> It's like a database GUI tool but for spreadsheets with some structured data inside the cells?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean here. Our tool provides a spreadsheet-style interface to an underlying structured data model with a schema, like you'd have in a relational database. (We often abbreviate this by saying the tool is a spreadsheet with full support for structured data.) The difference from relational databases and the GUI tools that have been developed for them is that we've attempted to optimize the data model and computational model to make sense in a spreadsheet; the full design rationale is given in sections 3 and 4 of our paper. Judge for yourself if we've succeeded. :)
> Is it for researchers?
If what you're getting at is that researchers need to store and analyze structured data, e.g., measurements from repeated trials conducted under different conditions, then yes. It's also true that the tool is a research prototype and development so far has focused more on demonstrating ideas to computer science researchers than meeting the immediate needs of our target user population, but that's an orthogonal issue.
> Is the idea that you'll generate an underlying explicit schema for the end user?
Yes! This is the key thing that Sumwise (http://www.sumwise.com/) is missing. And unlike some tools that merely guess a schema for an existing traditional spreadsheet, we try to provide editing operations that make sense in terms of the schema.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean here. Our tool provides a spreadsheet-style interface to an underlying structured data model with a schema, like you'd have in a relational database. (We often abbreviate this by saying the tool is a spreadsheet with full support for structured data.) The difference from relational databases and the GUI tools that have been developed for them is that we've attempted to optimize the data model and computational model to make sense in a spreadsheet; the full design rationale is given in sections 3 and 4 of our paper. Judge for yourself if we've succeeded. :)
> Is it for researchers?
If what you're getting at is that researchers need to store and analyze structured data, e.g., measurements from repeated trials conducted under different conditions, then yes. It's also true that the tool is a research prototype and development so far has focused more on demonstrating ideas to computer science researchers than meeting the immediate needs of our target user population, but that's an orthogonal issue.
> Is the idea that you'll generate an underlying explicit schema for the end user?
Yes! This is the key thing that Sumwise (http://www.sumwise.com/) is missing. And unlike some tools that merely guess a schema for an existing traditional spreadsheet, we try to provide editing operations that make sense in terms of the schema.