00:01Good morning everybody. My name is Danielle Cummings.

00:02I'm a PhD student at Texas A&M University.

00:06And I work in the Sketch Recognition Lab in the Computer Science Department.

00:11And today I'm going to be talking about GeoSketch.

00:13It's a pen-based interface for geospatial analysis.

00:18So, in our lab, we currently have a few ongoing research projects where we collaborate

00:27And so we get the opportunity to work closely with the civil engineering students and

00:37And the more we work with them, the more we've discovered that a lot of the tools, although fairly image dependent...

00:44...they don't have very many pen-based interfaces that recognize freehand sketches and also minimize...

00:54...the use menus and predefined commands to make changes to maps and

01:04So as a result, we felt there was kind of a gap or a limit to the level of unrestricted interaction...

01:12...that between GIS systems and novice users...

01:15...or users like myself who are too lazy to go through all the tutorials.

01:20But we believe that drawing with the pen and paper is the most natural means of

01:26I mean, everybody can do it.

01:28It's a quick and simple way to communicate ideas and, you know, it's something that

01:37So, excuse me...

01:41We believe the solution was to provide a pen-based interface for interacting with a lot

01:48...and we believe that that's kind of the direction that most interface design is taking.

01:55Here's a quick example of where we thought a pen-based interface would be useful.

02:00So I was working with a couple of civil engineering students and they told me that...

02:06...it wasn't uncommon to have a simple line or a point object in a shapefile to contain

02:15...which is why it required lots of commands or using menus to make edits to that

02:23And I figured that, you know, watching them, I figured it was kind of a tedious

02:27...especially for someone like myself who isn't familiar with the tool.

02:30So this is one of the reasons that we thought a pen-based interface that would allow a

02:36...make quick sketches and modifications to files such as this without having to...

02:42...be familiar with the tool ahead of time would be very useful.

02:47So we quickly designed a pen-based interface for working with a shapefile...

02:54...and what we did is, we extended one the ArcObjects provided in the ArcGIS library

03:02...and we used to generate basic primitive shapes for recognition.

03:07And once we recognized those shapes, we could use them to delete existing map

03:14...using an intersection of points as well leaving vertices on an existing map using

03:22So we can begin to see how some of these simple interaction methods can be

03:30...to interact with this geospatial data in a way that closely resembles a pen and

03:37...so if I were interacting with a digital map on paper.

03:42Okay. So here's another example that involves sketch recognition for the

03:55So...see if I can find my mouse. Oh, there it is.

04:00Okay, so in the Sketch Recognition Lab, we developed a real-time sketch

04:07...and it recognizes over 900 freehand drawn military interaction symbols,

04:16...and to date, that's the largest set of freehand recognized symbols.

04:23And you can kind of see, the menus that are popping up now are generated by the...

04:27...sketch recognition algorithms. They're not being chosen by the user who’s drawing.

04:32So it's basically the system’s best guess of what the user is trying to draw...

04:38...their confidence levels.

04:41And then the military course of action diagrams are used to depict battle

04:46...and they can include thousands of unique symbols.

04:57So in regards to COA Sketch, what we did is...

05:06...we took that application and extended it to include a geographical

05:15...and by the way all of this interaction is done using a Wacom tablet and a

05:29So...oops. Okay, that one's not...where's my mouse? There it is...okay.

05:43So you can see here that by integrating COA Sketch with a geospatial interface, we're able to use that sketch recognition...

05:51...and the geolocation data to begin to analyze it and create kind of an action narrative for...

06:01...for mission planning purposes.

06:04And here, since we're using a sketch recognition application that provides real-

06:12...we can then take that information and deliver it to a location-aware system to

06:22And there's...I'm not very good at drawing stars so I had to think for a while.

06:30Okay. And the Sketch Recognition Lab actually finished a prototype recently for a location-aware system called GeoTrooper.

06:38And the purpose of this system was to aid paratroopers in locating their

06:48Excuse me.

06:49The GeoTrooper system uses minicomputers as beacons...

06:52...and those minicomputers broadcast an ad hoc Wi-Fi network that contains

07:01And...excuse me...allergies acting up.

07:05That's encrypted, and it sends that encrypted information to receivers which we

07:15...and those receivers picked up the location of the beacons and then used the internal GPS capabilities...

07:23... to be able to map and locate the bearing and distance to each of the beacons

07:30Okay. So here you can see the interfaces for both the beacon and the receiver

07:39So the beacon interface is on the left and as you can see, it broadcasts...

07:43...not only its location but also the location of other beacons that are in range...

07:48...so that even if a beacon is out of range of any receiver, the closest beacon will...

07:52...still transmit all of the information of beacons that are out of range to that...

07:57...receiver so it can see all of the beacons that are connected through this daisy-chaining process.

08:04And then on the right is the interface for the receiver and...

08:09...it shows the location of the beacons superimposed over an MGRS grid.

08:16So here you can see the potential use where GeoSketch can be integrated within this system.

08:22So if I am, excuse me, if I have my Wacom tablet and my stylist and a digital...

08:28...map and I want to communicate a point of the location or a point of interest to

08:37All I have to do is draw this symbol on the map and that information will be

08:42So you get this real-time kind of tactical coordination and at the same time, it

08:52...in order to be able to recognize, you know, my intent through sketching.

08:57And then also it minimizes the need for radio communication if that's a problem

09:08Okay, so just to wrap up. I just want to conclude that we’ve currently been

09:14...for quickly editing and editing digital maps using freehand sketching

09:20And then we also use sketch recognition to decipher sketches...

09:25...as a means of translating course of action, military course of action symbols...

09:29...and then translating those actions into tactical analysis information that could...

09:34...be transmitted to a location-aware system.

09:38And if anyone is currently working on related research, I would really love to

09:46Thank you.