Background
Historically, visualization has often played a major role either as a source of knowledge or in the transfer of information. Today, with the pre-eminence of screen-based technology, images have emerged again as a prevalent mean communication at all levels of information gathering, interpretation of data, and exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, while the volume of information we need to process is expanding exponentially, the process by which we access, interpret and share information has not progressed as quickly, concluded G. Judelman in his research on visualization and the nature and structure of information (2004). The limitation of the cognitive and perceptual systems, or the social context it originates from, requires a system which can’t solely present information, but communicates knowledge.
Knowledge visualization is a fairly new area of research. It emerged from the challenge that all levels of society are facing when interpreting and sharing visual data and the need to make a greater use of cognitive resources when processing complex information. As Burkhart and Eppler noted (2004) this framework proposes to expand dramatically our ability to think, interpret, and communicate abstract meaningful and informative data to comprehend better their content. It is recognized as an independent scientific discipline and has been adopted as an integral, interdisciplinary course in the curriculum of architects, engineers, computer scientists, and in many other areas of applied sciences education.