• No results found

MAP DESIGN: A development of background map visualisation in Digpro dpPower application

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "MAP DESIGN: A development of background map visualisation in Digpro dpPower application"

Copied!
80
0
0

Loading.... (view fulltext now)

Full text

(1)

INOM EXAMENSARBETE TEKNIK, GRUNDNIVÅ, 15 HP , STOCKHOLM SVERIGE 2017

MAP DESIGN

A development of background map visualisation

in Digpro dpPower application

(2)

Acknowledgments

Annmari Skrifvare, Digpro AB, co-supervisor. For setting up test environment, providing feed-back and support throughout the thesis work.

Jesper Svedberg, Digpro AB, senior-supervisor. For providing feedback both in the start up process of the thesis work as well as the evaluation part.

Milan Horemuz, KTH Geodesy and Geoinformatics, co-supervisor. For assisting in the structur-ing of the thesis work as well as providstructur-ing feedback and support.

Anna Jenssen, KTH Geodesy and Geoinformatics, examiner.

Finally big thanks to Anders Nerman, Digpro AB, for explaining the fundamentals of cus-tomer usage of dpPower and Jeanette Stenberg, Kraftringen, Gunilla Pettersson, Eon Energi, Karin Backström, Borlänge Energi, Lars Boström, Torbjörn Persson and Thomas Björn-hager, Smedjebacken Energi Nät AB, for providing user feedback via interviews and survey evaluation.

(3)

Abstract

What is good map design and how should information best be visualised for a human reader? This is a general question relevant for all types of design and especially for digital maps and various Geographic Information Systems (GIS), due to the rapid development of our digital world. This general question is answered in this thesis by presenting a number of principles and tips for design of maps and specifically interactive digital visualisation systems, such as a GIS.

Furthermore, this knowledge is applied to the application dpPower, by Digpro, which present the tools to help customers manage, visualise, design and perform calculations on their electrical networks. The visualisation and design of the network was analysed together with the usage of two common background maps, GSD-Fastighetskartan by Lantmäteriet and Primärkartan by the municipalities, whose default appearances are defined by Digpro. The aim was to answer whether there is a more suitable design of the background maps and network to better complement the usage of dpPower and if so, what is the better design?

When designing interactive systems that will later have various end-users, a user-centred de-sign is important. Therefore, the initial step was to collect user inputs and feedback on the current design via customer interviews. This gave a set of user criteria for good map design of dpPower specifically.

A study of existing relevant literature and previous work was also performed where several general key principles for good design could be identified.

Finally, a comparison between the dpPower design and other existing map products, such as e.g. Google Maps and Eniro, was made where key similarities and dissimilarities were identified and discussed.

These user criteria and design principles could be combined, both to present an answer to the general question “What is good design?” and to present a suggestion of new map appearance in dpPower. Key considerations in the new design suggestions were e.g. to have a toned down background map with all features in the same hue family. However, for GSD-Fastighetskartan the important convention of land classes, blue = water, green = vegetation & yellow = open land, should be kept. Colour combinations and contrast is the most important design element and since a design cannot be optimally adapted for all types of colour vision deficiencies, the suggestion is to separate the designs to specifically target user groups of different colour vision abilities. Important map information such as e.g. detailed road data should be kept while unnecessary features such as contour lines and polygon borderlines should be hidden. Text positions should also be considered.

The results were evaluated both via a survey, distributed to users of dpPower, GIT-students and users with no previous experience of GIT or dpPower, and a seminar with employees at Digpro.

The conclusions drawn from the evaluation was that the presented design suggestions and principles are good, but adjustments should be made. E.g. a use of yellow for low voltage cables, as suggested for Red-Green impaired, is perhaps not the best solution. The results present a good foundation for design of dpPower but more adjustments should be made based on the evaluation and then another evaluation can be performed. It would give an even better result.

(4)

Sammanfattning

Vad är bra design och hur ska egentligen information visualiseras på bästa sätt för en användare? Det är en generell frågeställning som är relevant för alla designformer och i synnerhet för design av digitala kartor och olika geografiska informationssystem (GIS), med tanke på den snabba dig-itala utvecklingen. Denna generella fråga besvaras i den här rapporten genom att presentera ett antal principer och tips för bra kartdesign och design av interaktiva digitala visualiseringssysem, så som ett GIS.

Denna kunskap appliceras sedan på applikationen dpPower, skapad av Digpro, vilken presen-terar verktyg för underhåll, visualisering, design och beräkningar av kunders elnät. Analysen av nätets design gjordes tillsammans med användandet av två vanliga bakgrundskartor, Lanmäteri-ets GSD-FastighLanmäteri-etskartan och kommunernas Primärkartan, vars utseende i dpPower definierats av Digpro. Målsättningen var att svara på om det finns en mer passande design av bakgrundskartorna och nätet som underlättar användandet av dpPower och i så fall, vad är denna bättre design?

När man designar ett interaktivt system för olika användartyper är det viktig med en använ-daranpassad designprocess. Därför var det första steget i analysen att samla in användarsynpunk-ter och feedback på nuvarande design från kunder genom inanvändarsynpunk-tervjuer. Detta gav en uppsättning användarkriterier för bra kartdesign specifikt i dpPower.

En studie av tillgänglig relevant litteratur genomfördes också där flera generella principer för bra design kunde noteras.

Slutligen genomfördes en jämförelse mellan designen i dpPower och andra kartprodukter, som t.ex. Google Maps och Eniro där viktiga likheter och olikheter kunde identifieras och analyseras. De framtagna användarkriterierna och generella designprinciperna kunde sedan kombineras till att både ge svar på den generella frågan "Vad är bra design?" och till att presentera förslag på nytt utseende i dpPower. Viktiga faktorer i de nya designförslagen var t.ex. att ha en ned-tonad bakgrundskarta med alla objekt i samma typ av färgton. För GSD-Fastighetskartan däre-mot borde den viktiga konventionen om marktypers redovisning bevaras. Det vill säga att blått = vatten, grönt = vegetation och gult = öppen mark. Färgkombinationer och kontrast är de vikti-gaste designelementen och eftersom en design inte kan optimeras för användare med alla typer av färgblindhet är förslaget att separera designen i mallar optimerade för olika typer av färgseende. Viktig kartinformation som t.ex. detaljerad information kring vägar ska bevaras medan onödig information som t.ex. höjdkurvor och vissa polygongränslinjer kan döljas. Positioneringen av texter bör också ses över.

Resultatet utvärderade både genom ett frågeformulär, som distribuerades till användare av dpPower, GIT-studenter och användare med ingen tidigare erfarenhet av GIT eller dpPower, samt genom ett seminarium med anställda på Digpro.

Slutsatserna som drogs från utvärderingen var att de nya presenterade designförslagen och principerna är bra, men behöver fortsatt justering. T.ex. är användandet av gult för lågspän-ningsledningar, vilket föreslås för användare med Röd-Grön färgblindhet, troligen inte den bästa lösningen. Resultaten i denna rapport ger en bra grund för design av dpPower men fler justeringen borde göras baserat på utvärderingen vilka sedan kan utvärderas ytterligare en gång. Detta hade gett ett ändå bättre anpassat resultat.

