This collection of peer-reviewed workshop papers provides comprehensive coverage of cutting-edge research into topological approaches to data analysis and visualization. It encompasses the full range of new algorithms and insights, including fast homology computation, comparative analysis of simplification techniques, and key applications in materials and medical science. The book also addresses core research challenges such as the representation of large and complex datasets, and integrating numerical methods with robust combinatorial algorithms. In keeping with the focus of the TopoInVis 2017 Workshop, the contributions reflect the latest advances in finding experimental solutions to open problems in the sector. They provide an essential snapshot of state-of-the-art research, helping researchers to keep abreast of the latest developments and providing a basis for future work. Gathering papers by some of the world’s leading experts on topological techniques, thebook represents a valuable contribution to a field of growing importance, with applications in disciplines ranging from engineering to medicine.

This book presents contributions on topics ranging from novel applications of topological analysis for particular problems, through studies of the effectiveness of modern topological methods, algorithmic improvements on existing methods, and parallel computation of topological structures, all the way to mathematical topologies not previously applied to data analysis.

Topological methods are broadly recognized as valuable tools for analyzing the ever-increasing flood of data generated by simulation or acquisition. This is particularly the case in scientific visualization, where the data sets have long since surpassed the ability of the human mind to absorb every single byte of data.

The biannual TopoInVis workshop has supported researchers in this area for a decade, and continues to serve as a vital forum for the presentation and discussion of novel results in applications in the area, creating a platform to disseminate knowledge about such implementations throughoutand beyond the community.

The present volume, resulting from the 2015 TopoInVis workshop held in Annweiler, Germany, will appeal to researchers in the fields of scientific visualization and mathematics, domain scientists with an interest in advanced visualization methods, and developers of visualization software systems.

When scientists analyze datasets in a search for underlying phenomena, patterns or causal factors, their first step is often an automatic or semi-automatic search for structures in the data. Of these feature-extraction methods, topological ones stand out due to their solid mathematical foundation. Topologically defined structures—as found in scalar, vector and tensor fields—have proven their merit in a wide range of scientific domains, and scientists have found them to be revealing in subjects such as physics, engineering, and medicine.

Full of state-of-the-art research and contemporary hot topics in the subject, this volume is a selection of peer-reviewed papers originally presented at the fourth Workshop on Topology-Based Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization, TopoInVis 2011, held in Zurich, Switzerland. The workshop brought together many of the leading lights in the field for a mixture of formal presentations and discussion. One topic currently generating a great deal of interest, and explored in several chapters here, is the search for topological structures in time-dependent flows, and their relationship with Lagrangian coherent structures. Contributors also focus on discrete topologies of scalar and vector fields, and on persistence-based simplification, among other issues of note. The new research results included in this volume relate to all three key areas in data analysis—theory, algorithms and applications.

This collection of peer-reviewed workshop papers provides comprehensive coverage of cutting-edge research into topological approaches to data analysis and visualization. It encompasses the full range of new algorithms and insights, including fast homology computation, comparative analysis of simplification techniques, and key applications in materials and medical science. The book also addresses core research challenges such as the representation of large and complex datasets, and integrating numerical methods with robust combinatorial algorithms. In keeping with the focus of the TopoInVis 2017 Workshop, the contributions reflect the latest advances in finding experimental solutions to open problems in the sector. They provide an essential snapshot of state-of-the-art research, helping researchers to keep abreast of the latest developments and providing a basis for future work. Gathering papers by some of the world’s leading experts on topological techniques, thebook represents a valuable contribution to a field of growing importance, with applications in disciplines ranging from engineering to medicine.

This book presents contributions on topics ranging from novel applications of topological analysis for particular problems, through studies of the effectiveness of modern topological methods, algorithmic improvements on existing methods, and parallel computation of topological structures, all the way to mathematical topologies not previously applied to data analysis.

Topological methods are broadly recognized as valuable tools for analyzing the ever-increasing flood of data generated by simulation or acquisition. This is particularly the case in scientific visualization, where the data sets have long since surpassed the ability of the human mind to absorb every single byte of data.

The biannual TopoInVis workshop has supported researchers in this area for a decade, and continues to serve as a vital forum for the presentation and discussion of novel results in applications in the area, creating a platform to disseminate knowledge about such implementations throughoutand beyond the community.

The present volume, resulting from the 2015 TopoInVis workshop held in Annweiler, Germany, will appeal to researchers in the fields of scientific visualization and mathematics, domain scientists with an interest in advanced visualization methods, and developers of visualization software systems.

When scientists analyze datasets in a search for underlying phenomena, patterns or causal factors, their first step is often an automatic or semi-automatic search for structures in the data. Of these feature-extraction methods, topological ones stand out due to their solid mathematical foundation. Topologically defined structures—as found in scalar, vector and tensor fields—have proven their merit in a wide range of scientific domains, and scientists have found them to be revealing in subjects such as physics, engineering, and medicine.

Full of state-of-the-art research and contemporary hot topics in the subject, this volume is a selection of peer-reviewed papers originally presented at the fourth Workshop on Topology-Based Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization, TopoInVis 2011, held in Zurich, Switzerland. The workshop brought together many of the leading lights in the field for a mixture of formal presentations and discussion. One topic currently generating a great deal of interest, and explored in several chapters here, is the search for topological structures in time-dependent flows, and their relationship with Lagrangian coherent structures. Contributors also focus on discrete topologies of scalar and vector fields, and on persistence-based simplification, among other issues of note. The new research results included in this volume relate to all three key areas in data analysis—theory, algorithms and applications.