From Isovists to Visibility Graphs: A Methodology for the Analysis of Architectural Space

Alasdair Turner, Maria Doxa, David O'Sullivan and Alan Penn
Additional contact information
Alasdair Turner: VR Centre for the Built Environment
Maria Doxa: Bartlett School of Graduate Studies
David O'Sullivan: Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis

Environment and Planning B, 2001, vol. 28, issue 1, 103-121

Abstract: An isovist, or viewshed, is the area in a spatial environment directly visible from a location within the space. Here we show how a set of isovists can be used to generate a graph of mutual visibility between locations. We demonstrate that this graph can also be constructed without reference to isovists and that we are in fact invoking the more general concept of a visibility graph. Using the visibility graph, we can extend both isovist and current graph-based analyses of architectural space to form a new methodology for the investigation of configurational relationships. The measurement of local and global characteristics of the graph, for each vertex or for the system as a whole, is of interest from an architectural perspective, allowing us to describe a configuration with reference to accessibility and visibility, to compare from location to location within a system, and to compare systems with different geometries. Finally we show that visibility graph properties may be closely related to manifestations of spatial perception, such as way-finding, movement, and space use.

Date: 2001
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b2684 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envirb:v:28:y:2001:i:1:p:103-121

DOI: 10.1068/b2684

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning B
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().