Midimew networks[4] are mesh-connected networks derived from a subset of degree-4 circulant graphs. They have minimum diameter and average distance among all degree-4 circulant graphs, and are better than some of the most common topologies for parallel corr puters in terms of various cost measures. Among the many midimew networks, the rectangular ones appear to be most suitable for practical implementation. Unfortunately, with the normal way of laying out these networks on a 2D plane, long cross wires that grow with the size of the network exist. In this paper, we propose ways to lay out rectangular midimew networks in a 2D grid so that the length of the longest wire is at most a small constant. We prove that these constants are optimal under the assumption that rows and columns are moved as a whole during the layout process.

Most Internet search engines are keyword-based. They are not efficient for the queries where geographical location is important, such as finding hotels within an area or close to a place of interest. A natural interface for spatial searching is a map, which can be used not only to display locations of search results but also to assist forming search conditions. A map-based search engine requires a well-designed visual interface that is intuitive to use yet flexible and expressive enough to support various types of spatial queries as well as aspatial queries. Similar to hyperlinks for text and images in an HTML page, spatial objects in a map should support hyperlinks. Such an interface needs to be scalable with the size of the geographical regions and the number of websites it covers. In spite of handling typically a very large amount of spatial data, a map-based search interface should meet the expectation of fast response time for interactive applications. In this paper we discuss general requirements and the design for a new map-based web search interface, focusing on integration with the WWW and visual spatial query interface. A number of current and fuhrre research issues are discussed, and a prototype for the University of Queensland is presented.