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sketches. According to Eppler & Burkhard (2007;
2008), knowledge visualization designates all
(interactive) graphic means that can be used to
develop or convey insights, experiences, methods,
or skills. Eppler reviews concepts from different
disciplines that help to explain how visualizations
can effectively act as collaboration catalysts and
knowledge integrators. His review “makes it ap-
parent that many different labels and conceptions
exist in very different domains to explain the same
phenomenon: the integrative power of visuals for
knowledge-intensive collaboration processes.
These concepts can be used to compile a list of
the requirements of an effective knowledge visu-
alization.”
Remo Burkhard (2005) describes knowledge
visualization as a field that investigates the use of
visual representations to transfer knowledge be-
tween at least two people, and suggested applying
it as a problem solver, not only a meta-science.
Agent-based crowd simulation tools have been
primarily used in architecture and urban planning
for analytical purposes, such as the simulation of
pedestrians or fire escape scenarios in buildings.
Because of the high cost-benefit ratio, they were
only rarely used for communication purposes,
for example for marketing purposes. To bridge
the fields of architecture and commercial crowd
simulation, Burkhard, Bischof, & Herzog (2008)
discuss crowd simulations for analytical purposes
and case studies and consider this relevant for
architects, urban designers, communication and
PR experts, and for researchers in the fields of
architecture, knowledge visualization, commu-
nication science, and agent-based simulations.
Martin Eppler put a stress on the importance
of professional knowledge communication as a
key activity for today' s specialized workforce.
“Knowledge communication thus designates the
successful transfer of know-how (e.g., how to
accomplish a task), know- why (e.g., the cause-
effect relationships of a complex phenomenon),
know-what (e.g., the results of a test), and know-
who (e.g., the experiences with others) through
face-to-face (co-located) or media-based (virtual)
interactions“ (Eppler, 2005, p. 317). Eppler and
Burkhard (2008) identify concepts related to
knowledge visualization in a multidisciplinary
context and the structures of scientific domains:
Knowledge maps - cartographic depictions
of knowledge sources, structures, assets, and
development or applications steps, which do not
directly represent knowledge, but reference it for
easier identification and assessment; knowledge
animations - interactive applications that consist
of interactive mechanisms that foster the re-
construction of knowledge or the generation of
new insights; visual metaphors - graphic depic-
tions of seemingly unrelated graphic shapes that
are used to convey an abstract idea by relating it
to a concrete phenomenon; heuristic sketches -
ad-hoc drawings that are used to assist the group
reflection and communication process by making
unstable knowledge explicit and debatable; and
conceptual diagrams - schematic depictions of
abstract ideas with the help of standardized shapes
such as arrows, circles, pyramids, matrices, etc.
Computational solutions for knowledge
domains require availability of adequate tools,
with visualization techniques belonging to the
most important ones because of the complexity
of data, information, and knowledge within many
application areas. Visualization improves com-
munication because knowledge needs to be seen
and without successful and sustainable transfer
knowledge is meaningless; in the words of Stefan
Bertschi (Bertschi et al., 2011), “the act of visu-
alizing is more important than the image itself:
medium>message.” Visualization enhances visual
communication through display of information
with the use of combination of letters and numer-
als, art, signs, and application software.
Stefan Bertschi (Bertschi et al., 2011) states that
strategic and operational processes rely on operation
and interaction, planning, implementation, project
and change processes (Burkhard, 2005). “Knowledge
Visualization aims to understand how the sender's
intended meaning can be transferred in such a way
