Wireframe TLCMap

[IanMcCrabb]

Ok, I'll go ahead and maybe draft some things for the Front Page and run them by everyone, or Maybe Isobel could wireframe the layout. We need to consider how people will access all the other stuff (some 'call-to-action' buttons at the bottom, or side maybe, or just all through the main menu).

I'll consider the technical implementation of how to display things on the front page, without overloading it with the bazillions of records that will be in the system.

Also, in rethinking 'branding' etc. Part of the reason it's not intuitive may be our main app, the GHAP, in the menu under tools is listed as 'GHAP' which is a meaningless acronym to new users. I was wondering about calling our apps something very straightforward, and then the mouse over tool tip and the subheading on the page the menu takes you to gives the subheading longer version. Also, GHAP is not actually limited to 'historica'' places but any cultural place. EG: under tools, and with the subheading in brackets: • Map Places (Gazeteer of Historical Australian Places) • Map Coordinates (Quickly add coordinates to a spreadsheet) • Map Text (...) • Map Metrics (...) • Map Mobility (...) Although 'Map' becomes a redundant repeated word, these app titles are also imperatives, explaining what you can do with this tool. Alternatively we could leave out the word 'Map' from the menu entirely, and/or the name of the application is "TLCMap Places", "TLCMap Text", ... etc.

I was pretty confident about the simple search on the home page, but this one is just a speculation. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks, Bill

Dear All, I like this. Rather than crowd too many of the possibilities on the landing page, we have one simple function. It recognises the maturity of the platform, with lots of content now in the public layers. There are of course all the myriad other functions, but we can’t put them all on the front page anyway. Then there is the hard work of how to open up the other functionality beyond, but the one up-front function might help with the design of this. Best wishes, Hugh.

Hi Isobel and all,

Just quickly, in case anyone is putting work into this at the moment. I think I figured out what the front page of TLCMap should be like. Based on discussions with the CIs last week, I think it's the moment of insight through endless possibilities that we've been waiting for - or maybe it's just me finally getting what everyone has been trying to say! It is, after all, not much different to the proposal already on the table from Systemik to make it a more simplified interface of the GHAP search - so all considerations are falling into place. What the front page should do comes from a reminder of what the main purpose of TLCMap is:

1. Keep it simple. All users report finding the front page too confusing. Google is the ideal - 1 input field + 1 button = the entire internet. We cannot go so far, but we can get closer.

2. The meetings with the CIs last week reminded us of the single fundamental purpose of TLCMap, which has not changed since it's first conception, which everyone agrees with. Hugh phrased it something like, "Enriching sense of place in Australia through deep layers of cultural information/digital maps." It relates to something Nukunal elder Uncle Lindsay said about healing and reconciliation "We'll get there through a shared love of these places." and like Hugh and I first discussed many years ago - with Google maps, you can easily find a restaurant or petrol near me, you should also be able to find culture, so there should be a cultural layer. As I think of it now, as all of this effort, and additional functionality, and ingest of data should add up to this simple functionality - to answer the question "What's here?" (the kid in the burbs should be able to see there is a bora ring at the end of the street, the driver on the road should know there was a war fought over it, and about the daring escape when 200 were captured in the action that ended the war, which is at the end of the road, and ....)

3. So the front page should be devoted to this one simple thing - a very simple interface that shows people 'what's here'. Stick to this clear single purpose. Don't waver, don't be drawn into scope creep. Only accept changes that remove functionality and clickable things and words from the front page - unless doing so would hinder this purpose. We were previously talking about what we could add that wouldn't overcomplicate it, and became confused about how it was then different to the GHAP home page. We need to focus instead on what can be removed without undercomplicating it, to achieve the most parsimonious interface. User can go to advanced search in GHAP for more complex functionality. The nav menu can still have all the links to different tools manuals projects whatever.

4. People would naturally understand this to be THE TLCMap, which is what they were expecting to see when they arrived - a map of 'all the culture'. So it requires no explanation or qualification. It's intuitive.

5. The user experience will gradually introduce the person to more complexity and all the tools behind it, as they take further steps. Eg, exploring the things they find 'here' will lead them into views, into texts, to other websites etc. They will soon want to refine their search and so will click the 'advanced search' button. The desire to add to it, to make their own maps will lead them to notice the button to the side or underneath that goes to 'log in' or manuals etc.

6. There is currently a deficiency in the means by which someone would find 'Whats here?' which is that you have to draw a shape and click search, and you would have to first figure out how to draw a shape, or realise that you can draw a shape, and how to do that etc.

7. Our main focus for the front page and the "TLCMap" brand should be in making this not even require any clicks or thought.

8. This would probably be by showing a map of Australia that already has queried all layers and represents them somehow, and automatically filters down and shows you as you zoom in what is in that location. The difficulty is in figuring out how to do that if we have bazillions of records, both in terms of it making sense to the user instead of being a lot of noise, and in terms of how to handle that scale in nano seconds (at present the bushfires map alone is on the edge of timing out). It could just be that when you arrive at the home page it does a query of all content, but limited to a thousand results, and as you zoom it, it re-queries limited to a thousand results, or something - requires investigation.

9. So next steps would be: a. Does everyone think this is a good idea? b. Solve the technical problems to make "The TLCMap" for the front page.

[IanMcCrabb]

Wireframe a fer screen to encapsualte the ideas we'd discussed. Simple map and search, advanced search, Contribute

[isobel-andrews]

Wireframes attached and also emailed around TLCMap redesign v4.pdf