Waypoint: An integrated search and retrieval system for engineering documents

This paper describes the architecture and technical capabilities of an integrated engineering information search and retrieval system. The system is designed with a flexible architecture that allows it to be incorporated in other software systems and also to itself incorporate a variety of different software components. It provides uniform access to multiple heterogeneous information collections and an integrated access mechanism allowing both keyword searching and browsing of classification schemes interchangeably in a single information access session. Browsing using the system is based on a faceted classification approach in which continual feedback is given to the user on how the results of a search task may be refined, by updating browsable classifications to reflect previous user selections. The classification scheme is populated using an automatic constraint-based classifier: The article describes the rationale behind the choice of the system architecture and the incorporated technologies, and also describes three examples developed using the system.