EK R. Eric Kramers Senior Project Officer The Atlas of Canada Natural Resources Canada The Atlas of Canada User-Centred Development and Evolution

EK Agenda The role of the Atlas of Canada What kind of maps do we have The user- centred design approach Atlas’ mapping UI development –Our old approach –The new approach –Examples Questions

EK The Atlas of Canada Today Our Role Present topical / issue based information in a geographical context Provide a home for national data sets Establish active partnerships Reach Canadians

EK What kind of Maps? Atlas Version 4 Environment, People & Society, Economic, Historical, Climate Change, Freshwater, Health 259 Maps 438 Thematic Layers Interactive Thematic Maps National, Prov. & Terr., Prov. & Terr. Relief, International, Outline – National, Outline – Prov. & Terr., Outline – International, Election 101 Maps Reference Maps 1 st Edition A of C, 1906, 2 nd Edition A of C, 1915, 3 rd Edition A of C, 1957, 4 th Edition NAC, 1974, 5 th Edition NAC, 1978 to 85, Int. Map World, 1956 to 87, Glacier Atlas, 1969 to Maps Archive Maps Searchable gazetteer of 47,000 place and physical feature names. Linked to: Municipal and Prov./Terr. Sites, Statistic Canada Community profiles, Environment Canada Weather, National museums database. Place and Feature Location Maps 25 OGC compliant WMS Atlas framework layers Web Map Service

EK User Centre Design Methods: 1. Server log analysis 2. On-line surveys 3. Usability testing 4. Focus Groups 5. Interviews Deployment & User Feedback User Requirements User groups Task analysis Context of use Usability goals Business Requirements User needs Business needs Stakeholder needs Design Design Concepts & Prototyping Evaluation User testing

EK User-Centred Design What can you learn? User-Centred Design What can you learn? 1.Who uses your product? 2.Why they use it? 3.Is it what they expected? 4.How satisfied are they with it? 5.What problems do they encounter? 6.How should it be changed? 7.Change validation

EK What is the value of a user-centred approach? What is the value of a user-centred approach? 1.It reduces the affect of poor and inaccurate assumptions 2.Validation of change 3.Balances business and user requirements 4.Separates developers from evaluating their own designs 5.Increases user satisfaction and product effectiveness

EK User-Centred Design, V2 Information Gathering 1.Atlas Baseline Study, 2000 to 2001 a.On-line survey, 1059 responses b.4 focus groups c.In-depth interviews 2.Site Redesign, 2001 to 2002 a.Involved entire site, with a focus on information architecture, navigation and the mapping UI b.3 iterations of 12 usability tests 3.Iteration 1 a.Additional research on users’ functional expectations on UI features b.Simple non-functional graphic mock-ups 4.Iteration 2 a.2 simple, functional mock-ups - usability testing of scenarios b.Incorporated paper variations of UI layout and tool designs 5.Iteration 3 a.1 functional mock-up - usability testing of scenarios b.Additional printed variations to supplement functional mock-up

EK Links to supporting info pages Other layers Legendlength Tool bar Map size & position New map selection Mapping UI, V2 Baseline Study What were the UI issues? Screen resolution

EK The User Centred Approach to V3 Starting with the basics Graphic prototypes Functional prototypes

EK V3 Mapping UI The solutions... Easyfastaccess to all maps New tools More concise legend Larger map Map, legend and tools visible at the same time

EK Mapping UI Tools V2 & V3 Map description Zoom in & out Pan & full extent Identify / Get Statistics Help & Print Map