User-Centred and Participatory Cartography

Muki Haklaym.haklay@ucl.ac.uk

@mhaklay

Extreme Citizen Science group

Department of Civil, Environment and Geomatic Engineering, UCL

Geographic representations

http://www.phil.uni-passau.de/histhw/tutcarto/english/index-hiwi-karto-en.html http://hyperbolic-crochet.blogspot.com/2010/09/talking-and-writing-about-math.html

Sailing maps/Navigation charts, Western Pacific

(Peabody Museum, Cambridge)

Valcamonica, Italy. Neolithic

Bronze age (6000 BCE)

Carved wooden coastal charts carried in

their kayaks by Greenland Inuit (n.d.)

Greenland National Museum & Archives.

http://www.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/interactives/cartographic/1-2.html

• Representations of geography predate the development of writing by at least 2000 years (some argue by 20,000)

• Moreover, they exist in non-literate societies, and semi-literate people routinely participate in mapping activities

Modern digital mapping • Only few digital technologies failures

require physical intervention

User-centred & participatory cartographies

• Why so difficult? What can we do about

it?

• The evolution & popularisation of usable

geographic technologies

• Participatory & collaborative mapping,

Citizen Science and usability engineering

Usability engineering

Usability engineering is the outcome from

Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive,

& Behavioural research. Devising

practical methods to measure a system’s

usability in terms of its: Learnability;

Efficiency; Memorability; Error rate; User

satisfaction …

UE/UX

Do you feel safe?

CHAPTER 1: WHY SO DIFFICULT?

In which we tell the story of how GIS developers focus so much on functionality, that they forgot the user

Pivar, M., Fredkin, E., and Stommel, H., 1963. Computer-Compiled Oceanographic Atlas: An Experiment in Man-Machine Interaction, PNAS

1963

Visions of interactivity• ‘[I]n preparing a printed atlas certain irrevocable choices of scale, of

map projections … must be made from the vast infinitude of all

possible mappings. An atlas-like representation, generated by digital

computer and displayed upon a cathode-ray screen, enables the

oceanographer to modify these choices at will. Only a high-speed

computer has the capacity and speed to follow the quickly shifting

demands and questions of a human mind exploring a large field

of numbers. … The user will be able to interrogate the display to evoke

further information; it will help him track down errors and will offer

alternative forms of presentation. Thus, the display on the screen …

embodies animation as varying presentations are scanned. In a very real

sense, the user “converses” with the machine about the stored

data.’ (Pivar et al., 1963, p. 396)

Source: Nick Chrisman

1963

What was it like?

• ‘Absolutely terrible. I mean there

wasn’t a left-handed, barbarous,

mentally deficient technician who

couldn’t do better than the best

computer. Terrifying.’

Ian McHarg (1920-2001) in an

interview to GIS World, 1995

http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0300/0300gaz4.html

GIS road to the mainstream

• 1980s – commercial GIS packages starting

to emerge, range of users grows

• 1990s – Desktop GIS – more application

and use

• 2000s – GIS on the web, but not just GIS –

SatNavs, ubiquitous computing

• 2010s – crowdsourcing, mobile services

Why are GIS hard to use?

2005

Haklay and Zafiri (2008) “Usability Engineering for GIS: Learning from a Screenshot.” The Cartographic Journal, 45(2)

UE/UX

Why are GIS hard to use?

• As Identified by Traynor and Williams (1995):– GIS is complex: it is based on knowledge from

Geography, Cartography, Databases, Statistics, Computer algorithms and data structures…

– Requires users to have or acquire considerable technical knowledge in order to operate the system

• Due to the technological challenges, developers and vendors are focusing on functionality and not on interaction

Traynor and Williams (1995) ‘Why are Geographic Information Systems hard to use?’

UE/UX

Web mapping

• Xerox PARC Map

Viewer 1993 -2005

• Demonstration of

the multimedia

capabilities of the

Web

Source: Tsue 2007

1993

1998

Paper vs. computer

Tasks Paper map Online map

1. Localisation 47.35 (38.26) 121.35 (71.31)

2. Measurement/scale 44.75 (17.18) 69.95 (71.98)

3. Decode on map 49.50 (23.52) 15.00 (67.08)

4. Decode on legend 17.25 (9.64) 11.75 (38.94)

5. Route planning 286.05 (113.07) 388.85 (210.83)

2011

UE/UX

Usability can get emotional

qgis-ux@lists.osgeo.org

Why difficult?

