Analyzing Alternative Scenarios of Evolution in Heritage Architecture: Modelling and Visualization Challenges

International audienceOur objective is to support reasoning tasks in heritage architecture with graphics enabling analysts to visualise and share their understanding of how, from a given set of information, alternative scenarios or evolution can be inferred. The paper comments on the nature of the cognitive processes in historical sciences, on factors that need to be weighed when interpreting sets of information, and on the characteristics of the parameter time when depicting architectural changes. Visual solutions are illustrated and evaluated on real cases in Kraków, Poland. They help to spot where alternative explanations should be considered in order to avoid unjustified assumptions and certitudes on the evolution of artefacts. The contribution expects to demonstrate that reasoning on uncertainties in historical sciences can be fruitfully backed up by concepts and practices from the infovis community