frequencytoplace

Frequencytoplace is a data visualization and analysis approach that maps a signal's frequency content to spatial coordinates in a 2D layout. The aim is to reveal spectral structure by translating spectral features into positions, making relationships among frequencies easier to perceive.

It starts with a time-frequency decomposition (FFT, STFT, or wavelet) to obtain energy across frequency bands over time. Each band is assigned a location in the display via a deterministic mapping or a learned embedding. In the deterministic variant, frequency values linearly translate to coordinates; in the learned variant, dimensionality reduction places spectrally similar bands nearby. Color or brightness typically encodes energy, and motion across frames shows dynamics.

Variants include multi-channel layouts, smoothing to reduce clutter, and real-time updates. The approach can be integrated with interactive filtering, allowing users to highlight specific bands or time windows.

Applications span audio analysis, music visualization, machinery vibration monitoring, seismology, and neuroscience, where quick assessment of spectral content is valuable.

Example: In music analysis, FTP can arrange fundamental and harmonic bands spatially, enabling rapid detection of tonal changes and timbre shifts.

History: The term and its methods emerged in visualization research in the late 2010s and have since appeared in several toolkits as a flexible spectral layout technique.