• Complex technology to implement

• Complex technology to master

• Lack of attention from vendors and

developers

• Combined with misunderstanding of

usability

CHAPTER 2: COGNITIVE SURPLUS, COLLABORATIVE & PARTICIPATORY MAPPING

In which we see how the people who are using cartographic products and geographic technologies changed without us noticing

1st May 2000 – GPS selective availability

• ‘In plain English, we are unscrambling the GPS

signal. It is rare that someone can press a button

and make something you already own more

valuable – but that’s exactly what’s happening

today. All the people who’ve bought a GPS

receiver for a boat or a car... will find that they are

ten times more accurate as of midnight tonight.’

Dr Neal Lane, Assistant to the President for

Science and Technology.

http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/html/0053_3.html

Web availability and interaction

(CC) Ell Brown (Flickr)

Increased level of education

95 99 107 116 124 132 138 146 154 159 165

1

10

100

1000

10000

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

World population and students in tertiary education, World Bank data

Tertiary Ed World Population

Understanding scientific concepts

© Cambridge University Press© Nimalan Tharmalingam (sxc.hu)

© Sanja Gjenero (sxc.hu)

2005

2005

2008

Ellul, C., Haklay, M. Francis, L. And Rahemtulla, H., 2009, A Mechanism to Create Community Maps for Non-Technical users, The

International Conference on Advanced Geographic Information Systems & Web Services – GEOWS 2009

2009

http://publiclaboratory.org

2013

2013

2008

VGI and usability

Google My Maps – guiding users

in the process of capturing

geographic information

2008

OpenStreetMap2014

“..not sure if I am missing the

obvious Zoom and Pan

functions…Aaaghhh there they are,

small and hidden”

[P10, 31:40].

Catherine E. Jones, Patrick Weber, 2012, Towards Usability Engineering for Online Editors of Volunteered Geographic

Information: A Perspective on Learnability, Transaction in GIS

UE/UX

Map Kibera 2010

20062013

Citizen science

• Scientific activities in

which non-professional

scientists volunteer to

participate in data

collection, analysis and

dissemination of a

scientific project.

iSpot

Mapping for Change

Download WideNoise at http://cs.everyaware.eu

June 2012

June 2012

July 2012

July 2012

August 2012

August 2012

October 2012October2012

‘Cambrian explosion’

• Web + societal changes are changing

creation and consumption of geographic

information

• New cartographic needs as a result of

location based services

• Bottom-up, localised, niche projects as

the norm, learning by osmosis

• Potential for large scale collaboration

• UE & UX impact success

CHAPTER 3: NEW CHALLENGES

In which we consider where the next challenges lie

Forest monitoring

Jerome Lewis, ExCiteS

Source: cybertracker

1996

Jerome Lewis, ExCiteS

2007

Lewis et al. (2007). “Logging in the Congo Basin: What hope for indigenous peoples’ resources and their environments?”.

In: Indigenous Affairs 4/06, pp. 8–15.

Lewis et al. (2012). “Accessible technologies and FPIC: independent monitoring with forest communities in Cameroon”.

In: Biodiversity and culture: exploring community protocols, rights and consent (PLA 65), pp. 151–165.

2013

Control flow

&

hierarchical

navigation

Go back

(cancel last step)

Go forward

(skip)

Yes, there is a pharmacy

(and it is in operation).

No, there is no pharmacy

(or it is not in operation).

Yes/No,

satisfaction/dissatisfaction

Media capturing devices

Undamaged

banana tree

Damaged banana tree,

or inaccessible field, …

Damage, destruction, obstruction,

…

OK

(save & return

to beginning)

Cancel

(discard & return

to beginning)

Audio recording Photo Video recording?

Categorical

use

Metaphorical

use

Literal

use

Cacao means

cacao

(and just that).

1 – later 3 – example(s)

represent any wild fruits.

2 examples of nuts

represent any nut (tree).

The syringe

means any

medicinal plant.

68

69

Visualise change over time

Summary • Usability engineering requires

compromises: not what ought to be, but

how things work (e.g. conforming with

Google Maps)

• Potential of using geographical

technologies for all – though making

them participatory require effort and

careful methodological design

• Cartography is critical to many of the

applications and challenges ahead.

Further information

• See ucl.ac.uk/excites

• Blog: povesham.wordpress.com

uclexcites.wordpress.com

• M.haklay@ucl.ac.uk / @mhaklay