Once upon a time everything was done in desktops. Actually it was not that long ago even though it feels like it. The mapping products, likes of Esri ArcInfo, MapInfo Professional and Intergraph Geomedia were complicated clunky products that included ALL the tools GIS analysts needed to maintain and report on spatial data layers (which were stored in file system).
When web browsers emerged, the Vendors quickly started to embrace web by producing specifically tuned lightweight web versions of their products. The idea of course was to target a brand new much larger than before audience of webizens.
GIS vendors unfortunately didn't get this and instead just ported their analyst monster products almost as is and as such really just targeted the same GIS analyst audience, but with inferior set of tools. This is how map portals were born and why it has taken so long for them to become main stream.
Actually mainstream did not happen until web-native mapping systems like Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, Bing Maps came along and guess what - these products were much simpler typically only including single topic maps and tools - in other words almost like a user story driven approach!
Unfortunately since then these vendors have also fallen somewhat into the same hole traditional vendors were in and added more and more into their products making them much more complicated and no longer single-topic. I think it is about time we changed this back to the user story driven approach.
Why would we want to use user story driven approach? After all surely people have already got used to all-you-can-eat tools, views and layers! Well, luckily there has been recently some studies done on this and the results were quite staggering:
1) only 2% of users ever change their map view (which of vendors typically provided at least aerial, standard and terrain)
2) only 0.5% use full screen map
3) only just over 1% uses those neat tools likes of Google provide like StreetView, Routing and 3D
4) over 60% arrive to the site via search engines (SEOs); most users do not care about your search and navigation tools but just want to view one specific geographical place and zoom
5) nobody really prints the maps
6) the only tool heavily used is click on map to get an info balloon. From the balloon links are clicked 40% of the cases.
7) users spend only just over a minute on a map - this is probably as the map is often just a way to find the link they were actually after
So basically people want single-topic maps that are fast and easy to use, not huge map portals - those are only wanted by your GIS analysts.
So how can the user story driven approach be achieved? Well, basically you crawl through all the functionality and requirements to create user stories for your specific audiences. Your current map portal could become 50 separate apps with meaningful names like "high sale value properties" or "buildings with high earthquake risk". You then provide master page for these with thumbnails preferably across different geographical areas (as Aucklanders are not that interested about Wellington) and enterprise search that allows users to find only those thumbnails they are interested on.
Work effort-wise you will end up spending same amount as for building a map portal, but the work will be done in prioritized stages thus providing maximum impact for your users and some real ROI for your execs. Also the maps will be easy to use and require no manuals plus minimizing the network traffic.
When web browsers emerged, the Vendors quickly started to embrace web by producing specifically tuned lightweight web versions of their products. The idea of course was to target a brand new much larger than before audience of webizens.
GIS vendors unfortunately didn't get this and instead just ported their analyst monster products almost as is and as such really just targeted the same GIS analyst audience, but with inferior set of tools. This is how map portals were born and why it has taken so long for them to become main stream.
Actually mainstream did not happen until web-native mapping systems like Yahoo Maps, Google Maps, Bing Maps came along and guess what - these products were much simpler typically only including single topic maps and tools - in other words almost like a user story driven approach!
Unfortunately since then these vendors have also fallen somewhat into the same hole traditional vendors were in and added more and more into their products making them much more complicated and no longer single-topic. I think it is about time we changed this back to the user story driven approach.
Why would we want to use user story driven approach? After all surely people have already got used to all-you-can-eat tools, views and layers! Well, luckily there has been recently some studies done on this and the results were quite staggering:
1) only 2% of users ever change their map view (which of vendors typically provided at least aerial, standard and terrain)
2) only 0.5% use full screen map
3) only just over 1% uses those neat tools likes of Google provide like StreetView, Routing and 3D
4) over 60% arrive to the site via search engines (SEOs); most users do not care about your search and navigation tools but just want to view one specific geographical place and zoom
5) nobody really prints the maps
6) the only tool heavily used is click on map to get an info balloon. From the balloon links are clicked 40% of the cases.
7) users spend only just over a minute on a map - this is probably as the map is often just a way to find the link they were actually after
So basically people want single-topic maps that are fast and easy to use, not huge map portals - those are only wanted by your GIS analysts.
So how can the user story driven approach be achieved? Well, basically you crawl through all the functionality and requirements to create user stories for your specific audiences. Your current map portal could become 50 separate apps with meaningful names like "high sale value properties" or "buildings with high earthquake risk". You then provide master page for these with thumbnails preferably across different geographical areas (as Aucklanders are not that interested about Wellington) and enterprise search that allows users to find only those thumbnails they are interested on.
Work effort-wise you will end up spending same amount as for building a map portal, but the work will be done in prioritized stages thus providing maximum impact for your users and some real ROI for your execs. Also the maps will be easy to use and require no manuals plus minimizing the network traffic.