent to
t61271@mail.cis.hut.fi.

General information

The purpose of the project work is to get hands on experience and deeper understanding on one specific area of the course. At the same time you will be forced to think on some of the more general issues that are confronted every time a visualization method is developed or used.

To complete the project you will probably need information that has not been discussed on the lectures or in the exercises. Most of the time relevant information can be easily found on the web, course books or in some cases references to articles will be given. If you have problems finding information on the subject please contact the lecturer or the assistant for hints and guidance.

The project work will be valid for one year after the original deadline.

General requirements

specific requirements

The goal of this project is to analyze how different MDS methods preserve the features of a known data set.

To pas the following should be done

  1. Use different MDS methods to project a data set
    ( http://www.cis.hut.fi/Opinnot/T-61.271/world_cart.dat ) on to a 2-dimensional plane.. The data set contains the locations of the countries of the world in 3D coordinates. At least Sammon's mapping, basic metric MDS, non metric MDS, one other variation of metric MDS and PCA should be compared.

  2. Analyze the results. What kind of errors the different methods produced, what features were best preserved, which method worked best and why.

Submitting the project work

The project work should be submitted my email to:

t61271@mail.cis.hut.fi.



Jarkko Venna 2002-09-12