Loci HoloLens App

Menlo Park, California – Use Loci to link in your mind! In Formation Inc. is pleased to announce the release of Loci, a augmented reality mind map application, which is available on the Microsoft Store.

Get Loci for HoloLens on Windows Store
HoloLens

Loci is a mixed reality mind mapping application that combines the method of loci memory technique and 3D mixed reality interaction with mind maps (graphs) to support you on your personal analysis tasks. These tasks can include looking for an apartment, finding out more about a disease, or deciding on your next job.

Loci is built to support using the method of loci, an ancient memory technique that is proven to increase memory capability.  Your memory is key to analysis and decision making.  You make many important decisions about your life that cannot be answered with a web search. Loci can help you in all the steps of decision making; observe, orient, decide, and act. This is known as an OODA loop. Finding an apartment is an example of the ongoing complex personal analysis many people do. When you do web searches you are observing. When you collect and sort important things you have found through searching, such as with a note application, you are orienting. When you list the alternatives in Excel you are using a tool to decide. And when you fill out an online form or call a person, you are acting.  Loci applies to all these stages, and puts them in a spatial context to enhance memory.

Where you place and do things is very important to your memory and therefore to perception, comprehension and prediction of solutions to your problems – your situation awareness. Locations in your house or office are important to you. They have meaning that you effectively recall, and with Loci you can combine your visual and spatial memory.

Loci helps you on longer term problems you are working on, where you need to apply your capabilities for cognition. You may return to these problems over a span of weeks or months to arrive at the right decision. You use Loci when you have set aside time to do deep analysis at home or work.

Loci is built for the Microsoft HoloLens.  Loci supports spatial mapping in mixed reality so you can place nodes from your mind maps in relevant locations in your house. Loci uses voice and gaze to enable you to make 3D graphs (mind maps).  The current supported language is English. You start by saying “add node” to make a node representing the problem you are working on, then you look at this node and again say “add node” to add more nodes for attributes of the problem, so you have a visualization of your problem.  You can say “capture image” to add nodes with images using the camera, or say “load image” to add nodes with images from files. You can link nodes together by looking at the first node, saying “link this” and then looking at the next node and saying “to that” to show how they are related to each other.  To load and save mind maps you use OneDrive.  To help you understand how Loci works, it has a one day free trial.

Analysis is the process of breaking a complex topic into smaller parts to gain a better understanding of it.  If you are trying to solve complex problems, or produce complex things where you must understand and recall the relationships of the components, then you could benefit by using Loci.   In your daily life, if you are purchasing expensive items or services, such as cars, houses, college, stocks, or medical treatment, you could benefit by analyzing your information using Loci.