Abstract
Workflow diagrams consist of nodes and connectors to express the steps of processing in the form of a visual program. The graphical vocabulary and the layout of the diagram have an influence on the user cognition of diagram. The aesthetic aspects also have an impact on users understanding. One aesthetic recommendation – “minimize beds in edge” was tested in workflow diagrams from ArcGIS ModelBuilder. Eye-tracking measuring in the laboratory was prepared for objective empirical testing. Five couples of diagrams with and without orthogonally bends were showed to 26 respondents. The user executed specific tasks above diagrams. Eye-tracking measuring brought interesting objective results. Eye-tracking metrics affirm that diagrams with orthogonal bends on connector lines have an average higher number of fixations, longer length of scanpath, shorter average time of fixation and longer duration time. The result is that the using of straight lines brings effective cognition of workflow diagrams in case of spatial data processing in geographic information system (GIS).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Dobesova, Z.: Data flow diagrams in geographic information systems: a survey. In: Proceeding of 14th SGEM GeoConference on Informatics, Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing, pp. 705–712. STEF92 Technology Ltd., Sofia (2014)
Boshernitsan, M., Downes, M.S.: Visual programming languages: a survey. EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley (2004)
Moody, D.L.: The “physics” of notations: toward a scientific basis for constructing visual notations in software engineering. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 35, 756–779 (2009)
Tamassia, R.: On embedding a graph in the grid with the minimum number of bends. SIAM J. Comput. 16, 421–444 (1987)
Battista, G.D., Eades, P., Tamassia, R., Tollis, I.G.: Graph Drawing: Algorithms for the Visualization of Graphs. Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River (1998)
Reingold, E.M., Tilford, J.S.: Tidier drawings of trees. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 7, 223–228 (1981)
Coleman, M.K., Parker, D.S.: Aesthetics-based graph layout for human consumption. Softw.: Pract. Exp. 26, 1415–1438 (1996)
Gutwenger, C., Mutzel, P.: Planar polyline drawings with good angular resolution. In: Whitesides, S.H. (ed.) GD 1998. LNCS, vol. 1547, pp. 167–182. Springer, Heidelberg (1998). doi:10.1007/3-540-37623-2_13
Papakostas, A., Tollis, I.G.: Efficient orthogonal drawings of high degree graphs. Algorithmica 26, 100–125 (2000)
Eades, P.: A heuristic for graph drawing. Congr. Numerantium 42, 149–160 (1984)
Ware, C., Purchase, H., Colpoys, L., McGill, M.: Cognitive measurements of graph aesthetics. Inf. Vis. 1, 103–110 (2002)
Figl, K., Mendling, J., Strembeck, M.: The influence of notational deficiencies on process model comprehension. J. Assoc. Inf. Syst. 14, 312–338 (2013)
Störrle, H., Baltsen, N., Christoffersen, H., Maier, A.M.: On the impact of diagram layout: how are models actually read? In: MODELS (2014)
Störrle, H.: On the impact of layout quality to understanding UML diagrams: diagram type and expertise. In: IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), pp. 49–56 (2012)
Pődör, A.: Usability study on different visualization methods of crime maps. Int. J. Geoinform. 11, 15–22 (2015)
Sedlák, P., Komárková, J., Hub, M., Struška, S., Pásler, M.: Usability evaluation methods for spatial information visualisation case study: evaluation of tourist maps. In: ICSOFT-EA 2015 - 10th International Conference on Software Engineering and Applications, Proceedings; Part of 10th International Joint Conference on Software Technologies, ICSOFT 2015, pp. 419–425 (2015)
Esri: What is ModelBuilder? http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/analyze/modelbuilder/what-is-modelbuilder.htm
Dobesova, Z.: Using the physics of notations to analyse ModelBuilder diagrams. In: Proceeding of 13th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference, STEF 1992, pp. 595–602. Technology Ltd., Sofia (2013)
Holmqvist, K., Nyström, M., Andersson, R., Dewhurst, R., Jarodzka, H., Van de Weijer, J.: Eye Tracking: A Comprehensive Guide to Methods and Measures. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2011)
Martin, D.W.: Doing Psychology Experiments. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Belmont (2008)
Dobesova, Z.: Student reading strategies of GIS workflow diagrams. J. Adv. Soc. Sci. Educ. Humanit. Res. 70, 319–325 (2016)
Acknowledgment
This article has been created with the support of the Operational Program Education for Competitiveness – European Social Fund (project CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0170 Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dobesova, Z. (2017). Empirical Testing of Bends in Workflow Diagrams by Eye-Tracking Method. In: Silhavy, R., Silhavy, P., Prokopova, Z., Senkerik, R., Kominkova Oplatkova, Z. (eds) Software Engineering Trends and Techniques in Intelligent Systems. CSOC 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 575. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57141-6_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57141-6_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57140-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57141-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)