Human-Centered Approaches in Geovisualization Design: Investigating Multiple Methods Through a Long-Term Case Study

Working with three domain specialists we investigate human-centered approaches to geovisualization following an ISO13407 taxonomy covering context of use, requirements and early stages of design. Our case study, undertaken over three years, draws attention to repeating trends: that generic approaches fail to elicit adequate requirements for geovis application design; that the use of real data is key to understanding needs and possibilities; that trust and knowledge must be built and developed with collaborators. These processes take time but modified human-centred approaches can be effective. A scenario developed through contextual inquiry but supplemented with domain data and graphics is useful to geovis designers. Wireframe, paper and digital prototypes enable successful communication between specialist and geovis domains when incorporating real and interesting data, prompting exploratory behaviour and eliciting previously unconsidered requirements. Paper prototypes are particularly successful at eliciting suggestions, especially for novel visualization. Enabling specialists to explore their data freely with a digital prototype is as effective as using a structured task protocol and is easier to administer. Autoethnography has potential for framing the design process. We conclude that a common understanding of context of use, domain data and visualization possibilities are essential to successful geovis design and develop as this progresses. HC approaches can make a significant contribution here. However, modified approaches, applied with flexibility, are most promising. We advise early, collaborative engagement with data – through simple, transient visual artefacts supported by data sketches and existing designs – before moving to successively more sophisticated data wireframes and data prototypes

Sketching sonic interactions by imitation-driven sound synthesis

Sketching is at the core of every design activity. In visual design, pencil and paper are the preferred tools to produce sketches for their simplicity and immediacy. Analogue tools for sonic sketching do not exist yet, although voice and gesture are embodied abilities commonly exploited to communicate sound concepts. The EU project SkAT-VG aims to support vocal sketching with computeraided technologies that can be easily accessed, understood and controlled through vocal and gestural imitations. This imitation-driven sound synthesis approach is meant to overcome the ephemerality and timbral limitations of human voice and gesture, allowing to produce more refined sonic sketches and to think about sound in a more designerly way. This paper presents two main outcomes of the project: The Sound Design Toolkit, a palette of basic sound synthesis models grounded on ecological perception and physical description of sound-producing phenomena, and SkAT-Studio, a visual framework based on sound design workflows organized in stages of input, analysis, mapping, synthesis, and output. The integration of these two software packages provides an environment in which sound designers can go from concepts, through exploration and mocking-up, to prototyping in sonic interaction design, taking advantage of all the possibilities of- fered by vocal and gestural imitations in every step of the process

miMic: The microphone as a pencil

miMic, a sonic analogue of paper and pencil is proposed: An augmented microphone for vocal and gestural sonic sketching. Vocalizations are classified and interpreted as instances of sound models, which the user can play with by vocal and gestural control. The physical device is based on a modified microphone, with embedded inertial sensors and buttons. Sound models can be selected by vocal imitations that are automatically classified, and each model is mapped to vocal and gestural features for real-time control. With miMic, the sound designer can explore a vast sonic space and quickly produce expressive sonic sketches, which may be turned into sound prototypes by further adjustment of model parameters

Sketching space

In this paper, we present a sketch modelling system which we call Stilton. The program resembles a desktop VRML browser, allowing a user to navigate a three-dimensional model in a perspective projection, or panoramic photographs, which the program maps onto the scene as a `floor' and `walls'. We place an imaginary two-dimensional drawing plane in front of the user, and any geometric information that user sketches onto this plane may be reconstructed to form solid objects through an optimization process. We show how the system can be used to reconstruct geometry from panoramic images, or to add new objects to an existing model. While panoramic imaging can greatly assist with some aspects of site familiarization and qualitative assessment of a site, without the addition of some foreground geometry they offer only limited utility in a design context. Therefore, we suggest that the system may be of use in `just-in-time' CAD recovery of complex environments, such as shop floors, or construction sites, by recovering objects through sketched overlays, where other methods such as automatic line-retrieval may be impossible. The result of using the system in this manner is the `sketching of space' - sketching out a volume around the user - and once the geometry has been recovered, the designer is free to quickly sketch design ideas into the newly constructed context, or analyze the space around them. Although end-user trials have not, as yet, been undertaken we believe that this implementation may afford a user-interface that is both accessible and robust, and that the rapid growth of pen-computing devices will further stimulate activity in this area

Interpretation of overtracing freehand sketching for geometric shapes

This paper presents a novel method for interpreting overtracing freehand sketch. The overtracing strokes are interpreted as sketch content and are used to generate 2D geometric primitives. The approach consists of four stages: stroke classification, strokes grouping and fitting, 2D tidy-up with endpoint clustering and parallelism correction, and in-context interpretation. Strokes are first classified into lines and curves by a linearity test. It is followed by an innovative strokes grouping process that handles lines and curves separately. The grouped strokes are fitted with 2D geometry and further tidied-up with endpoint clustering and parallelism correction. Finally, the in-context interpretation is applied to detect incorrect stroke interpretation based on geometry constraints and to suggest a most plausible correction based on the overall sketch context. The interpretation ensures sketched strokes to be interpreted into meaningful output. The interface overcomes the limitation where only a single line drawing can be sketched out as in most existing sketching programs, meanwhile is more intuitive to the user

FreeForm: An informal environment for interface prototyping

Best practice in interface design suggests that hand-drawn sketches are preferable at the early stages of the design process. This paper describes the FreeForm software which supports informal sketched interface design by acting as a Visual Basic Add-In. The Software utilises a digital whiteboard and pen input to support sketching and “running” of an informal prototype

Categorisation of visualisation methods to support the design of Human-Computer Interaction systems

During the design of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) systems, the creation of visual artefacts forms an important part of design. On one hand producing a visual artefact has a number of advantages: it helps designers to externalise their thought and acts as a common language between different stakeholders. On the other hand, if an inappropriate visualisation method is employed it could hinder the design process. To support the design of HCI systems, this paper reviews the categorisation of visualisation methods used in HCI. A keyword search is conducted to identify a) current HCI design methods, b) approaches of selecting these methods. The resulting design methods are filtered to create a list of just visualisation methods. These are then categorised using the approaches identified in (b). As a result 23 HCI visualisation methods are identified and categorised in 5 selection approaches (The Recipient, Primary Purpose, Visual Archetype, Interaction Type, and The Design Process).Innovate UK, EPSRC, Airbus Group Innovation

Support for participation in electronic paper prototyping

In this paper, we examine a range of tools for early prototyping of interactive systems that might be described as enabling 'electronic paper prototyping'. We then introduce Gabbeh, a prototype that we are developing to re-enable participatory design when using such tools. Paper-prototyping is an established approach to the creation of early prototypes in the participatory design of computer systems. Recent years have seen the rapid development of new interaction devices in which a display screen is combined with pen-based input to allow users to create sketches or hand-written notes in an interaction that is similar to writing with a pen on paper. Research with such devices has shown how this capability can be used to rapidly create simple prototypes of interactive systems such as websites. However, previous systems have not considered how end-users and other stakeholders could contribute to design dialogues around such prototypes.</p