Alena Vondrakova
@geoinformatics.upol.cz
Department of Geoinformatics
Palacky University Olomouc
EDUCATION
2013 Palacký University, Olomouc, PhD – Specialization: Geoinformatics and Cartography
2011 Palacký University, Olomouc, rigorous state exam – Specialization: Cartography and Geoinformatics
2009 Palacký University, Olomouc, Master – Specialization: Geoinformatics
2009 Palacký University, Olomouc, Specialization: Didactics in Geography
2007 Palacký University, Olomouc, Bachelor – Specialization: Geography–Geoinformatics
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Geography, Planning and Development, Education, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Law
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Richard Lazna, Radek Barvir, Alena Vondrakova, and Jan Brus
MDPI AG
Interactivity in today’s society finds its way into many facets of life and can be used in various ways, including 3D printing. For example, various 3D models can be incorporated into museum exhibitions and serve as interactive media for visitors, deepening their experience. One of the advantages of haptic 3D models is the immediate haptic feedback. Such models can have various uses, from being a part of an interactive exhibition to providing assistance to people with visual impairment. This article describes the process of creating a haptic 3D model depicting Wenceslas Hill in Olomouc in the eighteenth century. The model has several surface elements printed from conductive material that react to touch. The interactive model itself is unchanged from its original modelled 3D version, meaning the shape of the object stays the exact same throughout modifications. The resulting model conveys additional information about the object or its parts by means of a web interface via a connected tablet device. To implement the desired functionality, TouchIt3D technology was used. This technology uses a combination of conductive and non-conductive materials for 3D printing. The conductive material serves to propagate an electrical signal caused by touching a chosen part of the model. A 3D printer with two extruders was used for printing the model, allowing simultaneous printing of two different materials. The model’s scalability is advantageous for potential use by people with visual impairment. The model shall serve as a tool for enriching historical knowledge about the object by using interactivity.
Stanislav Popelka, Alena Vondrakova, and Romana Skulnikova (Filicka)
ACM
Day and night mode is widely used when working with any digital device, including map navigation. Many users have the day and night mode change set automatically. However, it is not proven if this functionality helps improve the transfer of information between the map and the user when changing the lighting conditions. The short paper aims to evaluate the influence of day and night modes on the map users’ perception. User testing was realised in the eye-tracking laboratory with 43 participants. These participants were categorised by the average number of hours spent driving per week and their use of map navigation. The eye-tracking experiment focuses on the orientation of the participants in the day and night mode of map views when changing the lighting conditions. For that, the Euro Truck Simulator game environment was chosen, where the participants were guided by the map navigation in the bottom right corner of the screen. The lighting conditions in the ET laboratory have been adjusted to match the lighting conditions for both day and night as realistically as possible, and the map navigation mode was switched between day and night mode. The explanatory research suggested that using day mode during nighttime may cause disorientation and dazzle; using night mode during daytime does not cause that problem, but the user perception is slightly slower.
Vit Vozenilek, Martina Ireinova, Alena Vondrakova, and Jakub Konicek
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT Dialects became a traditional research subject of linguists who collect and analyse data from a linguistic perspective and a spatial perspective. Detailed research on the distribution of dialects and their specifics is an important part of preserving every nation's cultural heritage. With the gradual disappearance of dialects in society, this topic is very relevant. The presented paper briefly describes the history of dialect research and the most important outcome in recent years, the Czech Linguistic Atlas (CLA). CLA presents the data only in a very simple form from a cartographic point of view, so a new approach has been applied. A new atlas was created from this data, focusing on a specific area of dialectology – vowels shortening. This new atlas’ internal structure corresponds to the cartographic atlas theory as a system and contains both analytical and synthetic maps. Synthetic maps show areas with similar (and unique in the case of regionalisation) combinations of evaluated attributes. The concept of map synthesis is described, and further research questions are designed.
Radek Barvir, Alena Vondrakova, and Jan Brus
MDPI AG
Despite the growing efficiency of the map-design process in general, tactile mapping has remained peripheral to mainstream cartography. For a specific group of people with visual impairment, however, tactile maps are the only effective way to obtain a complex idea about the geospatial distribution of the surrounding world. As there are numerous specifics in creating these 3D maps and only a limited group of users, tactile products have usually been either very simple creations or, on the other hand, difficult and expensive to produce. Modern trends and progress in the availability of new technologies (e.g., 3D printing) bring new possibilities for keeping tactile map production both effective and up to date. Therefore, this paper aims to present a methodology to apply the TouchIt3D technology to link 3D-printed multi-material tactile maps with a mobile device. Utilizing this solution resulted in a set of interactive tactile maps following current trends of inclusive education. Using OpenStreetMap data together with a semi-automated workflow significantly lowered expenses compared to antecedent maps with similar functionality. A semi-automated workflow was designed, focusing on three use cases of independent movement: walking, using public transport, and tourism.
