Muki Haklay

This book provides an introduction to HCI and usability aspects of Geographical Information Systems and Science. Its aim is to introduce the principles of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); to discuss the special usability aspects of GIS which designers and developers need to take into account when developing such systems; and to offer a set of tried and tested frameworks, matrices and techniques that can be used within GIS projects.

Geographical Information Systems and other applications of computerised mapping have gained popularity in recent years. Today, computer-based maps are common on the World Wide Web, mobile phones, satellite navigation systems and in various desktop computing packages. The more sophisticated packages that allow the manipulation and analysis of geographical information are used in location decisions of new businesses, for public service delivery for planning decisions by local and central government. Many more applications exist and some estimate the number of people across the world that are using GIS in their daily work at several millions. However, many applications of GIS are hard to learn and to master. This is understandable, as until quite recently, the main focus of software vendors in the area of GIS was on the delivery of basic functionality and development of methods to present and manipulate geographical information using the available computing resources. As a result, little attention was paid to usability aspects of GIS. This is evident in many public and private systems where the terminology, conceptual design and structure are all centred around the engineering of GIS and not on the needs and concepts that are familiar to the user.

This book covers a range of topics from the cognitive models of geographical representation, to interface design. It will provide the reader with frameworks and techniques that can be used and description of case studies in which these techniques have been used for computer mapping application.

The often opportunistic nature of biological recording via citizen science leads to taxonomic, spatial and temporal biases which add uncertainty to biodiversity estimates. However, such biases may also give valuable insight into volunteers' recording behaviour. Using Greater London as a case-study we examined the composition of three citizen science datasets - from Greenspace Information for Greater London CIC, iSpot and iRecord - with respect to recorder contribution and spatial and taxonomic biases, i.e. when, where and what volunteers record. We found most volunteers contributed few records and were active for just one day. Each dataset had its own taxonomic and spatial signature suggesting that volunteers' personal recording preferences may attract them towards particular schemes. There were also patterns across datasets: species' abundance and ease of identification were positively associated with number of records, as was plant height. We found clear hotspots of recording activity, the 10 most popular sites containing open water. We note that biases are accrued as part of the recording process (e.g. species' detectability) as well as from volunteer preferences. An increased understanding of volunteer behaviour gained from analysing the composition of records could thus enhance the fit between volunteers' interests and the needs of scientific projects.

ABSTRACT Geography is playing an increasingly important role in areas of HCI ranging from social computing to natural user interfaces. At the same time, research in geography has focused more and more on technology-mediated interaction with spatiotemporal phenomena. Despite the growing popularity of this geographic human-computer interaction (GeoHCI) in both fields, there have been few opportunities for GeoHCI knowledge sharing, knowledge creation or community building in either discipline, let alone between them. The goal of this workshop is thus two-fold. First, we will seek to sum up the state of GeoHCI knowledge and address GeoHCI core issues by inviting prominent researchers in the space to share and discuss the most important high-level findings from their work. Second, through our interdisciplinary organizing committee, we will recruit participants from both fields, with the goal of laying the groundwork for a community that works across intra- and interdisciplinary boundaries.

The discussion about the future of the GIS ''profession'' flared up in the ''GeoWeb blogosphere'' toward the end of 2009 (Gorman 2009; Meltz 2009; Feldman 2009), though questions about the long-term future of the pro-fession initially surfaced a few years ago (Haklay ...

A key component of a three-dimensional Geographical Information System (3D GIS) toolkit is the ability to identify binary (between two objects) topological relationships. These include adjacency (are objects next to each other), containment (is one within another) and intersection (do they interact in any way). Determining such relationships allows the GIS to answer questions such as" what is directly underneath this building?" and" if a tunnel is dug here, what rock types will be cut?" Frameworks are used to fully list the possible ...

The paper describes a platform developed by the Extreme Citizen Science (ExCiteS) group at University College London over the past five years to facilitate online data capture by Citizen Scientists in the context of community science, where local environmental problems are monitored. Responding to user needs, the platform has been developed to be as flexible as possible in terms of the types of data that can be captured -- these currently include numbers, text, video, photography, pull-down lists, multiple selection lists and so forth. Live data feeds and links to social networking such as twitter have also been incorporated. This platform is database-centric, and thus allows capture and storage of data from multiple devices (currently Web and mobile) in one central location. All map-based data is captured and held in native spatial data format inside the database. To support Citizen Science activity, the system has been designed to allow new projects to be added without the requirement for additional development (programming), and an administration tool developed to support this task. Each project is allocated custom themes depending on the project requirements and a variety of 'skins' can be configured to give the website a different appearance in each case. The platform is currently used by over 20 different groups within the United Kingdom -- though mostly for more social and perceptual data collection, rather than scientific. After demonstrating its use in an urban noise study, it is now adapted to use in air pollution studies. An extension to mobile devices (Android) is also underdevelopment.

The discussion about the future of the GIS ''profession'' flared up in the ''GeoWeb blogosphere'' toward the end of 2009 (Gorman 2009; Meltz 2009; Feldman 2009), though questions about the long-term future of the pro-fession initially surfaced a few years ago (Haklay ...

Abstract: The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) is a US-based not-for-profit organization that supports and promotes the use and collaborative development of open-source geospatial technologies and data around the world. OSGeo offers marketing, financial, organizational, and legal help for its projects.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of this emerging technology. It highlights innovations, new ways of modeling both spatial objects and dynamiuc processes affecting them, and advances in visualisation. Featuring contributions from established GIS ...

... 'Extreme' Citizen Science, London Citizen Cyberscience Summit. Haklay, M (2010) 'Extreme' Citizen Science, London Citizen Cyberscience Summit. In: UNSPECIFIED . ... Type: Proceedings paper. Title: 'Extreme' Citizen Science, London Citizen Cyberscience Summit. ...