Funding level: $63,000

Deadline: September 30, 1999

UCGIS solicits proposals from individuals at its member institutions to conduct research in the usability of user interfaces to the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse, particularly its search and retrieval interfaces. This call for proposals is expected to result in funding for one research project by academic researchers to assess the effectiveness of the Clearinghouse's human-computer interface elements for geographic data access and discovery for multiple user communities, to provide guidelines for the selection of methods to better navigate and visualize complex (FGDC or ISO) metadata using XML and map-enhanced style sheets, and to evaluate the access to the Clearinghouse's standards-based centralized and distributed metadata repositories that are linked to geospatial data stored in databases. The successful proposal will:

• identify with teh FGDC Clearinghouse Working Group the generic user types who should use the Clearinghouse interface for geospatial resource discovery and access,
• propose a plan to evaluate the usability and performance of the current user interface of the Clearinghouse through consultation with varied user reprsentatives,
• based on the evaluation, develop a plan to identify barriers to usability both in the design of the Clearinghouse user interfaces and in their performance and
• propose redesign or reorganization of elements integrated into the user interface, where necessary, to improve usability and performance, and
• evaluate elements of redesign in a prototype user interface with user representatives.

Project deliverables

Research should yield documentation of findings and recommendations and examples of software prototypes that can be deployed in non-commercial reference implementations in the Clearinghouse.

Anticipated milestones

1. Meet with FGDC staff to discuss and confirm research methodology and timeline for completion (month 1).
2. Idenitify user representatives with assistance from the FGDC Clearinghouse Working Group (month 2).
3. Present preliminary results of the project at a meeting to be mutually agreed upon by the FGDC and the principal investigator (month 6).
4. Submit findings to a peer-reviewed journal (month 11).
5. Submit a final report to FGDC in a format to be mutually determined (month 12).

Funding amount

Each proposal should include a draft budget of no more than $63,000 including university overhead, and a timeline for completion of all deliverables not to exceed one year. Anticipated start date is November 15, 1999.

Who may apply

Scientists, engineers, and educators from UCGIS member institutions only are invited to prepare proposals, which must be officially submitted by their employing organization. An institution may submit more than one proposal. Graduate students are not encouraged to submit research proposals, but should arrange to serve as research assistants to faculty members.

Additional guidelines

Proposals should include a discussion of relevant techniques based on experience reported in the literature; a description of the research methods to be employed; a set of hypotheses to be tested; and a detailed workplan including a Gantt chart.

The main body of the proposal must not exceed 7 single-spaced pages at 12pt font, including all figures, tables, and charts. The list of references does not count against the 7 pages.

To the proposal, attach brief biographical sketches (maximum 2 pages) of the Principal Investigator(s) including up to five related publications over the past three years.

Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of overall quality of the proposal, documented qualifications of the principal investigator(s), relevance of the proposed research activities, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovativeness of the proposed approach.

In order that UCGIS can plan a timely review process, a letter of intent should be sent by September 15, by those who intend to submit a proposal. Letters of intent are not required, however. Please send letters of intent by e-mail or fax to the Chair of the UCGIS Research Projects Committee (see contact information below). In order to be considered, proposals are due September 30, 1999, by 5 PM Eastern Standard time. Submit proposals by e-mail or by fax (see contact information below). A hard copy letter or form, with the principal investigator's original signature and an official authorized to commit the organization in business and financial affairs, is due within 7 days of electronic or FAX submission.

Questions about the RFP may be directed to UCGIS President Greg Elmes (gelmes@wvu.edu, phone 304-293-5603, extension 4325, fax 304-293-6522). Funding of the project will be conditional on the availability of funds from FGDC.

Send letters of intent and proposals to:

or

Background

A fundamental goal of the Clearinghouse is to provide access to digital geospatial data through metadata. The Clearinghouse functions as a detailed catalog service with support for links to geospatial data and browse graphics. Clearinghouse sites are encouraged to provide hypertext linkages within their metadata entries that enable users to directly download the digital data set in one or more formats. Where digital data are too large to be made available through the Internet or the data products are made available for sale, linkage to an order form can be provided in lieu of a data set. Through this model, Clearinghouse metadata provide low-cost advertising for providers of geospatial data, both non-commerical and commercial, to potential customers via the Internet.

Investigators who wish to respond to this call for proposals should familiarize themselves with the Clearinghouse web site (http://www.fgdc.gov/clearinghouse/clearinghouse.html) and the current search mechanisms in advance of submitting a proposal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answer: As a general response, there are several existing interfaces available for the Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse is protocol based and we are looking for the best-of-breed suggestions for successful navigation. There will be at least four existing Clearinghouse interfaces to work from, but an individual review of each may not be necessary. We are looking for the composite of functions that exist out there as components that may be in (or out) of interfaces for different user profiles.