The intuitive concept of the SFMs led to different versions of the visualization method established in different domains of materials science.
Structure field map was first introduced in 1954 by MacKenzie L. Keith and Rustum Roy to classify structural prototypes for the oxide perovskites of the chemical formula ABO. It was later popularized by a compiled handbook written by Olaf Muller and Rustum Roy, published in 1974 that included many more known materials.