The role of user context in the design of mobile map applications

Figures & data

Figure 1. Example of a map-related task with a respective map design in the survey (note that the question corresponds to map-related task #16 of Annex in supplementary materials)

Table 1. Participant characteristics

	Total (n = 205)	Completed (n = 107)
Age	Mean: 35 SD^1: 14.52 Min: 17 Max: 71	Mean: 33.36 SD: 13.21 Min: 18 Max: 65
Gender	Female: 113 Male: 92	Female: 56 Male: 51
How comfortable participants felt using a smartphone (1 (min) – 5 (max))	Mean: 4.03 SD: 0.84	Mean: 4.1 SD: 0.85
Whether participants have been using maps previous to the study	Yes: 198 No: 7	Yes: 104 No: 3
How comfortable participants felt using a map (1 (min) – 5 (max))	Mean: 3.56 SD: 0.86	Mean: 3.66 SD: 0.77
Map use frequency (1 (min) - 4 (max))	Mean: 2.58 SD: 0.66	Mean: 2.65 SD: 0.67
Smartphone operating system	Android: 141 iPhone: 64	Android: 70 iPhone: 37
Smartphone screen size (in inches)	Mean: 5.48 SD: 0.62	Mean: 5.35 SD: 0.6

¹Standard Deviation.

Table 2. Map-related tasks and required types of interactivity

Map-related tasks	Main types of interactivity to solve map-related tasks
	Toggle overlay feature layers	Consult popup information	Visually estimate distances
T1: Create point
T2: Select point		x
T3: Select point (distance)	x		x (nearest/furthest POI to another POI)
T4: Select line	x	x
T5: Select line (distance)	x		x (shortest/longest path between POIs)
T6: Select generalized polygon	x
T7: Select detailed polygon	x

Table 3. Map elements

Category	Variant:
Base map style	Mapbox Dark
	Mapbox Streets
	Mapbox Satellite Streets
Map detail density	Regular (POI Mapbox pre-defined filter rank for POIs; highlights important POIs)
	Dense (no Mapbox pre-defined filter rank for POIs; provides a broader set of information, especially useful in smaller towns where Mapbox filters out important POIs)
Time pressure	Count-up timer (shows the elapsed time for each map-related task)
	Countdown clock

Figure 2. a) Dark theme base map with selectable line features of map-related tasks T4 and T5; b) Hybrid imagery base map with selectable polygon features of map-related task T6; c) Regular-density Mapbox Streets base map in combination with a selectable point feature; d) Dense Mapbox Streets base map in combination with two selectable point features

Table 4. Follow-up questions

#	Question	Answer type	Choices
1	Were you able to successfully solve the map-related task?	Single choice	Yes No
2	How did you feel when solving the map-related task?	Single choice	Comfortable Uncomfortable Indifferent I did not solve the map-related task
3	Do you think your solution to the map-related task was …	Single choice	Correct Incorrect I am not sure
4	Did you encounter any problems? If so, what were these?	Multiple choice	I did not understand the map-related task I was not able to find the right information Too much information was presented The colors distracted me I did not understand the symbols I had problems reading the information table of a point. I had problems turning on or off other layers Moving on the map was difficult I was not able to select or create an element on the map I did not have enough time I had other problems, such as … [free text] I did not have any problems

Figure 3. Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings by map-related tasks

Figure 4. Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings by base map styles

Figure 5. a) Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings by map detail densities; b) Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings by time pressure variants

Figure 6. a) Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings of base map styles by map-related tasks; b) Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings of map detail densities by map-related tasks

Figure 7. a) Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings of map detail densities by base map styles; b) Task success, comfort, and confidence ratings of time pressure variants by map-related tasks

Table 5. Regression models with SBC and p-value with task success, comfort, and confidence ratings as dependent variables (with grayed-out areas indicating reference levels; ¹ Regular-density as a reference level; ² Count-up timer as a reference level; ³ Answer choice “no” as reference level)

Table 6. Perceived problems with map variations

Problem indication	Result scores
No problems	m = 0.5; n = 644
Find information	m = 0.19; n = 250
Zooming/panning	m = 0.19; n = 238
Popup	m = 0.08; n = 104
Create/select feature	m = 0.06; n = 83
Time constraint	m = 0.06; n = 81
Toggling layers	m = 0.05; n = 58
Question text	m = 0.04; n = 57
Information quantity	m = 0.04; n = 54
Colors	m = 0.04; n = 46
Symbols	m = 0.04; n = 46

Table 7. Positive and negative remarks as free-text feedback

Positive remarks	Negative remarks
Short, precise, and understandable question text (21 participants)	Moving the maps with two fingers (16 participants)
Icons and colors of the maps were comfortable and intuitive (13 participants)	Question text was not understandable (nine participants)
Interesting and diverse map-related tasks (twelve participants)	Dark theme base map was too dark (eight participants)
Clear maps with the right quantity of information (twelve participants)	Difficult to answer the questions (seven participants)
The possibility to toggle layers on and off (seven participants)	Time constraint (six participants)

Data availability statement

Participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.