Challenges in Visualization Research

Welcome to this theme issue on Visualization. This is the sixth in a series of theme issues. The first four appeared in Computer Graphics and Applications (CGbA vol. 11, no. 3; vol. 12, no. 4; vol. 13, no. 4; vol. 14, no. 5) and the fifth appeared last June in the inaugural year of TVCG. All of these theme issues are based upon topics that were previously presented at the IEEE-sponsored Visualization Conference. For all these theme issues, authors were invited to submit papers based upon their conference papers, but containing significant new research results. These papers were then subjected to an extensive and complete evaluation and review process, and the very best papers were then selected for publication. In the past, the collection of papers that survive this rigorous winnowing have constituted some of the most widely read and influential papers in visualization. They are often cited, and they are often the recipients of awards. We assume the same satisfactory outcome will hold for the present set of papers based upon papers presented at Visualization '95 held October 29 to November 3,1995, in Atlanta, Georgia.