Interaction with GIS Attribute Data Based on Categorical
Coverages
Gary Volta and
Max Egenhofer European Conference on Spatial Information Theory, COSIT '93, Marciana Marina, Italy,
A. Frank and I. Campari (eds.), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 716, Springer-Verlag, pp. 215-233, September 1993.
Abstract
The human-computer interface is a crucial element in the design of
the next generation of Geographic Information Systems (GISs). We
discuss the user interface design process by separating the
formalization of the problem domain (identifying the objects
a user manipulates, and their pertinent operations) from its
visualization (describing human-computer interaction
techniques such as windows and dialog boxes). This framework is
used to examine the process of manipulating attribute data
in a GIS on the basis of the common cartographic concept of a
categorical coverage. The characteristics of categorical
coverage data and the user requirements for interacting with this
data are formalized in the form of a set of fundamental objects and
operations. A visualization for a windows-icons-menus-pointing
devices (WIMP) interface is presented.
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Gary Volta and
Max Egenhofer