Vít Pászto, Rostislav Nétek, Alena Vondráková, and Vít Voženílek
MDPI AG
There have been many changes in the spatial composition and formal delimitation of administrative boundaries of Czech municipalities over the past 30 years. Many municipalities have changed their official status; they separated into ones that were more independent or were merged with existing ones, or formally redrew their boundaries due to advances in mapping technology. Such changes have made it almost impossible to analyze and visualize the temporal development of selected socioeconomic indicators, in order to deliver spatially coherent and time-comparable results. In this data description, we present an evolution of a unique (geo) dataset comprising of the administrative borders of the Czech municipalities. The uniqueness lies in time and topologically justified spatial data resulting in a common division of the administrative units at the LAU2 level, valid from 1995 to 2019. Besides the topologically correct spatial representations of municipalities in Czechia, we also provide correspondence tables for each year in the mentioned period, which allows joining tabular statistics to spatial data. The dataset is available as a base layer for further temporal and spatial analyses and visualization of various socioeconomic statistical data.
Vilém Pechanec, Helena Kilianová, Elwis Tangwa, Alena Vondráková, and Ivo Machar
MDPI AG
The aim of our study is to identify the evolution of land use and the landscape capacity to provide selected ecosystem services (ESs) over the past 28 years. The results obtained should answer whether the recorded land cover development has manifested in the same way as the development of landscape capacity to provide ESs for four different services. Corine Land Cover (CLC) data are used to describe the land cover for five time periods (1990, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018) for the area of interest—the whole of the Czech Republic Identification of persistence area. The main trajectories of land cover developments are calculated using overlay spatial operations in GIS. For each analyzed year of landscape development, land cover is evaluated separately, and basic quantification indicators are calculated. At the same time, the filling capacity of selected ESs is evaluated. The results show that the assessed area had the highest capacity to provide ecological integrity in 1990–2006, and then this slightly decreased due to category changes. From a spatial point of view, the worst development trend is seen for provisioning services, where negative development is represented almost all over the country. Ecological integrity and regulating services have similar spatial characteristics of development.
Stanislav Popelka, Alena Vondrakova, and Petra Hujnakova
MDPI AG
Weather is one of the things that interest almost everyone. Weather maps are therefore widely used and many users use them in everyday life. To identify the potential usability problems of weather web maps, the presented research was conducted. Five weather maps were selected for an eye-tracking experiment based on the results of an online questionnaire: DarkSky, In-Počasí, Windy, YR.no, and Wundermap. The experiment was conducted with 34 respondents and consisted of introductory, dynamic, and static sections. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of recorded data was performed together with a think-aloud protocol. The main part of the paper describes the results of the eye-tracking experiment and the implemented research, which identify the strengths and weaknesses of the evaluated weather web maps and point out the differences between strategies in using maps by the respondents. The results include findings such as the following: users worked with web maps in the simplest form and they did not look for hidden functions in the menu or attempt to find any advanced functionality; if expandable control panels were available, the respondents only looked at them after they had examined other elements; map interactivity was not an obstacle unless it contained too much information or options to choose from; searching was quicker in static menus that respondents did not have to switch on or off; the graphic design significantly influenced respondents and their work with the web maps. The results of the work may be useful for further scientific research on weather web maps and related user issues.
Vit Vozenilek, Alena Vondrakova, and Rostislav Netek
ACM
A recent development of web map production concerns non-technological aspects (economic, legislative, visualization, psychological and user aspects). The economic aspects include, in particular, commercial use and financial gain. In developing of service-oriented map production the concept of SOA is especially important because of the possibilities of using different data sources of different owners and organizations. Legislative aspects play a very important role, because principles, as well as SOA functionality, are not protected by the copyright because there is no original authorship. However, the specific design solution of SOA, that is unique in its programming code, can be protected. In the implementation of service-oriented map production, there is mandatory to respect copyright laws and do not commit any offenses. Visualization aspects deal with graphical cartographic representation and the design of web presentation. User aspects are focused on the customization to the user. Service-oriented map production allows outputs to be implemented based on user requirements according to the purpose for which the map should be used. This is related to psychological aspects, that plays an important role in a choice of colors, the specific manner of presentation and adaptation to local customs. The contribution indicates arguments, examples and opinions on various aspects of Service-oriented map production and its contents may be interpreted as the set of instructions for producers of SOA based maps.
