Inga Scheler

Visualization of Building Performance Simulation Results: State-of-the-Art and Future Directions

Performance attributes such as energy use or natural ventilation are becoming rapidly more important in the design of modern buildings. As a basis for the improvement of existing visualization techniques in this application domain, we provide a detailed tasks and requirements analysis using feedback from an architect. State-of-the-art visualization strategies used for building performance simulation results are then evaluated by comparing them to the quality aspects derived before. This assessment specifically reveals shortcomings with respect to the applied techniques for visualizing spatiotemporal data. Therefore, we discuss the potential of utilizing other visualization techniques to meet the identified prerequisites and reveal future directions based on these findings.

Building Bridges: HCI, Visualization, and Non-formal Modeling

David Hutchison Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK Takeo Kanade Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Josef Kittler University of Surrey, Guildford, UK Jon M. Kleinberg Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA Alfred Kobsa University of California, Irvine, CA, USA Friedemann Mattern ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland John C. Mitchell Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA Moni Naor Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel Oscar Nierstrasz University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland C. Pandu Rangan Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India Bernhard Steffen TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany Demetri Terzopoulos University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA Doug Tygar University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA Gerhard Weikum Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbruecken, Germany

Visual exploration of Location-Based Social Networks data in urban planning

The increasing amount of data generated by Location Based Social Networks (LBSN) such as Twitter, Flickr, or Foursquare, is currently drawing the attention of urban planners, as it is a new source of data that contains valuable information about the behavior of the inhabitants of a city. Making this data accessible to the urban planning domain can add value to the decision making processes. However, the analysis of the spatial and temporal characteristics of this data in the context of urban planning is an ongoing research problem. This paper describes ongoing work in the design and development of a visual exploration tool to facilitate this task. The proposed design provides an approach towards the integration of a visual exploration tool and the capabilities of a visual query system from a multilevel perspective (e.g., multiple spatial scales and temporal resolutions implicit in LBSN data). A preliminary discussion about the design and the potential insights that can be gained from the exploration and analysis of this data with the proposed tool is presented, along with the conclusions and future work for the continuation of this work.

Diversified visualisation from WWW to VR

In the mid of the sixties, the development of simulation and visualisation algorithm began which was influencing the evolution of the www. The world wide web is a medium for presentation and discussion of results through technologies like VRML, Java3d. Beside the net there are also VR technologies, which are not really shareable through the net. The combination of these techniques leads to a visualisation system, which can handle several rendering methods in combination with distributed data structures and program libraries. The usability is shown in application in the range from visualisation of prefabricated houses, in grinding visualization and in the development of the world heritage “Volklinger Hutte”.

iGreen: non-formal modelling in practice

Motivation -- In the following we describe the development of new visualization and interaction metaphors in the context of iGreen. iGreen is a project dealing with knowledge management in the agricultural industry. We give two example scenarios in which formal modelling cannot be applied easily. Research approach -- The number of actors participating in iGreen is high and encompasses different levels of background knowledge, project expectations, and technical affinities. Over the course of time objective targets gradually changed due to an increased understanding of processes within the project and new unforeseen technical opportunities that turned up in the area of mobile computing. The methods developed had to be accessible for a wide variety of potential users and offer opportunities for interactive data exploration on various hardware platforms. Findings/Design -- The project dynamic made conventional software development strategies hard to apply. The demand for more flexible methods to design visualization techniques and interaction metaphors portable and scalable to different sized hardware platforms increased during the project. Research limitations/Implications -- The target group of users for techniques developed in iGreen is highly related to practice. In order to overcome adaption resistances and replace traditional, mostly manual, workflows, the methods had to be highly intuitive, reliable, and offer steep learning curves. Take away message -- Two application areas in the field of agricultural industry are discussed for which visualization and interaction techniques have been developed. Both examples represent different ends of a wide spectrum of potential target platforms that had to be served.

DaMI - Data Management for Multimedial Information Systems

This paper describes a Data Management System for Multimedial Information Visualization called DaMI. It is possible to create 2D or 3D model based on data out of standard databases and additional metainformation. DaMI is a generic system guaranteeing an optimal reusability and compatibility.