(5)

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Background . . . 1

1.2 Problem Formulation . . . 4

1.3 Objectives . . . 4

1.4 Limitations & Delimitations . . . 4

1.5 Disposition . . . 4

2 Related Work 5 2.1 Human Perception . . . 5

2.1.1 Human Perception . . . 5

2.1.2 Colour Vision and Colour Vision Deficiency . . . 6

2.2 Interactive Visualisation . . . 8 2.2.1 Visual Analytics . . . 8 2.2.2 User Interactions . . . 8 2.2.3 Visualisation Principles . . . 9 2.2.4 Visual Representations . . . 12 2.2.5 Visulisation Displays . . . 12

2.2.6 The Visual Information Seeking Mantra . . . 13

2.3 Cartography . . . 13 2.3.1 Cartography . . . 13 2.3.2 Digital Cartography . . . 13 2.3.3 Map Conventions . . . 14 2.3.4 Map Design . . . 16 2.3.5 Interactive Design . . . 23 3 Research Methodology 23 3.1 User Input . . . 23 3.1.1 Interviews . . . 23 3.1.2 Criteria . . . 25 3.2 Literature Study . . . 25 3.3 Map Comparisons . . . 25

3.4 Formulation of New Map Appearance . . . 25

3.5 Evaluation and Feedback . . . 25

3.5.1 Quantitative . . . 26

3.5.2 Qualitative . . . 26

4 Results 26 4.1 Map Comparisons . . . 26

4.2 Answer to Problem Formulation . . . 27

4.2.1 What is good design? . . . 27

4.2.2 New suggestion for map appaerance in dpPower . . . 34

4.3 Quantitative Feedback . . . 50

(6)

5 Discussion 58 5.1 General . . . 58 5.2 Related Work . . . 60 5.3 Interviews . . . 60 5.4 Map Comparisons . . . 60 5.5 Analyse in dpPower . . . 60 5.6 Evaluation . . . 62 6 Conclusions 63 7 Future Work 63 References 65

(7)

List of Figures

1 Example of GSD-Fastighetskartan. . . 2

2 Example of Primärkartan. . . 2

3 Example of dpPower. . . 3

4 Perceptual trick - figure-ground relationship. . . 5

5 Most common Red-Green colour deficiencies. . . 7

6 Similarity Principle. A dissimilar object is significantly different from the rest. . . 10

7 Closure principle. The eye fills in the missing lines to complete the shape. . . 10

8 Sky and Water, by MC Escher, uses the figure-ground relationship. . . 11

9 Red = Danger, Amber = Caution, Green = Safe. Traffic lights use the convention of safety for colours. . . 14

10 Elevation map using the altitude colour conventions. . . 15

11 Temperature map with convention dark = more, light = less. . . 15

12 Example of how simultaneuos contrast affect the visual significance. . . 17

13 Badly considered line designs can hurt the eyes. . . 18

14 Map with line pattern. . . 18

15 Map with dot pattern. . . 18

16 The complementary colours, oposit to eachother. . . 19

17 How users with Red-Green deficiency (below) see normal colours (above). . . 20

18 How to vary point-, line- & area features. . . 21

19 How to represent point features. . . 22

20 How to represent line features. . . 22

21 Old maps can contain lots of decorative symbols. . . 28

22 Example of colour combinations to avoid for Red-Green impaired. . . 31

23 How colour vision impaired experience the normal colours. . . 31

24 How a spectral colour scheme can be modified for Red-Green impaired. . . 32

25 Current Primärkartan background map design. . . 35

26 New suggested Primärkartan background map design. . . 36

27 Current network design. . . 37

28 New suggested network design for Red-Green impaired. . . 37

29 Current network design. . . 37

30 New suggested network design for Red-Green impaired. . . 37

31 Current design of Primärkartan and network, small scale. . . 39

32 New suggestion for Red-Green impaired, small scale. . . 39

33 New suggestion for normal vision, small scale. . . 40

34 Current design of Primärkartan and network, large scale. . . 40

35 New suggestion for Red-Green impaired, large scale. . . 41

36 New suggestion for normal vision, large scale. . . 41

37 Current design of GSD-Fastighetskartan and network, small scale. . . 43

38 New suggestion for Red-Green impaired, small scale. . . 43

39 New suggestion for normal vision, small scale. . . 44

40 Current design of GSD-Fastighetskartan and network, large scale. . . 44

41 New suggestion for Red-Green impaired, large scale. . . 45

42 New suggestion for normal vision, large scale. . . 45

(8)

44 New suggestion for Red-Green impaired, large scale. . . 46

45 New suggestion for normal vision, large scale. . . 47

46 Borderlines in current design. . . 47

47 Borderlines in new suggestion. . . 48

48 Current random positioning of texts. . . 48

49 Example with structured text positioning. . . 49

50 SurveyQ. 1: Who are you? - Respondents test group. . . 50

51 SurveyQ. 2: Do you have any colour vision impairment? . . . 50

52 SurveyQ. 3: Choose which of the background maps below is less visually signif-icant. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New suggestion. . . 51

53 SurveyQ. 4: Choose which of the networks below you prefer. - Choice of red/green or yellow/red network. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New suggestion. 52 54 SurveyQ. 5: Choose in which of the maps below, the network is best comple-mented by the background map. - Choice of network + Primärkartan background map design. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New suggestion 1, Version 3 = New suggestion 2. . . 53

55 SurveyQ. 6: Choose in which of the maps below, the network is best comple-mented by the background map. - Choice of network + Primärkartan background map design. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New suggestion 1, Version 3 = New suggestion 2. . . 53

56 SurveyQ. 7: Choose in which of the maps below, the network is best comple-mented by the background map. - Choice of network + GSD-Fastighetskartan background map design. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New sugges-tion 1, Version 3 = New suggessugges-tion 2. . . 54

57 SurveyQ. 8: Choose in which of the maps below, the network is best comple-mented by the background map. - Choice of network + GSD-Fastighetskartan background map design. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New sugges-tion 1, Version 3 = New suggessugges-tion 2. . . 55

58 SurveyQ. 9; Choose in which of the maps below, the network is best comple-mented by the background map. - Choice of network + GSD-Fastighetskartan background map design. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New sugges-tion 1, Version 3 = New suggessugges-tion 2. . . 55

59 SurveyQ. 10: Choose which of the maps below has the best polygon borderlines. Version 1 = Current version, Version 2 = New suggestion. . . 56

60 SurveyQ. 11; Choose what you think about using standards for text positioning for point objects such as e.g. Option 1 = Lower right side, if not suitable, use Option 2 = lower left side. etc. . . 57

(9)

List of Tables

(10)

Terms and Abbrevations

GSD: Geografiska Sverigedata, Swedish Geographic Data. GIT: Geographic Information Technology.

GIS: Geographic Information System.

(11)

1

Introduction

What is the world? Most people agree upon our existent as being made up by the atoms and quarks creating matter as a physical quantity. But what would the world be if it lacked the di-mension of vision. Colour and light is actually just radiation of different wavelengths interpreted by our eyes. But how would we recognise light if there were no vision. One might say that to best describe and understand our world, visualisation and understanding of, primarily, the human minds interpretation of what we see is the most important. How would one best explain the rain-bow? How do you best analyse geographic information? How do you present enormous amounts of data, available in our modern digital societies, to another person so it is fully interpretable? The answer is by visualisation and primarily by visualisation on maps.

