In this paper we describe the principles of the design and development of an intelligent query interface, done in the context of the SEWASIE (SEmantic Webs and AgentS in Integrated Economies) European IST project. The SEWASIE project aims at enabling a uniform access to heterogeneous data sources through an integrated ontology. The query interface is meant to support a user in formulating a precise query -- which best captures her/his information needs -- even in the case of complete ignorance of the vocabulary of the underlying information system holding the data. The intelligence of the interface is driven by an ontology describing the domain of the data in the information system. The final purpose of the tool is to generate a conjunctive query ready to be executed by some evaluation engine associated to the information system.

With the growing importance of systems containing arbitrary semistructured relationships, the need for supporting users searching in such repositories has grown. Currently support for users' search needs either has required domain-specific user interfaces or has required users to be schema experts. We have developed a generalpurpose tool that offers users helpful navigation and refinement options for seeking information in these semistructured repositories. We show how a tool can be built without requiring domain-specific assumptions about the information being explored. In addition to describing a general approach to the problem, we provide a set of natural, general-purpose refinement tactics, many generalized from past work on textual information retrieval.

We present a new approach for using physically constrained tokens to express, manipulate, and visualize parameterized database queries. This method extends tangible interfaces to enable interaction with large aggregates of information. We describe two interface prototypes that use physical tokens to represent database parameters. These tokens are manipulated upon physical constraints, which map compositions of tokens onto interpretations including database queries, views, and Boolean operations. We propose a framework for "token + consmint" interfaces, and evaluate one of our prototypes together with a comparable graphical interface in a preliminary user study.

XML is becoming one of the most influential standards concerning data exchange and Web-presentations. In this paper we present a visual language for querying and transforming XML data. The language is based on a visual document metaphor and the notion of document patterns. It combines an intuitive, dynamic form-based interface for defining queries and transformation rules with powerful pattern matching capabilities and offers thus a highly expressive yet easy to use visual language. Providing visual language support for XML not only helps end users, it is also a big opportunity for the VL community to receive greater attention. 1 Introduction The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a standardized notation for documents and other data [3]. It is very likely that XML develops into the prevailing format for exchanging documents and presenting data in the WorldWide Web. An XML document contains, in addition to its content, information about its structure, which is achieved through tagge...

In this paper we describe Kaleidoquery, a visual query language for object databases with the same expressive power as OQL. We will describe the design philosophy behind the filter flow nature of Kaleidoquery and present each of the language's constructs, giving examples and relating them to OQL. The Kaleidoquery language is described independent of any implementation details, but a brief description of a 3D interface currently under construction for Kaleidoquery is presented. The queries in this implementation of the language are translated into OQL and then passed to the object database O2 for evaluation.

We present the design of the visual query system VISCO that offers a sketch-based query language for defining approximate spatial constellations of objects. VISCO smoothly integrates geometrical and topological querying with deductive spatial reasoning. It is based on a strong physical metaphor visualizing semantics of query elements. Approximate queries rely on combined topological and geometrical constraints enhanced with relaxations and "don't cares" that are visualized through live animations. Keywords--- visual query systems, visual parsing, deductive GIS, constraints. 1 Motivation and Introduction The need to develop new interface paradigms for interacting with spatial information systems or databases, especially geographical information systems (GIS), has already been noted elsewhere [1, 2]. With respect to HCI an interface should be convenient, easy-to-use, and actively supporting the user. A strong metaphor can motivate users and guide them through the interaction with a sys...

This paper shows by a constructive method the existence of a diagrammatic representation called extended Euler diagrams for any collection of sets X1 , ..., Xn , n 9. These diagrams are adapted for representing sets inclusions and intersections: each set X i and each non empty intersection of a subcollection of X1 , ..., Xn is represented by a unique connected region of the plane. Starting with an abstract description of the diagram, we define the dual graph G and reason with the properties of this graph to build a planar representation of the X1 , ..., Xn . These diagrams will be used to visualize the results of a complex request on any indexed video databases. In fact, such a representation allows the user to perceive simultaneously the results of his query and the relevance of the database according to the query.

The adoption of a visual interface can simplify the query formulation process in DBMSs by enabling naive users to interact with a friendly environment. In this work we propose a visual query language based on a diagrammatic paradigm, used for both data and query representation. The external data model is called vision and is made up of the visual primitives of concept and association. The external query model is based on the definition of a viewpoint, which is a perspective for accessing data defined dynamically by selecting a concept of primary interest. Internally, the data model is relational and the query language is SQL. An intermediate graph-based model ensures consistent mapping between the visual and the relational worlds. Our language has been implemented within a tool which can be mounted on top of any relational DBMS supporting ODBC. The system has been tested with naive users; the results of the experiment are reported and compared with those obtained with other visual languages. Keywords and phrases: VPL-II.B.1: Diagrammatic languages, VPL-V.B: Database languages 1

We present a visual language for querying and transforming XML data. The language is based on a visual document metaphor and the notion of document patterns and rules. It combines a dynamic form-based interface for defining queries and transformation rules with powerful pattern matching capabilities and offers thus a highly expressive visual language. The design of the visual language is specifically targeted at end users.

The so called Visual Query Systems try to support unskilled users in formulating complex queries to highly structured databases, by providing graphic paradigms for visualizing the database conceptual models, and by allowing to build queries through visual interactions.