Why are geographic information systems hard to use?

Traynor, Carol; Williams, Marian G.

doi:10.1145/223355.223678

Cited by 35 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Although the usability of GIS products has improved immensely in recent years, they still require users to have or acquire considerable technical knowledge to operate them (Traynor and Williams 1997). This presents major obstacles to non-expert users in terms of navigating an interface that embeds a language, world view and concepts that support the system's architecture rather than the user's work view (Goodchild 2002, Ghose 2001, Haklay 2002, Elwood and Leitner 1998, Traynor and Williams 1995. In such situations, HCI issues-concerned with how people design, implement and use computer systems (Myers et al 1996), the usability or the effectiveness of the interaction between humans and machines (Butler 1996), and how computers affect individuals, organizations and society-are vital to the success of PPGIS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usability evaluation and PPGIS: towards a user-centred design approach

Haklay¹,

Tobón²

2003

International Journal of Geographical Information Science

171

101

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Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) is a field of research that, among other things, focuses on the use of GIS by non-experts and occasional users. These users tend to have a diverse range of computer literacy, world views, cultural backgrounds and knowledge.These aspects require that the systems used within PPGIS are accessible and easy to use.Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) the related Usability evaluation techniques focus on how to make computer systems more accessible, while focusing on user needs and requirements. Thus, the synergy between PPGIS and HCI seems natural. In this paper, we discuss the aspects of this synergy, building on our experience from three workshops.We demonstrate how Usability evaluation can contribute to PPGIS research, and how PPGIS research can contribute to the HCI aspects of GIS in general. We conclude this paper with a call for a user-centred design approach to PPGIS projects.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Usability evaluation and PPGIS: towards a user-centred design approach

Haklay¹,

Tobón²

2003

International Journal of Geographical Information Science

171

101

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“…Once the domain of specialized experts [12], geographic technologies have undergone an extensive democratization. This sea change has led those in social computing (e.g.…”

Section: Workhop Topicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic human-computer interaction

Hecht

Schöning

Haklay

et al. 2013

CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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Geography is playing an increasingly important role in areas of HCI ranging from social computing to natural user interfaces. At the same time, research in geography has focused more and more on technologymediated interaction with spatiotemporal phenomena. Despite the growing popularity of this geographic human-computer interaction (GeoHCI) in both fields, there have been few opportunities for GeoHCI knowledge sharing, knowledge creation or community building in either discipline, let alone between them. The goal of this workshop is thus two-fold. First, we will seek to sum up the state of GeoHCI knowledge and address GeoHCI core issues by inviting prominent researchers in the space to share and discuss the most important high-level findings from their work. Second, through our interdisciplinary organizing committee, we will recruit participants from both fields, with the goal of laying the groundwork for a community that works across intra-and interdisciplinary boundaries.

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“…This type of user only uses a piece of software from time to time, thus the applications needs to provide a steep learning curve and the users need to be able to remember how the system works very easily (NIELSEN 1993). Off-the-shelf GIS software as used by specialists require a deeper understanding of database systems, geography and cartography, which makes these systems hard to use and understand for non-specialists (TRAYNOR & WILLIAMS 1995). The underlying system architecture and the actual processes required for a GIS to work must be hidden from the users in order to simplify interaction with the software.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Usability of WebGIS for Schools

Düren¹,

Bartoschek²

2013

GI_Forum 2013 – Creating the GISociety

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This work introduces concepts from usability engineering and user centered design into software development in the educational context. As still most digital geomedia on the educational market are based on classical GIS principles made for professionals there is a need for usable tools that fit the needs of students and teachers. A prototype WebGIS application for schools to present various geospatial datasets with an intuitive user interface will be presented. The used technologies and GUI elements are described. Usability tests with secondary school students are conducted and are used to assess the performance of the prototype web application in a realistic environment.

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Why are geographic information systems hard to use?

Cited by 35 publications

References 2 publications

Usability evaluation and PPGIS: towards a user-centred design approach

Usability evaluation and PPGIS: towards a user-centred design approach

Geographic human-computer interaction

Assessing the Usability of WebGIS for Schools

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