Sensing the room: an integrated implementation process to visualize indoor temperature data on floor plans

Abstract

Background: Recently multi-use environmental sensors became affordable and easy to control. This improvement enabled us to measure the broad range of indoor environments by using low-priced and controllable sensor devices. As the data set acquired by widely installed environmental sensors increased significantly, the need for making effective use of the data has become of importance. We developed an integrated visualization mechanism to express larger amounts of sensor data. Method: The mechanism for visualization on floor plan described in this paper consists of the following modules: 1) the sensor module; 2) the data collection module; 3) the data processing module; 4) the spatial data module; 5) the sensor location module; and 6) the data visualization module. A demonstration following the mechanism is introduced in this paper for evaluating the integrated visualization approach. We set up a test-purposed and versatile toolkit that is cheaper, smaller and more controllable than conventional tools. We collect indoor environmental data set composed of sequential numeric data so as to use them as parameters for visualization. We inspected three major issues in the process: 1) indoor temperature data of a specific room collected at a second interval; 2) such a data set can be varied by subdivided spots of interest using multiple toolkits; 3) as a result, the collection of data is regarded as one type of parameter for visualization on top of the room's floor plan, e.g. a sudden change of sequential numbers. Results: Indoor environment such as temperature changes are shown as colors overlapped on the floor plan. In this way it may be easier to understand the state of indoor environment and factors which influence the environment. The floor plan based visualization of an indoor environmental element seems intuitive compared to just listing the numeric information. Conclusion: This paper introduces and demonstrates an integrated approach for visualizing the indoor environment on a floor plan with an actual test case. Combined with the building model, the visualized data can be used for recognition of the factors affecting to the target environmental element. We expect floor plan-based visualization to be used for decision-making.