Bhowmick Tanuka, Robinson Anthony C, Gruver Adrienne, MacEachren Alan M, Lengerich Eugene J
GeoVISTA Center, Department of Geography, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
Int J Health Geogr. 2008 Jul 11;7:36. doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-7-36.
The Pennsylvania Cancer Atlas (PA-CA) is an interactive online atlas to help policy-makers, program managers, and epidemiologists with tasks related to cancer prevention and control. The PA-CA includes maps, graphs, tables, that are dynamically linked to support data exploration and decision-making with spatio-temporal cancer data. Our Atlas development process follows a user-centered design approach. To assess the usability of the initial versions of the PA-CA, we developed and applied a novel strategy for soliciting user feedback through multiple distributed focus groups and surveys. Our process of acquiring user feedback leverages an online web application (e-Delphi). In this paper we describe the PA-CA, detail how we have adapted e-Delphi web application to support usability and utility evaluation of the PA-CA, and present the results of our evaluation.
We report results from four sets of users. Each group provided structured individual and group assessments of the PA-CA as well as input on the kinds of users and applications for which it is best suited. Overall reactions to the PA-CA are quite positive. Participants did, however, provide a range of useful suggestions. Key suggestions focused on improving interaction functions, enhancing methods of temporal analysis, addressing data issues, and providing additional data displays and help functions. These suggestions were incorporated in each design and implementation iteration for the PA-CA and used to inform a set of web-atlas design principles.
For the Atlas, we find that a design that utilizes linked map, graph, and table views is understandable to and perceived to be useful by the target audience of cancer prevention and control professionals. However, it is clear that considerable variation in experience using maps and graphics exists and for those with less experience, integrated tutorials and help features are needed. In relation to our usability assessment strategy, we find that our distributed, web-based method for soliciting user input is generally effective. Advantages include the ability to gather information from users distributed in time and space and the relative anonymity of the participants while disadvantages include less control over when and how often participants provide input and challenges for obtaining rich input.
宾夕法尼亚癌症地图集（PA-CA）是一个交互式在线地图集，旨在帮助政策制定者、项目管理者和流行病学家完成与癌症预防和控制相关的任务。PA-CA包含地图、图表、表格，它们动态链接以支持利用时空癌症数据进行数据探索和决策。我们的地图集开发过程遵循以用户为中心的设计方法。为了评估PA-CA初始版本的可用性，我们开发并应用了一种新颖的策略，通过多个分布式焦点小组和调查来征求用户反馈。我们获取用户反馈的过程利用了一个在线网络应用程序（电子德尔菲法）。在本文中，我们描述了PA-CA，详细说明了我们如何改编电子德尔菲法网络应用程序以支持PA-CA的可用性和实用性评估，并展示了我们的评估结果。
我们报告了四组用户的结果。每个小组对PA-CA进行了结构化的个人和小组评估，并就其最适合的用户类型和应用提供了意见。对PA-CA的总体反应相当积极。然而，参与者确实提供了一系列有用的建议。关键建议集中在改进交互功能、增强时间分析方法、解决数据问题以及提供额外的数据显示和帮助功能。这些建议被纳入PA-CA的每个设计和实施迭代中，并用于形成一套网络地图集设计原则。
对于该地图集，我们发现利用链接的地图、图表和表格视图的设计对于癌症预防和控制专业人员这一目标受众来说是易于理解且被认为有用的。然而，很明显，在使用地图和图形方面存在相当大的经验差异，对于经验较少的人来说，需要集成教程和帮助功能。关于我们的可用性评估策略，我们发现我们基于网络的分布式征求用户意见的方法总体上是有效的。优点包括能够从分布在时间和空间上的用户那里收集信息以及参与者相对匿名，而缺点包括对参与者提供意见的时间和频率控制较少以及获取丰富意见存在挑战。
