Distributed and collaborative visualization

Visualization typically involves large computational tasks, often performed on supercomputers. The results of these tasks are usually analyzed by a design team consisting of several members. Our goal is to depart from traditional single-user systems and build a low-cost scientific visualization environment that enables computer-supported cooperative work in the distributed setting. A synchronously conferenced collaborative visualization environment would let multiple users on a network of workstations and supercomputers share large data sets, simultaneously view visualizations of the data, and interact with multiple views while varying parameters. Such an environment would support collaboration in both the problem-solving phase and the review phase of design tasks. In this article we describe two distributed visualization algorithms and the facilities that enable collaborative visualization. These are all implemented on top of the distribution and collaboration mechanisms of an environment called Shastra, executing on a set of low-cost networked workstations.<>