Human beings are visual creatures, practised in recognising pictures and detecting objects hidden in patterns. The bandwidth between the eye and the brain is enormous and our software and hardware are here superior to what is found in computers. Visualisation represents one of the future’s most important tools for analysis and communication of complex and large data volumes. Sweden is today a world leader in visualisation technology.

Four large Swedish research funders have joined forces in the Visualisation research programme in order to stimulate and develop visualisation and imaging in schools, the business community, higher education and the public sector. Behind the research programme are the Knowledge Foundation, the Foundation for Strategic Research, Vinnova, Vårdalstiftelsen (the Foundation for Health Care Sciences and Allergy Research) and the Invest in Sweden Agency. A total of SEK 85 million is being invested over five years.

Virtual autopsies (video)

The virtual autopsy is one of the greatest advances in forensic medicine in the past hundred years. With the aid of three-dimensional X-ray techniques, virtual and bloodless autopsies are now being performed on suspected victims of crime. CMIV (the Centre for Medical Image Science and Visualisation) at Linköping University Hospital, NVIS (Norrköpings Visualisation and Interaction Studio) and the National Board of Forensic Medicine in Linköping are world leaders in the field of virtual autopsies.

The Swedish Visualisation research programme contains the project LISTEN Auralisation of urban sound landscapes, which is aimed at developing auralisation tools in order to assess noise environments right from the planning stage of residential areas, e.g. ones that are close to noisy traffic routes or railways.

Every day our digitalised society generates enormous amounts of information. This flood of information can easily become overwhelming. How can we escape being swamped by information and instead synthesise it? In the Visual Analytics project, which is part of the Swedish Visualisation research programme, work is being carried out on the creation of advanced and interactive visualisation tools for complex and multidimensional amounts of data.

Sweden is a world leader in the field of visualisation and visualisation technology. The Visualisation research programme brings together two forums: the Centre of Visualisation in Gothenburg and C-site in Norrköping/Linköping. These forums enable different specialists and entrepreneurs in the future area of visualisation to come together for the purpose of creative collaboration.

For further information, please contact Stina Algotsson or Mats Waltré.

Uppdaterad: 2008-10-31