User Experience in Using Graphical User Interfaces of Web Maps

Paweł Cybulski,Tymoteusz Horbiński

doi:10.3390/ijgi9070412

Paweł Cybulski, Tymoteusz Horbiński

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9070412

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Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show the differences in users’ experience when performing an interactive task with GUI buttons arrangement based on Google Maps and OpenStreetMap in a simulation environment. The graphical user interface is part of an interactive multimedia map, and the interaction experience depends mainly on it. For this reason, we performed an eye-tracking experiment with users to examine how people experience interaction through the GUI. Based on the results related to eye movement, we presented several valuable recommendations for the design of interactive multimedia maps. For better GUI efficiency, it is suitable to group buttons with similar functions in screen corners. Users first analyze corners and only then search for the desired button. The frequency of using a given web map does not translate into generally better performance while using any GUI. Users perform more efficiently if they work with the preferred GUI.

Highlights

The importance of web maps in the development of the so-called “Multimedia Cartography” was noticed by researchers several years ago [1]
A similar situation, but with a smaller difference, was observed with the second task, in which the geolocation button (TC) median resulted in 1.8 s for Google Maps-based graphical user interface (GUI) and 1.6 s for OpenStreetMap-based GUI (p > 0.05)
The third task presents similar efficiency measured with TC—median 3.0 s for Google Maps-based GUI and 4.2 s for OpenStreetMap-based GUI (p > 0.05)

Summary

Introduction

The importance of web maps in the development of the so-called “Multimedia Cartography” was noticed by researchers several years ago [1]. Multimedia, such as graphics, photos, or video, plays an essential role in the transmission of spatial information on the web [2,3]. Interaction is a human–map communication system [4] This is the way in which the user manipulates the map (by changing the scale or panning movement) [5,6]. The most popular interactive buttons include geolocation, searching, changing layers, and routing [9]. They are available on almost all global map services, such as Google Maps, Bing Maps, OpenStreetMap, Baidu Maps, or Yandex Maps. Kraak and Ormeling [10], in their manual, described GUI as a ‘minimum requirement’ for designing an interactive map

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