Parker Ziegler

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2023-264

December 8, 2023

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2023/EECS-2023-264.pdf

Geospatial data is playing an increasingly critical role in the work of Earth and climate scientists, social scientists, and data journalists exploring spatiotemporal change in our environment and societies. However, existing software and programming tools for geospatial analysis and visualization are challenging to learn and difficult to use. The aim of this thesis is to identify—and begin addressing—the unmet computing needs of the diverse and expanding community of geospatial data users. Toward this goal, this thesis makes four contributions. First, I conducted a contextual inquiry study (n = 25) with domain experts using geospatial data in their current work. Second, I performed a thematic analysis of the contextual interviews, finding that participants struggled to (1) find and transform geospatial data to satisfy spatiotemporal constraints, (2) understand the behavior of geospatial operators, (3) track geospatial data provenance, and (4) explore the cartographic design space. Third, I used these findings to synthesize a set of design opportunities for developers and designers of geospatial analysis and visualization systems. Fourth, I put these design opportunities into practice in cartokit, a new direct manipulation programming environment for interactive cartography on the web. Cumulatively, this work presents a novel vision for what useful, usable programming systems for geospatial analysis and visualization could look like.

Advisors: Sarah Chasins

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BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Ziegler:EECS-2023-264,
    Author= {Ziegler, Parker},
    Title= {Toward Usable Programming Systems for Geospatial Analysis and Visualization},
    School= {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year= {2023},
    Month= {Dec},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2023/EECS-2023-264.html},
    Number= {UCB/EECS-2023-264},
    Abstract= {Geospatial data is playing an increasingly critical role in the work of Earth and climate scientists, social scientists, and data journalists exploring spatiotemporal change in our environment and societies. However, existing software and programming tools for geospatial analysis and visualization are challenging to learn and difficult to use. The aim of this thesis is to identify—and begin addressing—the unmet computing needs of the diverse and expanding community of geospatial data users. Toward this goal, this thesis makes four contributions. First, I conducted a contextual inquiry study (n = 25) with domain experts using geospatial data in their current work. Second, I performed a thematic analysis of the contextual interviews, finding that participants struggled to (1) find and transform geospatial data to satisfy spatiotemporal constraints, (2) understand the behavior of geospatial operators, (3) track geospatial data provenance, and (4) explore the cartographic design space. Third, I used these findings to synthesize a set of design opportunities for developers and designers of geospatial analysis and visualization systems. Fourth, I put these design opportunities into practice in cartokit, a new direct manipulation programming environment for interactive cartography on the web. Cumulatively, this work presents a novel vision for what useful, usable programming systems for geospatial analysis and visualization could look like.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Ziegler, Parker 
%T Toward Usable Programming Systems for Geospatial Analysis and Visualization
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2023
%8 December 8
%@ UCB/EECS-2023-264
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2023/EECS-2023-264.html
%F Ziegler:EECS-2023-264