Orthographic star coordinates
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 7, 2026

Coordinate Mapping of Hyolaryngeal Mechanics in Swallowing
Published on: May 6, 2014
Dirk J Lehmann1, Holger Theisel
1University of Magdeburg.
Abstract:
Star coordinates is a popular projection technique from an nD data space to a 2D/3D visualization domain. It is defined by setting n coordinate axes in the visualization domain. Since it generally defines an affine projection, strong distortions can occur: an nD sphere can be mapped to an ellipse of arbitrary size and aspect ratio. We propose to restrict star coordinates to orthographic projections which map an nD sphere of radius r to a 2D circle of radius r. We achieve this by formulating conditions for the coordinate axes to define orthographic projections, and by running a repeated non-linear optimization in the background of every modification of the coordinate axes. This way, we define a number of orthographic interaction concepts as well as orthographic data tour sequences: a scatterplot tour, a principle component tour, and a grand tour. All concepts are illustrated and evaluated with synthetic and real data.
Related Concept Videos
Coordinates and Map Projections
Polar Coordinates
Spherical Coordinates
Polar and Cylindrical Coordinates
Coordinate Plane
Cartesian Vector Notation
