Google and Real Time Maps
August 11, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to GoogleMapMania’s “Real Time Google Maps”. The article contains a number of links to real time Google Maps created by developers. The one that I found most useful was the Chicago Transit Authority map. Google has a burgeoning transportation services business. Those operating bus, rail, and shuttle services may want to take note of this CTA-centric gizmo.
Stephen Arnold, August 11, 2009
Kartoo Adds New Interface Functions
July 9, 2009
Kartoo’s interface has added some features. If you have not visited the site for a while, you will want to navigate to the Kartoo main page. Set your preferences for this Flash based metasearch system. The interface has visual impact, but an addled goose like me wanted pop up explanation of the icons. The options page looks like this:
Now enter your query in the search box at the top of the page. Unlike the Kartoo interface of the past, you have a larger, cleaner presentation of the relevant hits. When you hover over an icon, Kartoo displays a relationship line. For the query “US financial crisis” the system displayed these results:
When you click on one of the thumbnail images, Kartoo sends you to the source site. If you hover, Kartoo displays a pop up with a text snippet.
On the left column of the interface are two buttons. You can select what supplementary content you want to see. I selected topics, allowing me quick access to only those hits about one of the identified categories. I also instructed the system to show me images. You can see the images, which are presented in low resolution, in the scrollable side bar below the topics.
Kartoo Technologies is based in Paris. The company has been one of the firms pushing the envelope in search interface designs and controls. Information about the company’s products and technologies may be found on the Kartoo corporate Web site. The company now has more than 200 customers who use the firm’s technologies for visualization and intelligence monitoring. The Kartoo teams are located in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Stephen Arnold, July 9, 2009
Boye 09 Overflight Awards
May 19, 2009
The Overflight Award for Excellence, created by ArnoldIT.com and JBoye.com, was presented to Volker Grünauer, head of E-marketing at Wienerberger in Austria, at the JBoye Conference: Philadelphia 2009, http://jboye08.dk/]http://www.jboye.com/conferences/philadelphia09/, May 5-7, held at the Down Town Club in Philadelphis.
The award recognizes the best presentation at the conference on digital media, which featured more than 50 speakers from around the world.
Grünauer offered a relevant talk called “Developing a customer centric web strategy.” This presentation discussed smart web strategy for promoting real brick and mortar products, including how Wienerberger defines the four elements of web success and how customer behavior has become the trigger for every eMarketing decision. Slides of the presentation are available at http://jboye08.dk/downloads/download.php?file=1226063851.pdf. He was awarded an engraved Lucite trophy and 500 Euros.
Volker is responsible for the marketing strategy of all websites at Wienerberger, the world’s largest manufacturer of bricks, clay roof tiles and clay pavers. In this function he also developed a new brand and domain management strategy. Together with the IT department he managed the rollout of the CMS into new Wienerberger markets. See his profile athttp://www.jboye.com/conferences/philadelphia09/speakers/volker_grunauer.
An honorable mention went to Donna Spencer, a freelance information architect and interaction designer, a mentor, writer and trainer from Australia, who presented a discussion on the user experience track called “Getting Content Right.” She was awarded an engraved Lucite trophy. Her profile is at http://www.jboye.com/conferences/philadelphia09/speakers/donna_spencer.
Stephen E. Arnold and Janus Boye created the award to permit the community attending the conference to identify presentations that met the following criteria: information that would be useful to delegates upon returning to work; research supporting the presentatio; quality of the delivery and examples; and importance of the speakers’ topics at the time of the conference.
A panel of distinguished attendees and information practitioners had the task of assessing the presentations and determining the winners. The judges were Dana Hallman, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Karen Rosenzweig, Novartis;Peter Svensson, Lund University; and Troy Winfrey, University of Baltimore.
About ArnoldIT.com
Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his office in Kentucky. He works with colleagues worldwide on a wide range of online and content-related projects. The company’s Web site is http://arnoldit.com, and the Beyond Search blog is at http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/.
About JBoye.com
J. Boye, a digital media enterprise, is frequently contracted to help with strategy and governance, project planning, requirement specifications, vendor and software selection, project management and ROI optimization. They also produce industry reports and organize educational conferences. Contact the company at info@jboye.co.uk or info@jboye.dk.
Jessica Bratcher, May 19, 2009
Cirilab: Entity Extraction
April 6, 2009
I took a quick look at Cirilab in order to update my files about entity extraction vendors.
