Map-based dashboard design with open government data for learning and analysis of industrial innovation environment

ABSTRACT

Open government data has great potential to support various stakeholders for multiple purposes, such as participatory planning, smart city services, and strategic decision-making. However, many barriers stand in the way of efficient learning and analysis of the data. Suitable tools are needed to overcome these barriers. In this study, we designed and implemented a map-based dashboard called InDash to represent the spatial and semantic information of the industrial innovation environment at different levels of detail. We collected the open data from the statistical yearbook in 2015 Jiangsu, China, and selected 24 relevant factors from the categories of economy, inhabitance, infrastructure, and research & development to illustrate the design. To ensure the usefulness of InDash, we first analyzed and summarized the information needs and design requirements from the potential users. We then proposed the design requirements and designed the interface of InDash. Moreover, we evaluated the effectiveness of InDash using the think-aloud approach with 30 participants. The experiment results show that the users can efficiently learn and reason about the industrial innovation environment through InDash without intensive training.

ABSTRAITE

Les données gouvernementales ouvertes ont un grand potentiel pour soutenir les parties prenantes pour de nombreux objectifs tels que la planification participative, les services des smart cities ou les prises de décision stratégiques. Pourtant de nombreux obstacles limitent l'apprentissage et l'analyse efficace des données. Des outils adaptés sont nécessaires pour surmonter ces obstacles. Dans cette étude, nous avons conçu et implémenté un tableau de bord à base de cartes nommé InDash pour représenter l'information spatiale et sémantique d'un environnement industriel innovant à différents niveaux de détail. Nous avons récolté les données ouvertes à partir des données statistiques annuelles de Jiangsu en Chine pour 2015 et avons sélectionné 24 facteurs pertinents dans les domaines de l'économie, de l'habitat, des infrastructures et de la recherche et développement pour illustrer la conception. Pour assurer l'utilité du tableau de bord, nous avons d'abord analysé et résumé le besoin en information et les exigences de conception des utilisateurs. Puis nous présentons l'interface du tableau de bord et l'implémentation. De plus nous évaluons l'efficacité de InDash en utilisant l'approche ‘penser à haute voix' auprès de 30 participants. Les résultats expérimentaux montrent que l'outil InDash, conçu pour l'utilisateur, permet l'apprentissage des utilisateurs et le raisonnement sur l’environnement sans apprentissage intensif.

KEYWORDS:

• Map-based dashboard
• open government data
• user-centered design
• geovisualization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work is funded by the project “A Visual Computing Platform for the Industrial Innovation Environment in Yangtze River Delta” supported by the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute (JITRI). We also thank Yangtze River Delta Science Data Center, National Earth System Science Data Sharing Infrastructure, National Science & Technology Infrastructure of China (http://nnu.geodata.cn:8008/). We thank the two anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped improve and clarify this manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Chenyu Zuo

Chenyu Zuo is a PhD candidate in cartography at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Her topic is about designing interactive map-based dashboards to support social environment understanding.

Linfang Ding

Linfang Ding is an associate professor in geomatics at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. Her current research interests include geospatial knowledge graphs, visual analytics, and 3D city modeling.

Xiaoyu Liu

Xiaoyu Liu and Hui Zhang are MSc students at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Their thesis topics are related to map-based dashboard design and evaluation.

Liqiu Meng

Liqiu Meng is a professor in cartography at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Her current research interests are map-based open platforms and ethical issues.