But how should the maps be designed? What information should be shown to achieve max-imum legibility and still present a maxmax-imum amount of data? How should the information be presented? When it comes to visualisation of maps, what is actually good design?

These are issues that must be considered in many applications regarding information presenta-tion. But design considerations should always be made to everything we create. Systems, objects, applications, games, maps etc. will all be used by different users and for different purposes, which the design should follow and adapt to. Visualisation is the key to understanding and we should apply the technologies and insights we know about it whenever we can.

This thesis addresses the subject of visualisation of geographical data in a GIS and considers issues such as e.g. map design, interactive visualisation and human perception with the aim of presenting a new suggestion of map appearance for an application designed by the company Digpro.

1.1 Background

Since this thesis is based on the subject of visualisation of geographic data, it seems obvious to first state a couple of related definitions. To analyse a system for geographical information, one needs to state the meaning of a GIS. If the geographic data in a GIS is to be presented on a map, one first needs to define what a map is.

What is a GIS?

A GIS is a computer-based tool for analysing, storing, manipulating and visualising geographic information on a map [1]. Data is not fully interpretable until one can spatially relate it to a geographic location and present this information on a digital or analogue map. Due to the on-going global digitalisation process of our societies, GIS is an increasingly important tool for various spatial analysis tasks and visualisations of spatial data.

What is a map?

According to the National Geographic Society [2], a map is a symbolic representation of selected characteristics of a place. The map shows objects of different size, shape and colour, on locations relating them geographically to each other by map distances and coordinates. Cartographers have been creating maps for thousands of years, visualising objects and characteristics of a region on elements such as e.g. cave walls, clay bricks, papyrus, paper etc. The fact that maps were invented that long ago and still play a key role in spatial applications, indicates the vast variety of map types and map usage. Below, two modern detailed maps are presented.

GSD-Fastighetskartan

(12)

it can be known as a Cadastral Map. It shows features such as e.g. properties and property boundaries, buildings, roads and various land covers, optimised for the scale interval 1:5000 – 1:20 000 and is available both in printed and digital form. See example in Figure 1 [4]. It is a high quality, precise map, available both as vector and raster data. It is a part of the swedish geographic database system GSD that provides fundamental spatial information over entire Sweden [5].

c

Lantmäteriet

Figure 1: Example of GSD-Fastighetskartan. Primärkartan

Is a very detailed digital vector map designed by the municipalities to be used in urban areas [6]. See Figure 2 [7]. It is used as the base information for many applications and other maps, e.g. in detailed planning and decision-making. It contains high quality, updated information of e.g. buildings, contour lines, road edges, fences, trees etc. designed to be used in relatively large scales [8]. The map is also known as Baskartan or other names locally specified by the municipalities.

Figure 2: Example of Primärkartan. Digpro

Digpro is a company specialised in providing Geographic IT solutions, such as applications for electricity, telecom, district heating, gas and water networks [9]. Their software’s are designed to help customers manage, visualise, design and perform calculations on their networks, always

(13)

with the aid of detailed background information from digital maps. The application designed for management of large networks for electrical distribution is called dpPower [10]. The users network of electrical cables, transmitter stations, power switches etc. can be drawn and visualised in dpPower using certain colour schemes, object sizes and object designs defined by Digpro. In addition, the customers can use detailed background maps as complementary information, e.g. GSD-Fastighetskartan, or Primärkartan, described above. See Figure 3 [11] for an example with an aerial photograph as background image to the network.

Figure 3: Example of dpPower.

The Digpro applications present the tools to visualise this background map data, in combina-tion with the network data. However, the appearance and visualisacombina-tion of the background maps have never been thoroughly analysed as having the purpose of serving as background information for dpPower users. According to dpPower responsible at Digpro, Anders Nerman, the customers and users are also free to change the background map appearance as well as the visualisation of the network to better suit their specific applications. However, no feedback has ever been received from the users about their preferences or their opinions about the visualisation of background maps in dpPower.

(14)

1.2 Problem Formulation

Thus, the problem formulation of this research is to answer the question: “Would another ap-pearance of the background maps GSD-Fastighetskartan and Primärkartan better complement the customer usage of dpPower?“

If the background map is to be a good complement to the usage of dpPower, the design must be analysed as a whole with the network and background information together.

To answer this, the general question: “What is good map design?” must first be answered.

1.3 Objectives

The objectives of this thesis are, firstly, to answer the questions stated in the section above. Sec-ondly, if there is a more suited appearance of the background maps for users of dpPower than what is originally installed on their computers, the objective is to present what this is.

1.4 Limitations & Delimitations

Since Digpro presents GIT applications for numerous types of networks and the customers can use several data sources as background map information, a complete analyse of the background map visualisation for all kinds of background maps, networks and users would not be possible in the thesis time frame. Optimally the users would be involved in an iterative process of design and evaluation. But the time frame only allows one loop in this process, further described in section 2.2.2. Thus, this thesis has been limited to analyse the use of GSD-Fastighetskartan and Primärkartan in the dpPower application using e.g. user feedback from a selected subset of customers.

1.5 Disposition

This thesis is structured to first present a series of related work in section 2 regarding topics related to human perception, interactive visualisation and cartography.

In section 3, the thesis methodology is described in detail where the conducted steps of data collection via interviews, formulation of user criteria, literature study, map comparisons between dpPower and other map sources, formulation of new map appearances, evaluation and feedback are presented.

Section 4 further presents the results of the thesis. Here, the related work from section 2, the user criteria and map comparisons formulated and described in section 3 is combined to present the answer to the problem formulation of “What is good design?”. This knowledge is then applied to dpPower and the use of the background maps Primärkartan and GSD-Fastighetskartan together with the electrical network. Here the current design problems are discussed and new suggestions for map appearance are presented. Section 4 also presents and analyses the results from the evaluation and feedback part.

In section 5, the entire thesis work, including methodology and results, is discussed and con-clusions are drawn in section 6.

Finally, recommendations for future work that remains to be done in this study area is pre-sented in section 7.

(15)

2

Related Work

A variety of researches related to this thesis problem have been made throughout the years. Below, a selection of work topics will be presented. First the science and understanding of the human perception and colour vision will be examined in section 2.1. This includes the functionality of the human colour vision and describes the different kinds of colour deficiencies. For a visualisation topic, these human abilities are critically important. Since maps are to be visualised and dpPower is a digital GIS on a computer, the important subject of Interactive Visualisation is described in section 2.2. This section describes e.g. the importance of user-centred designs and formulates visualisation and representation principles. In section 2.3 the Cartography field is examined, both analogously and digitally and a couple of tools for good map design, regarding e.g. existing conventions and user approaches are presented here.

2.1 Human Perception

Since a map and digital information is created to be read by humans, specifically by the human eyes and mind, it is important to first analyse the subject of human perception.

2.1.1 Human Perception

As stated by several researchers [12], [13], [14], in order to produce an effective visualisation, one must understand the human perception and cognitive capability. Otherwise the end result may not lead to an interpretable visualisation by the users.

