On 19 December 2025, Moataz Abdelaal presented the outcome of his doctoral research titled " Visualization for Architecture and Graphs" in front of the doctoral committee.
Congratulations to Moataz Abdelaal on his great achievement.
Doctoral Committee
| Chair: Supervisor / first examiner: Second examiner: Other: |
Herr Prof. Dr. Kai Oliver Arras, KI, Universität Stuttgart Herr Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Daniel Weiskopf, VIS, Universität Stuttgart Herr Prof. Dr. Fabian Beck, Universität Bamberg Herr Prof. Dr. Thomas Wortmann, ICD, Universität Stuttgart |
Moataz Abdelaal's Post-defense celebration
Abstract Doctoral Research
Visualization research encompasses a variety of methods, ranging from collaborating with domain experts to solve their problems, developing novel techniques for data visualization, evaluating how users interact with visualizations, or laying down theoretical foundations that benefit the broader community. This thesis presents the results of visualization research based on some of these methods.
Driven by the productivity and sustainability challenges facing the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, we present a design study that resulted from close collaboration with experts in architectural design optimization. This work led to the development of a visualization tool for exploring architectural designs and was part of a broader analysis of the industry, where we characterized its challenges and solution strategies, and identified opportunities where visualization research could play a role.
Next, we turn to graph visualization, where we introduce two alternative representations for graph sequences based on bipartite graph layouts. Through a combination of a parameter study and application examples, we demonstrate how these representations scale compared to state-of-the-art methods, particularly for longer sequences.
Building on this, we present the results of a quantitative user study conducted to evaluate the performance of bipartite graph layouts and compare them to node-link diagrams and adjacency matrices under varying graph complexities, with a particular focus on graph overview analysis tasks.
Finally, we conclude with two case studies from the architecture domain, where we aim to conceptually link the visualization tool developed in the design study with the graph techniques to explore the design space of fiber composite structures.
Papers of which the dissertation consisted
- Abdelaal, Moataz, et al. "STEP: Sequence of time-aligned edge plots." Information Visualization 23, no. 4 (2024): 328-346. DOI
- Abdelaal, Moataz, et al. "Visual Analysis of Fitness Landscapes in Architectural Design Optimization." The Visual Computer (2024): 1-14. DOI
- Abdelaal, Moataz, et al. "Comparative evaluation of bipartite, node-link, and matrix based network representations." IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 29, no. 1 (2022): 896-906. DOI
- Abdelaal, Moataz, et al. "Visualization for architecture, engineering, and construction: Shaping the future of our built world." IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications 42, no. 2 (2022): 10-20. DOI
- Abdelaal, Moataz, et al. "Time-aligned edge plots for dynamic graph visualization." In 24th International Conference Information Visualisation (IV), pp. 248-257. IEEE, 2020. DOI
- Abdelaal, Moataz, et al. "Clustering for Stacked Edge Splatting." VMV. 2018. DOI