Document Open Access Logo

Enhancing Usability Evaluation of Web-Based Geographic Information Systems (WebGIS) with Visual Analytics

Authors René Unrau , Christian Kray

PDF
Thumbnail PDF

File

LIPIcs.GIScience.2021.I.15.pdf
  • Filesize: 4.03 MB
  • 16 pages

Document Identifiers

Author Details

René Unrau
  • Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Münster, Germany
Christian Kray
  • Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Münster, Germany

Cite As Get BibTex

René Unrau and Christian Kray. Enhancing Usability Evaluation of Web-Based Geographic Information Systems (WebGIS) with Visual Analytics. In 11th International Conference on Geographic Information Science (GIScience 2021) - Part I. Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 177, pp. 15:1-15:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2020) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.GIScience.2021.I.15

Abstract

Many websites nowadays incorporate geospatial data that users interact with, for example, to filter search results or compare alternatives. These web-based geographic information systems (WebGIS) pose new challenges for usability evaluations as both the interaction with classic interface elements and with map-based visualizations have to be analyzed to understand user behavior. This paper proposes a new scalable approach that applies visual analytics to logged interaction data with WebGIS, which facilitates the interactive exploration and analysis of user behavior. In order to evaluate our approach, we implemented it as a toolkit that can be easily integrated into existing WebGIS. We then deployed the toolkit in a user study (N=60) with a realistic WebGIS and analyzed users' interaction in a second study with usability experts (N=7). Our results indicate that the proposed approach is practically feasible, easy to integrate into existing systems, and facilitates insights into the usability of WebGIS.

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Human-centered computing → User studies
  • Human-centered computing → Usability testing
Keywords
  • map interaction
  • usability evaluation
  • visual analytics

Metrics

  • Access Statistics
  • Total Accesses (updated on a weekly basis)
    0
    PDF Downloads
    0
    Metadata Views

