Abstract
In this paper, we address the topic of user-centered design (UCD) for cartography, GIScience, and visual analytics. Interactive maps are ubiquitous in modern society, yet they often fail to “work” as they could or should. UCD describes the process of ensuring interface success—map-based or otherwise—by gathering input and feedback from target users throughout the design and development of the interface. We contribute to the expanding literature on UCD for interactive maps in two ways. First, we synthesize core concepts on UCD from cartography and related fields, as well as offer new ideas, in order to organize existing frameworks and recommendations regarding the UCD of interactive maps. Second, we report on a case study UCD process for GeoVISTA CrimeViz, an interactive and web-based mapping application supporting visual analytics of criminal activity in space and time. The GeoVISTA CrimeViz concept and interface were improved iteratively by working through a series of user→utility→usability loops in which target users provided input and feedback on needs and designs (user), prompting revisions to the conceptualization and functional requirements of the interface (utility), and ultimately leading to new mockups and prototypes of the interface (usability) for additional evaluation by target users (user… and so on). Together, the background review and case study offer guidance for applying UCD to interactive mapping projects, and demonstrate the benefit of including target users throughout design and development.
Highlights
The advent of a digital, interactive medium has had a profound impact on the ways in which maps—and geographic concepts of space and place—are perceived and understood
We addressed the topic of user-centered design for cartography, GIScience, and visual analytics
Our contribution was two-fold: (1) we distilled core concepts from the literature into a comprehensive background review to inform user-centered design (UCD) for interactive maps; and (2) we reported on a case study user-centered process, tracking the design and evaluation of GeoVISTA CrimeViz as it evolved from classroom exercise to full transition to the Harrisburg Bureau of Police
Summary
The advent of a digital, interactive medium has had a profound impact on the ways in which maps—and geographic concepts of space and place—are perceived and understood. An essential starting point for a UCD framework is consideration of how interface success is measured; in other words, how do we know when an interactive map “works”? Usability describes the ease of using an interface to complete the user's desired set of objectives [27]. While the first four measures of usability primarily evaluate work productivity, the latter describes the user’s engagement with the interface and general impression of it, an aspect of usability essential for promoting buy-in and improving uptake of an interactive map. Utility describes the usefulness of an interface for completing the user’s desired set of objectives [27]. The taxonomy includes three axes along which benchmark tasks vary: (1) the cognitive operation (the user objective for completing the task, simplified in the operational task typology to the basic identify one data element and compare two or more data elements); (2) search target
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