Shneiderman [13] states that humans have remarkable perceptual abilities. About one quar-ter of the brain is involved in visual processing which is more than any other sense. Users can scan, recognise and recall images and can detect changes in e.g. colour, shape, movement or tex-ture. Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] states that the human mind is exceptionally good at interpreting simplified visualised data representations, though it can be easily fooled by certain ambiguous representations, best proved by perceptual tricks. See example Figure 4 [15] below.

Figure 4: Perceptual trick - figure-ground relationship.

However, according to Shneiderman and Zudilova-Seinstra et al [13], [12], these abilities are greatly under-utilised in current designs. Even though the visualisation plays a key role, naturally it must be adapted for human eyes, which they claim is not completely the case in most of the current GIS and map designs.

(16)

2.1.2 Colour Vision and Colour Vision Deficiency

One of the most important and well-known abilities of the human eye is the colour vision. Several researches have been examining the eyes and visual information processing.

Land [16] describes the remarkable ability of the eye to discover lightness values independent of flux and states that this ability is the basis on which the satisfactory description of colour vision can be built.

Machado et al [17] describes the functionality of human colour vision as dependent on three kinds of retinal photoreceptors, called cones. The cones peak in the large, medium and short wavelength portions of the visible spectrum, that is the red, green and blue portion respectively. The three cones read the incoming light and send the information to the brain for interpretation. This means that the human colour vision is trichromatic, that is, there are three independent variables affecting the colour vision [18]. For normally functioning eyes, the cones can pass any combination of red, green and blue lights on to the brain giving us the vision of practically any kind of colour in the visible spectrum [19]. However, a deficiency on one or more of the cones, with a loss of light sensitive pigments, will create a colour deficiency for that person where he/she is unable to see one or more of the three primary colours. The American Optometric Association [19] states that the most common deficiency is the one called Red-Green which means that the person has troubles differing between the red and green colours. It is also dependent on the darkness where darker colours are even harder to differ. Red-Green deficiency can be divided in Deuteranopia and Protanopia, which is reduced sensitivity to green and red light respectively. See Figure 5 [20] for examples of how Red-Green impaired users see the normal colours.

(17)

Figure 5: Most common Red-Green colour deficiencies.

The second most common deficiency is Yellow-Blue, or Tritanopia, which is actually much more rare and also more severe since these persons usually have the Red-Green deficiency too.

These deficiencies are all dichromatic, meaning they are the result of the loss of function of one cone, reducing the number of independent variables to two [18]. A further loss down to one single variable gives a monochromatic vision where the person can only see in one grey-scale. In fact, the missing colours are replaced by shades of grey or neutral colours for persons with colour deficiencies [19]. This means that most people are not completely colour blind, they just have a problem differing between colours, which can be more or less severe. Very few people are completely colour blind [18].

Colour deficiencies vary from person to person and also from males to females [21]. Accord-ing to Birch [22], about one in twelve men sees colour differently than the rest of the population and Red-Green colour deficiency is by far the most common with about 8% of the men and 0,4% of the women.

Robinson [14] states that the choice of colours must be based on the characteristics of colour vision, for maps are to be read. The human eye reacts to colours in terms of their hue, e.g. blue or red, and each individual hue varies in terms of brightness or value and in the degree of intensity or saturation of the colour area. Since colours always appear in a surrounding, the surrounding areas will also affect the eyes interpretation of the colour.

(18)

differences or hue changes. One can detect about eight different shades of grey between black and white, which means a cartographer or designer must be rather limited in this respect. When it comes to hues and hue changes, the eye is also most sensitive to red, then green, then blue, then purple, in that order.

Another affecting factor is the relative luminosity, which is how much significant to the human eye a colour is in a map [14]. The different colour regions have different visible appearance just based on the relative luminosity between the colours. The relative luminosity is highest in the yellow-green region making these colours more visibly significant.

2.2 Interactive Visualisation

The studies above describe how humans interact visibly with the surrounding world using the eyes. It does not however specifically describe the human interaction with computers and computer-based systems. For GIT and common modern visualisations, the digital world and its connection to humans must be explored.

The field of interactive visualisation is the study on how people interact with computers to create visual representations of information and also how this process can be made more efficient [12]. Naturally, this is a relatively young research field with increasing importance along with the digitalisation of our societies.

2.2.1 Visual Analytics

Visual analytics is also a relatively new term, used since 2005 with the publishing of the book "Illuminating The Path" by Thomas & Cook [23]. However, the ideas, researches and approaches regarding visual analytics was already being used [24]. The main idea is to develop knowledge, methods, technologies and practice that exploit and combine the strengths of human and electronic data processing. One can consider the information overload problem, which is the problem many system designers face today, with a tremendous amount of available data. What can or should be used and for what purpose? What to do with the rest? Visual analytics turns this problem into opportunities.

2.2.2 User Interactions

Zudilova-Seinstra et al states that humans and computers are not cooperating well [12]. Their communication is full of misunderstandings, false interpretations and frustration. A thoroughly study of the user-computer interaction should therefore be applied to all digital designs. The term "Visualisation" has traditionally been described as a process of graphically displaying end results, indicating visualisation as the final step of some other process. According to Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12], visualisation should rather be described as the process during which users and computers become aware of the actual task and in which they reach a stage of agreement upon the objective of the interaction. Several researchers on the subjects of Interactive Visualisation claim the importance of user-centeredness in designing processes [12], [25]. It is the users that will use the system or map design, thus the design should be adapted for the users. However, Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] claims designers today do not fully think about who will be the user and for what exact purpose. This is rather critical since users can differ a lot in perceptual abilities, have different needs and have very different preferences. Factors such as gender, age, culture, education, cognitive and physical abilities are important. What is good visualisation for

(19)

one might be bad for another. In a user-centred design, the designer must answer questions such as:

• Who will be the users, what are their characteristics and what are their tasks? • What are the objects and processes that need to be visualised?

• What kind of insight should the visualisation support?

Therefore, the users should be involved during the entire design process in a Low-Fidelity to High-Fidelity cycle of [12]:

• Step 1: Analysis of the users, their environments and tasks. • Step 2: Design.

• Step 3: Evaluation.

These steps should be repeated over and over until a final design has been established, based on the user needs.

Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] further describes that the data to be visualised by a system is stored in a database and transformed into an image based on a visualisation technique applied. Therefore, the design is not about what data is available and what data is not available. It is about what data is being shown and what is hidden. Adjustments can always be made depending on application.

To be able to give the user the full experience and use of the visualised data, it is critical that the visualisation is interactive [12]. The user should be able to move around on the screen and zoom in and out on locations of his or hers choice, The user should also be able to adjust parameters such as e.g. shape, colour, texture, brightness, blur, transparency, boundaries, sample rate etc.

2.2.3 Visualisation Principles

High image quality is of help to sell a concept of a visualised image and can give it a good visual look, however, high quality must not be a good thing [12]. More important is to apply appropriate visualisation techniques with the right degree of image quality for a specific task. There are a number of visualisation techniques and principles formulated by different researchers. Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] describes e.g. the Gestalt Principles, which are principles that make humans organise visual elements into groups or unified wholes when applied. They can be used to increase an object or regions visual significance in a map or image.

