Solving the “Screen Real Estate Problem” with Pliable Display Technology 

Speaker: Tom Wallace
Author: David J. Baar
Organization: IDELIX Software Inc.

When viewing GIS data sets, GIS users are presented with the challenge of
viewing large coverage areas and high-information density on a limited size
screen. Although there is frequently a need to view sufficient levels of
detail in given regions of interest, conventional magnification tools, such
as zoom, pan, and inset views, result in productivity inefficiencies and
make it hard to remain aware of the surrounding context and navigational
cues that make up the “big picture” of the data set. GIS users get lost and
waste valuable time in the typical processes of “zooming in” to view details
of interest, “zooming out” to regain a previous or big picture view, or
panning to view new regions. Inset views are also highly problematic in that
they hide information and break visual continuity with the surrounding
context outside the area of interest. IDELIX Software Inc. is introducing
Pliable Display Technology (PDT), now available to the GIS industry, as a
unique solution to the “screen real estate problem." PDT provides true
“detail-in-context” viewing and editing tools, enabling the user to see
regions of interest in detail without losing the view of the larger data set
and the important navigational cues provided by it. Examples will be
presented that illustrate uses of Pliable Display Technology within ArcView
on representative GIS data.