User Interface Development for Interactive Multiobjective Optimization Software

Suvi Luoma

Interactive multiobjective optimization (IMO) methods for multiple criteria
decision making cannot be properly utilized by the real decision makers
without user-friendly software implementations. Hence, there is a need for
developing intuitive and easy-to-use user interfaces for these systems.
Systems for multiple criteria decision making can be characterized as
complex systems, meaning that the amount of information is large and
the problems are open-ended and cognitively burdensome to solve.
Well-reasoned representation and interaction techniques accelerate
rapid insight into complex data, and thus facilitate the analytical
reasoning process being as an essential part of the decision making process.

In my presentation, I will shortly introduce the ongoing software
development projects within the optimization group especially from a
user interface designer's point of view. The implementations of the
new IMO methods, 'Pareto navigator' and 'Nautilus', are used as examples
to demonstrate concrete challenges of user interface design. For these
methods, the early sketching stage is shortly described, and future
research directions are discussed. One of the objectives of my research
is to apply techniques and theories provided by the somewhat new research
field of 'visual analytics', as well as theories based on cognitive
sciences and human-computer interaction.