Collaborative Visualization

Visualization plays a key role in providing access to data and information and in making computer-supported human-to-human communication as easy as possible. Computers, with their ability to transmit multimedia data in real time, have lifted visual co-operation and collaborative visualization into a new dimension. Human-to-human interaction, either in a single location or in spatially distributed scenarios, can be rendered more efficiently using appropriate computer-based tools.

The trend towards always more powerful, low-cost display technology and mobile devices are opening up new opportunities for collaboration. Besides improving video conferencing and application sharing, the traditional task of CSCW systems (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work), also emerging requirements for innovative adaptive systems are supported. One example is simultaneous collaborative work of multi-disciplinary teams at power walls, virtual tables etc. Another example is remote consultancy, whereby a mobile worker contacts on-site a remote expert for support with a maintenance task.

Both examples demonstrate that collaborative systems have a direct economic impact in scenarios characterized, for instance, by outsourcing and concurrent engineering, where the efficient and secure exchange of information becomes a decisive competitive advantage. The INI-GraphicsNet offers an abundance of developments and solutions to be applied and used in such industrial and commercial environments.