Visualization system for field monitoring data and its effectiveness

As an integral part of modern civil engineering systems, automated monitoring systems provide quantitative monitoring data for disaster-prevention, as references for future designs, and for forensics working at the site of an engineering disaster, among other possibilities. Most of these applications, however, require integration of the environment, sensor-deployment, and the monitoring data to realize the data's potential. This work proposes a visualization system that integrates monitoring information systems, three-dimensional digital field models, interactive computer graphics, and visualization techniques for the visualization of monitoring data along with field models. Testing of the developed system with undergraduate construction engineering majors showed a consistent improvement in efficiency of about 50% in the interpretation of monitoring data using the developed visualization versus conventional 2D maps and bar charts. The system enables users to interpret monitoring data effectively and intuitively, reduces misinterpretation, improves communication efficiency, and facilitates efficient decisions that are supported by the collected monitoring data.

► This work uses 3D interactive graphics for visualizing field-monitoring data.
► The design of the visualization system is discussed.
► Effectiveness of the proposed visualization is evaluated through user testing.
► 3D visualization improves efficiency and accuracy for interpreting data by 50%.