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Users assess the GEO Portals
In June 2008, GEO launched a one-year assessment of the GEO Portals. Last May, while the world’s remote sensing community was meeting on the shores of Italy’s Lake Maggiore for the 33rd International Symposium of the Remote Sensing of the Environment (ISRSE-33), GEO’s User Interface Committee (UIC) conducted an invaluable user assessment of the Portals.
The UIC engaged the Scientific Consulting Group, a US Environmental Protection Agency contractor, to conduct a detailed user assessment of the three prototype GEO Portals currently being developed by ESA/FAO, ESRI and Compusult. The Portals provide a Web-based interface for searching and accessing the data, information, imagery, services and applications available through GEOSS.
Through a questionnaire addressed to both the expert and the novice user, each portal was tested relative to its overall organization and content, its navigation capabilities, and its functionality. Testers were encouraged to search for information in their area of interest but also were provided step-by-step instructions for some sample searches. Search efforts were recorded to allow portal developers to examine user’s needs in detail.
Interest in the GEO Portals was high at the ISRSE, with nearly 20% of the 615 participants partaking in the usability testing. Users offered a mixed and sometimes critical review (see table below). More importantly, however, they were optimistic about the future value of the GEO Portals. In this sense, 86% of the users responded that they would visit the portals again in their search for valuable Earth observations. This and other test results, now in developers’ hands, will certainly help to improve the usability and reliability of the GEO Portals.
Summary of GEO Portal Usability Test Results
- 100 (86%) would visit the GEO Portals again and seek information on air quality, disasters, climate-related data, satellite data, and various GEOSS Societal Benefit Area (SBA) information.
- 85 (73%) of the users classified themselves as scientist/researcher and 4 (3%) as policy analyst.
- 73 (63%) were familiar with GEOSS; with specific SBA interests in the Disasters, Climate, Health and Energy areas.
- 66 (56%) previously used Portals or Web sources; primarily Google Earth, NASA, and USGS sites.
- 58 (49%) were experienced users; 34 (29%) were casual users; 19 (16%) were software developers.
- Areas of Interest (i.e., subjects searched): environmental data (e.g., air and water quality, soil erosion); disasters, climate-related information, satellite data and maps.
- Ease of Use: 39% scored the Portal navigation capabilities as easy, and 34% scored as difficult.
- Most Useful Portal Feature: Mapping interface (e.g., globe, map search field, map viewer, map zoom); ability to link keyword search with maps, Google Earth references.
- Difficult to Use Portal Feature: Slow map download, map dots and color interpretations, confusing SBA categories and subcategories.
Some Suggestions for improvement:
- Add Tips on how to conduct a search;
- Add Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs);
- Add video tutorial of sample searches with printable instructions on how to duplicate the searches;
- Improve map layer visualizations and use less text in the search phase;
- Improve response time for search information;
- Combine with Google Earth maps;
- More data on specific countries and continents (e.g., China, Africa, Asia).
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