task analysis in transportation planning for user interface metaphor design jörn möltgen institute...

Task analysis in transportation planning for user interface metaphor design

Jörn Möltgen

Institute for Geoinformatics

University of Münster

Institute for Geoinformatics, Münster Jörn Möltgen

Outline

• VUGIS

• Motivation and Goal

• Metaphors for User Interfaces

• Where do metaphors come from ?

• From task analysis to design

• An example from transportation planning


Integration of GIS, Environmental models and transportation models in transportation planning

Supported by a grant from the ministry of science of North-Rhine Westphalia (MSWWF-NRW) within the

Innovationsprogramm Forschung, Programmschwerpunkt

„Mobilität und Verkehr von morgen“


Motivation

• GIS use for transportation domain can improve efficiency

• but most GIS are intended for expert use

• Transportation planners belong to group of non-experts

• „over featured“ systems decrease usability

• existing data collections cannot be transformed in information value for the planner

• Planning processes become lengthy and intransparent


Motivation (2)

• existing: – Data: NWSIB, GDF, ATKIS, ALK, …– Models: transportation and environmental– Systems: GIS

• missing: usability for decision-making

• innovation: services for planers


Goals

• Direct GIS access for transportation planners– intuitive use of GIS– using the planners’ language

• Translation between GIS and planner

Metaphors help to extend the field of users


Visualisation

GIS DatabaseATKIS ALK ??? ???

Semantic Mapper

User Interface

GISFunctions

TransportationModels

EnvironmentalModels

Other Models

NoiseNumber of cars .........

Services

Goals


Visualisation

GIS DatabaseATKIS ??? ??? ???

Semantic Mapper

User Interface

GISFunctions

TransportationModels

EnvironmentalModels

Other Models

NoiseNumber of cars .........

Levels of user• citizens• politicians • decision makers• „Träger öffentl. Belange“• domain planner• GIS experts

Users


Metaphors for User Interfaces

• Allow „to understand one thing in terms of another, without thinking the two are the same“ (Sweetser 1990)

• Well-tested method for UI design XEROX STAR

• They link the underlying system to the users‘s ontology

• Source domain of metaphor establish an ontology of UI


Metaphors for User Interfaces

• Distinction of paradigms and metaphors– Paradigms conceptualise the overall systems use– Metaphors depend on the framework given by the

paradigm

• „domain metaphors“ assign additional functions to metaphors


Where do metaphors usually come from ?

• Choosing from a set of commonly known metaphors

• Invention, evaluation, redesign

• Observing explanations

• Principles: structure, applicability, suitability, coherence….

• NO right or wrong way for metaphor selection

• Thorough understanding of problem domain is frequently missing


From task analysis to design

• Task analysis includes establishing of:– the actual users,– planning goals,– what information they need and they generate,– methods they use, – how do decision rules look like,– which workflows can be supported by computer use,– are the users more casual, occasional or rather daily

users


Methodology

Task Analysis- Method: protocolls, interviews, questionnaires- work regulations and planning prescriptions

Use Cases/Scenarios- select use cases from user task model- discuss with planners- scenario formulation- narrative method==> clues for services, objects and metaphors

Systems Task Model

- metaphors- services- objects

User Task Model- actual users,- users task,- planning goals- constraints- etc.

Iterations


User Task Model

Study of environmental compatibleness

Level 1

Determination of relatively harmless corridors and potential centres of conflicts

Level 2

Comparison of variations

Species and biotopes

Existence,Health and well-being

Soil

Scenery/ Recreation

Climate

Water

ProtectableObjects

ProtectableObjects

Environmental use

Cultural objects and other things

Farming

Nature Conservation

Residential areas

Evaluation of inventories



Judging of protectuable objects with respect to

sensitivity

pre-strain

under consideration of environmental objectives and probable effects from the planned object

Visualisation of existing information

Judging of cultural important areas

Judging of protectable uses on the basis of specific laws

Overlay

Generation of a map with potential conflicts

Consideration of information about environmental use

Consideration of information about cultural inheritance

Determination of relatively harmless corridors and potential centres of conflicts

Discussion of potential route lines based on conflict potentials

Development of alternative route lines

Visualisation of current use

Adoption of overall planning goals

Course determination

Scoping

Demarcation and definition of planning

content


User Task Model

Species and biotopes

Existence,Health and well-being

Soil

Scenery/ Recreation

Climate

Water

Protectable Objects


Judging of protectuable objects with respect to

sensitivity

pre-strain

under consideration of environmental objectives and probable effects from the planned object

Overlay

Generation of a map with potential conflicts


Use Case

Environmentaloffice

LÖBF

TransportationPlaner

Determinationof route

Biotoperegister

Mapping of flora and fauna

<uses> <extends>

Creation of conflict mapfor biotopes

<uses>

<extends>

<uses>


Scenario

A transportation planer sends the plan with the intended route of the new road to her colleagues at the office for environmental protection in order to create a map that shows potential conflicts of the object with biotopes. The office for environmental protection gets biotope data from the “LÖBF”. But before the office for environmental protection checks whether it owns appropriate data itself. The resulting map shows fruit-meadow, hedges, shrubberies, natural monuments, forest, a small river, and out-dying plants and bird hotbeds. Then they superimpose the planned road


Analysis of scenario

intended route map creation

Conflicts map Data check

fruit-meadow Show

hedges superimpose

shrubberies

natural monu.

Forest

River

Red-list species

bird hotbeds

Objects Services and Metaphors


Systems Task Model

Overlay

Conflict area

Visualisationof road

Visualisationof biotopes

DB-query Biotopemapping


Conclusions

• UIs are needed that communicate within the users’ language

• Metaphors can map between the users’ domain and the software

• Metaphors establish an ontology of the user interface.

• “2000 light-years from home” to find a metaphor like the “GIS desktop metaphor” for transportation planning.

• Task analysis is the “point of departure” for user oriented metaphor.

• The acid test for our approach is still pending .


consequently...

….transportation planners need services

instead of just data and GIS


Data for planning processes

• Heterogenity of data

• Example: Landesstraßenbedarfsplan

Biotopkataster, Bodendenkmäler, Bodenkarten, Geländemodelle, Flächennutzungspläne, Flora-Fauna-Habitatflächen, Gebietsentwicklungspläne, historische Anlage, hydrologische Karten, Landesentwicklungspläne, Naturschutzgebiete, Naturdenkmale, Straßenkarten, Topologische Karten, Wasserschutzgebiete,

Unfalldaten, Verkehrsmengen, Verkehrsprognosen, Straßenzustandswerte und Schadstoff- und Lärmbelastung

• Different views of the same space


Baker Street

Situation in Reality

(a)

(b)

Situation in ATKIS

IntersectionIntersection

(c)

Situation in GDF

Junction

Road elementJunction Junction

JunctionRoad element

Road element

task analysis in transportation planning for user interface metaphor design jörn möltgen institute...

Documents

mnsterjrn mltgen slide

mnsterjrn mltgen metaphors

mnsterjrn mltgen scenario

transportation planning

missing slide

morgen slide

intransparent slide

transportation domain