The Requirements and Challenges of Visualizing Building Data

Nowadays, energy consumption and especially energy saving are important issues. The news of global warming have increased the need to save energy in many areas of our living community. Visualization is an important trend in energy consumption research. Typical commercial buildings include building automation systems with special user interfaces are for automation professionals. There is a lack of UIs for information sharing with ordinary users. It has been proven that increasing consumer awareness can result in reduced energy consumption. Building automation systems, as well as other sensors installed in buildings collect a huge amount and variety of data related to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. This paper presents a user interface for providing relevant data for the users, managers, and owners of buildings. Furthermore, requirements for visualizing building data are described. Finally, challenges faced in developing the visualization methods are discussed.