Talk titled 'User-centred and Participatory Cartography' Interest in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has been part of Geographical Information Science (GIScience) and cartography for a long time. Even before the term Geographical Information System (GIS) was invented (Tomlinson, 1967), researchers of “Man Machine Interaction” at MIT where utilising the display capabilities of the latest generation of computers to manipulate oceanic geographical information (Pivar at al., 1963). From this early start, HCI became an integral part of Cartography and GIScience research agendas. Interest focused on expert cartographers and their work in the 1960s and 1970s, and moved to wider range of specialised users in the 1980s and 1990s. This followed the spread of geographic technologies to wider audiences, culminating with the ‘Cambrian Explosion’ of maps on the internet. More recently, with the increased abilities of members of the public to create and share information, cartography became available to many, sometimes under the guise of ‘neogeography’. The talk with cover the evolution of HCI research in Cartography, focusing on participatory GIS and mapping, and demonstrating the importance of user centred design in the sharing of maps within this domain. It ends with examples of citizen science and how cartography play a role within it.

1. User-Centred and Participatory
Cartography
Muki Haklay
m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk
@mhaklay
Extreme Citizen Science group
Department of Civil, Environment and Geomatic Engineering, UCL

2. Geographic representations
Valcamonica, Italy. Neolithic
Bronze age (6000 BCE)
http://www.phil.uni-passau.de/histhw/tutcarto/english/index-hiwi-karto-en.html
Sailing maps/Navigation charts, Western Pacific
(Peabody Museum, Cambridge)
http://hyperbolic-crochet.blogspot.com/2010/09/talking-and-writing-about-math.html

3. • Representations of
geography predate the
development of writing by
at least 2000 years (some
argue by 20,000)
• Moreover, they exist in
non-literate societies,
and semi-literate people
routinely participate in
mapping activities
Carved wooden coastal charts carried in
their kayaks by Greenland Inuit (n.d.)
Greenland National Museum & Archives.
http://www.learner.org/courses/amerhistory/interactives/cartographic/1-2.html

4. Modern digital mapping
• Only few digital technologies failures
require physical intervention

7. User-centred & participatory
cartographies
• Why so difficult? What can we do about
it?
• The evolution & popularisation of usable
geographic technologies
• Participatory & collaborative mapping,
Citizen Science and usability engineering

8. Usability engineering
Usability engineering is the outcome from
Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive,
& Behavioural research. Devising
practical methods to measure a system’s
usability in terms of its: Learnability;
Efficiency; Memorability; Error rate; User
satisfaction …
UE/UX

9. Do you feel safe?

10. In which we tell the story of how GIS developers focus so much on
functionality, that they forgot the user
CHAPTER 1: WHY SO DIFFICULT?

11. 1963
Pivar, M., Fredkin, E., and Stommel, H., 1963. Computer-Compiled Oceanographic Atlas: An Experiment in Man-Machine Interaction, PNAS

12. Visions of interactivity
• ‘[I]n preparing a printed atlas certain irrevocable choices of scale, of
map projections … must be made from the vast infinitude of all
possible mappings. An atlas-like representation, generated by digital
computer and displayed upon a cathode-ray screen, enables the
oceanographer to modify these choices at will. Only a high-speed
computer has the capacity and speed to follow the quickly shifting
demands and questions of a human mind exploring a large field
of numbers. … The user will be able to interrogate the display to evoke
further information; it will help him track down errors and will offer
alternative forms of presentation. Thus, the display on the screen …
embodies animation as varying presentations are scanned. In a very real
sense, the user “converses” with the machine about the stored
data.’ (Pivar et al., 1963, p. 396)

13. 1963
Source: Nick Chrisman

14. What was it like?
• ‘Absolutely terrible. I mean there
wasn’t a left-handed, barbarous,
mentally deficient technician who
couldn’t do better than the best
computer. Terrifying.’
Ian McHarg (1920-2001) in an
interview to GIS World, 1995
http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0300/0300gaz4.html

15. GIS road to the mainstream
• 1980s – commercial GIS packages starting
to emerge, range of users grows
• 1990s – Desktop GIS – more application
and use
• 2000s – GIS on the web, but not just GIS –
SatNavs, ubiquitous computing
• 2010s – crowdsourcing, mobile services

16. Why are GIS hard to use?

17. 2005
UE/UX
Haklay and Zafiri (2008) “Usability Engineering for GIS: Learning from a Screenshot.” The Cartographic Journal, 45(2)

18. Why are GIS hard to use?
• As Identified by Traynor and Williams (1995):
– GIS is complex: it is based on knowledge from
Geography, Cartography, Databases, Statistics,
Computer algorithms and data structures…
– Requires users to have or acquire considerable
technical knowledge in order to operate the
system
• Due to the technological challenges,
developers and vendors are focusing on
functionality and not on interaction
UE/UX
Traynor and Williams (1995) ‘Why are Geographic Information Systems hard to use?’

