Usability testing for improving interactive geovisualization techniques

Usability describes a product’s fitness for use according to a set of predefined criteria. Whatever the aim of the product, it should facilitate users’ tasks or enhance their performance by providing appropriate analysis tools. In both cases, the main interest is to satisfy users in terms of providing relevant functionality which they find fit for purpose. “Testing usability means making sure that people can find and work with [a product’s] functions to meet their needs” (Dumas and Redish, 1999: 4). It is therefore concerned with establishing whether people can use a product to complete their tasks with ease and at the same time help them complete their jobs more effectively. This document describes the findings of a usability study carried out on DecisionSite Map Interaction Services (Map IS). DecisionSite, a product of Spotfire, Inc.,1 is an interactive system for the visual and dynamic exploration of data designed for supporting decisionmaking. The system was coupled to ArcExplorer (forming DecisionSite Map IS) to provide limited GIS functionality (simple user interface, basic tools, and data management) and support users of spatial data. Hence, this study set out to test the suitability of the coupling between the two software components (DecisionSite and ArcExplorer) for the purpose of exploring spatial data. The first section briefly discusses DecisionSite’s visualization functionality. The second section describes the test goals, its design, the participants and data used. The following section concentrates on the analysis of results, while the final section discusses future areas of research and possible development

Disseminação de informação geográfica nas autarquias locais: o caso da Câmara Municipal da Póvoa de Varzim

Os Sistemas de Informação Geográfica apresentam-se como uma ferramenta poderosa para coordenar e integrar o trabalho das organizações em torno de uma base geográfica comum. Sendo que a informação geográfica é fundamental para a gestão urbanística, os Sistemas de Informação Geográfica têm potencial para a correcta utilização desta informação bem como para a sua divulgação e disseminação dentro e fora das organizações. No sentido de acompanhar a dinâmica territorial a que o concelho está sujeito, a Câmara Municipal da Póvoa de Varzim empenhou-se no desenvolvimento de um Sistema de Informação Geográfica, com o objectivo de dar uma nova amplitude à informação existente e à sua relação com a informação geográfica, com vista à racionalização, optimização e gestão dos seus recursos. Após a implementação deste sistema foram realizadas um conjunto de reflexões, as quais permitiram a identificação de directivas para a implementação de Sistemas de Informação Geográfica em Autarquias Locais. Tais directivas visam a “partilha da informação” como factor chave para o sucesso recíproco entre o Sistema de Informação Geográfica e a Autarquia e o Exterior

Atlas Digital de Costa Rica 2004

Proyecto de Investigación. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Extensión (VIE). Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal, 2005El Atlas Costa Rica 2004, es la segunda etapa del proyecto de investigación financiado por la Vicerrectoría Investigación y Extensión (VIE) del Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica y desarrollado en la Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal. En los últimos seis años, en ambas etapas del proyecto “Atlas”, las actividades se han dirigido a la recopilación, revisión, edición, creación y análisis de bases de datos cartográficas en formato digital, referentes a Costa Rica, como cartografía, geografía, recursos naturales, infraestructura, y otros temas de interés. El esfuerzo realizado ha tenido el objetivo de apoyar las actividades de docencia de la tecnología de los sistemas de información geográfica (SIG) y por ende facilitar el análisis del entorno tanto en el manejo de los recursos naturales como otras áreas. En esta segunda etapa la retroalimentación recibida por los usuarios del “Atlas Costa Rica 2000”, sirvió de guía para la inclusión de nuevas capas temáticas. Además, de las experiencias y comentarios de los usuarios se concluyó que existían diferentes tipos de usuarios del producto y que la presentación de la información debía hacerse conforme al nivel de entendimiento de los conceptos de cartografía digital y SIG, por lo que se desarrolló una interfase interactiva, en lenguaje de marcación de hipertexto (HTML), invitándole al usuario a “navegar” en tres diferentes niveles de conocimiento: principiante, intermedio y avanzado. En esta edición se presentan sesenta y siete bases de datos cartográficas (de las cuales tres tienen dos archivos, con lo que se completan setenta capas), en formato digital, todas en formato vectorial, con la excepción de un modelo de elevación digital de Costa Rica en formato “raster” o grilla. La visión a futuro de este proyecto es continuar con la directriz que se tomó desde hace seis años, en la ordenación, estandarización, actualización y creación de información cartográfica; la consolidación de la enseñanza de los sistemas de información geográfica como herramienta de análisis en diferentes niveles de la población costarricense

