Designing a Graphical User Interface for 3D Atlases
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Sieber, R.; 2Schnürer, R.; 3Eichenberger, R.; 4Hurni, L.
1INSTITUTE OF CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOINFORMATION, ETH ZURICH Email: sieberr@ethz.ch
2INSTITUTE OF CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOINFORMATION, ETH ZURICH
3INSTITUTE OF CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOINFORMATION, ETH ZURICH Email: eichenberger@karto.baug.ethz.ch
4INSTITUTE OF CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOINFORMATION, ETH ZURICH
Abstract
A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is an essential part of every interactive map and atlas. However, designing a user-oriented smart GUI for atlases is a most challenging issue because of their inherent complexity. The complexity of atlases is not only related to their thematic content (information, scale, graphics), but also to their functional structure, and to a user community they have to deal with. Though usability principles exist for decades (Nielsen 1994), most of the atlas authors still lack specific knowledge, experience and skills for creating effective atlas GUIs. Moreover, GUI design issues are often discussed too late and realized only in the very final phase of atlas production. This contribution will present an interactive design method to efficiently create and implement a responsive and scalable GUI. Compared to previous GUI design approaches, this method is not only user-oriented, but also process-oriented. Thus, GUI design is not only understood as a communi-cation process on a merely graphical level, but is incorporated into the realization process from the very beginning. It takes into account recent developments in computer science and harmonizes desktop, touch-desktop, and mobile devices. Although based on the experience of developing a 3D atlas, the method is also applicable to a majority of digital atlas projects. The proposed atlas GUI design method is predicated on general principles and concepts of User Centered Design (UCD). Following Tsou and Curran (2008), the process itself can be subdivided into five stages: strategy, scope, structure, GUI skeleton, and GUI surface. In case of an atlas, every process stage has to be supported by several specific techniques and tools. At the strategy stage the atlas objectives and specific user needs are elaborated, while at the scope stage the functional specification of the atlas and its interactivity level have to be framed. Relations between GUI und 3D atlas engine, e.g., 3D navigation and picking functions, have to be considered already in this second stage. At the structure stage a formalized function list in combination with a feature dependency schema can be applied to define the internal atlas structure. At the GUI skeleton stage the atlas functions are arranged by groups and visualized by dint of sketches and wireframes. Here the overall GUI layout has to be determined. The GUI surface stage concludes the interface-building process. It is only in this last phase where the graphical design of the overall look-and-feel and the individual GUI elements is worked out. The paper will give an overview of applicable techniques and tools of the whole atlas GUI design process, together with some recommendations on their use and impact. Finally, the atlas GUI design method will be exemplified by means of the new 3D Atlas of Switzerland. It covers management, GUI research, and development issues. The integration of requirements such as responsive layout design, scalability (features and tools), branching (multi-use and multi-device atlases), 3D maps, and narratives in a slim-designed GUI will be discussed. Recent studies with atlas GUI wireframes, mock-up and prototypes for desktop and mobile devices will be shown. Since this atlas project is rather complex in terms of thematic content and interactivity, it can serve as a reference for the atlas GUI design process.