Cirilab develops practical search, retrieval and categorization software designed to increase organizational productivity by effectively harnessing key knowledge resources. Cirilab offers a range of advanced analysis and organization applications and tools.
I learned about the company when another consultant sent me links to several online demonstrations of the Cirilab’s technology. I located an older but useful discussion of the Crilab technology here. You can explore a Wikipedia entry about Winston Churchill here and a document navigator of Sir Winston’s writings here. The engine generating these demos is called the KGE or Knowledge Generation. The idea is that KGE can process unstructured text and generate insights into that text.
Source: http://www.cirilab.com/TSMAP/Cirilab_Library/Literature/Winston_Churchill/WikiKMapPage/index.htm
The company’s enterprise solutions include vertical builds of the KGE:
- Publishing. The Web Ready Publishing service allows an organization to take unstructured data in WordPerfect, Word, Adobe PDF, HTML, and even Text files, and publish it in a Web Ready Publishing format so that it is instantly available to your customers in a thematically navigable format.
- Pharma. Cirilab can “read” the documents and therefore allow “mining” of existing data.
- Legal. KGE permits discovery of information.
- Security and intelligence. Cirilab products provide unique insights into this information not otherwise available.
The company offers a range of desktop products. These are excellent ways to learn about the features and functions of the Crilab’s KGE system.
More recently, Cirilab has succeeded in developing and bringing to market a core suite of technologies known as KOS (Knowledge Object Suite) based on its Multidimensional Semantic Spatial Indexing Technology.
You can register and receive a free, thematic map of your Web site. The company is located in Ottawa, Ontario. You can get more information here.
Stephen Arnold, April 6, 2009
Simploos Search
March 29, 2009
I learned about a new search system the other day. I don’t have too much data, but I wanted to mention it to my two or three readers. No point in sitting on what may be the first Chrome-centric rendering engine I have come across. The company offering the new service is Simploos.com here. If you get an error message, just click on continue. The system should work. We think this is a Flash related issue, but I haven’t heard back from the company yet. The figure below shows the interface for a query on my favorite subject, “Beyond Search”.
© Simploos 2009
My files suggest that the thumb nail preview was a feature introduced by the company Girafa. I wrote about it in my original Technology from Harrod’s Creek column for Information World Review in the 1998-1999 time frame. Girafa is still around, and you can see what the company is now doing by clicking here.
You see the thumbnails of the top hits from either a Google or Yahoo search. When you click on a thumbnail, the system displays the splash page of the site. The first hit on Googzilla for the phrase “beyond search” is this Web log. You can set various options and use either Google or Yahoo search results.
Our working hypothesis is that the Google-centric implementation uses Chrome under the covers. Yahoo appears to be using Yahoo’s technology.
The young goslings found the approach fresh and interesting. The older goslings found the screen refresh during scrolling somewhat distracting. For some types of queries, the graphic approach is useful. You can limit the results to those in Spanish which is a nice touch. There’s an advanced search section which is interesting to use as well. Give it a test drive and keep in mind that this implementation is a beta. We’ve noticed minor changes as we used the system over a span of three days. The addled goose emits a gentle, happy quack. A big honk to the person who alerted us to this system as well.
Stephen Arnold,
Dotmatics
March 12, 2009
Visualization was a topic at a client meeting yesterday. I find that visualization is essential when trying to close a deal with senior executive types. Rows of numbers are the steak; a nifty visual presentation of the key points is the sizzle. Dotmatics, founded in 2005, as a spin-out from a multinational pharmaceutical company. The company was established to address the information needs of scientists in the biotech/pharma space.
This is a Dotmatics composite display showing data, structure, and scatter diagram plotting.
I learned today that the company has opened a US office in San Diego, California. The company’s products include browser based system, security provisions, cartridge to query chemical database content, and a tool to make it easy to suck in bio data to an Oracle system. The hot feature of the Dotmatics’ system is its scientific visualization. MBAs need not trouble themselves with this type of tool. MBAs do Excel charts. Scientists need tools to manipulate large datasets and use display tools that have more horsepower than a couple of pie slices and a bar of baloney. You can take a look at the Vortex chart basics here. A feature list for the basic visualization options is here. Worth a look unless you are an MBA. MBAs know everything already in my opinion, especially risk analysis and NINJA borrowers.
Stephen Arnold, March 12, 2009
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