Stanford University, USA.
IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph. 2011 Dec;17(12):2276-82. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2011.167.
The aspect ratio of a plot has a dramatic impact on our ability to perceive trends and patterns in the data. Previous approaches for automatically selecting the aspect ratio have been based on adjusting the orientations or angles of the line segments in the plot. In contrast, we recommend a simple, effective method for selecting the aspect ratio: minimize the arc length of the data curve while keeping the area of the plot constant. The approach is parameterization invariant, robust to a wide range of inputs, preserves visual symmetries in the data, and is a compromise between previously proposed techniques. Further, we demonstrate that it can be effectively used to select the aspect ratio of contour plots. We believe arc length should become the default aspect ratio selection method.
图形的纵横比对我们感知数据中的趋势和模式的能力有重大影响。以前自动选择纵横比的方法是基于调整图形中线段的方向或角度。相比之下，我们推荐一种简单有效的选择纵横比的方法：在保持图形面积不变的同时，最小化数据曲线的弧长。该方法对参数化不变，对各种输入具有鲁棒性，保留数据中的视觉对称性，并且在之前提出的技术之间进行了折衷。此外，我们证明它可以有效地用于选择等高线图的纵横比。我们认为弧长应该成为默认的纵横比选择方法。
