WikEye - Using Magic Lenses to Explore Georeferenced Wikipedia Content

Brent Hecht, Department of Geography, University of California Santa Barbara
Michael Rohs, Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, TU Berlin
Johannes Schoening, Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Muenster
Antonio Krueger, Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Muenster


Abstract

Traditional paper-based maps are still superior in several ways to their
digital counterparts used on mobile devices. Namely, paper-based maps
provide high-resolution, largescale information with zero power consumption.
Digital maps over personalized and dynamic information, but suffer from
small outer scales and low resolutions. In this paper, we present WikEye, an
interdisciplinary project that demonstrates proof-of-concepts of three novel
research ideas related to this topic: multi-dimensional interaction with a
magic lens device, spatio-temporal Wikipedia data mining, and magic lens
markerless tracking. Through its integration of the advantages of static and
dynamic maps and its employment of Wikipedia as its primary knowledge
repository, we envision WikEye being used to address mobile technology
issues in the tourism and education fields. In particular, we focus on the
need for effective tourism-related mobile technologies and the demand from
educators for new methods that students can use to interact with
information.