Michael P. Finn and Barbara S. Poore

U. S. Department of Interior
U. S. Geological Survey
Joint International Workshop of ISPRS WG IV/1, WG VIII/1 and WG IV/3
on
Geospatial Data Cyber Infrastructure and Real-time Services with special
emphasis on Disaster Management
November 25-27, 2009
Hyderabad, India
Michael P. Finn and Barbara S. Poore

Motivation
The National Map
NRC Report: Goals and Research
User-Centered Design
Information Access and Dissemination: OGC Standards
and Web Services
Viewer Design and Web 2.0 Technologies
Scenario and Research
Summary

The National Map Vision
A seamless, continuously
maintained, nationally consistent
set of base geographic data
Developed and maintained
through partnerships
A national foundation for
science, land and resource
management, recreation, policy
making, and homeland security
Available over the Internet
The source for revised
topographic maps

The National Map contributes to the NSDI
The National Map includes eight data layers
Public domain data to support
USGS topographic maps at 1:24,000-scale
Multiple scales and resolutions: Products,
services, analysis, modeling and other
applications
The National Map is built on partnerships and
standards

Transportation
Structures
Orthoimagery
Hydrography
Land Cover
Geographic Names
Boundaries
Elevation

Priority research topic for CEGIS according to
National Research Council Report
Interactive process of system development
linking developers with users at every stage
Major research area in computer science and
human-computer interaction
Long tradition in cartography; flurry of GIS
research in mid 1990’s

Meets requirements!
yes no
5. Evaluate
designs against user
requirements
1. Plan the human
centered process
2. Specify the
context of use
4. Produce design
solutions
3. Specify user
and organizational
requirements
ISO 13407: Human centered design processes for interactive systems

Example: Scenario-Based Design
(Rosson and Carroll 2002)

Spatial information can be a unifier of many
technology disciplines
Focusing on standard profiles
A key challenge is to produce standard profiles
that are customized for USGS products

Who are users of The National Map products
now and in next 5 years?
How are user behaviors changing as a result of
Web 2.0 technologies?
What types of interfaces are appropriate for
traditional and new categories of users?

Open source
Rise of the user (person, group, firm)
Direct physical manipulation of map interface
User-contributed data
Social networking
Co-production of content

E-Topo
Maps
User-Centered
Design
Generalization
Quality
Aware
Authoritative
Data Source
Nationwide Coverage 8
Data Layers
Intelligent Knowledge Base
Semantics-driven
Integrated
Data
Multiscale
Feature/
Event
Based
Spatio-
Temporal
Ontology
Driven

Wildfires are spreading rapidly across a San Diego mountainside. Fire fighters
have deployed with two-way radios and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). In
the command center, the new 3-D topographic maps overlaid with near real-time
airborne color-infrared thermal imagery, real-time GPS wireless sensor data, and
National Weather Service maps of wind direction, precipitation potential, and
temperature displayed on the computers allow the command center team to tell
the fire fighters through their two-way radios where the wildfire boundaries are
and help them estimate the likely fire spread directions and speed in the next two
hours. The operators at the command center find it intuitive to toggle between the
various layers of data to analyze the situation, and can select different
combinations to produce PDF files for fast printing to distribute to the crews.
Meanwhile, the GPS and wireless communication enable the transmission of the
position of the crew back to the command center, which has a large screen to
display the overview maps with current positions of all firefighters and current
fire perimeters. With a comprehensive GIS modeling technology and the
information provided from The National Map (topography, slope, aspect,
weather, soil moisture, vegetation, etc.), the command and control center
calculates potential dangers for firefighters and immediately distributes a
warning to the crews on the west side of the mountain to relocate 300 m farther
west. Based on information from the overview maps, the center also dispatches
another crew to the highest-risk zone and moves two more toward that zone.
Their earlier participation in design phases are paying off in powerful but easy to
use geospatial tools in a frantic and hostile environment.

Immediate access to information based on common
place name
Intuitive user interface, semantically-driven
Automated generalization and data integration
(fusion, conflation)
Semantics driven query and access

Ontology-driven generalization, data integration,
user-interfaces, and map generation

The National Map: A seamless, continuously maintained,
nationally consistent set of base geographic data
NRC Report: vision for 2015
Information Access and Dissemination -> User-Centered
Design
User-Centered Design : Priority research topic for CEGIS
OGC Standards and Web Services: Standards for USGS
products
Viewer Design and Web 2.0 Technologies: Design for users
now and in next 5 years; emphasize open source
Scenario and Research: Immediate access, Intuitive user
interface, Generalization , Integration (ontology-driven map
generation)
Many USGS geospatial products are already built on OGC
standards
Normalize access to spatial data

Joint International Workshop of ISPRS WG IV/1, WG VIII/1 and WG IV/3
on
Geospatial Data Cyber Infrastructure and Real-time Services with special
emphasis on Disaster Management
November 25-27, 2009
Hyderabad, India
Michael P. Finn and Barbara S. Poore
mfinn@usgs.gov
bspoore@usgs.gov
http://cegis.usgs.gov/index.html