Requirements Definitions Of The Geospatial Web

Requirements Definition Of the Geospatial Web

Review
Last week we looked at different tools and technology used in the geospatial web
This next phase will look at implementing these tools into the design flow of website

What makes a website Good?
Intuitive
Transparent
Efficient
Well organized
Relevant Timely Content
A website that is good is usable.

Usability
Can be defined as “the degree to which people can perform a set of required tasks.” - Usability for the Web Brinck et al. (2002)
A good website is a product of good design and careful consideration of every user interaction and the users expectations at every step in their interaction.

Design Goals
Functionally correct
Efficient to Use
Easy to learn
Easy to remember
Error tolerant
Subjectively pleasing

Why is it important?
Competition for users
Increased productivity
Saving Money
High usability is a key factor in achieving maximum return on information technology investment.

5 Planes
A Highly usable website is a result of careful consideration on many different levels. When peeled away we see layers of this user experience.
The Surface Plane
The Skeleton Plane
The Structure Plane
The Scope Plane
The Strategy Plane

Duality of Web Design Application Design Information Distribution and Retrieval Human Computer Interaction Information Architecture Interaction Design ? Knowledge Management

Design Tools
At each stage of the design process we utilize different tools to help us find the information we need to know.

Strategy Plane
We are concerned with Defining the Requirements and therefore focus on
The target Audience
The Site Goals
The User Needs
The Business Goals

Requirements Definition
This helps us ask several key questions:
Who are we designing for?
What is the purpose of the project?
How will it be useful to our user audience?

Tools of Requirements Definition
Use Cases
Personas
Competitive Analysis
Defining Business Goals

Persona Example

A persona usually includes:
a name and picture
Demographics (age, education, ethnicity, family status)
Job title and major responsibilities
goals and tasks in relation to your site
environment (physical, social, technological)
a quote that sums up what matters most to the persona with relevance for your site

Use cases
Describe how a particular user will perform a given task on your website
These are usually narrative in format and define through the story the steps a user must take to perform the task
Each use case captures
The Actor (who is using the Website)
The Interaction (what the user does)
The Goal (the user’s purpose)

The Scope Plane
The focus becomes less abstract as we look at the functional specifications
Technical Specifications
Content Requirements

Tools
Often Creative briefs are used in this phase
This defines the conceptual approach, genres, metaphors, and imagery is to be used.
Ie. Comic approach - fun or serious
These are often used for strategy to make something memorable to the user audience.

Structure Phase
Conceptual design begins as designers begin to determine how information is organized and the system behaves
Typically this is called Interaction Design and Information Architecture

Tools
Information architecture is concerned largely with taxonomies
Interaction design is concerned with User flows

The Skeleton Plane
Elaborates on the information Architecture and Interaction Design through Wireframing
Wireframing concerns itself with the placement of content pieces without concern for the look
Can be done in a variety of applications including Photoshop, Visio, Illustrator, OmniGraffle etc

Resources
http://www.usability.gov/
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/
http://www.useit.com/
http://blog.jjg.net/

Requirements Definitions Of The Geospatial Web

by Michael Maclennan on Jan 09, 2008

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