Information visualisation for the architectural practice

Information is a critical element for architects to accomplish their tasks. The overwhelming increase in and complexity of digital information has revealed problems concerning information acquisition. New techniques of handling information are needed to improve the transformation of data into information, and then into knowledge. Information visualisation (IV) is seen as one of these techniques. This paper discusses the importance of information in architectural practice and the potentials of utilizing IV techniques to improve the information acquisition process. The paper attempts to construct an application model for developing IV tools. It explores in detail four main factors that influence their successful application, which are: (1) the underlying data structure, (2) information-seeking strategies, (3) identification of IV techniques, and (4) analysing the user profile. Based on these factors, the paper critically examines different possible IV development approaches for architectural practice. These include: technology push, data structure-based and task-driven approaches.