Freeware for GIS and Remote Sensing

Education in remote sensing and GIS is based on software utilization. The software needs to be installed in computer rooms with a certain number of licenses. The commercial software equipment is therefore financially demanding and not only for universities, but especially for students. Internet research brings a long list of free software of various capabilities. The paper shows a present state of GIS, image processing and remote sensing free software

Atlas digital de qualidade da água subterrânea no estado de Sergipe com fins de irrigação.

bitstream/CPATC-2009-09/20354/1/cot_71.pd

A GIS Hub at Pace University

The Thinkfinity Grant is to use technology to develop a GIS Hub at Pace University. The Hub is intended to show the larger community the work done at Pace and to show that our students and faculty are using GIS to solve geographically-based problems for communities and organizations. It also is intended to serve as a site from which users can download data to make their own maps and as a place where the larger community can find examples of maps and have the ability to manipulate maps

Build a Pace GIS Community Center

The project was to use information technology to develop a GIS Hub at Pace University. The Hub is intended to show the larger community the work done at Pace and that students and faculty are using GIS to solve geographically-based problems for communities and organizations. It also is intended to serve as a site from which users can download data to customize their own maps and as a place where the larger community can find examples of maps and have the ability to manipulate maps

Visualizing the Cherokee Homeland through Indigenous Historical GIS: An Interactive Map of James Mooney's Ethnographic Fieldwork and Cherokee Collective Memory

In 1887, the Bureau of American Ethnology appointed James Mooney to work among the Eastern Band of Cherokee. From 1887 to 1916, Mooney documented the sites and stories of the Cherokee homeland as shared with him by members of the community. Mooney's working maps and field notes were recently discovered at the archive of the Smithsonian Institution. For this thesis, I combine Mooney's work with Cherokee collective memory to re-interpret the stories of the Cherokee homeland according to Duyuktv, a Cherokee theoretical framework and paradigm. Asking the question, "How can the Mooney archive be transformed into a digital map that will engage and inspire Cherokee youth to learn and explore the stories of their homeland?" I demonstrate what is possible when Cherokee perspective is synthesized with geospatial technologies to present the ancient stories of the Cherokee homeland in a way that weaves traditional and modern culture into its components

Investigating the Urban Heat Island Effect with a Collaborative Inquiry Project

Modification of the earth\u27s surface through urbanization can have a dramatic impact on local climate. A phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which is a measure of the near-surface air temperature contrast between urbanized and adjoining rural areas, can be evaluated with readily available instruments. Students in an undergraduate general education science course study this phenomenon in the Portland, Oregon area through a collaborative research project. This inquiry project includes background content and literature review, preliminary studies, development of research questions, experimental design and implementation, data analysis and report writing. This project successfully enables students to collaboratively generate a data set that is amenable to sophisticated and interesting analysis and provides an opportunity to study a phenomenon in their local environment

Distribution of Online Cartographic Products in Australia

The Internet has revolutionised the many ways electronic data is distributed, stored and presented. The Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) in particular have introduced\ud new methods for the cartographic community to display and distribute map information. In\ud conjunction with a wider audience, the Internet and WWW are presenting new commercial opportunities. The technical limitations for the current implementation of the Internet are slowing the process, yet are being rapidly rectified by the IT industry. This paper aims to highlight some of these problems, along with a brief appraisal of the mapping industry on\ud the WWW. Two examples of organisations utilising the WWW for distributing their data are also discussed