Online mapping services, such as Google Maps and Bing Maps, have become increasingly popular. In addition to providing map, navigation, and directory information, such services provide third-party applications with a technology framework including geospatial-visualization capabilities. For instance, consumers often use location-based services and spatial decision support systems (SDSS) to locate the nearest restaurants, search for ideal homes, navigate specific routes, and effectively participate in car and bike sharing programs. Organizations utilize SDSS to perform retail site selection, manage global assets, and optimize supply chains. While geospatial-visualization is a vital capability of online mapping services, little is understood about how it impacts the acceptance of technology. Through a partial least squares analysis of 577 subject responses, this paper demonstrates that the user-acceptance of geospatial-visualization is influenced by utilitarian, hedonic, and cognitive measures. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results to research and practice.

An understanding of geospatial reasoning ability (GRA) is essential to human–computer interaction research, as many recent consumer and commercial technologies require an ability to interpret complex geospatial data. Individuals, as well as government, commercial, and military organizations, use such technologies regularly. For instance, consumer technologies including online mapping services and in-vehicle navigation systems are increasingly prevalent. Business leaders rely on geospatial data when making strategic and operational decisions. Military strategists leverage geospatial systems during mission planning and battlefield operations. Although there has been research into the significance of user characteristics when making decisions using geospatial data, there is conflicting evidence on the impact of GRA on the decision-making process. This article suggests applying a multidimensional measure of GRA to facilitate a better understanding of such interactions. Furthermore, this article proposes a new measurement instrument developed through a rigorous scale development procedure and validated through an exploratory (n = 300) analysis.

Software design is the process of mapping software functional requirements into a set of modules for implementation. In this paper, a new design technique called the concurrent software design technique (CSDT) is proposed. CSDT extends software design techniques, which are based on structured analysis and design, by identifying independent concurrent tasks for implementation in multiprocessing, multitasking and the C/S environment. A case study on re-engineering a large legacy system, implemented on mainframes as a sequential system, to a C/S environment is presented next in order to highlight the benefits of the CSDT. Finally, this paper concludes with a comparison of CSDT with other existing approaches and the lessons learned from the experience with this technique. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An automated software design assistant was implemented as a part of a long-term project with the objectives of applying the computer-aided technique to the tools in a software engineering environment. A set of quantitative measures are derived based on the degree to which a particular design satisfied the attributes associated with a structured software design. The measure are then used as decision rules for a computer-aided methodology for structured design. The feasibility of the approach is also demonstrated by a case study using a small application system design problem.>