Platform, Schemas, and other stories...

Don't mean to sound overly optimistic, but it seems some good progress has been made since the last time I posted something. We have not yet finalized the GUI but there have been enough discussions to establish a base to work on. The main issue remains how to accommodate the demands for a broad overview for the occassional user, and the specialized, particular demands of a "power user". It seems the second category will need an elaborate query tool. These are some examples of a possible GUI that was suggested at some point:


Darren is doing a good job on creating the platform -it seems we are sticking with using svgs on a raster image for now -though we are thinking of providing an option where there will be a schematic map made completely out of vectors, in order to have a resolution-independent case.

We have been talking a lot about the XML schema as well. Various documents have circulated back and forth and we have come to an agreement on the basic principles. The referencing structure is practically completed and it seems to tie nicely with the work Darren is doing. This is a recent document that gives an overview of the ideas:

Recently I have also been doing some work on modelling the Information Commons interior spaces. The process involves using drawings from various source (e.g. Estastes, the architects etc), modelling the spaces in CAD, then exporting them to .x3d. We are concentrating on the teaching & learning spaces right now, but this might change later on if we have more time.

Hopefully the next post will include an xml example as well as snapshots of our first models!