The GIS WallBoard Design

The size of the WallBoard device could vary--up to the physical size of the wall--but for our purposes we imagine it to be similar to a large, wall-mounted office whiteboard of two by three meters. For the look-and-feel of a WallBoard, we borrow heavily from the metaphor of a whiteboard. Successful user interface designs are often based on a metaphor from a real-world example (Kuhn 1992; Mark 1992). Users expect devices to behave according to what they see and what their experience has taught them to expect from such a design. In this way a user is able to establish a mapping from the familiar to the unfamiliar. This concept builds on natural mappings that take their root in universal physical or cultural standards that are immediately understandable (Norman 1990). For the WallBoard, the familiar domain is the whiteboard, and the unfamiliar is the domain of abstract computer operations on a WallBoard. The whiteboard also provides a rationale for arranging and organizing the various tools to be used in conjunction with the WallBoard. We assume that most users know how to use a whiteboard; therefore, users will find the WallBoard simple and easy to use if it mimics the whiteboard's behavior.

The layout of the WallBoard illustrates the large display area and the tool tray (Figure 1). It has been tailored for geographic collaborative applications, in a fashion similar to the LiveBoard (Elrod et al. 1992), a large interactive display system using a cordless pen, to facilitate interactions for generic group meetings and presentations.

Figure 1: Layout of the GIS WallBoard.

The principal component of the WallBoard is its large display area, where views of spatial scenes are shown as large-scale representations. Users manipulate them through various interaction modalities.

On the tool tray are actual physical objects such as markers and erasers with which the user can draw or erase objects through contact with the WallBoard. Experience from other studies with similar devices points to the success of markers or pens as collaborative tools (Moran et al.; Elrod et al. 1992). The ability of anyone to approach the WallBoard and pick up a marker to highlight important areas or draw connections between related ideas, greatly enhances the collaborative potential of this device. Markers will need to provide a high degree of positional accuracy, and with a choice of color, they can be used much in the same way as people use different colored markers on a regular whiteboard to confer more meaning and provide for easier interpretation.

Virtual tools are similarly organized on a virtual tool shelf, located just above the tool tray. There may be more than one virtual tool shelf depending on how many tools are available, and users may toggle from one shelf to the next. The virtual tool shelf may include measuring devices to display lengths and areas, and lenses for locally filtering or adding information (Stone et al. 1994). One of the virtual tools is a sticky notepad for adhering notes, instructions, or memos to the WallBoard. The markers can be used to write on the sticky pad, and it can be attached or moved to any desired location for easy reference. Users may pick up virtual tools through gestures and move them across the WallBoard to perform an operation. These tools have been chosen in such a way that their design and use is based on real life tools or familiar icons, and so should be clear to most users.

The dumpster is the place to receive any trash--any virtual object the user wants to get rid of is simply put into it. Its functionality corresponds to the trash can on the office desktop, but its appearance was assimilated to the settings of a GIS WallBoard. This was necessary because geographic objects displayed on a WallBoard are generally large and, therefore, do not afford to be put into a trash can. The visualization of the dumpster may have to be adapted when the WallBoard is used in different cultures.

Last updated on January 31, 1996.