CROMDI: visualizing tomorrow.

IT IS OFTEN SAID THAT A picture is worth a thousand words, but the ability to express meaning through pictures is being taken to a new level by CROMDI, the Center for the Representation of Multi-Dimensional Information at the University of Utah, where analysts are working to make complex professional data graphs more accessible. "CROMDI takes abstract, complex data and turns it into usable information via visualization methods to enable users to make quick, accurate decisions in the context of larger goals," says Jim Agutter, assistant director of CROMDI.

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The CROMDI products are developed using an interdisciplinary group of University professionals, in fields including architecture, music, psychology and medicine. These professionals have integrated their knowledge of how the brain processes information, fluidity of designs, current methods of information presentation and its pitfalls, and the rapidity of the decision-making process in order to determine the most efficient presentation of data for a variety of fields.

"Traditional presentation methods require users to observe and integrate information," says Agutter. "This process of sequential, piecemeal data-gathering makes it difficult to develop a coherent understanding" of the information provided.

So CROMDI has developed a means of presenting data by converting it into 3-D computer graphs that adjust according to a continual stream of incoming data. This technology enables the rapid and accurate analysis of large quantities of complex and quickly changing information. Stephano Foresti, who has directed CROMDI since its inception 10 years ago, explains: "Visualization is one of the best ways humans have to engage data; we are building a tool to enhance the capability of humans to handle anomalies that would not be caught or visible through algorithms."

This new representation of data is being developed for use in a number of industries, to address a wide variety of problems, with CROMDI's first licensed product addressing data presentation in the medical field. Because the brain is able to absorb this new graphic data far more quickly than by seeing the traditional list or single-sensor display, doctors are able to assess patients and make decisions about treatment far more rapidly. The technology has already been licensed by GE and is being used to redesign cardiovascular, pulmonary, and drug display information.

Another field in which CROMDI's graphs are being put to use is network administration. VisAlert, CROMDI's new patent-pending product, is designed to increase the detection time to discover problems in company networks. These "cyber anomalies" are mapped with markers of different colors, shapes, and sizes--each with its respective meaning--in order to alert network administrators of various problems within the system or threats from outside sources before data security can be compromised. Agutter notes that VisAlert "increases the situation awareness of the network administrator and analyst by providing [them] a holistic representation of security status so that they can become less reactive and more proactive to cyber security problems."

The scope of this technology is massive. The innovative visual mapping of cyber threats as displayed by VisAlert creates rapid resolution and absolution of problems. During large-scale emergencies, more information than can often be handled floods in to authorities and emergency centers like police, fire departments, and hospitals. With a program like VisAlert, the multiplying information would produce a single multi-dimensional visual image, "allowing individuals to see complex relationships between data attributes stored in multiple data bases"--meaning that the assistance required to address such a situation could be comprehended at a glance. VisAlert, therefore, is of high interest to the Department of Defense and the intelligence community.

So whereas a picture is worth a thousand words, these new data images are worth a thousand moments, generating real-time data more accessibly than ever before. CROMDI's all-industry-inclusive research and technology are exposing the power of innovation, millions of pictures at a time.

Leah Jensen is editorial assistant for Utah Business and Digital iQ magazines.