Using Natural Language to Generate Data Visualizations

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• memory;
• and
• one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
• receiving user input to create a data visualization, including user selection of a field in a data structure:
• identifying a set of field values for the field in the data structure, wherein the field has an associated field name and each field value corresponds to a record in the data structure, and wherein the field values are words in a natural language;
• for each field value in the set of field values:
• building a respective term set comprising a respective set of base terms including:
• the respective field value;
• and
• the field name;
• retrieving a respective set of images from an image corpus according to the respective term set;
• and
• selecting a respective image from the retrieved respective set of images;
• and
• displaying data from the data structure in a data visualization, wherein each respective record in the data structure is displayed using the corresponding respective selected image, and wherein the respective selected image is displayed, instead of the respective field value, at a location in the data visualization according to data in the respective record.

A computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

• receiving user input to create a data visualization, including user selection of a field in a data structure:
• identifying a set of field values for the field in the data structure, wherein the field has an associated field name and each field value corresponds to a record in the data structure, and wherein the field values are words in a natural language;
• for each field value in the set of field values:
• building a respective term set comprising a respective set of base terms including:
• the respective field value;
• and
• the field name;
• retrieving a respective set of images from an image corpus according to the respective term set;
• and
• selecting a respective image from the retrieved respective set of images;
• and
• displaying data from the data structure in a data visualization, wherein each respective record in the data structure is displayed using the corresponding respective selected image, and wherein the respective selected image is displayed, instead of the respective field value, at a location in the data visualization according to data in the respective record.