Abstract
Applications of information technologies have significantly improved efficiency of electronic document processing and management. The speed and amount of knowledge accumulation in the cyberspace have exceeded what common users can absorb. Therefore, in addition to data processing efficiency, the information technology should be used to overcome information overloading. In order to enhance the efficiency and accuracy for knowledge users to acquire knowledge, an appropriate knowledge representation scheme is required. Most of the traditional schemes for explicit knowledge representation are text-oriented and much time is required for readers to recognize the knowledge contents, especially for the spatial knowledge (e.g., the geographical information). This research develops a knowledge visualization methodology that computer systems can automatically convert the textual knowledge into visualized display. In the proposed methodology, the free-form documents are converted into formatted ones and the corresponding visualized display can be established based on the formatted contents. A data model supporting spatial knowledge representation is also proposed for spatial knowledge extraction and display. In addition to the proposed methodology, a web-based prototype system is developed to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed model. The goal of this research is to provide a knowledge visualization approach that can be widely applied in enterprise e-training and virtual simulation to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of enterprise knowledge reuse.