Monica Sebillo

The Metaphor GIS Query Language

In recent years, visual representations have been increasingly used in the management of real-world phenomena as a valuable support for human?computer interaction. In the field of Geographic Information Systems, visual languages represent a promising means for allowing unskilled users to query geographic databases. In the present paper, we define the Metaphor GIS query Language (MGISQL) which allows GIS users to simultaneously capture the spatial and the thematic components of geographic data. MGISQL describes the semantic of those data in the real world and is based on a special type of visual description, the geometaphor, which is used to specify all the elements featured in a GIS domain.

Virtual images for similarity retrieval in image databases

We introduce the virtual image, an iconic index suited for pictorial information access in a pictorial database, and a similarity retrieval approach based on virtual images to perform content-based retrieval. A virtual image represents the spatial information contained in a real image in explicit form by means of a set of spatial relations. This is useful to efficiently compute the similarity between a query and an image in the database. We also show that virtual images support real-world applications that require translation, reflection, and/or rotation invariance of image representation.

A multilevel learning management system

Many authoring systems have been realized so far in order to allow users to build advanced presentation of documents. These systems represent the result of a requirement analysis performed in specific application domains and their functionality is meaningful for the domain experts. Consequently, in many cases there exists a barrier between system functionality and users, who have a limited knowledge of the domain: in order to use the application, the content expert end-user has to interact with the application expert. Such a barrier limits the effectiveness and the efficiency of the authoring system, because the development of a multimedia presentation forces the user to acquire experience far from his/her background. In this paper we introduce a new approach to educational authoring, based on a multilevel development methodology. It allows and supports teachers to create their own multimedia learning environment. The proposed approach has been experimented on an initial prototype which allows users to manage multimedia authoring of units of study.

Framy-visualising geographic data on mobile interfaces

When using a mobile device for navigating and querying a map, some visualisation and usability problems may arise due to small screens and limited interaction modes allowed by such devices. Recently, researchers have devoted their efforts to overcome these issues by introducing innovative approaches for developing advanced interfaces, capable of providing users with analytical information as well as visual summary of data. In this article, we propose a new visualisation technique, named Framy, which exploits a novel interaction metaphor for picture frames to provide hints about off-screen objects. It was conceived to cover a wider range of spatial data visualisation tasks, which may simultaneously involve different geographic layers. The technique has been embedded inside a mobile GIS application, MapGIS, designed to perform typical GIS operations and queries on mobile devices. A usability study has been performed in order to verify the benefits in efficacy, efficiency and subjective satisfaction coming from the adoption of Framy within the system.

Towards normalized iconic indexing

Most of the existing pictorial indexing methodologies describe images with meaningful orientation. However, in many cases, more freedom in the filing of images with respect to the orientation is required since the visual information contained in them is independent of any orientation or simply should not be affected by possible erroneous storing, for example in the reverse direction. The authors define a mapping between images and indexes that satisfies the property of normalization. In particular, they deal with the problems of reversing and rotation of images, which represent the two fundamental manipulations in the 2D space. They present an indexing methodology based on the Indexed 2D C-string that satisfies the normalization requirement. Then, to obtain the rotation invariance, they introduce a system of polar axes that substitutes the Cartesian one, and totally inherits all the properties of orthogonal indexes. Finally, the authors define a structured index which represents the second level of normalization of an IDBS.<<ETX>>

Audio-Visual Information Clues about Geographic Data on Mobile Interfaces

The auditory channel represents a primary means of human interaction and several researches are meant to exploit this interaction modality in the design of usable interactive systems. The goal of our present research has been to exploit some interactive sonification capabilities and enhance the solely-visual version of Framy in order to convey the same information clues as those visualized on its interface. The basic version of Framy exploits a visual metaphor to provide hints about off-screen objects. Based on tactile input and non-speech sound output as alternative interaction modalities, the enhanced version of the resulting prototype is now capable to offer an appropriate tradeoff between a zoom level and the amount of information provided, and has motivated the design of multimodal interfaces that support ultimate users providing them with an additional means to access information.

Supporting the on-site emergency management through a visualisation technique for mobile devices

In case of emergency, visual analytics applications may be a successful means for quickly organising necessary activities. They allow decision-makers to immediately visualise the status of the crisis, plan the evacuation and address people towards vacancies in emergency centres. Although the effectiveness of such applications is immediately clear, further support may be gained by allowing people to directly manage the emergency on site. In this sense, it seems to be particularly desiderable to provide interfaces which support visual analytics tasks on small and handheld devices without losing their communicative efficacy. In this article, we adopt and extend a visualisation techinque, named Framy, specifically conceived for visualising in a very intuitive way a large number of aggregates on very small devices. In particular, we show how it reveals to be suitable for the management of these kinds of emergencies by embedding and qualitatively aggregating both spatial and temporal information useful for catching status and evolution of events. An example concerning an evacuation scenario shows the Framy extended capability.

Combining personal diaries with territorial intelligence to empower diabetic patients

Abstract Information is today recognized as a major source of benefit, for those who are able to properly create and manage it. With the advent of new computing, storing and networking technologies, transforming data into useful, ‘marketable’ information has become a major goal for companies, organizations and governments. The healthcare domain makes no exception. Governments and healthcare companies are paying increasing attention to patient-centered care and to its positive effects on business metrics, such as finances, quality, safety, satisfaction and market share. Appropriate information sharing and communication are then recognized to be one of the key factors for patient-centered care. In this paper, we propose an infrastructure for defining new processes to support a fruitful exchange of strategic information at the local level, which could encourage local dynamics and improve the relationships between ultimate users and the territory and vice versa. This is particularly relevant in the healthcare domain, so we have developed a mobile application to provide diabetic patients with personalized services based on a technology with a low level invasive impact, through the experimentation of new process models meant to share information and integrate software components. Such a special-purpose application is meant to improve care experience of diabetic patients while creating public value for services. This is achieved by a profitable combination of territorial knowledge with personal data and events available and processed on smartphones.

Building social life networks through mobile interfaces : the case study of Sri Lanka farmers

The development of mobile applications is paramount to support users living in developing countries to improve their lives. One of the major research challenges is to develop a user interface suitable for such users. In this chapter we present the design process we applied in order to develop a mobile application oriented to farmers living in Sri Lanka. The application prototype developed so far has been evaluated against usability requirements and a usability evaluation framework has been devised, which can be used to replicate the tests as the application iteratively reaches its final release. This work represents a pilot study within a wider international research project aiming to provide real-time information to support activities related to livelihood delivered using mobile phone applications targeted to meet the needs of people in developing countries.

A spatial SQL extension for continuous field querying

In the last decade, a growing interest has been devoted to the management of data referring to geographic scenarios. However, the attention of recent research has been focused on discrete data disregarding continuous data, because of their intrinsic complexity. We introduce an extension of a spatial SQL, which provides users with the capability to pose queries about both discrete and continuous data.