Link: gotAPI.com Reference Lookup Service

Good reference.

Article: Location-based Mixed Reality for Mobile Information Services

Full Article

An assisted GPS application has been proposed that features orientation assistance provided by computer-vision techniques — detecting features included in the navigation route. These could be either user-predefined fiducials or a careful selection of real-world features (i.e. parts of buildings or whole buildings).

With the combination of position and orientation it is possible to design “augmented reality” interfaces, which offer a richer cognitive experience, and which deliver orientation information infinitely and without the limitations of maps. However, to complement the environment in an AR setup, the continuous calculation of position and orientation information in real time is necessary. The key problem for vision-based AR is the difficulty obtaining sufficiently accurate position and orientation information in real time, which is crucial for stable registration between the real and virtual objects.

This could be cool for rating or tagging locations, and being able to view that information by simply being in the proximity.

Due Dates 2: Initial Individual Project Blog Entry

Given the growth of the web-surfing culture, the need for online bookmarking has increased. Websites such as del.icio.us and furlit.com cater to this need improving the surfing experience of millions of users. However it is our observation that their user-interface needs tremendous improvement. We have formulated the goals of our project by understanding the basic functionality of online bookmarking sites and the downsides of their user-interface.

Basically, the concept of del.icio.us is very good but we find the execution lacking.

The scope of the project is very large, with plenty of features that could be accomodated. However, through the course of this quarter, we aim to narrow down and implement the most significant design changes and functionalities. We have brainstormed many ideas, as mentioned below. In the next couple of weeks, we will improve on or eliminate some.

1. Our goal is to design the user-experience, targeting non-tech savvy web-surfers for whom convenience of use is a priority


2. The time spent by a user to identify the desired book-mark should be minimum (even across a potential of over hundreds of links)


3. Frequently visited sites must appear clearly


4. Provisions for searcing across the website


5. Track Freshness: User's favorite websites will be monitored for frequent updates and appropriately pop-up


6. More visualization


7. Provisions for saving personalized searches such as driving directions etc.


8. Provision for saving images and displaying them, possibly as a slide show


9. Come up with a name of our team and website!

I think it's a very cool project with a lot of potential. It is absolutely something that should and will be done eventually (if not by us, then someone else, I hope). Unfortunately, my experience with Del.icio.us is limited. I tried it a while back and still have it, but the interface kept me from using it regularly. I could make use of a tool like Del.icio.us because it is useful, I hope that we can make it more usable.

Article: 90% of All Usability Testing is Useless

I know COGS 121 isn't really about usability but I just don't see how it can be ignored. We are making stuff that people will use and this article on usability testing Kel sent me is old but interesting. Thus, I'll blog it and other similar items in the future.

Trying to determine the time to complete a specific task is a fool’s errand. The real question is, why do users pause? What are they looking at? What are they thinking about? Did your navigation system fail them because of the categories you created, the words you used, or is it the placement of the navigation? Perhaps it’s because of inconsistencies across the site or poorly implemented CSS tabs.

CSS was mentioned. ;-) I like reading/hearing those kind of questions. They help me think more deeply about design.

Full Article

Project Ideas/Update

It looks like Yahoo! Maps Beta is really slick and something that has really inspired me. They have done multipoint directions pretty well with the AJAX drag and drop to streamline routes. Due to my lack of programming knowledge, I may be coming up with ridiculous project ideas, but here goes:

Yahoo! Maps Beta
An interface that allows "depositing" addresses into Maps to create a map showing user-defined locations. As an example, I'm looking for places to rent next year on Craigslist - I have no idea where these places are until I map them each one by one. What a hassle. I wish I could just drag the links over and have them pop up as points. Then I could look at them all and perhaps make intial judgements such as eliminating places beyond 10 miles of UCSD. Next, perhaps be able to ask for multipoint directions automatically sorting destination sequence logically so I can swing by and have a peek at the house and the area.

Motorcycle-centered mapping might include searching for "twisties" based on data about road conditions, weather, traffic, elevation change, and shape/contour. Also for some scooter lovers, maybe taking the "avoid freeways" a step further and restrict by speed limit - "no faster than 40 mph, etc" - so they can choose to take the "long way" to wherever they are getting. The journey is/should be at least half the fun :) I'm not sure how this ties in with or related to the cylcing-oriented mapping.

Google Calendar
Considering a nicer front-end to present a Calendar feed as a "normal" web page sorting by viewer defined criteria instead of a time-structured calendar view. Example: CSSA events have 3 types - Professional, Academic, Social. A nice page that is automatically updated in response to CSSA Google Calendar changes (Feed) that can be styled and sorted by either time or event type. How about an attendees/RSVP system for calendar viewers? That would probably be apart from Calendar unless there is something more in the invitiation/attendees aspect I haven't seen or understood.

Article: Putting a Face on Web 2.0

Essentially, Web 2.0 is more about guiding principles than rules or even technology. The seven guiding principles O’Reilly sights [sic] are:

1. The web as a platform
2. Harnessing collective intelligence
3. Data is the next Intel Inside
4. End of the software release cycle
5. Lightweight programming models
6. Software above the level of a single device
7. Rich user experience

Full Article Here

10 best blog designs

10 Best Blog Desings

Cool Ajax Tool

This lets visitors to the site to "write notes" directly on the page.

Solution Watch: Taking Notes

I'm very interested in note taking methods and collaborative writing. I am thinking of studying some of these tools/environments and coming up with something.
I found this article at solution watch.

Internet Map Articles

I'm not sure which APIs are available, but here is an article comparing various map engines. I found it on digg.com

Map accessiblity article.

Group Update

Our members are finalized as Divya, Kelly, Karen, and myself. I'm quite pleased with the group and we are planning to meet Friday mornings and possibly late Tuesdays or Thursdays as backup meeting times. Google Calendar has proven to be super useful in scheduling between 102C and 121 thus far.

As a side note, I forgot to mention that I was on the fence about making it to COGS121 at 9:30 AM to learn Scheme, but after the first day of class... learning the tools for AJAX etc, it was without a doubt going to be worth it. Good move, prof! It's something that I've been wanting to do, but having a course on it will be a great way to actually get a fair bit done in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, I hope it means that I won't be missing anything important, as I might've learning it on my own.

Notes on HTML Advanced @ HTML Dog

Cool stuff from HTML Advanced @ HTML Dog: Tabbing & Accesskeys.
Tabbing can define the sequence of links highlighted when the user tabs through a page. Accesskeys are shortcuts to links on the tab that can be used by pressing a key combinations such as Ctrl + 1.
Extra bit for increased accessibility: skipping navigation and hiding the link with CSS.

3D CSS Positioning

This link is from Kel, and it is a good reference for CSS.

HTML Dog Tutorials

I'm working on the HTML Dog guides and the thing I enjoy the most is that they are very concise and also include key discussion topics under "note" sections.

Jakob Nielson Says Function Drives Form

Designing Your Application for Usability.

Yay!

I <3 Cognitive Science!