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Landscope America Case Study

Services: Brand Positioning, Web Strategy, Web Technology Strategy, User Research, Information Architecture, User Interface Design, Web Application Development, CMS Development

Problem: LandScope America, a collaborative project of NatureServe and the National Geographic Society, is a new online resource for the land-protection community and the public. By bringing together maps, data, photos, and stories about America’s natural places and open spaces, LandScope America’s goal is to inform and inspire action to conserve our lands and waters.

Solution: Based on LandScope America’s goal of conveying critical conservation information in an innovative and visually compelling manner, NavigationArts recommended creating a map viewer as a central navigation device on the site. Navigation Arts, National Geographic, NatureServe, and the technology firm Blue Raster collaborated to develop the state of the art map viewer, which is the core of the user’s highly interactive experience.

Through the map viewer, site visitors explore conservation issues at the national, state, and local level, organized by themes: conservation priorities, protected areas, threats, plants and animals, and ecosystems. Visitors can choose and overlay multiple data layers, make and print maps, then save these customized map views and share them with friends and colleagues.

In addition to the scientific data available via the map, all place-based content --including user-generated content-- is assigned latitude and longitude coordinates. Photos, videos, stories, and related content are geo-referenced by the content management system so they can be displayed in context by the map viewer. This exemplifies how compelling content, thoughtful interaction design, and expert technology implementation can result in highly engaging, sticky applications.

Given the emphasis on interactive content, there needed to be great flexibility in the technical infrastructure for how the content would be presented and personalized. Early in the project, NavigationArts’ development team identified technical requirements to optimize the user experience for such a dynamic and interactive Web site. Importantly, the LandScope America Web site was built using an iterative process, with multiple releases providing an opportunity to incorporate emerging requirements.

Based on a content management system (CMS) evaluation process that mapped LandScope America’s requirements to technology features, NavigationArts recommended the use of the Percussion CMS integrated with a custom-built Java application.

Project Results Included:

• Naming, branding, and creation of a visual identity for LandScope America
• Preview site to generate awareness and build excitement about the project
• Consensus building among stakeholders using a series of information architecture deliverables as focal points for discussion
• Innovative Web strategy incorporating user generated content and dynamic maps to engage users
• User interface design to showcase innovative applications and feature imagery of the American landscape
• Usability testing of live beta release with recommendations for site improvements
• 2009 Web Marketing Association Standard of Excellence WebAward

Highlights from the Technology Solution Included:

• Technical requirements analysis
• Technical architecture system design including CMS selection and application development plan
• Prototype application based on candidate architecture to validate technical plan
• Web site development in Percussion CMS and application development using custom Java
• CMS and application integration