Navigating information as a cityscape

Recent years have seen a continued growth in the amount of information populating information systems. Meanwhile, the proliferation of computer-based communications and advanced telecommunications has seen an increase in the speed of business. As a result, analysts of data are being called upon to comprehend larger volumes of data in shorter spans of time. One technique to assist users in navigating, understanding and exploiting available information is the use of visualisation tools. In this paper we describe a generic information visualisation tool that adopts the paradigm of a virtual city. This tool was developed as part of an informal investigation into the use of three-dimensional visualisations to aid data understanding. In this paper we describe the Cityscape tool, our experiences with using it, and our plans for further investigation.