mixing icons, geometric shapes and temporal axis to propose a visual tool for querying spatio-temporal databases
This paper presents Lvis, a visual query language for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and for spatio-temporal databases. Visual queries are specified by means of a combination of icons. These icons are used to represent both object types and operators. Geometric shapes are used to represent spatial objects and relations among them; Balloons and temporal axis are used to represent temporal criteria. A visual approach has been chosen because it offers numerous advantages for the representation of spatio-temporal queries. Visual representations are in fact well-suited since they easily permit to express the spatial nature of a query. Several research works dealing with this issue have been proposed in the last ten years. Besides, visual querying is a friendly and simple querying mode. It is the reason why it is well-adapted to novice users. The paper introduces the spatio-temporal model of the language. It gives some examples of queries to explain how geometric shapes, icons and temporal axis are combined. Finally, it discusses the main issues tied to the visual, psycho-cognitive and spatio-temporal considerations.
geographic information systems visual languages metaphors spatio-temporal data