TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of user context in the design of mobile map applications
AU - Bartling, Mona
AU - Robinson, Anthony C.
AU - Resch, Bernd
AU - Eitzinger, Anton
AU - Atzmanstorfer, Karl
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany under Grant 81,206,685 and by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), and the Doctoral College–GIScience, University of Salzburg, Austria under Grant W1237. We would like to thank Alessandro Crivellari, Alessio Lupi, and Martin Sudmanns for their appreciated technical support. We would further like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Mobile map applications are typically used by a broad range of users. Users can be diverse in their context attributes (e.g. map use experience, activities during map use), and several previous user experience (UX) studies have focused on understanding how some contextual factors influence the UX for designing maps that satisfy users’ needs. A need for research remains to evaluate the relationship between user context, UX, and variants of mobile map element design. In this article, we present our research investigating the interplay of these factors through an empirical user study with citizens in Austria. We created an online survey and generated 84 map variations, combining seven map-related tasks, three base map styles, two map detail densities, and two time-pressure variants. We tested these map variations with 107 survey participants and related their UX to user context. Map-related tasks emerged as a dominant factor modifying the map design UX. Further results showed that interactivity loaded map-related tasks were aided when paired with low detail-dense base maps, contrasting overlay features. We recommend future research to analyze an extended set of context attributes with additional participant data, to evaluate dynamic variations in context, and to find ways to dynamically monitor mobile map design UX.
AB - Mobile map applications are typically used by a broad range of users. Users can be diverse in their context attributes (e.g. map use experience, activities during map use), and several previous user experience (UX) studies have focused on understanding how some contextual factors influence the UX for designing maps that satisfy users’ needs. A need for research remains to evaluate the relationship between user context, UX, and variants of mobile map element design. In this article, we present our research investigating the interplay of these factors through an empirical user study with citizens in Austria. We created an online survey and generated 84 map variations, combining seven map-related tasks, three base map styles, two map detail densities, and two time-pressure variants. We tested these map variations with 107 survey participants and related their UX to user context. Map-related tasks emerged as a dominant factor modifying the map design UX. Further results showed that interactivity loaded map-related tasks were aided when paired with low detail-dense base maps, contrasting overlay features. We recommend future research to analyze an extended set of context attributes with additional participant data, to evaluate dynamic variations in context, and to find ways to dynamically monitor mobile map design UX.
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U2 - 10.1080/15230406.2021.1933595
DO - 10.1080/15230406.2021.1933595
M3 - Article
C2 - 34566497
AN - SCOPUS:85109823621
SN - 1523-0406
VL - 48
SP - 432
EP - 448
JO - Cartography and Geographic Information Science
JF - Cartography and Geographic Information Science
IS - 5
ER -