Posted: 9/13/05 Section: News

Imagine arriving to a building just in time for a meeting and forgetting the number of the room in which it's taking place. If that building were the University's Siebel Center for Computer Science, what could have been a problem has a simple solution, thanks to innovative, home-brewed software running on information panels throughout the building.

Electronic maps and a number of other projects are the products of the first annual, Intel-sponsored Computing Habitat programming competition, a part of the Department of Computer Science's April 2005 affiliates conference.

When the Siebel Center opened in 2004, it united Computer Science faculty, students and researchers for the first time, in a building capable of supporting a "computing habitat," an environment in which leading edge technology had been embedded into the physical structure to create a unique, state-of-the-art environment.

To help realize the idea of a computing habitat, the programming competition called for submissions from anyone, students being particularly encouraged, which could leverage the building's many sensors and displays to provide a useful service to both inhabitants and visitors.

The winning projects, "Find@Siebel," "Automatic Maps" and "Siebel Radar," produced technologies that help people find their way around the building, and offer access to information on what is happening around Siebel at any given time. Eleven projects were entered in total.

A panel of judges that included members and affiliates of the Computer Science department selected the winners. According to Professor Ralph Johnson, a competition judge and research associate professor in the department, projects were judged based on their likelihood to enhance the experience of people in the building and the extent to which they leveraged existing technological infrastructure.

Elements from the map-based projects have already been incorporated into Siebel Center by means of video panels that allow people to visually search the building using room number, class name or staff name, and view routes and an image of each location.

"If you've never been here, it helps by providing a full directory and maps so you can easily get where you want to go," Chuck Thompson, manager of the Computer Science department's Technology Services Group, said. "Even if you're familiar with the building it can be helpful because you might not know where a particular person's office is, or what meetings are going on where and when."

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