Jens Ingensand GIS Research Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)

1. 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@epfl.ch

2. Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS Applications According to HCI Guidelines Overview 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles 2 Open Source Software and HCI 3Development of an Interface According to HCI Guidelines 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

3. 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 Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

4. 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 Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

5. 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) Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

6. 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 Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

7. 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) Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

8. 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 don’t have the resources to undertake usability work - Open source software tends to bloat more than proprietary software Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

9. Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS Applications According to HCI Guidelines Overview 1 Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Principles 2 Open Source Software and HCI 3Development of an Interface According to HCI Guidelines 4 Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

10. 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 Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

11. 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 Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

12. 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 Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

13. Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS Applications According to HCI Guidelines 3 Development of an Interface According to HCI Guidelines Prototype Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

14. 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 4Guidelines for Open Source GIS Developers Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

15. 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 => Consistency => Feedback, error-handling and labels => Focus on the interaction => Compatibility Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

16. Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS Applications According to HCI Guidelines 4 Guidelines for open-source GIS developers Problem: missing contact to the user => already a few sample-users can reveal many problems => offer possibility to give feedback to the user => involvement of other parties Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

17. Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS Applications According to HCI Guidelines Questions? Comments? Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

18. Developing Interfaces for Open Source GIS Applications According to HCI Guidelines Thank You! Jens Ingensand, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology