We have developed a prototype system that differs from traditional fisheye views in two ways. First, it implements an interactive fisheye view, in which the user can create, edit, and move data objects within the fisheye workspace. Second, it is groupware, where several people, each at a different workstation, can be active in the space at once. Our prototype implements a direct-manipulation editor for concept maps. Concept maps represent entities and their inter-relationships, realized on a computer as an editable graph with typed and labelled nodes and edges.
Concept maps are often too big to fit, undistorted, in one window.
The editor allows users to create new typed and labelled nodes, and to link nodes with typed and directed edges. Labels and types can be changed through popup menus. Nodes can be dragged to new positions in the workspace, or deleted. The editor is also a real-time groupware application. Several people can view and manipulate the concept map at the same time, and any change made by any user is immediately updated on all workstations.