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Redesigning Graphical User Interface of Open-Source Geospatial Software in a Community-Driven Way: A Case Study of GRASS GIS

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Názov: Redesigning Graphical User Interface of Open-Source Geospatial Software in a Community-Driven Way: A Case Study of GRASS GIS
Autori: Linda Karlovska, Anna Petrasova, Vaclav Petras, Martin Landa
Zdroj: ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, Vol 12, Iss 376, p 376 (2023)
Informácie o vydavateľovi: MDPI AG
Rok vydania: 2023
Zbierka: Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
Predmety: user-centered design, participatory design, geospatial, open-source software development, scientific software development, usability testing, Geography (General), G1-922
Popis: Learning to use geographic information system (GIS) software effectively may be intimidating due to the extensive range of features it offers. The GRASS GIS software, in particular, presents additional challenges for first-time users in terms of its complex startup procedure and unique terminology associated with its data structure. On the other hand, a substantial part of the GRASS user community including us as developers recognized and embraced the advantages of the current approach. Given the controversial nature of the whole issue, we decided to actively involve regular users by conducting several formal surveys and by performing usability testing. Throughout this process, we discovered that resolving specific software issues through pure user-centered design is not always feasible, particularly in the context of open-source scientific software where the boundary between users and developers is very fuzzy. To address this challenge, we adopted the user-centered methodology tailored to the requirements of open-source scientific software development, which we refer to as community-driven design. This paper describes the community-driven redesigning process on the GRASS GIS case study and sets a foundation for applying community-driven design in other open-source scientific projects by providing insights into effective software development practices driven by the needs and input of the project’s community.
Druh dokumentu: article in journal/newspaper
Jazyk: English
Relation: https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/12/9/376; https://doaj.org/toc/2220-9964; https://doaj.org/article/b362bbd3122e4909984fd43db47bb1a0
DOI: 10.3390/ijgi12090376
Dostupnosť: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi12090376
https://doaj.org/article/b362bbd3122e4909984fd43db47bb1a0
Prístupové číslo: edsbas.18E5196A
Databáza: BASE
Popis
Abstrakt:Learning to use geographic information system (GIS) software effectively may be intimidating due to the extensive range of features it offers. The GRASS GIS software, in particular, presents additional challenges for first-time users in terms of its complex startup procedure and unique terminology associated with its data structure. On the other hand, a substantial part of the GRASS user community including us as developers recognized and embraced the advantages of the current approach. Given the controversial nature of the whole issue, we decided to actively involve regular users by conducting several formal surveys and by performing usability testing. Throughout this process, we discovered that resolving specific software issues through pure user-centered design is not always feasible, particularly in the context of open-source scientific software where the boundary between users and developers is very fuzzy. To address this challenge, we adopted the user-centered methodology tailored to the requirements of open-source scientific software development, which we refer to as community-driven design. This paper describes the community-driven redesigning process on the GRASS GIS case study and sets a foundation for applying community-driven design in other open-source scientific projects by providing insights into effective software development practices driven by the needs and input of the project’s community.
DOI:10.3390/ijgi12090376