AN ANALYSIS OF MEDIA INTEGRATION FOR SPATIAL PLANNING ENVIRONMENTS

A fundamental concept with multimedia systems is that of 'seamless int egration' of various media types. The concept is analysed in the conte xt of spatial planning environments. After traditional uses of various media and the relationships between those media have been surveyed, t he implications of media integration for the planning and design proce ss are examined. The benefits are described implicitly, enabling a sin gle plan to be viewed from different perspectives. At the technologica l level, this is related to the integration of design-planning teams a nd the integration of different phases of the design and planning cycl e. The state of the art in multimedia integration is described and it is shown that a technological perspective on integration is restrictiv e because of its neglect of human factors. A system is proposed which might deliver the flexibility required by contemporary design - planni ng teams.