These web mapping sites are used by people that do not have specific GIS knowledge and
even without much familiarity with such an interface. Therefore, it is likely that some
obstacles regarding the usability of these sites, which was not examined in depth, are stopping
users from exploiting these systems in full. Usability engineering (UE), which involves the
examination and the evaluation of an interface as well as other Human-Computer Interaction
(HCI) methods (Preece et al, 1994), can assist in improving the usability of such web sites.