Development and Evaluation of an Interactive Map-Based File Transfer Monitor

Sammanfattning: This thesis aims to investigate whether a map-based visualization of real-time file transfers can provide an overview and facilitate the workflow for the employees at Filmgate, a VFX company. In particular, how the interface should be implemented to provide a quick and easy overview as well as without being perceived as distracting or cluttered. This thesis describes the work process of designing, developing, and evaluating a web application to visualize file transfers between employees and remote workers located around the world. To receive theoretical knowledge, a prestudy was carried out that consisted of a literature study within information visualization with a focus on spatio-temporal data, design principles for creating a user-centered interface, and different evaluation methods. The prestudy also consisted of data exploration to fully understand the provided data and creating a low-fidelity prototype. The map-based file transfer monitor was implemented to visualize the real-time data, where the development was carried out in React.js with OpenStreetMap together with Leaflet to obtain an interactive map. Furthermore, the complementary charts were implemented in d3.js. To evaluate the map-based visualization method, two different user tests were performed, one quantitative in the middle of the development process and one qualitative at the end. The quantitative test consisted of a form and the qualitative test was based on interviews with task-driven questions. The result of this thesis presents a visualization method where real-time file transfers are displayed on a world map with a user-centered interface. All decisions regarding the application are based on theories contained in scientific articles. Finally, a discussion is given on how the result relates to the theory, pros, and cons of the method as well as future work and the work in a wider context. This thesis shows that a map-based visualization of file transfers can facilitate the workflow as various problems with the transfers can be detected at an early stage through either color-coding, error messages, or by observing the bandwidth. The visualization provides a good overview of the progression by emphasizing essential details on the map and demand details on demand. To prevent the map from getting disruptive and cluttered, objects are clustered based on their geographical coordinates.