Information visualization for intelligent decision support systems

To work efficiently with decision support systems (DSS), most users benefit from representation conversion. i.e. translating the specific outcome from the DSS, normally portrayed in a numerical format, into the universal language of the visual. In general, interpretation of data is much more intuitive if the results from the DSS are translated into charts, maps, and other graphical displays because visualization exploits our natural ability to recognize and understand visual patterns. In this paper we discuss the concept of visualization user interface (VUI) for DSS. A proprietary software system known as AniGraftool is introduced as an example of an information visualization application for DSS. In addition, a visualized information retrieval engine based on fuzzy control is proposed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.