Engaging mass audiences with crucial societal issues, such as cli-mate change, can be provided through interactive exhibits designed around the paradigm of exploranation. We present example inter-active installations in the newly founded Wadstr¨oms Exploranation Laboratory that explain various aspects of climate change while allowing public participants to explore the real scientific data. We describe how effects and causes of climate change can be communi-cated by two of the installations that allow for interactive opportuni-ties to explore the underlying data while gaining insight into climate change sources and effects. We close with implications for future work on exploranation as an emerging visualization pedagogy in public spaces.

The extended reality market has rapidly grown with a wide range of products for not only Virtual Reality applications, but also for advanced and multiple forms of Augmented Reality. In this paper we review the currently available complete solutions for Augmented Reality, divided into the primary display techniques used: Video See-through, using cameras to capture the real world subsequently presented with virtual overlays on a handheld or headworn display, Optical See-through, using semi-transparent display to allow real world view together with the virtual augmentations, and Projection-based AR or Spatial AR, the use of projectors to display augmentations directly on top of surfaces in the room.  First potential products were found using popular Internet search engines, after which products that are not complete solutions or not commercially available were filtered out. We present the different products together with a description of their presented or studied characteristics, and of their accompanying software solutions.

Frequency distributions (FD) are an important instrument when analyzing and investigating scientific data. In volumetric visualization, for example, frequency distributions visualized as histograms, often assist the user in the process of designing transferfunction (TF) primitives. Yet a single point in the distribution can correspond to multiple features in the data, particularly inlow-dimensional TFs that dominate time-critical domains such as health care. In this paper, we propose contributions to thearea of medical volume data exploration, in particular Computed Tomography (CT) data, based on the decomposition of localfrequency distributions (LFD). By considering the local neighborhood utilizing LFDs we can incorporate a measure for neighborhood similarity to differentiate features thereby enhancing the classification abilities of existing methods. This also allowsus to link the attribute space of the histogram with the spatial properties of the data to improve the user experience and simplifythe exploration step. We propose three approaches for data exploration which we illustrate with several visualization caseshighlighting distinct features that are not identifiable when considering only the global frequency distribution. We demonstratethe power of the method on selected datasets

A central topic in scientific visualization is the transfer function (TF) for volume rendering. The TF serves a fundamental role in translating scalar and multivariate data into color and opacity to express and reveal the relevant features present in the data studied. Beyond this core functionality, TFs also serve as a tool for encoding and utilizing domain knowledge and as an expression for visual design of material appearances. TFs also enable interactive volumetric exploration of complex data. The purpose of this state-of-the-art report (STAR) is to provide an overview of research into the various aspects of TFs, which lead to interpretation of the underlying data through the use of meaningful visual representations. The STAR classifies TF research into the following aspects: dimensionality, derived attributes, aggregated attributes, rendering aspects, automation, and user interfaces. The STAR concludes with some interesting research challenges that form the basis of an agenda for the development of next generation TF tools and methodologies.

Medical imaging plays a central role in a vast range of healthcare practices. While the usefulness of 3D visualizations is well known, the adoption of such technology has previously been limited in many medical areas. This paper, awarded the Dirk Bartz Prize for Visual Computing in Medicine 2015, describes the development of a medical multi-touch visualization table that successfully has reached its aim to bring 3D visualization to a wider clinical audience. The descriptions summarize the targeted clinical scenarios, the key characteristics of the system, and the user feedback obtained.