The Gestalt Principles are:

• Similarity: If similar objects are presented together, they will be grouped together visually [26].

(20)

Figure 6: Similarity Principle. A dissimilar object is significantly different from the rest. • Symmetry: A stimuli will occur incomplete if an object is not balanced or symmetrical. • Common fate: Elements that are moving in the same direction tend to be grouped together. • Familiarity: Elements are more likely to form groups if the groups appear meaningful or

familiar.

• Continuation: Elements are grouped together when lines connect them. • Proximity: Objects near each other are grouped together.

• Closure: The tendency to unite contours that are very close to each other [27].

Figure 7: Closure principle. The eye fills in the missing lines to complete the shape. In addition, the following principles are mentioned:

• Pragnanz (good form): The resulting structure should be as simple as possible.

• Figure & Ground (Object & Background): Balancing the figure-ground relationship can make the perceived image clearer [28].

(21)

Figure 8: Sky and Water, by MC Escher, uses the figure-ground relationship.

Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] also describes a set of organising principles, where connectedness is presented as the most fundamental and symmetry as second most important [12]. The other principles for organising objects are colour, size, shape, proximity and closure.

Tufte [29] is one of the main researchers within graphic displays. He primarily considers the visual appearance of graphs. He states that if a design is too cluttered, the design should be changed, the data should not be removed. He also uses the Data-Ink-Ratio, which indicates how much of the ink on a graph or map that represents data. Good graphical representations maximise Data-Ink and reduce as much Non-Data-Ink as possible. He mentions several other principles for showing data, regarding e.g. Data-Ink, data density, notational texts and colour use.

Data-Ink principles:

• Above all else, show data. • Maximise the Data-Ink-Ratio. • Reduce Non-Data-Ink. • Reduce redundant Data-Ink. • Revise and edit.

Indexical colour:

• Restrained use of colour is highly effective in organising a narrative and calling attention to certain elements.

• Generally, using fewer colours works best in a diagram. One key colour or a few colours in the same hue family should be used.

(22)

• Varying shades of grey show varying quantities better than colour, they have natural visual hierarchy.

For interactive visualisation, Zudilova-Seinstra et al gives e.g. the following principles for design of user interfaces:

• Consistency: Consistent sequences of actions should be required in similar situations; iden-tical terminology should be used in the interface (e.g. commands, prompts, menus and help screens).

• Cater to universal usability: Recognise the needs of diverse users. Add explanation features for novices and short cut features for experts to enrich the interface design and improve perceived system quality.

• Simple and aesthetic integrity: Graphical elements should incorporate simple design. Avoid clutter. Information should appear in a natural and logical order.

2.2.4 Visual Representations

Blackwell [30] said that to be able to design computer displays that are as meaningful as possible to human viewers, one need to have understanding of visual representations.

Tufte [29] presented also criteria for good visual information representation where he pre-sented the goal to deliver a visual representation of data to the user of that representation which is most fit for purpose [31], [29]. He described how there is no single hard and fast rule for creating good representations because the nature of the data, the users of the data, etc. are enormously varied. The following criteria for good visual representation should anyways be followed:

• Graphical excellence: The greatest number of ideas, in the shortest time, using the least amount of ink, in the smallest space. (This means that the common beautiful and decorative maps that many people are used to are not the best information source.)

• Visual Integrity: The representation should neither distort the underlying data nor create a false impression or interpretation of the data.

• Maximizing the Data-Ink-Ratio: Superfluous elements should be removed. Borders, back-grounds, use of 3D etc. might just distract the user from the information itself. Priority should be set to the data and not the visual appearance of its representation.

• Aesthetic Elegance: Is not based on the physical beauty of an information visualisation, but rather the simplicity of the design evoking the complexity of the data clearly.

2.2.5 Visulisation Displays

It should be clearly stated, that the design of a visualisation system or a digital map is designed for the specific display on which it was created. Computer screens, Ipads, phones etc. vary in e.g. size and resolution and the user can have lots of different settings for e.g. brightness. Wei B. et al. [32] claimed resolution and physical size of a display play an important role in determining how much information can or should be displayed on a screen. Ware [33] described how different screen sizes where interpreted differently by the user and discussed how screen sizes could be

(23)

optimised for the human brain. Baudisch [34] claimed that there is no technology that allows production of one piece, high-quality displays of arbitrary size. One must use a combination of visualisation displays together with a suitable visualisation technique.

Thus, a design is hard to optimise for all displays. If the users have different displays and settings, the visual appearance will be different as well. The designer must bare this in mind. 2.2.6 The Visual Information Seeking Mantra

Shneiderman [13] formulated the Visual Information Seeking Mantra, based on human perception where he described the need for GIS and other visualisation designs to have the functionality to overview, zoom and filter, then choose details-on-demand. This means that the user should be able to overview at large scale a region with a certain setup of objects, shapes and colours and then be able to zoom into a certain portion of interest and there filter the visualised layers and objects to meet the users demands. Then the user should be able to, on demand, visualise certain details about objects of his or hers choice.

2.3 Cartography

When dealing with the issues regarding maps and especially the visualisation of maps as in this thesis, it is critical to address the subject of cartography [35]. It is the foundation of most princi-ples, ideas and conventions defining the production, design and presentation of maps [36]. 2.3.1 Cartography

Cartography is the science or art of making and drawing maps [35]. The International Carto-graphic Association [36] defines cartography as dealing with the conception, production, dissem-ination and study of maps. Robinson [14] further describes cartography as a mix of science and art that combines mathematical and geometrical problems together with visual arts. This indicates cartography is not only about the making but also very much about presentation.

Maps have been made for thousands of years and cartography is therefore a well-established and studied science [37]. It can be divided into an analogue and digital part.

2.3.2 Digital Cartography

Visvalingam [38] describes digital cartography as the technology concerned with the construction and use of computer-based systems for cartography and its applications. It is constructed of the perspectives of presenting geometrical and technological data in an artistic and communicative way and is therefore to be the basis of many GIS. Even though analogue and digital cartography are made up of the same science and ideas, the differences are naturally extensive. One important difference is the use of data storage in databases for digital cartography. An analogue map is fixed and cannot be changed in any other extent than perhaps adding some features on top of the existing ones. A digital map however can be interactively changed, retrieving and discarding certain data sets through queries to the database. The cartographic process is therefore always on-going.

Already in the early days of computer-based systems, two trends in digital cartography could be identified and these should be separated:

(24)

• Automated Cartography.

• Computer-Assisted Cartography.

These two trends contain the same techniques and methods but have different objectives. In Automated Cartography, the aim is to simply replace manual processes, while in Computer-Assisted Cartography, the aim is to automate geometrical calculations but not the creative design element of the maps.

