Mathematical optimisation

Project 2
Man-machine interfaces: the example of Ecler
Rail & Recherche n°23 - April/May/June 2002

Software must be developed with end-users in mind. Since they are not mathematicians, they do not need equations. Instead, they want an interactive solution in the language of their work. Ecler, a system used on the Paris RER, integrates a train rostering system that allows traffic controllers to specify a problem. The software then constructs a solution according to their criteria and shows the rostering in a graphic form consistent with the company's usual visual markers. This kind of flexible utilisation requires advanced man-machine interfaces that, for example, allow the controller to move graphic objects with the mouse in as intuitive a way as possible. Interfaces for the operational version of such tools are developed from the researchers' prototypes, in close collaboration with the people who will use them.