Composing Complex Queries in the Visual Data Browser

Fig. 1. Avatar - Director - Movie directed - Cast

There is a very powerful search capability in the visual data browser of NaverLab Semantic Movie Search. User may compose complex queries and run them instantly in the visual data browser. The complex querying is mainly made possible by the capability of displaying the 4 most recent nodes of the browsing history path.

It is not difficult to add various complex query composing capabilities to the visual interface. What is very difficult is to make the complex query interface easy for general users to understand and use. What can't be used would be of no use at all.

Let's see a complex query composing scenario. Start browsing with Avatar and follow the director link. Next follow the cast link. The result is in Fig. 1. The third column shows all the movies James Cameron have directed. The fourth column shows all the castings of all the Cameron's movies. Select the Leonardo DiCaprio then the objects in the 3rd column changes. Only Titanic remained. (Fig. 2) The 3rd column is the search result of the query "Movies that James Cameron directed and Leonardo DiCaprio appeared"

You may deselect Leonardo DiCaprio by clicking the x-button and reselect another object. So you can easily change the actor to see what Cameron's movies he appeared in. Select Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the 3rd column, True lies, Terminator 2, Terminator are remained. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 2. Selecting Leonardo DiCaprio restricts the objects in the 3rd column to the movies that Cameron directed and DiCaprio appeared.

Fig. 3. Selecting Arnold Schwarzenegger restricts the objects in the 3rd column to the movies that Cameron directed and Schwarzenegger appeared.