CoMotion
Encyclopedia
The CoMotion platform is a commercial product from General Dynamics C4 Systems
that provides a synchronous and asynchronous collaborative workspace
enabling data sharing, data visualization, and messaging. It allows potentially hundreds of users to collaborate live, sharing all or part of their persistent workspace and all data contained therein. It is the core platform for the Army's Command Post of the Future
, USTRANSCOM's
TransViz software, and Array BioPharma's Discovery product. CoMotion builds substantially on earlier work developed at Carnegie Mellon University
, MAYA Design Inc.
, and DARPA.
Data visualization in software often uses a selected Model (as in Model-View-Controller) to organize the information. CoMotion treats the model and the view as data, so that the underlying information can be seen through different models or different views simultaneously. In CoMotion jargon this is known as a "blueprint" of how a visualization is seen. The "frame," or view, can be shared amongst different users of the software. Even with the same underlying information, it's possible for two users to interact around different blueprints or different frames.
All data is stored in "u-forms"
, which are a universal property list (name-value pairs) that can contain basic types, arrays, and links to other u-forms. This directed graph of u-forms forms the basis for all data in the system, including visualized data, blueprints, as well as the frame locations and clipping states.
Until the commercialization of CoMotion, no enterprise software products existed that allowed for this interaction. Prior, all systems either collaborated on the data itself, or only on the view of that data.
A session describing of CoMotion, its Java underpinnings, and the unique nature of its workspace's UI-data connections was submitted as a paper to Sun Microsystems' 2008 JavaOne conference.
General Dynamics C4 Systems
General Dynamics C4 Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics. General Dynamics C4 Systems is a leading integrator of secure communication and information systems and technology.-History:...
that provides a synchronous and asynchronous collaborative workspace
Collaborative workspace
A collaborative workspace or shared workspace is an inter-connected environment in which all the participants in dispersed locations can access and interact with each other just as inside a single entity....
enabling data sharing, data visualization, and messaging. It allows potentially hundreds of users to collaborate live, sharing all or part of their persistent workspace and all data contained therein. It is the core platform for the Army's Command Post of the Future
Command Post of the Future
The United States Army's Command Post of the Future is a C2 software system that allows commanders to maintain topsight over the battlefield; collaborate with superiors, peers and subordinates over live data; and communicate their intent....
, USTRANSCOM's
United States Transportation Command
The United States Transportation Command is one of nine unified commands of the United States Department of Defense. The mission of USTRANSCOM is to provide air, land and sea transportation for the Department of Defense, both in time of peace and time of war.USTRANSCOM, located at Scott Air Force...
TransViz software, and Array BioPharma's Discovery product. CoMotion builds substantially on earlier work developed at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, MAYA Design Inc.
MAYA Design
MAYA Design Inc. is a technology design firm and innovation lab founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States in 1989. MAYA helps companies design more usable and useful technology products, as well as information-rich services and environments...
, and DARPA.
Data visualization in software often uses a selected Model (as in Model-View-Controller) to organize the information. CoMotion treats the model and the view as data, so that the underlying information can be seen through different models or different views simultaneously. In CoMotion jargon this is known as a "blueprint" of how a visualization is seen. The "frame," or view, can be shared amongst different users of the software. Even with the same underlying information, it's possible for two users to interact around different blueprints or different frames.
All data is stored in "u-forms"
U-form
A U-form is an abstract data type comprising a collection of attribute-value pairs associated with a universally-unique identifier . A U-form essentially comprises an associative array augmented with a UUID and with keys limited to strings....
, which are a universal property list (name-value pairs) that can contain basic types, arrays, and links to other u-forms. This directed graph of u-forms forms the basis for all data in the system, including visualized data, blueprints, as well as the frame locations and clipping states.
Until the commercialization of CoMotion, no enterprise software products existed that allowed for this interaction. Prior, all systems either collaborated on the data itself, or only on the view of that data.
A session describing of CoMotion, its Java underpinnings, and the unique nature of its workspace's UI-data connections was submitted as a paper to Sun Microsystems' 2008 JavaOne conference.
External links
- General Dynamics C4 Systems CoMotion Platform
- Toward the Universal Database: U-forms and the VIA Repository
- An Interactive Visualization Environment for Data Exploration Foundational work which led to CoMotion