Cognitive Aspects of Timetable Visualization: Support Decision Making

This paper demonstrates timetabling visualizations - timetables, transport timetables, multi-project schedules. These visualizations present an allocation of system resources. The visualization of high-school timetable demonstrates a timetable of student groups. The visualization of transport timetable shows arrivals/departs across stations and lines. The visualization of multi-project schedule includes Gantt chart and an allocation of system resources. These visualizations are provoked a new approach to timetable optimization. The timetabling problems can be solved efficiently by two-stage algorithm developed in database system. The first, a set of demands must be developed as initial timetable. A set of local and global resources are available for carrying out the activities of the systems. The solutions obtained by the first stage algorithm with the best resource allocation rule are used as a baseline to compare those obtained by the latter. The second, the initial timetable must be optimized. The basic criterion for optimization operations is demanded as criterion of resource equability. The latter is equal a root-mean-square deviation from a middle value.