19. 1993
Web mapping
• Xerox PARC Map
Viewer 1993 -2005
• Demonstration of
the multimedia
capabilities of the
Web
Source: Tsue 2007

20. 1998

21. 2011
Paper vs. computer
UE/UX
Tasks
Paper map
Online map
1. Localisation
47.35 (38.26)
121.35 (71.31)
2. Measurement/scale
44.75 (17.18)
69.95 (71.98)
3. Decode on map
49.50 (23.52)
15.00 (67.08)
4. Decode on legend
17.25 (9.64)
11.75 (38.94)
5. Route planning
286.05 (113.07)
388.85 (210.83)

22. Usability can get emotional
qgis-ux@lists.osgeo.org

23. Why difficult?
• Complex technology to implement
• Complex technology to master
• Lack of attention from vendors and
developers
• Combined with misunderstanding of
usability

24. In which we see how the people who are using cartographic
products and geographic technologies changed without us noticing
CHAPTER 2: COGNITIVE SURPLUS,
COLLABORATIVE & PARTICIPATORY
MAPPING

25. 1st May 2000 – GPS selective
availability
• ‘In plain English, we are unscrambling the GPS
signal. It is rare that someone can press a button
and make something you already own more
valuable – but that’s exactly what’s happening
today. All the people who’ve bought a GPS
receiver for a boat or a car... will find that they are
ten times more accurate as of midnight tonight.’
Dr Neal Lane, Assistant to the President for
Science and Technology.
http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/html/0053_3.html

26. Web availability and interaction
(CC) Ell Brown (Flickr)

28. Increased level of education
World population and students in tertiary education,
World Bank data
10000
1000
100
95
99
107
1999
2000
2001
116
124
132
138
146
154
159
165
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
10
1
Tertiary Ed
World Population

29. Understanding scientific
concepts
© Sanja Gjenero (sxc.hu)
© Nimalan Tharmalingam (sxc.hu)
© Cambridge University Press

30. 2005

31. 2005

33. 2008

34. 2009
Ellul, C., Haklay, M. Francis, L. And Rahemtulla, H., 2009, A Mechanism to Create Community Maps for Non-Technical users, The
International Conference on Advanced Geographic Information Systems & Web Services – GEOWS 2009

35. 2013
http://publiclaboratory.org

36. 2013

37. 2008

38. VGI and usability
Google My Maps – guiding users
in the process of capturing
geographic information
2008

39. OpenStreetMap
2014

40. “..not sure if I am missing the
obvious Zoom and Pan
functions…Aaaghhh there they are,
small and hidden”
[P10, 31:40].
UE/UX
Catherine E. Jones, Patrick Weber, 2012, Towards Usability Engineering for Online Editors of Volunteered Geographic
Information: A Perspective on Learnability, Transaction in GIS

41. Map Kibera
2010

42. 2013
2006

43. Citizen science
• Scientific activities in
which non-professional
scientists volunteer to
participate in data
collection, analysis and
dissemination of a
scientific project.

44. iSpot

45. Mapping for Change

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

48. June 2012
June 2012

49. July 2012
July 2012

50. August 2012
August 2012

51. October 2012
October2012

53. ‘Cambrian explosion’
• Web + societal changes are changing
creation and consumption of geographic
information
• New cartographic needs as a result of
location based services
• Bottom-up, localised, niche projects as
the norm, learning by osmosis
• Potential for large scale collaboration
• UE & UX impact success

54. In which we consider where the next challenges lie
CHAPTER 3: NEW CHALLENGES

55. Forest monitoring
Jerome Lewis, ExCiteS

56. 1996
Source: cybertracker

57. 2007
Jerome Lewis, ExCiteS

58. 2013
Lewis et al. (2007). “Logging in the Congo Basin: What hope for indigenous peoples’ resources and their environments?”.
In: Indigenous Affairs 4/06, pp. 8–15.
Lewis et al. (2012). “Accessible technologies and FPIC: independent monitoring with forest communities in Cameroon”.
In: Biodiversity and culture: exploring community protocols, rights and consent (PLA 65), pp. 151–165.

62. Control flow
&
hierarchical
navigation
Go back
(cancel last step)
Go forward
(skip)
OK
Cancel
(save & return (discard & return
to beginning)
to beginning)
Media capturing devices
Audio recording
Photo
Video recording?
Yes/No,
satisfaction/dissatisfaction
Yes, there is a pharmacy No, there is no pharmacy
(and it is in operation).
(or it is not in operation).
Damage, destruction, obstruction,
…
Undamaged
banana tree
Damaged banana tree,
or inaccessible field, …

63. Literal
use
Cacao means
cacao
(and just that).
Categorical
use
1 – later 3 – example(s)
represent any wild fruits.
2 examples of nuts
represent any nut (tree).
Metaphorical
use
The syringe
means any
medicinal plant.

68. 68

69. 69

73. Visualise change over time

74. Summary
• Usability engineering requires
compromises: not what ought to be, but
how things work (e.g. conforming with
Google Maps)
• Potential of using geographical
technologies for all – though making
them participatory require effort and
careful methodological design
• Cartography is critical to many of the
applications and challenges ahead.

75. Further information
• See ucl.ac.uk/excites
• Blog: povesham.wordpress.com
uclexcites.wordpress.com
• M.haklay@ucl.ac.uk / @mhaklay