IntuiFace Maps
IntuiFace Maps is a highly configurable, Surface Computing-based, collaborative software platform for visualizing, manipulating, creating, and sharing geo-information layered on top of maps. Applications built using IntuiFace Maps dramatically increase the efficiency of teams involved in collaboration, supervision, or emergency situations.
IntuiFace Maps represents the most natural way to collaborate around maps, geographical information (GIS), and …big pictures!
IntuiFace Maps consists in three components:
IntuiFace Maps Client for enabling several users to collaborate around shared geo-information on the same or across multiple Surface Computers including Microsoft Surface and many existing and upcoming Win7-enabled multitouch devices available on the market.
IntuiFace Maps Collaboration Server for the notification, synchronization and sharing of geo-information between IntuiFace Maps Clients distributed across surface computers.
IntuiFace Maps Composer for configuring, without programming, IntuiFace Maps Clients and create great end-user multitouch experiences.
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| The IntuiFace Maps Composer UI | An IntuiFace Maps-based application |
The IntuiFace Maps-based application user experience
An IntuiFace Maps Client (on top of which the application is built) is composed of Views, each View being in turn composed of a set of geo-information layers or overlays (some of them maps, sourced from a wide variety of GIS data providers) and an associated layer selector and filter. This configuration is made with IntuiFace Maps Composer.
During a session, each user around the surface computer can dynamically create Views selected from a list and 360° rotate, scale, or translate those using natural gestures. A large number of Views can be opened and managed this way during a session.
Inside a View, the user can show, hide, and filter layers very efficiently. For improving collaboration, a user can clone a view to be handled in geo synch by another user: while each user decides which layer to filter, they both get the same cartographic viewport whoever defines it (again using natural gestures).
With an upcoming release, users will be able to draw symbols and free graphics as well as add text, voice, or video to annotate existing geo-information, in addition to exchanging these information and Views across the network, replicating the single surface computer behavior on a much larger and distributed scale. As usual, a surface computer can be horizontal (table), tilted (kiosk), or vertical (wall) surface.
More images and videos are available here.
Technology
IntuiFace Maps is built on top of the IntuiFace Platform, the Surface Computing technology from IntuiLab. As the IntuiFace Platform is based on Microsoft’s WPF and WCF, IntuiFace Maps is well positioned to take advantage of rich media rendering, Windows 7-certified multitouch devices and provide reliable, scalable, and distributed maps-based applications.
Who’s it for?
IntuiFace Maps addresses the needs of various kinds of users (from GIS software developers to supervising agents) in numerous areas such as Defense and Intelligence (i.e. mission planning or battle management), Government, Public Safety (i.e. Emergency/Disaster Management, Homeland Security or Wildfire Management), Transportation, Utilities, and Natural Resources. And for many purposes and tasks such as supervision, brainstorming, diagnostics, analysis, planning, training, or marketing.
Benefits of an IntuiFace Maps-based application
A natural user experience
- Easy and intuitive
- Great graphical design, unmatched in typical GIS application
- Multitouch interactions
- Runs on large horizontal (tables) or vertical (walls) interactive surfaces
Enhance collaboration around shared geo-information
- Collocated and remote collaboration
- Group-based assessment
- Create a common operating picture
Accelerate decision making
- Dynamic picture with access to real-time information
- Natural interactions for faster situation immersion
Next step
IntuiFace Maps is delivered as a software product license with support services associated to professional services to develop maps- or GIS-based applications on top. To know more about IntuiFace Maps, please contact us.
Specs
- OS: Windows XP, Vista, Windows7
- Multitouch protocols: TUIO, Windows7
- Surface Computers: Microsoft Surface, Multitouch Oy Cell, 3M multitouch, NextWindow, Evoluce, N-trig based laptop (Dell, HP), and more to come as they hit the market.
- Supported GIS data providers (can be mixed and matched in the same IntuiFace Maps Client!):
- ESRI® ArcGIS Server
- Microsoft® Bing Map
- Open Geospatial Consortium®’s (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS)
- MapDotNet®
- Upcoming supported data: Autocad and other vector-based formats
