SDI Convergence - Nederlandse Commissie voor Geodesie - KNAW

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Figure 2: Prototype to test navigating from text to map or from regulation
to application area.
tured range of tests were based on Legal Atlas II. Both sets were recorded on videotape,
transcribed and analysed. These tests followed the Software usability measurement
inventory (SUMI) approach (Human Factors Research Group, 1994). This approach
is more catered for usability testing than for affordance testing in the line of
Gibson’s school of functionality design.
After this limited prototype of text-to-map search of legal constraints, we developed a
realistic prototype for which we used data of the Dutch province of Flevoland. This prototype
uses IMRO combined with GEMET (‘GEneral Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus’).
The regional data layers and most of the content are provided by Flevoland
that maintains a number of databases about the economy, the environment, our cultural
heritage and the public infrastructure.
The dark areas are text-to-map areas that can be activated using keywords out of the
controlled vocabulary. The next step is to concentrate the retrieval possibility on a
much more narrow scale (see Figure 3).
For the purpose of European transferability and usability Google maps technology is
used next to GIS technology to support ‘contour editing’ by visitors of the website. The
visitor can indicate an area by drawing a line on the map to discuss and to support his
case with documents, research reports, legislation and plans that can be uploaded,
stored and downloaded for that drawn area.
The interface of the prototype is linked to the Oracle database of the province of Flevoland.
All map layers can be projected on this Google map screen. The conflict resolution
system will maintain dynamic input from legal constraints and map layer updates.
The document retrieved in this particular screen dump example shows the relevant research
report as ‘hit’ upon entering the keyword Algemeen_Rec (recreation_general) in
the search field. The hits are restricted to the square area drawn on the map by the
user. In the same way, resources can be uploaded and downloaded.