Rich Internet applications (RIAs) have become mainstream. While only a buzzword several years ago, RIAs are certainly reaching maturity and have started to permeate many different areas of online life. The three examples in this article are applications that have recently risen to the top of their respective fields. Each one takes a traditional task and gives the user expanded capabilities.

SpatialKey
Technology: Adobe® Flex®

Disclaimer: I work for Universal Mind, the company that developed SpatialKey, but the comments expressed here are my own.

SpatialKey is built in Flex and provides next-generation display of geospatial data. Features such as animating changes in a set of data over time, comparing two different data sets side by side, and interactively drilling down into the geospatial data make SpatialKey ideal for anything from business intelligence to crime tracking. The SpatialKey gallery provides several compelling examples, including a heat map animation of all the Walmart openings since 1962. This interactive animation provides a view of this data that was previously not possible in the browser. In short, SpatialKey takes online GIS to the next level.

SpatialKey is already being used by law enforcement officials to help visualize crime statistics. This is one of the many areas where RIAs have penetrated the market and are solving real and pressing problems.

A limited-release technical preview is available for SpatialKey now.

Noteflight
Technology: Adobe Flex

Music notation software has always been a bit unapproachable. In addition, the only way to collaborate has been to pass around project files. Noteflight changes all that. While Noteflight doesn't have all the features of professional music scoring software, it does have an intuitive interface that makes it easy to create scores and collaborate with other aspiring composers — entirely in the browser.

This tool is extremely valuable for educators, students, and aspiring composers who are new to notation software. Once your composition is complete, Noteflight makes it easy to embed your composition anywhere you like. This embedded preview enables you to view the score as well as play back the music.

Noteflight is in semi-public beta, and you can sign up for an account today.

Aviary Phoenix
Technology: Adobe Flex

Aviary provides an entire suite of creative applications completely in the browser using Adobe Flash® Player software. One of the first components of this suite is Aviary Phoenix, an online image editor. While online image editors are no longer in short supply, Aviary takes this tool a step further by offering several features found only in desktop image editors. Adobe Photoshop® users will feel at home with familiar tools such as layer-based image editing, image masking, and layer blend modes, as well as undo and redo support.

One of the unique features Aviary offers is the collaboration model. Each time the image is edited, a new version is saved. So other Aviary users can take your creation and modify it from any version. This means that a single creation can spawn a web of new derivative works. In addition, images edited in Phoenix are also compatible with other Aviary tools, including the impressive visual laboratory, Aviary Peacock.

Aviary Phoenix is in public beta, and you can sign up for an account today.

Conclusion

These breakthrough applications would have been virtually impossible a year ago. But the RIA development community is constantly doing the impossible and bringing complex, interactive, and effective applications to the browser with technologies like Adobe Flex.

About the author