1.4.3. Controls and Interfaces

Examples of controls

Search
	Free text search
Search tree	Search by Tags
Spatial search

Searching for relevant information requires controls that allow both semantics to be defined and a spatial region of interest to be described. The semantics can be controlled through different methods including by search term, by a hierarchical tree of selectable concepts or by folksonomic tags. The latter are open-ended expressions that users label particular pieces of information with. As more and more people collaborate in labelling information in this way some labels are encountered more frequently which captures the semantics of information in ways closer to peoples experience of the places tagged. The spatial scope of a search is often defined using a menu of spatial regions that are relevant to a user, such as "Around me", or "Within 5 minutes walk".

Identify

Interactive Select (click on a restaurant poi on the map, or click and drag open a select box to select a group of objects. Then select a restaurant from the results list)

In identifying information the user needs to relate what they are seeing on the map or directly around them with more detailed descriptions. One method is to allow the user to select items interactively and create a list of results from this. The animation above show an example of three controls to achieve this action.

What are the three controls being used to identify restaurants in the animation above? (Click here for more information)