Advanced searching for symbols and their approximate locations

Wed Oct 12 16:00:30 UTC 2011

Hi list,

I've added a new feature to SignPuddle: advanced symbol searching.  It 
is flexible and it is fast.  It searches both individual signs and sign 
texts. There are 5 new possible searches you can perform: 4 available 
for sign entries, and a separate custom search.

The four sign entry searches
------------------------
==Search Location - Exact==
Find signs that are exactly the same.  Same symbols, same exact position.

==Search Location - Approximate==
Find signs that are approximately the same.  Same exact symbols, 
approximate locations.  The search location for each symbol uses a range 
of values.  These values are based on the symbol position relative to 
the sign's center.

==Search Symbols - Exact==
Find signs that have the exact same symbols.  Location is ignored.

==Search Symbols - Base==
Find signs that contain the same base symbols.  Fills and rotations are 
ignored.

For sign entries, these 4 search links are available.  Let's consider 
the entry for "season" in ASL:
http://signbank.org/sp16/canvas.php?ui=1&sgn=4&sid=1309

Staying in the ASL dictionary puddle, a search for an exact sign match, 
will only find the entry for season.
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&ksw=M16x24S1fb20n1xn23S15a18n15xn24S2e7001xn1

Searching for approximate locations will find 2 entries:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS1fb20499x477S15a18485x476S2e700501x499

Searching for the exact same symbols, ignoring location, will still only 
find 2 entries:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS15a18uuuxuuuS1fb20uuuxuuuS2e700uuuxuuu

Searching for the base symbols, ignoring location, will find 5 different 
entries:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS15auuuuuxuuuS1fbuuuuuxuuuS2e7uuuuuxuuu

If we return to "season" and select the Search Location - Approximate 
link, we are given the option to search a different puddle:
http://signbank.org/sp16/signsearch.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS1fb20499x477S15a18485x476S2e700501x499

If we select the ASL Bible puddle ,  we will find 6 different signs that 
look very similar to the sign for "season", but they have different 
strings.  One of the entries was used 38 times, the other entries were 
only used once each.  If we click on the sign that was used 38 times, we 
will view all of the signs or sign texts that used this exact sign:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=28&ksw=M16x24S1fb20n1xn23S15a18n15xn24S2e7001xn1

This last page takes a few seconds to load due to all of the column 
images that are downloading.

Custom Symbol Search
-------------------
The 5th search is the revamped "Search by Symbols".

The first thing you'll notice is the new cross-hairs in the center.  
These are used to specify the position of each symbol.  Different 
positions have different results.

Searching for the index above the center:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS10000493x459

Searching for the index below the center:
http://signbank.org/sp16/searchquery.php?ui=1&sgn=4&qsearch=QS10000489x506

You can search for more than 1 symbol.  Each symbol can have 1 of 4 
different types of symbol match.  The default for each symbol is the 
"Exact Match", which matches the base, fill, and rotation.  The "Any 
Match" matches the symbol base only.  The "Fill Match" will match the 
fill (palm facing), but ignore the rotation.  The "Rotation Match" will 
match the exact rotation,but ignore the fill.

Reflections
---------
Searching was one of the last barriers to being able to efficiently 
process the SignWriting script.  This new searching technique uses 
relatively simple regular expressions.  It is easy to code and fast to 
execute.  No matter the programming language or the device, real 
searching of the SignWriting script is now a reality.

Most importantly, this technique does not require artificial 
restrictions on the SignWriting script.

Regards,
-Steve
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