I'm bored of this:
and believe it or not, there is still a LOT of them out there.
But then again, there are some gorgeous sites out there as well with tons of functionality, new designs, colors that typical color-blind GIS people didn't put together... sites that are interesting and pleasing to the eye.
Is that so hard to ask?!?
Throughout this blog I'll commend or criticize based on a number of factors:
1. Overall look and feel of the site
- Does it look pleasing to the eye or more like a dog's breakfast?
- Do the colors actually blend and match well or have they been put together by the same person in your office who also works on the flattening divisor defining a WGS-84 projection?
- Does it share the same common threads, values, color schemes, etc. as the corporate image? Or are you a one-off renegade department that has always wanted to stick-it-to-the-man by having your own identity? And if so, does it work?
2. Overall purpose of the site
- Is this a GIS website because your boss told you that "our department needs one"?
- Is this a GIS website because your ESRI Account Manager sold you on ArcIMS 10 years ago?
- Does it actually serve a purpose? Is there something beyond the simple point, click and “hey look - there's my house!!!” or “oooh… aerial photos”?
3. Data
- Is this 100% of your own data or are you also jumping on the bandwagon and using Google Maps? That’s fine – but is it more than just pin pricks on a map?
- Anyway to download / consume the data in any other way? Any instructions for that?
- Metadata? Ever heard of it?
4. Usability of the site
- Who is the audience?
- If the general public, is there *good* online help to guide people through the site?
- If specialist GIS folk, is there *good* online help to guide people through the site?
- Is it a typical pan/zoom/identify site or do you roll differently and make every user go to the help because you make the zoom buttons different ‘just to be different’
- Is this a web mapping site or a GIS site? Do you know the difference?
5. Geek entities:
- Do you mention what’s running in the backroom powering this site? Do you care? Some people do and scream from their soapbox and some people don’t. I like knowing what is behind the scenes just like any other GIS geek.
6. Speed / Reliability:
- Suggestion from a comment and I was going to put this on (and did mention it Twitter) but forgot to blog it. Speed is a huge factor in GIS web applications. People want their maps and they want them now! Nothing I hate more than watching a demo at a conference and the map just grinding away. I think about the poor guy at the local County office on a slow pipe trying to squeeze their maps through the firewall ...
- Reliability is a big question as well - I've seen plenty a website throw up Java Script errors left, right and center.
What else do you look for in a GIS Web Application?
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