ShoutSpace

This time it's moodle's usage. Not much changed to the old code, it still almost worked, just the source file is different. A list of ips and locations (got to download and parse quite some new, and clean the database that was 1/3 full or wrong records).

Made the circles smaller to better read the distribution of users among buildings. Color should still be lighter (can we put an alpha channel of .01 ?). Next step would be to jitter the data by small amount to see accumulations.

Patrick

... well how do you make a snapshot with those macs #! ok got it ... control-space grab, not screen capture !

Shoutspace now has an additional view similar to a mail client corresonding to the messages on the map. On selecting a message, the thread to which it belongs is highlighted. The application keeps track of the read and unread messages of the user and displays them in different colors.



Other things on my TODO list:
1. Improve the filtering ( allow user to filter on subject/author/content of the messages )
2 Enable sorting on the messages in the newsgroup view.
3. Make the frames and the panel resizable.

• Screen06.JPG

Monthes after Patrick Jermann cool map-based visualization of an EPFL NNTP newsgroup, he moved forward and created a high-level schema of several types of textual data (newsgroups, blogs, library, ...).

Based on this schema, it took me no time for me to reuse the code of ShoutSpace and build an interactive map-based visualitzation of the NNTP newsgroups (here the epfl.comp.mac newsgroup). The visualisation rely on the translation from an IP in the newsgroup message header towards a room identificator. From there, we use geographical data about the rooms coordinates to draw the maps.



This work is part of our projects on semantic and social visualization of textual data.

I implemented a signed applet version of ShoutSpace. Features include a zoom in and out, a move mode, and a write mode. It is still very much of a prototype for us to discuss where we want to go in terms of scenarios, interaction design, ...




I had to sign the applet, because the Axis log cannot be disable (rather annoying) and eventually I will need to open sockets to various servers.

I implemented a zoom and simple message vizualisation for ShoutSpace. A .mov (2.4MB) features it.

People at the Fribourg School of Engineering showed my their first implemantion of ShoutSpace on their campus. They are moving forward with some sort 3D indoor positioning system. Via Breeze and ShoutSpace, I could follow them walking around their CS building. We used Skype for oral communication.

And a 1 minutes .mov video (2.5MB).

Mauro Cherubini has made public the MapTribe project page, his system for collaborative annotation of maps at a city level.

CatchBob! Visualizer is built on top of the CatchBob! Server. It visualizes real-time, recorded or simulated activities of the CatchBob! players. Its goal is to provide a base to analyze the wide load of data generated during a game.



Current features:
Real-time:
- Start/Stop a CatchBob! Server
- Store into a .log file the game events (command and refresh)
- Play with virtual players

Replay:
- Load games .log file and replay all the game events
- Forward, rewind, skip

Simulate:
- Base to simulate with agents and have "smart" virtual players

View:
- History
- Commands
- Triangle
- Time
- Logs
- Path length

Future directions could be:
- Visualize what every player experiences (view according to the player's refreshes)
- Global visualization with the movement done outside of the refreshes (using access points sniffed every 7 seconds on the iPaq)
- Easy access to data for statistics and maps generationof the refreshes, commands, triangles, wi-fi usage, % of the campus covered, number of areas each participant searched in, number of areas all the participant searched, overlap, backtracking
- ...

Previous mention to the CatchBob! Visualizer:
Real-time Visualization of a Location-Based Multi-Player Game

A very early version of ShoutSpace is running. It relies on a .NET Compat Framework C# client, the CraftStumbler (CraftDeamon) dll and classes for the WiFi localization, SOAP for the client(.NET)/server(Axis) communication and Hibernate to take care of the persistence in the backend.
Current features:
- Localizing people (figure 1)
- View/Post shout messages (figure 2)

To use the central pad of a pocket PC we have to override the OnKeyDown() method. The events are captured by Control.KeyDown key event handler.
Here's a sample code:

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// messageTab
//
this.messageTab.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(4, 4);
this.messageTab.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(234, 244);
this.messageTab.Text = "Messages";
this.messageTab.KeyDown += new KeyEventHandler(messageTab_KeyDown);
.
.
.

private void messageTab_KeyDown(object sender, System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs e)
{
this.OnKeyDown(e);
}

.
.
.

protected override void OnKeyDown(System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs e)
{
switch(e.KeyCode)
{
case Keys.Down:
MessageBox.Show("Down Key Pressed");
break;
case Keys.Up:
MessageBox.Show("Up Key Pressed");
break;
case Keys.Right:
MessageBox.Show("Right Key Pressed");
break;
case Keys.Left:
MessageBox.Show("Left Key Pressed");
break;
case Keys.Return:
MessageBox.Show("Centre Key Pressed");
break;
}
base.OnKeyDown(e);
}