Supplementary Materials

References

  1. Gennady Andrienko, Natalia Andrienko, and Stefan Wrobel. Visual analytics tools for analysis of movement data. SIGKDD Explor. Newsl., 9(2):38-46, December 2007. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/1345448.1345455.
  2. Richard Atterer and Albrecht Schmidt. Tracking the interaction of users with ajax applications for usability testing. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '07, pages 1347-1350, New York, NY, USA, 2007. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240828.
  3. Patrick Baudisch and Ruth Rosenholtz. Halo: A technique for visualizing off-screen objects. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '03, pages 481-488, New York, NY, USA, 2003. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/642611.642695.
  4. Thore Fechner, Dennis Wilhelm, and Christian Kray. Ethermap: Real-time collaborative map editing. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '15, pages 3583-3592, New York, NY, USA, 2015. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702536.
  5. Sean Gustafson, Patrick Baudisch, Carl Gutwin, and Pourang Irani. Wedge: Clutter-free visualization of off-screen locations. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '08, pages 787-796, New York, NY, USA, 2008. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/1357054.1357179.
  6. Jason I Hong, Jeffrey Heer, Sarah Waterson, and James A Landay. Webquilt: A proxy-based approach to remote web usability testing. ACM Trans. Inf. Syst., 19(3):263–285, July 2001. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/502115.502118.
  7. Joseph H. Hoover, Paul C. Sutton, Sharolyn J. Anderson, and Arturo C. Keller. Designing and evaluating a groundwater quality internet gis. Applied Geography, 53(Complete):55-65, 2014. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.06.005.
  8. Jens Ingensand and François Golay. Remote-evaluation of user interaction with webgis. In Katsumi Tanaka, Peter Fröhlich, and Kyoung-Sook Kim, editors, Web and Wireless Geographical Information Systems, pages 188-202, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2011. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. URL: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1966271.1966292.
  9. Daniel Keim, Gennady Andrienko, Jean-Daniel Fekete, Carsten Görg, Jörn Kohlhammer, and Guy Melançon. Visual Analytics: Definition, Process, and Challenges, pages 154-175. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2008. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70956-5_7.
  10. Peter Kiefer, Ioannis Giannopoulos, Vasileios Athanasios Anagnostopoulos, Johannes Schöning, and Martin Raubal. Controllability matters: The user experience of adaptive maps. GeoInformatica, 21(3):619-641, July 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10707-016-0282-x.
  11. Menno-Jan Kraak. The role of the map in a web-gis environment. Journal of Geographical Systems, 6(2):83-93, June 2004. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10109-004-0127-2.
  12. Jonathan Lazar, Jinjuan Heidi Feng, and Harry Hochheiser. Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction. Wiley Publishing, 2010. Google Scholar
  13. Xia Li, Arzu Çöltekin, and Menno-Jan Kraak. Visual exploration of eye movement data using the space-time-cube. In Sara Irina Fabrikant, Tumasch Reichenbacher, Marc van Kreveld, and Christoph Schlieder, editors, Geographic Information Science, pages 295-309, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15300-6_21.
  14. María-Jesús Lobo, Emmanuel Pietriga, and Caroline Appert. An evaluation of interactive map comparison techniques. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '15, pages 3573-3582, New York, NY, USA, 2015. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702130.
  15. Eoin Mac Aoidh, Michela Bertolotto, and David C. Wilson. Analysis of implicit interest indicators for spatial data. In Proceedings of the 15th Annual ACM International Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems, GIS '07, pages 47:1-47:4, New York, NY, USA, 2007. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/1341012.1341071.
  16. Steven M. Manson, Len Kne, Kevin R. Dyke, Jerry Shannon, and Sami Eria. Using eye-tracking and mouse metrics to test usability of web mapping navigation. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 39(1):48-60, 2012. URL: https://doi.org/10.1559/1523040639148.
  17. Jon May and Tim Gamble. Collocating interface objects: Zooming into maps. In Proceedings of the 32Nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '14, pages 2085-2094, New York, NY, USA, 2014. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557279.
  18. Jakob Nielsen. Usability Engineering. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA, 1993. Google Scholar
  19. Jakob Nielsen and Thomas K. Landauer. A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems. In Proceedings of the INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '93, pages 206-213, New York, NY, USA, 1993. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/169059.169166.
  20. Hartmut Obendorf, Harald Weinreich, and Torsten Hass. Automatic support for web user studies with scone and tea. In CHI '04 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '04, pages 1135-1138, New York, NY, USA, 2004. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/985921.986007.
  21. Alenka Poplin. How user-friendly are online interactive maps? survey based on experiments with heterogeneous users. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 42(4):358-376, 2015. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2014.991427.
  22. Alenka Poplin, Wendy Guan, and Ben Lewis. Online survey of heterogeneous users and their usage of the interactive mapping platform worldmap. The Cartographic Journal, 54(3):214-232, 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/00087041.2016.1229248.
  23. Salvatore Rinzivillo, Dino Pedreschi, Mirco Nanni, Fosca Giannotti, Natalia Andrienko, and Gennady Andrienko. Visually driven analysis of movement data by progressive clustering. Information Visualization, 7(3-4):225-239, 2008. Google Scholar
  24. Robert E. Roth, Richard G. Donohue, Carl M. Sack, Timothy R. Wallace, and Tanya M. A. Buckingham. A process for keeping pace with evolving web mapping technologies. Cartographic Perspectives, 0(78):25-52, January 2015. URL: https://doi.org/10.14714/CP78.1273.
  25. Robert E. Roth and Alan M. MacEachren. Geovisual analytics and the science of interaction: an empirical interaction study. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 43(1):30-54, 2016. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2015.1021714.
  26. Robert E. Roth, Kevin S. Ross, and Alan M. MacEachren. User-centered design for interactive maps: A case study in crime analysis. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 4(1):262-301, 2015. URL: http://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/4/1/262.
  27. Martin Schrepp, Andreas Hinderks, and Jörg Thomaschewski. Design and evaluation of a short version of the user experience questionnaire (ueq-s). International Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Artificial Intelligence, 4(6):103-108, 2017. URL: https://doi.org/10.9781/ijimai.2017.09.001.
  28. Carol Traynor and Marian G. Williams. Why are geographic information systems hard to use? In Conference Companion on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '95, pages 288-289, New York, NY, USA, 1995. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/223355.223678.
  29. Nancy Tsai, Beomjin Choi, and Mark Perry. Improving the process of e-government initiative: An in-depth case study of web-based gis implementation. Government Information Quarterly, 26(2):368-376, 2009. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2008.11.007.
  30. René Unrau and Christian Kray. Usability evaluation for geographic information systems: a systematic literature review. International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 33(4):645-665, 2019. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2018.1554813.
  31. René Unrau, Morin Ostkamp, and Christian Kray. An approach for harvesting, visualizing, and analyzing webgis sessions to identify usability issues. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems, EICS '17, pages 33-38, New York, NY, USA, 2017. ACM. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/3102113.3102122.
Questions / Remarks / Feedback
X

Feedback for Dagstuhl Publishing


Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2024 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact