Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS Applications According to Human Computer Interaction Guide

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to Human Computer
Interaction Guidelines 

• Jens IngensandGIS Research Laboratory, Swiss
  Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)
• jens.ingensand_at_epfl.ch

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• Overview
• 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles
• 2 Open Source Software and HCI
• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• Overview
• 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles
• 2 Open Source Software and HCI
• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles
• A set of theories and methods with one principal
  goal

Minimizing the users cognitive load
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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles
• Usability
• - Effective to use (effectiveness)
• - Efficient to use (efficiency)
• - Safe to use (safety)
• - Have good utility (utility)
• - Easy to learn (learnability)
• - Easy to remember how to use (memorability)
• (Preece, 2002)

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• Overview
• 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles
• 2 Open Source Software and HCI
• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 2 Open Source Software and HCI
• The meeting of two different paradigms
• The open source-developer-user who both uses
  software and contributes to its development
• HCI principles that attempts to bridge the gap
  between programmers and users through specific
  techniques
• (Nichols Twidale 2003)

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 2 Open Source Software and HCI
• Is there a usability problem?
• - Usability is harder to specify and to
  distribute than functionality
• - Open source software projects are often
  initiated by persons with
• a technical need
• - Usability experts seldom get involved in open
  source projects
• - Open source projects dont have the resources
  to undertake
• usability work
• - Open source software tends to bloat more than
  proprietary
• software

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• Overview
• 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles
• 2 Open Source Software and HCI
• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• Goals
• - parcel-management-system for winegrowers
• - based on open-source GIS modules
• - using HCI-guidelines

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• Technologies
• - MapServer
• - PhP
• - Postgresql/Postgis
• - Rosa-applet
• - Java

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• HCI Problems (example)
• Java mode disabled
• Click to enable

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• Prototype

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• Overview
• 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles
• 2 Open Source Software and HCI
• 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI
  Guidelines
• 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Sevelopers
• Problem many different modules and projects put
  together
• gt Consistency
• gt Feedback, error-handling and labels
• gt Focus on the interaction
• gt Compatibility

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• 4 Guidelines for open-source GIS developers
• Problem missing contact to the user
• gt already a few sample-users can reveal many
• problems
• gt offer possibility to give feedback to the
  user
• gt involvement of other parties

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• Questions?
• Comments?

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Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS
Applications According to HCI Guidelines

• Thank You!