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Comments upon DC Citizen Atlas Usability Testing
© Bob Andrew (from June 21, 2003 all-day
usability sessions)
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| These comments are
organized in three sections: first, overall opinions on an
alternate to having a single, one-size-fits all user interface, and a
second section being screen-by-screen comments upon the current citizenatlas.dc.gov site.
Finally, some comments on "lessons learned" from how New York City
has implemented "My Neighborhood" & statistics.
1) Alternate Design Concept
Consider having a different interface for
several kinds of user - resident, visitor, business person and commuter.
Such an approach has been taken by DC for its home page, and by Federal
FirstGov site which caters
to several audiences. In such an example, the Taxi
Fare calculator wouldn't appear just on the Atlas page but other pages
aimed at tourists. |
This is in keeping with major themes on the redesigned http://www.dc.gov/ home page (About DC,
Living and Working, Doing Business, Visiting DC, and Government
Services). |
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2) Current Citizen Atlas
Interface
Comment on what was NOT available for citizen
review - namely almost none of the narrative information links worked! As
long as this project has been in planning, there's no good reason
why text - caveat if need be with "draft" - was not provided for
"About the Citizen Atlas" (e.g. scope) and "About the Data"
(some subset of ~150 layers in DC Atlas?)
And a positive comment - the plain language
smarts that power "Restaurants near" and "Parking near" work just great:
they just need to be extended with a hyperlink connected to the restaurant
and parking garage names. I'm fairly sure that the National Parking Association and Restaurant Association Metropolitan
Washington can provide most of these. |
DC Citizen Atlas "Home"
Page
Too many different types of
input requested: a clickable map, a search dialog, help, and several
categories of links.
At minimum make it a two-step process, first
a screen with information/orientation/related links, then a screen focused
on access to the atlas.
"Points of Interest" is not clear: I
understand it is meant to be landmarks known by the name alone without
knowing an address, but to a hungry kid, they might type
McDonalds!
Repeat users could in future go straight to
the second step. |
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DC Citizen Atlas "Reports"
Page
Inexcusable lack of attention to the pull-down
boxes! OCTO contractors may not know much about the city, but having "US
Asia Institute" show as the first ANC selection is simply a cause of
confusion, and a recipe for causing doubt about their attention to
detail.
Similarly, all pull-down items should be in
alphabetical order.
Finally, the sheer number of Neighborhood
names (~140) is too many to do with a scroll down. Suggest ask what Ward
people are looking for, then have a sub-form come up with neighborhood
names that are relevant. For names straddling a Ward boundary, have them
show in 2 ward lists. |
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DC Citizen Atlas
"Directions" Page
Because these results appear in the
same window (do they have to?) and below the input form (do
they have to?), the waste of vertical space really does need to be
addressed so that more of the results are visible. Right now when the
results appear it is not self-evident. This could be done by moving the Mouse function radio buttons
alongside the map. not below. Another option is to move the photo banner
at the top of the page to the side: this is how the Washington Post
positions advertising items.
The "Point of Interest" pull-down should be
initially .empty: put example text instead next to the "Add A..."
language.
Also have a "Zoom In" mouse click set as the
initial default. |
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| DC Citizen Atlas "Custom
Map" Page
Some seven categories are available to
display on the map. It does not help that the ANC boundaries shown are
those developed from the 1990 Census, not the 2000 boundaries!
What are the plans for adding other
boundaries, such as the School boundaries and PSA
boundaries? Precisely because these are about to change is a good
reason for residents to be able to see them in context with the other
administrative boundaries such as Ward and ANC.
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DC Citizen Atlas "Search"
Page
This screen illustrates the
confusion in "DC Search" results throughout this website. They just
produce an intermediate result, which itself requires further,
non-intuitive action, to either add to directions or add to map.
The entire directions vs. map dichotomy
should be handled the way MapPoint and all of the other commercial
direction sites do it: with a single address entered display just a map!
Directions are not relevant until there is a second address needed, which
is typically where the enquirer is coming from to reach the first,
destination address.
Also many polygons need grouping: why are
Federal Parks broken into 528 separate polygons? Re-assemble
them! |
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3) Lessons We Can Learn from New York City
"My Neighborhood" |
| "My Neighborhood
Statistics" site by NY's mayoral Office of Operations takes mapping
beyond location and directions to spatially-based performance management.
It has a simple starting screen (address or
intersection). a four-page user
guide, and Definitions guide
with very useful indicators that might work well in DC as well. For
DC think Ward where NY uses Borough. (See DOH
Asthma reports).
The tabular reports list indicator data for
three years, and PDF link of a GIS-developed thematic map for current
year.
The map-based reports are annual thematics by
borough on major themes of Health, Education and Human Services;
Infrastructure, Administration & Community Services; Public Safety
& Legal Affairs, and Business & Cultural Affairs.
See example screenshots - click thumbnails
to see full-size. |
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