Abstract
This paper looks at the drawbacks of existing user interface mechanisms for accessing databases, namely query languages, natural language and Query by Example, in relation to publicly available database systems. An integrated, multimodal interface, where natural language and pointing gestures to a graphical display can be combined into a single sentence, using deictic words such as this, here, or used individually, is proposed. This is seen as closely imitating human dialogue. The application chosen is a geographical database, taking advantage of a familiar atlas metaphor. The progress to date is described with results from the first stage of integration. A number of existing combined mode systems are analysed, particularly with respect to their degree of integration, gestund ambiguity and other error handling facilities.
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© 1993 British Computer Society
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Littlehales, J., Hancox, P. (1993). The Problems of Integrating Interfaces to Publicly Available Databases. In: Cooper, R. (eds) Interfaces to Database Systems (IDS92). Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3423-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3423-7_4
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19802-4
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