Web surfing without a keyboard

Benjamin B. Ames, Senior Editor -- Design News, April 9, 2001

Boston—Do you know how to organize vast amounts of data? Every engineer who designs complex assemblies must confront this challenge, usually with PDM or ERP software tools specially designed for technical information.

But what if you had to do it without wires or keyboards? Some of the most advanced solutions are being tested as general-interest search engines on the Internet.

Last year Antarcti.ca launched http://map.net , a site that allows surfers to wander the web (or any other enormous database) geographically. It presents data as buildings, towns, and states in the virtual continent of Antarctica, so users can browse sites without actually visiting them (see DN 1/8/01).

Now WebMap Technologies Inc. (Boston, MA) is offering a free beta version of its visual Net navigation tool on its website, www.webmap.com. The tool is a "visual guide to information embedded in websites, intranets, and extranets," the company says. As a user searches for keywords, it generates color-coded, topographic-type maps of related sites.

And WebMap has two features that allow it to run on wireless platforms: it makes small demands on screen space, so it can work on handheld displays; and all its functions can be touch-driven, so it can be used without keyboards. It currently runs only on Windows operating systems with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, but Netscape and AOL versions are in the works.

For more information about:

Software from Antarcti.ca: Enter 533

Software from WebMap Technologies: Enter 534

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