USING TREEMAPS TO VISUALIZE THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

Treemaps, a visualization method for large hierarchical data spaces, a re used to augment the capabilities of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for decision-making. Two direct manipulation tools, presented me taphorically as a ''pump'' and a ''hook,'' were developed and applied to the treemap to support AHP sensitivity analysis, Users can change t he importance of criteria dynamically on the two-dimensional treemap a nd immediately see the impact on the outcome of the decision, This flu id process dramatically speeds up exploration and provides a better un derstanding of the relative impact of the component criteria, A usabil ity study with six subjects using a prototype AHP application showed t hat treemap representation was acceptable from a visualization and dat a operation standpoint.