I’ve finally gotten around to publishing my PhD work in the Computers in Industry journal: https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0166361520304887
Model-based information navigation provides a three-dimensional user interface (based on the product CAD model) as an interface to a search engine. Given engineers think visually and functionally and search engines are traditionally text based, the premise behind this work is that a visual interface will improve how engineers find information.
Key findings:
- No significant difference in time to complete a search (model-based vs text-based)
- Improved indexation of non-text based documents using a model-based approach
- Familiarity with the product structure improves likelihood of finding information
- Participants in senior roles perform better than those who are not (model-based)
- Participants enjoy using a model-based user interface to find information
A big thank you to all those involved in the work, specifically, Airbus, EPSRC, and the Formula Student teams from the University of Bristol, the University of Bath, the University of the West of England, and Imperial College London.
The is available open access from here.