CS4526 BSc Single Honours Project

Hussein Patwa

April 2008

What is this Project?

An extension of existing ATLAS.TXT work“apply Natural Language Generation (NLG) technology to

automatically produce textual summaries of map data highlighting ‘important’ content extracted from the

underlying spatial data”

An extensible platform for future workA two-phased approach– software & study

What is this problem?

Blind people cannot access graphical representations of information

But authors insist on producing this ever more frequently

Thus, a widening information access gap

What do we want to access?

MapsAtlas, tourist guides

Statistical MapsCensus (2001)

Statistical maps giving useful informationOffice of National StatisticsPatterns, Trends

How is this information collected?

Clustering:Grouping similar data elements together

Trending:Identifying regular patterns between clusters

Visualisation:Interpreting the trends

Should be simple, surely?

An algorithm to construct clusters An algorithm to identify trends A mechanism to display the resulting

information as text

It’s Not

Remember the community we’re dealing with

No concepts at allWhat are we trying to do?How could it be useful?

So unable to provide user requirementsA rather significant hurdle, yes?

So now there’s a new problem

How to obtain requirements from those who don’t understand them?

How to adapt/refine for a viable product?So now we have a research project

>>> ENTER PHASE 2 STAGE LEFT >>>

New territory, and it’s exciting

No such previous concept for requirements gathering

No previous research into similar technologies

And most importantly, a completely clean slate for a completely new community

Why me?

Understanding and insight foster resultsDirect personal motivation from

conception to conclusionWho better than one who:

has the problem knows the problem knows the people has the mindset?

How do you do that?

Talk to potential usersWork with them, not for them

Sell benefits and uses

Together, construct tailored requirements to fit this unique community

Where when, & what why?

Conduct requirements gathering exercisesMap to parameters for trending softwareDeclare tailored set of recommendations

This is worthwhile, how?

Opens the door to future research work in otherwise unexplored areas

Provides a platform for ATLAS.TXT for more useful end results

Sets a new, viable standard for future technical developments in this field

My experiences & lessons learned

Working on an ongoing, established project with veteran professionals

Lessons:Personal discipline Working to expectations Enhancing understanding of technologies

Food for thought on a project within which I have a worthwhile stake

Finalement

Thank you for your attention and assistance.

Any Questions?