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2.1 Turnkey systems

Turnkey visualization systems provide a fixed set of visualization techniques to the investigator in an efficient way.

The investigator does not have the freedom to alter the techniques provided, but does have the advantages associated with the software coming from one source. Since everything is under their control, the supplier has the opportunity to produce a package which is efficient and responds to the needs of particular applications.

If a particular problem falls within the scope of one of these systems, this can be a good solution. In this section, we present some examples.

The visualization software available on low cost hardware - PC's and Macintoshes - is generally distinct from the software available on workstations, with the occasional rare exeception.

Software available on low cost hardware

There are many packages on PC's which provide technical graphics. An evaluation was carried out in the UK in 1993 and those included in the evaluation were able to handle 3D plots, surfaces and contours - handling scalar data depending on two other variables. Details of the evaluation and a summary of the packages are covered in [AGOCG 22].

Systems available on workstations

Availability in the U.K.:

Spyglass is available from:

and also from:

Uniras software is available from

Data Visualizer is available from:


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