Rostislav Netek, Vit Vozenilek, and Alena Vondrakova
ACM
The paper introduces the term "WebGIS 2.0". From a stylistic point of view, the WebGIS 2.0 concept combines two separate ideas, WebGIS and Web 2.0. From a technological point of view this concept combines the latest methods in the GIT context and, in principle, is based on the methods of service-oriented architecture and the Internet as a platform, Rich Internet Application, and Cloud Computing. The article focuses on the deployment of Crismapp platform - an WebGIS 2.0 application aids on the crisis management purposes. Technologically the concept is based on the Service-oriented architecture and Rich Internet Application concept. It follows re-location of both general IT and geospatial tools and solution from desktop to web (cloud) platform. It handles with state-of-the-art web technologies (HTML5/CSS3) and geo-standards (OGC Web Services, GeoJSON) with respect to user-centered design. WebGIS 2.0 concept aimed to demonstrate the difference in understanding of GIS - not only technological movement from the desktop platform into the Internet but the primary orientation to the user and user's needs and behavior. Flexible concept allows the deployment in different areas, deployment of pilot clients is described on four scenarios.
Alena Vondrakova
Stef92 Technology
Radek Barvir
Stef92 Technology
Jaroslav Burian, Marketa Stachova, and Alena Vondrakova
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT This paper and accompanying maps focus on a land suitability assessment of the Olomouc region in the Czech Republic. All results were calculated in Urban Planner, a model designed by the authors of this paper. The method of calculation is based on a multi-criteria analysis (weighted overlay method), respects the principles of sustainable development, and allows for execution of several scenarios. The main result of this work is a set of maps. The first map sheet shows the land suitability for housing, recreation, public services, heavy industry, light industry, and transportation. The second map sheet consists of four maps showing different scenarios of land suitability for housing: one map showing the evaluation of existing proposals for housing from urban plans, and one map showing optimal areas for housing calculated by the Urban Planner model. The maps can be used as a significant source of information about the suitability of development in the Olomouc region in geographic or urban studies, both for experts and the general public. All thematic maps are on the scale of 1:125,000; supplementary maps are smaller.
Vit Vozenilek and Alena Vondrakova
SPIE
With the development of information and communication technologies, new technologies are leading to an exponential increase in the volume and types of data available. At this time of the information society, data is one of the most important arguments for policy making, crisis management, research and education, and many other fields. An essential task for experts is to share high-quality data providing the right information at the right time. Designing of data presentation can largely influence the user perception and the cognitive aspects of data interpretation. Significant amounts of data can be visualised in some way. One image can thus replace a considerable number of numeric tables and texts. The paper focuses on the accurate visualisation of data from the point of view of used colour schemes. Bad choose of colours can easily confuse the user and lead to the data misinterpretation. On the contrary, correctly created visualisations can make information transfer much simpler and more efficient.
Pavel Samec, Vít Voženílek, Alena Vondráková, and Jaromír Macků
Elsevier BV
Alena Vondrakova
Stef92 Technology
Vit Vozenilek
Stef92 Technology
Alena Vondrakova and Vit Vozenilek
Springer International Publishing
A. Vondráková and V. Vozenilek
Copernicus GmbH
In the process of map making, the attention is given to the resulting image map (to be accurate, readable, and suit the primary purpose) and its user aspects. Current cartography understands the user issues as all matters relating to user perception, map use and also user preferences. Most commercial cartographic production is strongly connected to economic circumstances. Companies are discovering user’s interests and market demands. However, is it sufficient to focus just on the user’s preferences? Recent research on user aspects at Palacký University Olomouc addresses a much wider scope of user aspects. The user’s preferences are very often distorting – the users think that the particular image map is kind, beautiful, and useful and they wants to buy it (or use it – it depends on the form of the map production). But when the same user gets the task to use practically this particular map (such as finding the shortest way), so the user concludes that initially preferred map is useless, and uses a map, that was worse evaluated according to his preferences. It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate not only the correctness of image maps and their aesthetics but also to assess the user perception and other user issues. For the accomplishment of such testing, eye-tracking technology is a useful tool. The research analysed how users read image maps, or if they prefer image maps over traditional maps. The eye tracking experiment on the comparison of the conventional and image map reading was conducted. The map readers were asked to solve few simple tasks with either conventional or image map. The readers’ choice of the map to solve the task was one of investigated aspect of user preferences. Results demonstrate that the user preferences and user needs are often quite different issues. The research outcomes show that it is crucial to implement map user testing into the cartographic production process.