ORCA: A Project in Platform-Independent, Distributed Data Visualisation

Keywords: data visualization, Java, grand tour, distributed computing

Abstract: Visualisation using static and dynamic graphics is an important component of statistical data analysis. Most graphical software tools lack portability, modularity and interfaces with established statistical analysis packages. We introduce ORCA, a project in platform-independent statistical visualisation tools for data analysis and research. The objects are designed to function as stand-alone tools, as display devices for popular statistical systems, and as components in a large distributed statistical computing environment. The software uses Java for platform-independence and to simplify 3-D graphics programming. Java also provides facilities for sockets and CORBA, which we intend to use for distributed communication.