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Our objective is to develop a PDA client/host server architecture for graphical information interchange, and use this architecture to develop and demonstrate a prototype PDA-based system for delivering and recording graphical data in the field. Its specific capabilities would be as follows:
-Download on request graphics (maps, drawings, photographs) and text pertaining to a site. |
At present, we have designed prototypes of the PDA and host components of the system, and have configured the system to work with simple diagrams. We have constructed a PDA-based application called SmartPad that collects, displays, and stores digital ink entered on the Newton using the pen, recognizes shapes and text from the ink that has been entered (using the Newton's built-in recognition facilities), and stores the shapes and text in local memory. It can be configured to upload the shapes, text, and ink on demand, or immediately, at the time they are drawn.
We have also constructed a high-level diagram recognition application called the Electronic Cocktail Napkin (ECN) that runs on the host Macintosh. ECN can take shapes and text uploaded from the Newton and can analyze their spatial relationships and compare them to previously entered spatial grammars in order to assign an interpretation to the diagram. It can then download the diagram recognition results back to the PDA, where they are displayed. ECN has been used as a front end to a graphical database. Finally, we have designed an efficient protocol to allow ECN and SmartPad to communicate with each other.
In order to address the problems of field service workers who service and maintain complex infrastructure systems, we are developing a PDA-based graphical interchange system. The system would allow field workers to download graphical information (plans, diagrams, photos) from a host server, over a wired or wireless connection, to a personal digital assistant (PDA), a small hand-held computer supporting pen-based text and diagram entry. The field worker will use the downloaded graphics in his or her task, make annotations on the graphics to reflect the tasks performed, and upload the annotated graphics to the host computer, where the annotations would be interpreted, incorporated into the diagrams, and integrated into the database for later use by other workers. This project is supported by Colorado Advanced Software Institute and U S WEST Advanced Technologies.
VIPR is a completely visual programming language modeled on Ken Kahn's Pictorial Janus. VIPR programs are currently created using a specially designed editor that employs a conventional mouse-and-palette interface. The graphical elements of VIPR are quite simple, consisting of rings, arrows, and text, and a pen-based entry method for VIPR programs is a natural extension. Rather than completely design and implement a new pen-based VIPR editor, we plan to use Newton-based distributed digital sketchbooks.
The digital sketchbooks will recognize the three basic graphical elements of VIPR programs and allow such programs to be drawn in the sketchbook. By recognizing component shapes and comparing the positions of these shapes with the positions of shapes already on the screen, the sketchbook will transmit editing commands to the back end VIPR editor over the serial link. Instead of receiving editing commands through mouse clicks, the editor will poll the serial port and receive the commands through that port. The editor will then modify the underlying semantic structure of the edited program accordingly. The advantage of such an approach, aside from the generic advantages of supporting remote diagram entry and simultaneous high- and low-level recognition, is that the only changes that will have to be made are (1) a new program from the Newton front end, most of which is either directly supported by the device, or can be modified from the existing SmartPad program, and (2) the back end editor is the current editor with the minor modification that incoming commands are received through the serial port rather than through mouse clicks and palette selections. Such a back end would probably be simpler than the original editor.
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The goal of the Design Notebooks project is to enhance design education in engineering and architecture, through access to information, sharing of ideas, and interactive collaboration across the institutional and geographic boundaries. We have developed a working prototype of an electronic design notebook that supports these activities and we propose to deploy it and assess its efficacy in undergraduate instruction. Based on lessons learned from the traditional architectural design studio and from relevant projects at other universities, the design notebooks will enable student teams to work independently and collaboratively using pen based mobile clients (PDAÕs) and share ideas and information using a group memory located on the World Wide Web. In future versions students will also use the notebooks to interact with design software located on workstations and on the Web. |
We plan to employ the design notebooks in two quite different learning environments: a required design course in the College of Architecture (where Denver faculty deliver undergraduate instruction in Boulder) and in an Electrical Engineering course on digital systems design. We have intentionally chosen to work with diverse fields and inherently distributed resources to explore the generality of the notebooks and exploit the benefits of using the Web to share design information. A major part of our work plan involves assessment and formative evaluation of the design notebook hardware, software, and curriculum.
Distributed Architectures for Pen-Based Input and Diagram Recognition Citrin, W. and M. Gross, in ACM Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces (AVI '96). 1996. Gubbio, Italy.
A PDA-Based Collaborative Drawing Environment Citrin, W., M. Gross and A. Warmack, working technical report.
A PDA-Based Tool for Collaborative Design Citrin, W., M. Gross and A. Warmack, demonstration paper for CSCW '96.
 | Wayne V. Citrin is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Colorado. |  | Mark D. Gross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington. |
 | Paul Hamill is a Graduate Research Assistant in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Colorado. |  | Adrienne Warmack is a Professional Research Assistant in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado. |