Understanding User Interaction Patterns within Online Systems for Public‐Participation Transportation Planning

Abstract

Many research projects in public-participation geographic information systems focused on the development of software prototypes that were conceptualized to complement traditional forms of public participation. Given the challenges introduced by the heterogeneity of their user base, system design, and decision making process, empirical evaluations of such systems based on actual use have been scarce. This article reports on a rigorous empirical assessment of human-computer interaction of users of a web-based system for participatory transportation planning. We devised three groups of participants with belowaverage, average, and above-average interaction duration through hierarchical cluster analysis. Subsequently, the characteristics of the clusters were subjected to logistic regression analysis to determine the significance and strength of statistical associations between duration of interaction and a host of individual-level variables. Our results indicate a statistically significant reduction of the odds-ratio for participants with above-average duration of interaction in the case of no prior experience with online transportation discussions. No significant associations were found between overall duration of interaction and sociodemographic background, cognitive decision-making style, and travel behavior. We advocate for the development of adaptable participatory systems which accommodate flexibility in terms of both the user interface and pathways of the decision making process.

Multicriteria Decision Analysis in Geographic Information Science

“…The most recent trends in developing collaborative and participatory GIS-MCDA include empirical studies (Jelokhani-Niaraki 2013; Swobodzinski and Jankowski 2014) and the inclusion of Semantic Web technologies (Jelokhani-Niaraki and Malczewski 2012). Jelokhani-Niaraki (2013) presents the findings of an extensive human-computer interaction study using a collaborative GIS-MCDA application.…”

“…Jelokhani-Niaraki (2013) presents the findings of an extensive human-computer interaction study using a collaborative GIS-MCDA application. In a similarly complex study of a participatory transportation planning exercise, Swobodzinski and Jankowski (2014) examine the impact of decision maker characteristics, such as socio-economic status, attitudes toward decision making, and travel behaviour, on the human-computer interaction with the transportation planning Web application. Jelokhani-Niaraki (2013) found that with increasing task complexity, decision makers tended to favour non-compensatory decision strategies.…”

A methodological framework for analysis of participatory mapping data in research, planning, and management

“…All phases are important and should be carefully prepared. Survey design identifies the spatial and non-spatial information to be collected which influences the user experience (Swobodzinski and Jankowski 2014, Poplin 2015, Gottwald et al 2016, participation rates, and ultimately, the quality of spatial data and the possibilities of analysis offered.…”

Web-Based and Mobile GIS-MCDA

“…Finally, Jelokhani-Niaraki (2013) observed that participants made more use of data tables than of maps representing the decision problem. In a similarly complex study of a participatory transportation planning exercise, Swobodzinski and Jankowski (2014) examine the impact of decision maker characteristics, such as socio-economic status, attitudes toward decision making, and travel behaviour, on the human-computer interaction with the transportation planning Web application. Acknowledging the emerging Web 3.0 as "the integration of Semantic Web (Web of meaning) technologies with the principles of Web 2.0 (Web of people)" (p. 3), Jelokhani-Niaraki and Malczewski (2012) implement another prototypical GIS-MCDA application with an ontological framework.…”