A location representation for generating descriptive walking directions

An expressive representation for location is an important component in many applications. However, while many location-aware applications can reason about space at the level of coordinates and containment relationships, they have no way to express the semantics that define how a particular space is used. We present lair, an ontology that addresses this problem by modeling both the geographical relationships between spaces as well as the functional purpose of a given space. We describe how lair was used to create an application that produces walking directions comparable to those given by a person, and a pilot study that evaluated the quality of these directions. We also describe how lair can be used to evaluate other intelligent user interfaces. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces—Help systems, User-centered design General Terms Human Factors, Design Keywords Location Ontologies, Navigation Directions

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: IUI
• Authors: Gary Look, Buddhika Kottahachchi, Robert Laddaga, Howard E. Shrobe
• Keywords: Expressive Representation, Intelligent User Interfaces, IUI 2005, Keywords Location Ontologies, Software Engineering