Robinson Anthony C, Chen Jin, Lengerich Eugene J, Meyer Hans G, Maceachren Alan M
GeoVISTA Center, Department of Geography, 302 Walker Building, The Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA 16802, USA. Tel: (814-865-3433);
Cartogr Geogr Inf Sci. 2005 Oct 1;32(4):243-255. doi: 10.1559/152304005775194700.
Designing usable geovisualization tools is an emerging problem in GIScience software development. We are often satisfied that a new method provides an innovative window on our data, but functionality alone is insufficient assurance that a tool is applicable to a problem in situ. As extensions of the static methods they evolved from, geovisualization tools are bound to enable new knowledge creation. We have yet to learn how to adapt techniques from interaction designers and usability experts toward our tools in order to maximize this ability. This is especially challenging because there is limited existing guidance for the design of usable geovisualization tools. Their design requires knowledge about the context of work within which they will be used, and should involve user input at all stages, as is the practice in any human-centered design effort. Toward that goal, we have employed a wide range of techniques in the design of ESTAT, an exploratory geovisualization toolkit for epidemiology. These techniques include; verbal protocol analysis, card-sorting, focus groups, and an in-depth case study. This paper reports the design process and evaluation results from our experience with the ESTAT toolkit.
设计可用的地理可视化工具是地理信息科学软件开发中一个新出现的问题。我们常常满足于一种新方法为我们的数据提供了一个创新的窗口，但仅靠功能并不能充分保证一个工具适用于实际问题。作为从其演化而来的静态方法的扩展，地理可视化工具必然会促进新知识的创造。我们尚未学会如何将交互设计师和可用性专家的技术应用于我们的工具，以最大限度地发挥这种能力。这尤其具有挑战性，因为现有的关于可用地理可视化工具设计的指导有限。它们的设计需要了解其使用的工作背景知识，并且应该在所有阶段都有用户参与，这与任何以用户为中心的设计工作的做法相同。为了实现这一目标，我们在设计ESTAT（一种用于流行病学的探索性地理可视化工具包）时采用了多种技术。这些技术包括：口头协议分析、卡片分类、焦点小组以及深入的案例研究。本文报告了我们使用ESTAT工具包的设计过程和评估结果。
