Call for Papers: Special Issue of the Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering on Graphical 3D Visualization in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction

Abstract

As the respected scholar and philosopher Aristotle noted years ago, visualization is the foundation for human understanding On Memory and Recollection, 450a 5, Kosslyn, 1980, p. 441 . Since the beginning of civilization, humans have observed and interpreted visual images in natural phenomena. Entities such as planets, stars, cloud formations, and geological artifacts are better interpreted and explained using visualization and the innate human ability to process graphical information. The written language that is now used has also evolved from early pictorial languages. Humans imagine and interpret a graphical world. In recent years, engineers and scientists have increasingly used visualization to understand and communicate complex processes and systems. This can be attributed to the tremendous growth that computer graphics has experienced over the past decade in terms of performance and enabling technologies. Graphical threedimensional visualization provides “high bandwidth” communication, allowing more information to be transferred in a shorter period of time. This allows engineers and scientists to share complex ideas and develop creative solutions to emerging problems. Three-dimensional visualization can potentially offer considerable benefits in all stages of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction AEC processes, from initial planning and conceptual design to facility management and operations. It is a particularly useful communication, planning, and analysis tool for designers, engineers, and constructors who are challenged with ever-increasing complexities involved in designing a structure or piece of civil infrastructure, and transforming that design into a completed facility. Visualization of architectural and engineering designs has traditionally been the primary driving force for developments in three-dimensional visualization in the AEC industry Bouchlaghem et al. 2005 . Three-dimensional visualization allows architects and engineers to clearly communicate their ideas