Editing Parallel coordinates (section)

== History ==

The concept of Parallel Coordinates is often said to originate in 1885 by a French mathematician [[Philbert Maurice d'Ocagne]].<ref>Ocagne, M. (1885). Coordonnées Parallèles et Axiales: Méthode de transformation géométrique et procédé nouveau de calcul graphique déduits de la considération des coordonnées parallèlles. Gauthier-Villars. [https://archive.org/details/coordonnesparal00ocaggoog archive.org]</ref> d'Ocagne sought a way to provide graphical calculation of mathematical functions using alignment diagrams called [[nomogram]]s which used parallel axes with different scales.
For example, a three-variable equation could be solved using three parallel axes, marking known values on their scales, then drawing a line between them, with an unknown read from the scale at the point where the line intersects that scale.

The use of Parallel Coordinates as a visualization technique to show data is also often said to have originated earlier with [[Henry Gannett]] in work preceding the Statistical Atlas of the United States
for the 1890 Census, for example his "General Summary, Showing the Rank of States, by Ratios, 1880", <ref name="hg">{{cite book |first=Henry |last=Gannett |title=Scribner's statistical atlas of the United States |section=General Summary Showing the Rank of States by Ratios 1880 |url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~32803~1152181}}</ref>
that shows the rank of 10 measures (population, occupations, wealth, manufacturing, agriculture, and so forth) on parallel axes connected by lines for each state.

However, both d'Ocagne and Gannet were far preceded in this by [[André-Michel Guerry]],<ref>Guerry, A.-M. (1833). Essai sur la Statistique Morale de la France. Paris: Crochard.</ref> Plate IV, "Influence de l'Age",
where he showed rankings of crimes against persons by age along parallel axes, connecting the same crime across age groups.<ref>Friendly, M. (2022). The life and works of André-Michel Guerry, revisited. Sociological Spectrum, 42(4-6), 233–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/02732173.2022.2078450</ref>

Parallel Coordinates were popularised again 87 years later by [[Alfred Inselberg]]<ref name="pc">{{cite journal |first=Alfred |last=Inselberg |title=The Plane with Parallel Coordinates |journal=Visual Computer |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=69–91 |year=1985 |doi=10.1007/BF01898350 |s2cid=15933827 }}</ref> in 1985 and systematically developed as a coordinate system starting from 1977. Some important applications are in [[Traffic collision avoidance system|collision avoidance algorithms]] for [[air traffic control]] (1987—3 USA patents), [[data mining]] (USA patent), [[computer vision]] (USA patent), Optimization, [[process control]], more recently in [[Intrusion detection system|intrusion detection]] and elsewhere.