Visual experiments
While the landscape and the map metaphor have been already used in specific niche software, as mentioned before, it seems that they have never been used for general purpose interfaces or operating systems. I explored possible solutions based on the use of a landscape metaphor at a filesystem exploration level.
Hard disk content as a virtual Earth.
Instead of using folders, files are arranged in islands
The user simply zooms on islands to view the contained files.
The content is already there, no windows or frames are needed.
Every object, thanks to the spatial arrangement, maintains a strong relation with surrounding objects.
The third dimension is used to give contextual information.
Lands hieght shows dates, building height shows file sizes.
The trash metaphor is repleaced by ground metaphor,
deleted files are hidden under ground.
