Integrating Cartographic Knowledge Within a Geoportal: Interactions and Feedback in the User Interface

Abstract

Custom user maps (also called map mashups) made on geoportals by novice users often lead to poor cartographic results, because cartographic expertise is not part of the mapmaking process. In order to integrate cartographic design functionality within a geoportal, we explored several strategies and design choices. These strategies aimed at integrating explanations about cartographic rules and functions within the mapmaking process. They are defined and implemented based on a review of human-centered design, usability best practices, and previous work on cartographic applications. Cartographic rules and functions were made part of a cartographic wizard, which was evaluated with the help of a usability study. The study results show that the overall user experience with the cartographic functions and the wizard workflow was positive, although implementing functionalities for a diverse target audience proved challenging. Additionally, the results show that offering different ways to access information is welcomed and that explanations pertaining directly to the specific user-generated map are both helpful and preferred. Finally, the results provide guidelines for user interaction design for cartographic functionality on geoportals and other online mapping platforms.

Problems of Designing Geoportal Interfaces

“…Special attention is paid to visualization of cartographic data, as well as combined display of thematic layers and three-dimensional models (Hoarau, 2012;Hoarau et al, 2013;Horbiński & Medyńska-Gulij, 2017), a numerical evaluation of the efficiency and convenience of graphical interfaces (Xin et al, 2012;Gkonos et al, 2018). Researchers agree that the problem solution of creating effective graphical geoportal interfaces is the initial formation of a design focused on a person, created to solve specific problems based on best practices and design patterns (Panchaud & Hurni, 2018).…”

User Experience in Using Graphical User Interfaces of Web Maps

“…The interaction on the map mainly takes place using the graphical user interface (GUI). It consists of buttons that have specific functions and a symbolic icon [7,8]. The most popular interactive buttons include geolocation, searching, changing layers, and routing [9].…”