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Browsing functions in three-dimensional space for digital libraries

  • Original article: Browsing and searching
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Abstract

In order to get useful information from various kinds of information sources, we first apply a searching process with query statements to retrieve candidate data objects (called a hunting process in this paper) and then apply a browsing process to check the properties of each object in detail by visualizing candidates. In traditional information retrieval systems, the hunting process determines the quality of the result, since there are only a few candidates left for the browsing process. In order to retrieve data from widely distributed digital libraries, the browsing process becomes very important, since the properties of data sources are not known in advance. After getting data from various information sources, a user checks the properties of data in detail using the browsing process. The result can be used to improve the hunting process or for selecting more appropriate visualization parameters. Visualization relationships among data are very important, but will become too time-consuming if the amount of data in the candidate set is large, for example, over one hundred objects. One of the important problems in handling information retrieval from a digital library is to create efficient and powerful visualization mechanisms for the browsing process. One promising way to solve the visualization problem is to map each candidate data object into a location in three-dimensional (3D) space using a proper distance definition. In this paper, we will introduce the functions and organization of a system having a browsing navigator to achieve an efficient browsing process in 3D information search space. This browsing navigator has the following major functions: ¶1. Selection of features which determine the distance for visualization, in order to generate a uniform distribution of candidate data objects in the resulting space. ¶2. Calculation of the location of the data objects in 2D space using the selected features. ¶3. Construction of 3D browsing space by combining 2D spaces, in order to find the required data objects easily. ¶4. Generation of the oblique views of 3D browsing space and data objects by reducing the overlap of data objects in order to make navigation easy for the user in 3D space. ¶Examples of this browsing navigator applied to book data are shown.

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Received: 15 December 1997 / Revised: June 1999

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Kakimoto, T., Kambayashi, Y. Browsing functions in three-dimensional space for digital libraries. Int J Digit Libr 2, 68–78 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007990050038

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007990050038

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