Where a link in a document-centered hypertext either exists or does not in a particular presentation of the material, placement of a node close but not quite with others can imply some indecision or potential for a relation between the nodes. Allowing people to express ambiguity more easily enables them to perform tasks such as analysis or design where interpretations form as they work with the materials. It is not only the case that the interpretation of individual documents changes over time in a spatial hypertext, but the visual language representing the interpretation changes as well. Such changes indicate that users adapt their solution strategies as they gain more insight into their task. Aquanet and other systems with predefined types and relations make the overhead for making such changes in mid-task overwhelming and very unlikely to occur.
Many tasks require information to be shared among a group of collaborators.
The initial study of spatial layouts of information implied a correlation between the number of people sharing an information space and the degree of visual structure apparent in the arrangement. When it was necessary for more people to understand the information space, they created a higher degree of perceptual structure and followed it more strictly. As with sharing information in a navigational hypertext or file system, users must agree on a basic framework in order to effectively communicate. In contrast with a navigational hypertext or file system, effective use of ambiguous and implicit relationships means the spatial hypertext does not require on users to agree on particular relationships or agree on their interpretation. 3 Impact of Spatial Hypertext Hypertext research has evolved into a number of interrelated sub-areas of specialization.