Compare methods

	Isovist Analysis	Space Syntax Analysis
Field	Urban Studies	Architecture
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1979	1984
Originator	Michael L. Benedikt	Bill Hillier, Julienne Hanson
Type	Geometric analysis of the space visible from a vantage point	graph-based spatial assessment method
Seminal source	Benedikt, M. L. (1979). To take hold of space: isovists and isovist fields. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 6(1), 47–65.	Hillier, B. (1984). The Social Logic of Space. Cambridge University Press.
Aliases	Visibility Polygon Analysis, Isovist Fields, Viewshed Analysis (Architectural), Visual Field Analysis	spatial configuration analysis, graph-based space analysis
Related	4	3
Summary	Isovist analysis describes the experience of space by computing, for any vantage point, the exact region that is visible from it — the isovist, or visibility polygon. Introduced by Michael Benedikt in 1979, the method turns intuitive notions of openness, enclosure and prospect into measurable quantities such as the area, perimeter and compactness of the visible field. By repeating the construction across a grid of points one obtains an isovist field that maps how visibility varies throughout a building or urban space, making it a core analytic tool in space syntax, architecture and environmental psychology.	Space Syntax Analysis is a quantitative method for assessing spatial configuration in buildings and urban environments through graph-based representations. Developed by Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson in the 1980s, it quantifies how spatial layout affects human movement, visibility, and social interaction.