1. Introduction
Public Web Mapping sites are not new phenomena any more. Since the introduction of Xerox
PARC Map Viewer in 1993 (Putz, 1994), many applications that utilise the World Wide Web
(WWW) have been developed and led to a significant change within the field of GIS. Today,
many web mapping sites allow end users to interact with online maps in new and innovative
ways. Yet, while the development of internet applications in the last decade and the increase
in the number of the web sites has resulted in an increase in the number of web usability
studies (Nielsen, 2003), the area of web mapping has received relatively little attention and
there is no recorded evaluation of commercial web mapping sites. In this paper, we provide
preliminary findings from the evaluation of commercial web mapping.
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.
This paper describes the examination and analysis of different web mapping sites by using the
method of usability user testing, focusing on the perspective of a simple user without GIS
knowledge and attempts to identify the users’ needs and expectations that may suggest further
improvements of these systems.
1. IntroductionPublic Web Mapping sites are not new phenomena any more. Since the introduction of XeroxPARC Map Viewer in 1993 (Putz, 1994), many applications that utilise the World Wide Web(WWW) have been developed and led to a significant change within the field of GIS. Today,many web mapping sites allow end users to interact with online maps in new and innovativeways. Yet, while the development of internet applications in the last decade and the increasein the number of the web sites has resulted in an increase in the number of web usabilitystudies (Nielsen, 2003), the area of web mapping has received relatively little attention andthere is no recorded evaluation of commercial web mapping sites. In this paper, we providepreliminary findings from the evaluation of commercial web mapping.These web mapping sites are used by people that do not have specific GIS knowledge andeven without much familiarity with such an interface. Therefore, it is likely that someobstacles regarding the usability of these sites, which was not examined in depth, are stoppingusers from exploiting these systems in full. Usability engineering (UE), which involves theexamination 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.This paper describes the examination and analysis of different web mapping sites by using themethod of usability user testing, focusing on the perspective of a simple user without GISknowledge and attempts to identify the users’ needs and expectations that may suggest furtherimprovements of these systems.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
