Bridging the semantic gap : visualizing transition graphs with user-defined diagrams

Analysts of computer-based systems often face large data sets, such as those represented in state transition graphs, in which the organizational structure is clear but interpreting the data is not. This new method lets users generate interactive visualizations that help them analyze systems more easily, accurately, and quickly. Computer scientists and engineers use state transition graphs to model and study the behavior of computer-based systems. These graphs describe sets of system states and sets of transitions. Transitions are source-action-target triples in which the execution of an action triggers a transition from a source to a target state.