Road Weather Management Program
photos of lightning, trucks plowing snow, an empty road before a storm, and an evacuation
Office of Operations 21st century operations using 21st century technologies

Best Practices for Road Weather Management Version 2.0

Best Practices > Publications > Publication Titles

Title:

User Perceptions of Web-Based Roadway Weather Information Systems (RWIS): Navigability

Abstract:

A usability study has been conducted of statewide web-based traveler information systems to assess their effectiveness in conveying road weather information to travelers. Ninety-eight travelers from the State College Pennsylvania area performed a trip-planning task with web-based Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio providing ratings of site attributes. Users rated several dimensions of site navigability including information accessibility, map readability, and legibility of information. Ordinal logistic regression models of navigation rating, based on site attributes, show that easy access to weather station data and weather information are associated with increased ratings while illegible maps and weather information were associated with decreases. Readability of statewide maps appeared to have the greatest effect on navigation rating. The study found that travelers had clear preferences for sites with crisp route markings and weather station symbols. Improved site usability will allow a more efficient means of providing traveler information to a broad array of users.

Source(s):

84th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, Trans Associates Engineering Consultants and Pennsylvania State University. For an electronic copy of this resource, please direct your request to WeatherFeedback@dot.gov.

Date: 2005

Author:

Fayish, Gross, Jovanis

Keywords:


Internet/web site
Traveler information
Weather information

PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®.
Office of Operations