2.3.3 Map Conventions

When it comes to cartographic issues, as well as any other design of interactive visualisation sys-tems, many researchers agree on the importance of taking existing conventions into account [12], [30], [14]. Since the first cartographic maps were made thousands of years ago, there has been plenty of time to develop certain common known details about e.g. symbolisation and colour us-age [2]. Zudilova-Seinstra et al claims that a visualisation designer must be aware of the standard conventions in visual representations. If this is mixed up, the user must re-implement their mental model. These shifts should be avoided since they can be confusing to the user. Zudilova-Seinstra et al mentions e.g. the convention of colours: red = danger, amber = caution and green = safe. If a constructor of traffic lights suddenly omits this convention, it would probably have catastrophic effects. See Figure 9 [39].

Figure 9: Red = Danger, Amber = Caution, Green = Safe. Traffic lights use the convention of safety for colours.

Blackwell [30] adds that designs can be easily interpreted if they follow existing designs and Robinson [14] further claims that if the conventions are completely regarded, this would mean inconvenience to the map user which further indicates poor map design, even though the rest of the design is well-defined. Robinson [14] mentions e.g. the convention of the colour blue = water and green = vegetation as well as the use of wavelength progression of colours as basis for hypsometric shading, e.g. low altitude elevation being green, followed by yellow and then red for high altitudes. See Figure 10 [40] for an example, where also blue is used to show water.

(25)

Figure 10: Elevation map using the altitude colour conventions.

This means, since the yellow-green region has the highest relative luminosity, that the inter-mediate yellow region is the most visible, which is probably the most unimportant region for most purposes, but since this convention exist, it cannot be ignored. The brightness could however be adjusted.

Another convention is to show amounts, such as temperature or amount of rain, as dark in-dicating more and light inin-dicating less [14]. See Figure 11 [41] where dark red shows very hot areas and dark blue shows very cold areas. The lighter areas are regions closer to 0◦C.

(26)

Some lettering conventions also exist. The basics are to use black or white colours for the lettering. In geographical maps, lettering is placed as [14]:

• Following entire regions, e.g. mountain ranges, countries etc., covering the region with spacing between the letters.

• Small features should either completely contain or be completely outside their lettering. • Names of point locations should be placed on either side and slightly above or under it. The use of a standardisation for the lettering would in some cases be good, but the standard would actually just be valid for that particular scale and feature combination.

2.3.4 Map Design

The study of map design is perhaps the most important subject relevant to this thesis work. Ac-cording to Robinson [14], map design is the most complex of all cartography aspects. All map components should be presented to the user as an integrated whole, devised systematically to fit the purpose of the user. Robinson [14] presents a number of map design guidelines, not rules, to achieve good design. First of all, as stated by Robinson [14], if existing map conventions are not taken into account, they will create confusion and inconvenience to the user, which implies the map itself has a bad design.

The aim of the cartographic design should be to present the map data in such a fashion that the map, as a whole, appears as an integrated unit and so that each item included is clear, legible and neither more nor less prominent than it should be [14]. The objects intended to stand out should be visually significant. They should appear so different from their surroundings that they excite the eyes. Below follows some factors for increased visual significance:

1. The degree to which an item departs from its expected appearance. The more it departs, the more interesting it is.

2. The relative complexity of its delineation. The more complex the item is, the more visually interesting it is.

3. The relative brightness of an item. The brighter an item is, the more visually important it is.

4. The relative size of an item. The larger an item is, the more significant it is visually. Robinson [14] further claims that, in the case of maps, the visual detail presentation is primarily a matter of clarity, legibility and relative contrast of the detail items. The outlining of a map depends upon an understanding of the contrast of lines, shapes, colours, brightness and the principles of balance.

Minimum symbol size is also critical. If the symbol size is too small for the human eye to interpret, the symbol is of no use and indicates poor design. Below are a few approximate minimum symbol sizes for different viewing distances [14]:

• 45.7 cm viewing distance = 0.25 mm • 152.4 cm viewing distance = 0.76 mm

(27)

• 304.8 cm viewing distance = 1.78 mm

Lines can be somewhat thinner since they have lengths [14]. On a digital map, these distances and sizes can be converted into sizes dependent on different zoom levels.

Size is however not enough to decide if an object is visually important or not. Contrast must be added, which is the most important visual element according to Robinson [14]. He further claims that the variation of light and dark is the most important of all contrast elements. Anything that can be seen must have a brightness rating and anything must vary in brightness if to be easy distinguishable from its surroundings. Therefore, the contrast of brightness is one of the fundamentals of visibility. Simultaneous contrast can also be used to increase legibility. That is, the use of e.g. light areas next to dark to make the dark look darker and the light look lighter, called induction. See Figure 12 [42], where the middle stripe is most significant in the edges and less significant in the middle region.

Figure 12: Example of how simultaneuos contrast affect the visual significance.

Lines that are used should be straight [14]. Wobbly lines indicate weakness, uncertainty and less distinct design.

The visual appearance can also be varied with patterns. Lines however, force the eyes to move in the direction of the lines [14]. If the map consists of many lines, such as in a dense line pattern, they will make it hard for the eye to focus on one point and therefore make it harder to locate a position. See Figure 13 [43]. This effect does not occur for dot patterns, which is why Figure 15 [44] appears more stable than Figure 14 [45].

(28)

Figure 13: Badly considered line designs can hurt the eyes.

Figure 14: Map with line pattern. Figure 15: Map with dot pattern. According to Robinson [14], colour is without doubt the most complex medium with which a cartographer works. Colour exists only in the eyes of the observer. It would be close to impossible to explain it to a blind person. The map choice of colours should be based on basic fundamental facts regarding the reaction of the mind and the eye to colour. He states that even the use of small amounts of colour seems to make remarkable differences in legibility and emphasis of maps.

(29)

Since the eye is not particularly sensitive to hue changes, the further apart, visually, the hues can be separated, the better [14]. Complementary colours are preferable used to achieve high contrast. The complementary colours can be seen as opposite to each other in Figure 16 [46]. For the use of three complementary colours, a triangle similar to between yellow, blue and red in the Figure can be used.

Figure 16: The complementary colours, oposit to eachother.

The fact that the eye is more sensitive to red, then green, then yellow, then blue, then purple also indicates a basis of colour use based on how much emphasis the designer desires for the data to be presented.

When dividing colours into brightness values, Robinson [14] says that darker colours should be given more distribution than lighter colours. In a well-balanced design, nothing is too light, too dark, too long, too short, too small or too large. The process of arriving at proper balance is called layout.

Lettering is also an important map design element that is easily forgotten. Lettering should con-sider [14]:

• The style (font etc.)

• The form (upper case, lower case slant etc.) • The size

• The colour (and the background) • The positioning

(30)

The legibility of lettering depends primarily of the colour and the background on which it stands, that is, the visual contrast between background and foreground [14]. For consistency reasons, the lettering should be equal all over the map, but this is not cooperating with the background variations.

The important issue with colour impairment among many users gives a challenge to the de-signers. Designers and especially cartographers should ensure that their work is clear to the colour impaired as well as to the viewer with full colour vision [21]. This kind of design is called Barrier-Free or Universal design, which can be used by almost anyone. Bernhard & Kelso [21] claims that colour impairment is probably the most wide spread physiological impairment regarding map reading. Despite that fact, map reading for colour impaired has not been studied extensively. However, a couple of discoveries have been made regarding map reading for colour impaired. It has been found that colour impaired readers make errors trying to name boundary lines on multi-coloured terrain maps [47]. Another discovery was that only a small number of colour impaired could name the colours on a weather map without errors [48]. Cole [49] found that subjects with colour vision impairment make considerably more errors when identifying colours under reduced illumination. These discoveries also indicate that colour schemes used in map design should be based on colour impairments. Figure 17 [21] gives an example of how a person with Red-Green deficiency sees a colour scheme compared to a person with normal vision.

