Information Exploration UI

Traditional information exploration through search engine result pages (SERP) is primarily designed for navigational search, or for simple information tasks (such as checking a fact on Wikipedia). However with more complex information problems, when users want to get a broader view and consult different sources or different aspects of an information problem, the search experience using SERPs is far from ideal. Even map based applications with search capabilities – such as Google Map on Android - still use this paradigm on tablets.

Figure 5 shows the screens when petrol stations are searched on the Android Google Map application. The result is presented as a list of petrol station (with address and an image) and corresponding markers on the map. The selection of any petrol station clears the list and displays a new page with information only about the selected station. The user has to navigate ‘back’ and ‘forth’ between the search result list and the details page for each petrol station in order to compare information.

Figure 5 - Search result for petrol station as list in map-based tablet application