Who makes what decisions

1
Who makes what decisions?
Management technical rolesin designing online
PPGIS
Denice WarrenInformation Systems Designer
Joy BonaguroInterface Designer
2
What decisions?
3
How many zoom levels?
4
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
5
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
6
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
7
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Do we need to include the swamps?
8
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Do we need to include the swamps?
9
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Do we need to include the swamps?
10
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Do we need to include the swamps?
11
How many zoom levels?
What should the zoom tool look like?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Do we need to include the swamps?
12
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
What should the zoom tool look like?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Do we need to include the swamps?
13
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Do we need to include the swamps?
14
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Do we need to include the swamps?
15
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
16
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
17
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
18
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers always be on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
19
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
Should we restrict panning?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers be always on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
20
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
Should we restrict panning?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
Or should we let users pan into the lake?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers be always on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
21
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
Should we restrict panning?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
Or should we let users pan into the lake?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers be always on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
How about letting them go into the next parish
where we have no data?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
22
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
Should we restrict panning?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
Or should we let users pan into the lake?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers be always on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should we define neighborhood boundaries, or let
users choose their own boundaries?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
How about letting them go into the next parish
where we have no data?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
23
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
Should we restrict panning?
Should we design the web site to work on old
computers and dialup Internet?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
Or should we let users pan into the lake?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers be always on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should we define neighborhood boundaries, or let
users choose they own boundaries?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we define neighborhood boundaries, or let
users choose they own boundaries?
How about letting them go into the next parish
where we have no data?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
24
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
Should we restrict panning?
Should we design the web site to work on old
computers and dialup Internet?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
What information would be on those layers?
If not, what types of systems are we designing it
for?
Or should we let users pan into the lake?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers be always on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should we define neighborhood boundaries, or let
users choose they own boundaries?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we define neighborhood boundaries, or let
users choose they own boundaries?
How about letting them go into the next parish
where we have no data?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
25
How many zoom levels?
How should we label street names?
Do we need layers you can turn on and off?
Should we restrict panning?
Should we design the web site to work on old
computers and dialup Internet?
What should the zoom tool look like?
What font? What size? What color?
How should get info or identify work?
Whos making these decisions?
What information would be on those layers?
If not, what types of systems are we designing it
for?
Or should we let users pan into the lake?
At what zoom level should different features of
the map appear?
What info should we give about dots?
Should we have a legend? If so, at what zoom
levels?
How much geography do we want the top-level zoom
to cover?
Should some layers be always on?
In what order should it be displayed?
Should we define neighborhood boundaries, or let
users choose they own boundaries?
Should the info pop-up in a new window, or in a
side-frame?
Should we define neighborhood boundaries, or let
users choose they own boundaries?
How about letting them go into the next parish
where we have no data?
Should we label landmarks? If we do that, do we
need a legend?
Do we need to include the swamps?
26
Managers(including managers, community liaisons
and project coordinators)
Techies(both in-house and outsourced)
27
Managers(including managers, community liaisons
and project coordinators)
Techies(both in-house and outsourced)
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Managers Have a vision of how the mapping system
will improve the community Know their audience
and what they need to accomplish Keep the focus
of development on users and the tasks theyll do
on the system
29

• Techies
• Know the technology
• Use good design to create a system that meets
  user needs
• Raise decision-making to a conscious level, and
  bring the key design decisions to management
• Provide background about technical constraints
  and design standards
• Explain the implications of different decisions

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Decision Scenario 1 Defining the audience and
purpose of the system
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Audience literacy providers Purpose To answer
the question Whos doing what, where?, to
inform program planning and grantwriting
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Audience literacy providers Purpose To answer
the question Whos doing what, where?, to
inform program planning and grantwriting
No role for techie yet...
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Decision Scenario 2 Which functionalities to
build into the system?
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What functionalities should I build into the
mapping system?
Zoom
Pan
Find
Print
Select
Full extent
Identify
Measure
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What functionalities should I build into the
mapping system?

• Users need to be able to
• Visualize the distribution of programs across the
  whole city, as well as at the neighborhood level
• Find out more information about individual
  programs

