Modification of User Friendliness into a HydroGIS Tool

Abstract

In present context venders have developed fewer number of GIS software to perform advanced GIS manipulations with customised tools for specific uses. Nevertheless those provide general functions, whilst the real world-applications demand advanced geospatial calculation in customised ways. The automation of hydrological model for decision making in urban development is one of such areas which needs customised GIS tools. Such tools are to be handled by non-GIS experts; hence software developers have to develop userfriendly GIS extensions. However at the present there is no proper guideline to develop user- friendly Hydrological-GIS (HydroGIS) tools, hence it becomes a considerable time consuming process. Then main objective of this research is to find the important areas which the developers must pay the maximum attention to result the user-friendly HydroGIS tools. For that, in line with present software development guidelines which found through comprehensive literature survey, a HydroGIS tool was developed. Then it had been tested with the potential users for user-friendliness. Based on the user responses, the repetitive design and development process was practised to achieve the saturated level of user satisfaction. When such, the work able to isolate; the Easy GIS Operational capability, Information Security, Spatial Data Error handling & Accuracy Confirmation, On-Screen Capability, Continuity in Operation and Tested and Verified Results as the main areas to be considered in HydroGIS tool development. The works demonstrated the requirement of specific guidelines to achieve the higher user-friendliness when developing software for specific models.