Figure 17: How users with Red-Green deficiency (below) see normal colours (above). A greater clarity can also be given to the maps by:

1. Choosing unambiguous colour combinations. 2. Using alternative variables.

3. Directly annotating features.

If regarding these techniques, the designer will improve maps for those with full colour vision and establish a level of distinction for those with colour vision impairment.

To help everyone more easily read a map under normal and poorly lighted conditions, Cole [49] states that one can use a strong feature-ground contrast with a clear difference in brightness and saturation or a reduced number of classes in colour ramps. For example, the cartographer should use colours with strong contrast and supplemental visual variables such as shape, size and pattern variations to avoid problematic colour combinations.

(31)

1. Vary lightness in the red-orange-yellow end of the rainbow. 2. Omit yellow-green to avoid confusion with orange.

3. For bipolar data, omit green and use a scheme with red, orange, yellow, light blue and dark blue.

Figure 18 [51] gives examples for how to vary point-, line- and area features. Figure 19 [52] and 20 [53] give example for how to best represent points and lines for users with normal vision and Red-Green deficiency.

(32)

Figure 19: How to represent point features.

(33)

2.3.5 Interactive Design

As brought up above, there exist a number of guidelines and design rules for cartography. How-ever, according to Andrienka et al [54], the design of interactive maps, dynamic maps, multi-media maps and maps combined with other graphics are still lacking guidelines. The available empirical evidence is also quite fragmentary and hard to generalise. Andrienka et al also brings up the importance of improving the understanding of human perceptual and cognitive abilities in dealing with spatial and temporal information and the visual display of such information. They recommend that appropriate design rules for interactive displays of spatial and temporal informa-tion should be created from this basis.

In addition to the map design guidelines for colour impaired brought up in the section above, interactive designs could further provide tool tips or labels that are displayed on-demand [21]. They should also be able to provide the opportunity of switching between different colour schemes and designs optimised for different kinds of colour vision abilities.

3

Research Methodology

This section contains the main body of the thesis and describes the steps from concepts to real-isation and evaluation. In section 3.1, the collection of user inputs via interviews is described. Section 3.2 describes the step of analysing previous related work via a literature study. Section 3.3 describes how the design of the maps Primärkartan and GSD-Fastighetskartan, visualised in dpPower, were compared to other map sources. Section 3.4 describes how the formulation of suggestions for new map appearances was conducted. Finally, section 5 presents the steps of evaluating the thesis and receiving feedback on the results.

3.1 User Input

According to e.g. Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12], user-centeredness is critically important when it comes to the design of interactive visualisation systems. When creating a new design, one must consider who will be the user and for what purpose. This is because users are very different and have different abilities and preferences. Therefore, also the users must be studied and included in the entire design process.

The aim of this thesis is not to create a new visualisation system or GIS, but still to develop the use of existing map designs in a GIS, which means the same user-centeredness approach should be considered. Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] describes the process of repeatedly analysing the users, designing and evaluating the design, from initially a Low-fidelity state to a High-fidelity end result. In this thesis time frame, there is however only room for one cycle. Therefore, the first step was to evaluate the users and their needs and to collect user inputs for the design.

3.1.1 Interviews

There are several techniques to collect data such as user inputs [55]. In this case, the aim would be to get a deeper understanding of the user needs, rather than just receiving quantitative feedback [56]. There was a need for qualitative discussion, still regarding a chosen topic. Therefore, a semi-structured interview method was applied. In this way, the users would be able to speak freely and informally to the interviewer, which would have a certain framework of questions, not necessarily answered directly.

(34)

In an optimum world, all users would be analysed and all inputs collected [12]. However, this was not the case due to time constraints. Since unstructured or semi-structured interviews are rather time consuming, this meant a selection of interviewees had to be made [57]. The selection was made with the aim to have interviewees representing the overall user group. Thus, six customers of dpPower where chosen, based on their company size (number of users) and how long they had been using dpPower. Four of these accepted to be interviewed and are presented below:

Table 1: Interviewed customers Customer size: time of usage: Customer: Smaller: Since 2015 1 Medium: Since 2017 2 Larger: Since long 3 Larger: Since long 4

Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] states that the following questions must be answered: • Who are the users and what are their characteristics?

• What are their tasks?

• What are the objects and processes that need to be visualised? • What kind of insight should the visualisation support?

Based on this, the following framework of questions was formulated to be able to receive relevant inputs and discuss relevant topics with the customer interviewee:

1. What is your name and what are your working tasks? 2. For how long have you been a customer of dpPower?

3. How are you using background maps in dpPower today? Which background maps? How often? For what purposes? What can they be used for?

4. What information in the background maps is of most importance to you and why?

5. What is a typical view of your computer screen during ordinary usage of dpPower? Can you send screen shots?

6. What, if any, have you changed or defined yourself after the first installation from Digpro? Symbolisation? Colour settings? What is being showed?

7. Any further changes that would be of use for you? 8. Any general point of views?

(35)

To aid a qualitative discussion, the interviewees were asked by email on before hand if they could participate and the subject of discussion was introduced. Thereafter, phone meetings were booked so the full extent of the conversation could be dedicated to the main purpose of discussion. The phone meetings were held with one or more employees from the customer companies and notes were made all along.

3.1.2 Criteria

Based on the interviews, a number of user criteria for good design in dpPower could be found. These were e.g. criteria regarding colour use of the background maps, differences in the usage of Primärkartan and GSD-Fastighetskartan, important and unimportant map features, keeping of conventions etc. which are presented and discussed thoroughly in section 4.

3.2 Literature Study

Apart from collecting user inputs to guide the design of the background maps, there was a need for a study of relevant research material regarding the map design and visualisation topics. This was performed by reading various relevant literature, primarily found on the Internet and making notes of relevant information. This material is presented in chapter 2 and contributes with existing solutions, methods and tips to achieve good design.

3.3 Map Comparisons

The default appearance of GSD-Fastighetskartan and Primärkartan in dpPower at Digpro was also compared to other map sources such as Eniro maps [58], Google maps [59] and Stockholmskartan [60].

The maps were overviewed and notes of important differences and similarities were made, which are presented in section 4.

3.4 Formulation of New Map Appearance

After analysing the background maps GSD-Fastighetskartan and Primärkartan together with the network in dpPower, based on the literature study, customer interviews and map comparisons, a new map appearance could be formulated. The design principles not following the general considerations of good design where noted together with suggestions mentioned by the intervie-wees. Then, the visual appearance was adjusted and figures showing current version and new suggestions were created.

3.5 Evaluation and Feedback

As the final step of the cycle for user-centred design, described by Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12], the design result must be evaluated. They present the need for including the end-users in the evaluation. However, dpPower has many potential future users in the GIT sector, which the visualisation design must be adapted for. Map design is also not just an issue for dpPower users. Most of the same fundamentals apply for any potential user. Therefore, four different test groups were chosen for the evaluation:

(36)

1. The current users of dpPower.

2. GIT students at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. 3. A mix of users with no previous GIT/GIS experience.

