PrintThe design of a geovisual analytic application requires many considerations. Chief among those considerations is what functions will the application provide and ultimately operate on the data. To that end, the end user must be able to interact with those functions through an intuitive and meaningful interface. Part of any system usability, then, is the overall design. That design in an ongoing process involving the end user. There has been much written about the development cycle related to software applications and their interface design.
Since part of this class involves the conceptual development of an application there should be some consideration of the interface design, what functions would be available through your application, and how that design would facilitate accessing those functions. This deliverable is designed to get you thinking about designing the interface and how user testing could benefit during the development cycle.
In preparation for this delivarable, please read these articles.
Roth, R. E., Ross, K. S., & MacEachren, A. M. (2015). User-centered design for interactive maps: A case study in crime analysis. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 4(1), 262-301. https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/4/1/262
Heidi Lam, Enrico Bertini, Petra Isenberg, Catherine Plaisant, Sheelagh Carpendale. (2011). "Seven Guiding Scenarios for Information Visualization Evaluation.” [Research Report] 2011-992-04.
This week, please share your evaluation of a geovisual analytics software. In your post, please respond to the following questions.
1. Use the internet and locate a health-related organization or agency that uses geovisual analytics in the presentation and visualization of health-related data. Examine their web site and examine how geovisual analytics has been applied to health-related data. This geovisual analytic software could be a website, an app, or downloadable software. For this task, the geovisual analytic software should be free for use. Once you have located the software, explore its interface and functionality. After you feel comfortable with it, write a concise summary that describes its overall utility and functionality. Include at least two (2) screen captures showing the interface and perhaps a symbolization method. Explain some of the available tools the software contains that help visualize data. Make sure to provide a link or some reference to where you found the software.
2. Using one or more of the approaches presented in the article discuss how would you evaluate the suitability of this geovisual analytics as a means of visualizing the COVID-19 data set or your own choosing. In your summary, make sure to comment on the strengths and weakness of the proposed evaluation method with regard to your geovisual analytic software used by the organization of your choosing.
3. Given what you have learned thus far in the course and any thoughts from your summary here, what kinds of additional tools or functionalities would you recommend be included in the geovisual analytics software of your choosing?