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Visualize programs at both a city and
neighborhood levelsounds like
Zoom
Pan
Find
Print
Select
Full extent
Identify
Measure
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Find out more information about individual
programssounds like
Zoom
Pan
Find
Print
Select
Full extent
Identify
Measure
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46
Wow, this stuff is cool but our users dont
have a background in GIS. Can we do it
differently?
47
Decision Scenario 3 How to implement zoom and
get info functionalities?
48
Our audience knows how to click on blue links,
scroll, and the other basics of using the
web. Can we make our system act like a regular
ol web site?
49
Our audience knows how to click on blue links,
scroll, and the other basics of using the
web. Can we make our system act like a regular
ol web site?
Yeah, let me see what we can do.
50
Zoom in
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Zoom out
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Get info
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56
Decision Scenario 4 How to display complete
neighborhoods on the maps at the closest zoom
level?
57
Neighborhoods are an important organizing
principle for our work. Lets include
neighborhood boundaries on the map.
OK, well display boundary lines and name labels
for all 73 neighborhoods in the city.
58
Eek! New Orleans has neighborhoods of all sizes
Iberville Central City Lake Catherine
.5mi
2mi
15mi
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Iberville
.5 mi
400x400 pixel window
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Central City
2 mi
500x400 pixel window
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Lake Catherine
15 mi
600x400 pixel window
62
Whoa! No one does neighborhood planning at 15
miles and 1/2 mile isnt enough to capture all
the literacy providers who might serve the
neighborhood.
63
Whoa! No one does neighborhood planning at 15
miles and 1/2 mile isnt enough to display all
the literacy providers who might serve the
neighborhood. Can we keep the scale and map size
constant?
64
Decision Scenario 4b If we cant change the
scale across neighborhoods to fit them in, what
real-world dimensions should the neighborhood
views be?
65
Regroup How far will people travel to access
adult literacy services?
What are the height and width dimensions of the
73 neighborhoods?
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Task What are the height and width dimensions of
the 73 neighborhoods?
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Task What are the height and width dimensions of
the 73 neighborhoods? Method Puzzle pieces!
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Print cut out scale models of neighborhoods
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Organize neighborhoods into size/shape groups
70
Isolate the neighborhoods with strange shapes
71
Input the groupings into a spreadsheet
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Write up the report
2.5 x 2.5 mi fits 63/73 neighborhoods
3 x 3 mi fits 68/73 neighborhoods
Remaining large odd-shaped
3.5 mi 4.5 mi 6.5 mi 8.0 mi 15 mi
73

• Meanwhile, managers conduct their research and
  find out
• Literacy Alliance partners said 3 mile x 3 mile
  square makes sense to them
• Literature often mentions a 1.5 mile radius for
  service delivery

74

• Decision point
• Maps should show a 3x3 mile area based on
• Input from experts at the Literacy Alliance as
  well as the literature
• Puzzle piece analysis shows it fits 68 of 73
  neighborhoods

75

• For the other 5 neighborhoods that dont fit
• Center the default view on most populated part of
  the neighborhood
• Rely on panning feature for users to see the
  whole neighborhood

76
Decision Scenario 5 How big should the map be on
the screen?
77
Theres a lot of detail to fit into these
maps How big should we make the map on screen?
78
Theres a lot of detail to fit into these
maps How big should we make the map on screen?
As big as possible, but we also need to include
space for content alongside
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• Checklist
• Make map as big as possible
• Include space for a sidebar (about 150-200 pixels)

80
190 pixels
360 pixels
81
190 pixels
360 pixels
Hmmmlooks good, but can we make the map bigger?
We need to see more detail.
82
The only way to make the map bigger is to design
for higher screen resolutions. The current map is
designed for a 640x480 resolution we could go
bigger
83
The only way to make the map bigger is to design
for higher screen resolutions. The current map is
designed for a 640x480 resolution we could go
bigger
What are the tradeoffs of designing for a higher
resolution?
84
Well, 1.31 of our audience has 640x480 screen
resolutions
85
So, a small percentage of users will see only
part of the page
640 x 480
86
but, our site will look no worse than any other
site to these users
87
If we design for 800x600 we can make a bigger
map and fit in that detail we need.
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89
And, nowadays standard practice is 800x600
90

• Decision point
• OK, then use 800x600, because
• Lower resolutions comprise a small part of our
  audience, and they can scroll to see the whole
  screen
• The larger map with greater detail is preferable
  for the majority of our visitors

91
Decision Scenario 6 What information, and in
what order, should be in the get info pop-up
window?
92
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93
Hey, what should I put in this pop-up window?
94
Intake Form
95
How should we present the info so its easy for
literacy providers to learn what each other is
doing?
96
How should we present the info so its easy for
literacy providers to learn what each other is
doing? Method tape scissors!
97
Heres the contents of the intake form re-ordered
and with the headings re-labeled for the pop-up
window.
98
Thanks. I can work with that!
Intake Form
Re-ordered
Pop-up Window
99
Decision Scenario 7 What design treatment should
be applied to highways?
100
We have a lot of decisions to make about design
of the various elements of the maps. For
example, what treatment should we give highways?
101
Heres how other mapping web sites do it maybe
we can get ideas from them?
102
Heres how other mapping web sites do it maybe
we can get ideas from them?
103
Yeah, those are slick, but, both Yahoo Mapquest
are used for driving directions, not identifying
where social services are located. If we make the
highways yellow or red, the visual focus will be
on I-10, not on the neighborhood boundaries.
104
Lets de-emphasize the highways, keeping them the
same color as the other roads, but just a little
wider.
Highway
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106
Managers Have a vision of how the mapping system
will improve the community Know their audience
and what they need to accomplish Keep the focus
of development on users and the tasks theyll do
on the system
107

• Techies
• Know the technology
• Use good design to create a system that meets
  user needs
• Raise decision-making to a conscious level, and
  bring the key design decisions to management