Table 4 Prompts and Questions for User Group 4

Round 1 (Discussion)

Initial Prompt:

Explore the Pennsylvania Cancer Atlas at http://www.geovista.psu.edu/grants/CDC/ and add contributions to specifically comment on the following:

1. The data display methods used and their ability to analyze/explore cancer and health information

2. The interactivity between the various information displays and the ease of understanding and using them

3. The kinds of data that has been used in the Atlas and their usefulness for public health professionals. Additional data that could be useful for cancer data exploration and analysis.

Round 2: (Open ended questions)

1. List representative tasks that you feel the Atlas is well suited to accomplish.

2. Should additional data should be included in the Atlas? If so, what data?

3. Is the Atlas (in its current state) usable for your data exploration needs? Please explain your response, briefly.

4. Is it usable for your data analysis needs? Explain.

5. Do you think you can use this Atlas for presentation of your data? If yes please explain how?

6. Are the links (dynamic connections) between the four components (map, frequency plot, population pyramid, table) intuitive for you? Please explain any specific links that you feel are particularly intuitive/un-intuitive and/or useful/un-useful.

7. Please suggest additional data display methods that would be useful.

8. We are planning to add a tabbed window in the lower right portion of the interface (where we currently have the scrollable table). What kinds of other information or tools would you be useful?

9. Please provide your opinion about the temporal animation feature. Specifically, do you think this is a good way to explore spatial-temporal data? Please suggest any ways to make the current animation feature more useful.

10. Are there any features, functionalities, or terminologies which are difficult to understand? If yes, please identify them and suggest ways to overcome the deficiency.

Round 3: (closed ended survey style questions)

Please rate your overall impression of the Atlas on the following five point scale (Strongly Agree to Strongly disagree):

1. The Atlas is quite easy to use

2. The Atlas requires detailed help and/or tutorials to be usable

3. Please rate the overall temporal capabilities of the Atlas on the following scale:

4. The various display methods in this Atlas are well integrated

5. In your opinion, the Atlas has all the necessary functionalities to explore, analyze and present geospatial health data.