National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis

NCGIA Research Initiative 13 addressed human-computer interaction and related issues in the design and implementation of user interfaces for GISs and other geographical software packages. Its goals and outcomes, reviewed in this report, were 1) to investigate ways for people to interact with computers when solving problems concerning geographic space and spatial phenomena; 2) in particular, to model some of the ways in which factors such as disciplinary background and training, problem domain, culture, natural language, and individual differences, influence human-computer interaction involving geographic information; 3) to establish criteria and methods for the design of GIS user interfaces, and user interfaces for other geographic software; and 4) to develop and test prototypes of GIS interfaces and interface development tools.