Visualisation rather than text

I've recently come across Webbrain at http://www.webbrain.com/

This provides a 3D visualisation of search categories (it provides a front
end to the DMoz open source directory).

In the light of recent discussions about the need for visualisation in
certain areas and for certain categories of users, I wondered how this
fitted in.

The Windows (or Mac) desktop is another example of a graphical metaphor.

A colleague of mine came across these other visualisation products --  the
demos are site-specific rather than web-wide.

    from Inxight:
http://www.inxight.com/products_wb/table_lens_web/tl_web_demos.html
Table Lens

http://www.inxight.com/products_wb/ht_server/ht_server_demos.html
Hyperbolic Tree (also see their own site map)

    from Plumb Design:
http://www.plumbdesign.com/projects/thinkmap.html
about Thinkmap

http://millennium.sonymusic.com/
example on Sony site (clues: the expand "button" in the lower right corner
is a toggle, the horizonal text line that builds up to the left of it allows
you to return to places you have been)

http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus/
kind of fun to play with

Any thoughts on these types of services?

ta

brian
--------------------------------------------------------------
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
BATH
BA2 7AY
Email: B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk
Phone: (+44) 1225 323943