One of the first (and best) I've seen is the Visual Thesaurus: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/desktop/index.jsp
There's an online and an offline version - very slick. The tool was created using "ThinkMap": http://www.plumbdesign.com/products/thinkmap In effect all of these examples are nothing more than dynamic mind-maps (well, sorta - they're very close). Mind maps serve slightly different purposes, but the format is nearly identical. You may find a lot of theory and research material by searching for "Mind map". As far as patents go, I'm not sure - but I do know that Visual Thesaurus has been around for at least 5 years. I'm not sure how long this thing's been out, or what it's patents cover - but you should definitely be able to create mind-maps in Flash if you like. Jim Davis > -----Original Message----- > From: LI, Chunshen (Don) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 4:28 PM > To: CF-Talk > Subject: Data Visualization (OT?) > > Hope not OT. > > Maybe, some one would label Data Visualization (DV) as > a subset of Usability. Personally I would think DV > stands on it own, anyway, that does not really matter. > The point is, DV could probably help a lot in user's > use of information. Here's a link to an impressive DV > implementation (demo app), > http://www.inxight.com/demos/st_demos/bestbuy_applet.html. > Q1, has anyone done anything similar (function-wise) > with CF + Flash Remote? If so, can I see some sample > app(s)?; Q2, what might be a good and relatively > inexpensive strategy to improve data output > presentation with the assistance of DV in CF > environment? Any papers, pointers and/or > implementation would be greatly appreciated if any. > > Thanks. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=i:4:138015 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=t:4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. http://www.cfhosting.com
