Exploring vector fields with distribution-based streamline analysis

Streamline-based techniques are designed based on the idea that properties of streamlines are indicative of features in the underlying field. In this paper, we show that statistical distributions of measurements along the trajectory of a streamline can be used as a robust and effective descriptor to measure the similarity between streamlines. With the distribution-based approach, we present a framework for interactive exploration of 3D vector fields with streamline query and clustering. Streamline queries allow us to rapidly identify streamlines that share similar geometric features to the target streamline. Streamline clustering allows us to group together streamlines of similar shapes. Based on user's selection, different clusters with different features at different levels of detail can be visualized to highlight features in 3D flow fields. We demonstrate the utility of our framework with simulation data sets of varying nature and size.