Visualization of multivariate building data by spatiotemporal building models

Supervisors: Julien Nembrini, Denis Lalanne

Student: Roman Baeriswyl

Project status: Finished

Year: 2015

Human Computer Interaction and information visualization have the potential to provide humans with information and allow interaction with this information. As stated by [Pierce 2008], concern continues to grow across these fields with respect to how interactive systems and technologies can be used to better inform people, motivate positive behavior or social change. A key area centers on the role of interactive technology and environmentally sustainable behavior.

While the means of collecting data have been improved in the last decade, the extraction of information out of it becomes more and more difficult; the danger of getting lost in data increases [Keim 2010].

The goal of this master project is to develop an interactive tool to explore multivariatebuildingdata. Current performance monitoring systems for buildings use for their dashboards classic data visualizations such as time series and bar charts. This project’s approach tries to embed the spatial dimension of the data into the visualization with the help of building models. This enhancement aims to make the data more understandable and faster to access.

The first part of the work deals with the acquisition of datasets for different building and dwelling related data. Such data could be power consumption (for the whole building and also different appliances), occupancy, temperature, humidity, water, gas and others. In cooperation with Synergy BTC AG, such a dataset has been acquired. It monitors an office building over several years, with variables like room temperature, humidity and CO2, and others.

The second parts deals with the creation of a spatiotemporal visualization for these datasets alongside the implementation of a Prototype.

Document: report.pdf