Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Previous Studies
Progressive development of the Internet in the last two decades led to the need for
testing of web site usability. Therefore, there have been many studies dealing with
usability evaluation. Nielsen (
1993
), who defined the elements of usability as
efficiency, learnability, memorability, error rate and satisfaction, is considered a
father of usability testing. Subsequently, many usability evaluations of web sites,
software or information systems have been made, e. g. van Waes (
2000
) and
Battleson et al. (
2001
). Travis (
1999
) published a Userfocus web portal, which
deals with various usability issues in general and provides guidelines for designing
technologies and usability testing. A usability international standard ISO 9241-210
(
2010
) was also adopted.
An important part of general usability issues is the evaluation of map portals.
There are many studies dealing with usability testing of web maps from different
points of view. Schobesberger (
2009
) presented various types of usability evalua-
tion of web mapping portals. Interview, user observation, user surveys, remote
evaluation and eye-tracking were defined as the main techniques. You et al. (
2007
)
studied issues related to zoom and pan functions. The author examined five web
map portals by evaluating simulated user interface and designed an interface with
ideal zoom and pan functions.
Hub et al. (
2011
) and Komarova et al. (
2007
) have presented heuristic usability
evaluations of Geoweb, which consist of defining potential problems, i.e. heuristics,
and examining user interface and judging its harmony through known heuristics. He
et al. (
2012
) and Komarkova et al. (
2010
) used the think-aloud method for testing of
national map portals and a user test, and found that users were influenced by Google
Maps when working with the national map portals. Komarkova et al. (
2009
) carried
out a written questionnaire and practical user tasks on GIS applications of Czech
regional authorities. The most significant finding was that users prefer to have the
option of switching on/off all layers on all tested map portals.
Skarlatidou and Haklay (
2006
) analysed the usability of some world-wide map
portals with a user test and questionnaires. The time needed to perform the task was
measured and the success rate was calculated. Skarlatidou and Haklay came to the
conclusion that Google Maps is the most usable map portal and Map Quest is the
least usable one. Correspondingly, Nivala et al. (
2008
) presented a usability eval-
uation of world-wide map portals similar to the analysis presented in this paper.
Four world-wide mapping sites were evaluated employing user tests and expert
evaluations. Altogether, 403 usability problems were identified. The problems were
divided into four categories: user interface, map, search operations, and help and
guidance. Based on the evaluation of web map portals, some design guideline
suggestions were discussed and presented as a result of this study.
Usability studies focusing on web map portals also generate inspiration for
further development or adoption of new tools and visualization methods, e.g.,
more user-centred options of cartographic visualization mentioned in Koneˇn´
et al. (
2011
), Stachoˇ et al. (
2013
), etc.
