Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool
Hazard Services is a software toolkit that integrates information management, hazard alerting, and communication functions into a single user interface. When complete, National Weather Service forecasters across the United States will use Hazard Services for operational issuance of weather and hydro...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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American Meteorological Society
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50960/ |
| _version_ | 1848798378497933312 |
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| author | Argyle, Elizabeth M. Gourley, Jonathan J. Flamig, Zachary L. Hansen, Tracy Manross, Kevin |
| author_facet | Argyle, Elizabeth M. Gourley, Jonathan J. Flamig, Zachary L. Hansen, Tracy Manross, Kevin |
| author_sort | Argyle, Elizabeth M. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Hazard Services is a software toolkit that integrates information management, hazard alerting, and communication functions into a single user interface. When complete, National Weather Service forecasters across the United States will use Hazard Services for operational issuance of weather and hydrologic alerts, making the system an instrumental part of the threat management process. As a new decision-support tool, incorporating an understanding of user requirements and behavior is an important part of building a system that is usable, allowing users to perform work-related tasks efficiently and effectively. This paper discusses the Hazard Services system and findings from a usability evaluation with a sample of end users. Usability evaluations are frequently used to support software and website development and can provide feedback on a system’s efficiency of use, effectiveness, and learnability. In the present study, a user-testing evaluation assessed task performance in terms of error rates, error types, response time, and subjective feedback from a questionnaire. A series of design recommendations was developed based on the evaluation’s findings. The recommendations not only further the design of Hazard Services, but they may also inform the designs of other decision-support tools used in weather and hydrologic forecasting.
Incorporating usability evaluation into the iterative design of decision-support tools, such as Hazard Services, can improve system efficiency, effectiveness, and user experience. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:18:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-50960 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:18:49Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-509602020-05-04T19:58:37Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50960/ Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool Argyle, Elizabeth M. Gourley, Jonathan J. Flamig, Zachary L. Hansen, Tracy Manross, Kevin Hazard Services is a software toolkit that integrates information management, hazard alerting, and communication functions into a single user interface. When complete, National Weather Service forecasters across the United States will use Hazard Services for operational issuance of weather and hydrologic alerts, making the system an instrumental part of the threat management process. As a new decision-support tool, incorporating an understanding of user requirements and behavior is an important part of building a system that is usable, allowing users to perform work-related tasks efficiently and effectively. This paper discusses the Hazard Services system and findings from a usability evaluation with a sample of end users. Usability evaluations are frequently used to support software and website development and can provide feedback on a system’s efficiency of use, effectiveness, and learnability. In the present study, a user-testing evaluation assessed task performance in terms of error rates, error types, response time, and subjective feedback from a questionnaire. A series of design recommendations was developed based on the evaluation’s findings. The recommendations not only further the design of Hazard Services, but they may also inform the designs of other decision-support tools used in weather and hydrologic forecasting. Incorporating usability evaluation into the iterative design of decision-support tools, such as Hazard Services, can improve system efficiency, effectiveness, and user experience. American Meteorological Society 2017-02 Article PeerReviewed Argyle, Elizabeth M., Gourley, Jonathan J., Flamig, Zachary L., Hansen, Tracy and Manross, Kevin (2017) Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98 (2). pp. 373-382. ISSN 0003-0007 https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0031.1 doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0031.1 doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0031.1 |
| spellingShingle | Argyle, Elizabeth M. Gourley, Jonathan J. Flamig, Zachary L. Hansen, Tracy Manross, Kevin Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool |
| title | Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool |
| title_full | Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool |
| title_fullStr | Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool |
| title_short | Toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool |
| title_sort | toward a user-centered design of a weather forecasting decision-support tool |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50960/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50960/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50960/ |