SalientPoint

Hemnet has upgraded their site and SalientPoint has been responsible for the integration with Eniro and the maps. As you can see there is some new interesting functionality such as the ability to refine the search on the map page. The screen shot shows the new map page and the new Nautical Cartography.

The latest installment of the Map for hemnet.se is now out. One of the things we added is clustering of map markers, i.e. particularly dense groups of markers are combined into a cluster marker. To reveal the contents of the cluster marker, the user zooms in a level.

The obvious benefit of this to the user is to reduce clutter. Since we are doing the clustering server-side and on the fly, there is also a significant performance gain.

Clustering algorithms is an interesting field in itself, and there are a plethora of known algorithms used for a variety of clustering applications. We ended up combining grid-based and viral growth techniques.

We are introducing an external API for integrating external systems to CompetencePlus – the leading online recruitment tool developed in large part by SalientPoint. The API is inteded to support integration of external systems for things such as Loyalty Programs, CRM and Finance / Payroll.

At SalientPoint we are excited about being involved in the Eniro maps integration with Hemnet.se – Sweden’s leading residential real estate search engine. Our role in the project includes architecture development, technology selection, technical project management and development of the actual integration.

The project holds particular interest to us for a couple of reasons.  First, it is a great showcase of the fruits of our previous maps project at Eniro – the popular “Utsiktsbilder” (Aerial images taken at low altitude and at Oblique angles).

Another aspect that the technology and approach should meet the requirements of integrating partners with a comprehensive directory and Mapping service in general.

The solution ended up adhering largely to REST principles, using Atom 1.0 with extensions to carry data and GeoJSON for serving it to the map client. This approach resulted in a clean and performant design, gave us instant, cross-domain, interoperability with any Atom/georss data source. It really drove home the tremendous benefits of REST and we learned a lot for future projects.

SalientPoint participated in developing this eCommerce site for Ahlsell. The primary contractor for the the project was CDC Software, formerly Industri Matematik AB.  As a part of the cooperation, SalientPoint licensed its JSR 168 Portal Framework to CDC which formed a central component of the solution. CDC and SalientPoint indends to continue cooperating around web and eCommerce technology.

In an bold move to pull ahead in the competitive race for Maps supremacy in the nordic directory market, Eniro decided to include a whole new type of content into the Maps service – Aerial photographs. In a high-profile 6-week project we (a team of consultats lead by SalientPoint), together with the Eniro Maps Team,  incorporated this new content in the maps service while preserving functions such as the ability to show search results currectly on these non-ortographic images.

The aerial imaging was provided by Blom AS, and uses technology licensed from Pictometry International.

SalientPoint participated in the development of this innovative social network site – Alias. Though not the global blockbuster like Facebook, Alias found a loyal local audience of over one million members, and offers several new ways of keeping in touch, debate and discover new friends.
Social networks presents a set of interesting technical challenges such as the classic problem of intelligent graph searching and challenges relating to scalability.

http://alias.passagen.se/