Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to browse the features. Press ENTER to play the sample sound of each feature. To repeat, press SPACE. Please try each feature in the main iSonic window. You can press Alt + TAB to switch between the help window and the main iSonic window.
Assume we are looking at a US state map of population. The population values of all states are divided into five value categories. The five value categories are presented by five different violin pitches. A higher pitch means a higher value category. For example, California population is in the nation's highest category, and has the highest pitch.
The sound is in stereo, so the sound for Alaska comes from the left, and the sound for Maine from the right.
Pressing the space key reads all the details about a state.
At any time, we can press the plus and minus keys to switch among four information levels. To stop the audio at any time, press the S key.
We can navigate the map in both relative and absolute styles. Absolute navigation is done through the numerical keypad. We can press 0 on the numerical keypad to listen to a quick overview of the values on the map. The sweep on the map goes from left to right, and moves from up to down. A percussion sound indicates the end of a sweep row, and a bell sound indicates the end of the sweep.
We can also use the numerical keypad to hear a partial overview. The map is divided into nine ranges. Each range can be played by one of the nine numerical keys. Pressing 9 plays all the states in the northeast.
Pressing 7 plays the northwest. To play the whole west part, press 7, 4, and 1.
This can be done recursively. For example, we can press Ctrl + 9 to zoom into range 9.
Now pressing 9 will only play the northeast part of the zoomed range. If we press Ctrl + 9 again, we will zoom further into the northeast part of the northeast part. If we want to play another range of the whole map, such as range 7, we need to zoom out to the whole map first, then press 7. To zoom out one level, press the Escape key. There are totally two zoom levels. Level 0 is no zooming. To find out your current position in the zoom hierarchy, press the I key.
For relative navigation, we can press the four arrow keys on the keyboard to move up, down, left, and right on the map. A chirp sound tells us that water was crossed.
We can also move among the states according to their order in the automatic sweep. Pressing the P key goes to the previous state, and pressing the N key goes to the next state. If a percussion sound appears before the target state sound, the target state is in another sweep row. The previous and next navigation method allows us to explore every state once and only once. This is especially helpful for maps with irregular shaped and sized states, since we may miss some states or move to the same state many times when using the four arrow keys to move around.
Relative navigation is always within the current zoomed range. For example, if we press Ctrl + 9 to zoom into the northeast part of the map, then pressing the four arrow keys or the previous and next keys will only allow us to move in the northeast part of the map instead of the whole map.
To find out your current status on the map, press the I key. Pressing the I key will speak your current navigation status on the map, what variable the map is showing, how many states are currently selected, and whether you are exploring the whole map, or only the selected states, or only the states in the zooomed range.
Press ENTER now to return to the main menu of the step by step lessons