4. Employees at Digpro.

The result was evaluated with the test groups in both a quantitative and qualitative sense. 3.5.1 Quantitative

Test groups 1-3 took part in a quantitative evaluation via a questionnaire survey. The survey asked the respondents to state which of the three test groups, or other, they belong to and if they suffer from any colour vision impairment. Then the survey presented figures of current design and new suggestions for both Primärkartan and GSD-Fastighetskartan together with the network. The respondents were asked to choose which of the figures they prefer and specify their answer with a comment. The figures were presented as version 1, version 2 etc. to not imply which is the new suggestion and affect the respondents choice.

3.5.2 Qualitative

Test group 4 took part in a qualitative seminar of the thesis results where the figures of current design and new suggestions were presented and discussed. Since the participants in test group 4 were all familiar with the current dpPower design, the figures were presented as current design, new suggestion 1 etc.

4

Results

This section presents the results of the thesis. It starts with presenting the obtained results from the map comparisons between background maps visualised with the network in dpPower and other map sources in section 4.1. This is followed by section 4.2 where the answers to the problem formulations “What is good design?” and “Would another appearance of the background maps GSD-Fastighetskartan and Primärkartan better complement the customer usage of dpPower?“ are answered and the new suggested map appearance is presented. The final part of this section presents and analyses the obtained feedback from the evaluation where the feedback from the questionnaire survey is presented in section 4.3 and analysed in section 4.4. The feedback from the seminar is presented in section 4.5 and analysed in section 4.6.

4.1 Map Comparisons

When comparing the different map sources, some key design factors could be identified. See links to each map in the reference list.

Both Eniro maps [58], Google maps [59] and Stockholmskartan [60] use the convention of land use. This indicates that keeping vegetation = green, open land = yellow and water = blue is important to not confuse the reader. Google maps and Stockholmskartan use a grey tone for built up areas while Eniro map uses brown/orange. This indicates that the convention of how to represent built up area is not as strong. The facts that green sometimes interfere with red seems

(37)

to have been disregarded. E.g. Eniro maps use red for major roads while Google maps just have some red point features.

All maps generalise rather much in small-scale versions where Eniro maps has the less in-formation for small scales but rather much in large scales. Google maps require very zoomed in views to visualise e.g. buildings. Stockholmskartan seems to be focused on roads, which is what is most visually significant in the map. No maps show information too small to be identified.

Text positioning in all maps seems to be thoroughly considered and scale dependent to aid as complement information but not interfere with the rest of the map.

4.2 Answer to Problem Formulation

The problems formulated in the beginning of this thesis were: firstly to answer the general ques-tion “What is good design?” and secondly to tell whether there is a better appearance of the background maps GSD-Fastighetskartan and Primärkartan for usage in dpPower and in that case, what is this better appearance? Answers to these problems are presented below.

4.2.1 What is good design?

As presented in the literature study of related work in chapter 2, several researchers have been discussing the topic of design for good visualisation, including map design. Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12], Shneiderman [13] etc. discusses the topic of design for interactive visualisation systems, such as a GIS where the following key features can be highlighted:

• An interactive design should provide the possibility to first overview, zoom and filter, and then choose details on-demand. (The Visual Information Seeking Mantra)

• Interactive designs should be consistent in similar situations. • The designer must recognise the need from diverse users.

Since dpPower is an interactive design, according to Shneiderman [13], the Visual Information Seeking Mantra applies. This means that the use of the background maps in dpPower must be highly interactive, giving the opportunity to overview at a simple state at small scales and filter out important information at larger scales. The user should be able to interactively change the visualisation to highlight different objects and choose and hide details on-demand.

Naturally, the design should be consistent, which applies to almost any user-adapted system. If the design is inconsistent or has no logic, it will be much harder to interpret for the user.

As mentioned by e.g. Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] & Blaser et al [25], user-centeredness is important in interactive visualisation designs. There are almost unlimited different preferences, abilities and disabilities among potential users, e.g. the important colour vision deficiencies de-scribed by e.g. Machado et al [17] and Brewer [50]. If these diverse needs are not recognised and considered, the end-result of the design might very well cause confusion to several users, which does not indicate good design.

One of the key features of map design that e.g. Tufte [29], [31] and Zudilova-Seinstra et al [12] describes is simplicity. They mention that:

• A resulting structure should be as simple as possible (Pragnanz). • Graphical elements should have simple design.

(38)

• Superfluous data should be removed.

• Aesthetic elegance is based on the simplicity of the design, evoking the complexity of the data.

Tufte [29] focuses most of his thoughts to the visual appearance of graphs with the focus to show some amount of data in an effectively way to the reader. Still, graphs and maps have much in common in providing a visual interpretation to help the reader more easily understand the data. Therefore, the principles discussed by Tufte should be considered, but with caution. Tufte [29] claims e.g. that graphical elements should have simple design and unnecessary data be removed. Applied on a GIS or a map, this would indicate simple symbol design and the importance of only showing data that is of value to the user. He further claims that a lot of data should be used to achieve good Data-Ink-ratio. In the case of a map, this can be seen as rather contradictory to a simple design. The focus should lie in presenting as much relevant data as possible, in as simple way as possible. The used “ink” should be dedicated to showing data but in many cases, no data is better than irrelevant data.

In lots of maps, a focus lies in trying to present a “beautiful” map with lots of decorations. See e.g. Figure 21 [61], which is an example of old mapping style with lots of decorative figures. Tufte [29] states however that the aesthetic elegance is not based on physical beauty, but on the designs ability to present complex data in a simple manner. All details in the map should therefore be devoted to presenting relevant data and nothing else.

Figure 21: Old maps can contain lots of decorative symbols. Other design features brought up by Tufte [29] and Zudilova-Seinstra et al are:

Figure

Figure 3: Example of dpPower.
Figure 5: Most common Red-Green colour deficiencies.
Figure 8: Sky and Water, by MC Escher, uses the figure-ground relationship.
Figure 10: Elevation map using the altitude colour conventions.
+7

References

Related documents

The project consists of designing a kitchen concept using methods based on the guidelines in the inclusive design toolkit, developed by the design department from Cambridge

For this selection some characteristics were taken into account such as: the appearance of the material to fit with the aesthetic previously defined; the

If there is such simultaneous contrast between the different sections of the facade it should also result in different perceived colours from different distances: From a

13 Sun, Greenham, and co-workers demonstrated that the devices made with tetrapods showed improved performance compared with those made with nanorods, where MDMO-PPV was used as

Självfallet kan man hävda att en stor diktares privatliv äger egenintresse, och den som har att bedöma Meyers arbete bör besinna att Meyer skriver i en

The aim of the research presented is to develop a deeper understanding for PSS design as cur- rently performed in industrial practice, to identify opportunities for facilitating

In this work, we address the problem of design and devel- opment of an UAV and its manipulation mechanism along with object detection and localization, coverage planning and

In this thesis I am conducting a single case study where I explore learning aspects of entertainment game components by investigating what role game progression