{"693730":{"#nid":"693730","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Associate Professor Advises Federal Government on Making Data More Accessible","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EClio Andris\u003C\/strong\u003E sees it far too often. Government research data that should take her students 10 minutes to access for their projects often takes an hour.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs an associate professor jointly appointed in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing and School of City \u0026amp; Regional Planning, Andris relies on government data for her research, so slowdowns like this can be more than inconvenient. They can also hinder scientific discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe problem is that many government websites that host the data aren\u2019t user-friendly. These data sources are complex and voluminous, and the search engines are inefficient at narrowing down what users are seeking.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt kind of has a \u2018last mile\u2019 problem,\u201d Andris said. \u201cGovernment workers and geospatial data workers have spent so much time and money creating these data sources. They\u2019ve kept such great records year after year, but then that last mile is, how do we get it to people?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAndris advised the federal government on this challenge while serving on the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC). The committee was formed by the Department of the Interior under the Geospatial Data Act of 2018, which established a new system for how the federal government collects, manages, and shares geospatial data.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAndris rotated off the committee in 2025 but led a report released in March 2026 titled \u003Cem\u003EImproving the Digital Experience for Users of National Geospatial Data\u003C\/em\u003E. In the report, Andris and her collaborators outline recommendations for making geospatial data easy to retrieve and download.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese recommendations were intended for government agencies with websites that feature maps and segment data by geographic region. These agencies included the U.S. Census Bureau, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and NASA.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe NGAC hadn\u2019t focused yet on the way that users are interfacing with these sites, but it\u2019s in our best interest to study it,\u201d Andris said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAndris and her co-authors on the report focused on five key areas for improvement:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e73ed54066bbe55ab78a913e0c22a5f04\u0022\u003EProvide clear navigation signposts that allow users to access data in as few clicks as possible\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e70f25c91e75bb433811ceed9cd4db40c\u0022\u003EDisplay key statistics so users know how large a file is and how many times it\u2019s been downloaded\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e37607406dc53cd8a048926d430d20257\u0022\u003EProvide thumbnail previews of the data files\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e35e2aaf70266ce80ea589c1c17021906\u0022\u003EAdd forums for comments, discussion, and engagement\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e56e57c774b5286575ccb2e26d102440b\u0022\u003ECreate user typologies to understand who is accessing the data\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne glaring crack in the system Andris found was the frequency with which drop-down menus didn\u2019t immediately take the user to the data or let them download it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen users click on something that says data, they should be able to get data,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s like going to a vending machine and having it ask if you\u2019d like to learn more about vending machines instead of giving you what you want.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAndris said users should also be able to know as much as possible about a file before downloading it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople are used to seeing reviews and ratings on sites like Amazon to get a sense of how many people are using a product,\u201d she said. \u201cIn that respect, we think people should be given more metrics on how many downloads the data they are seeking has.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey should be able to see the metadata\u2014including the file size so they can know how much space it will take up before downloading. They should also know the file type and whether they can open it in their software.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAndris said there\u2019s wisdom in emulating how private companies design their websites.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cRetail sites have conditioned people to expect things to be easy. They get what they want in one click. If they don\u2019t find what they\u2019re looking for almost immediately, they might give up. Adopting some of these practices from industry would probably be a good idea.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about the NGAC, visit\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.fgdc.gov\/ngac\/\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/www.fgdc.gov\/ngac\/\u003C\/a\u003E. For the full report written by Andris, click\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.fgdc.gov\/ngac\/meetings\/march-2026\/NGAC-Paper-Improving-the-Digital-Experience-for-Users-of-National-Geospatial-Data\u0022\u003Ehere.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EClio Andris\u003C\/strong\u003E sees it far too often. Government research data that should take her students 10 minutes to access for their projects often takes an hour.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs an associate professor jointly appointed in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing and School of City \u0026amp; Regional Planning, Andris relies on government data for her research, so slowdowns like this can be more than inconvenient. They can also hinder scientific discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Many government websites that host geospatial data aren\u2019t user-friendly. These data sources are complex and voluminous, and the search engines are inefficient at narrowing down what users are seeking."}],"uid":"36530","created_gmt":"2026-11-03 17:50:54","changed_gmt":"2026-11-03 17:57:17","author":"Nathan Deen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-11-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-11-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681641":{"id":"681641","type":"image","title":"Summit-on-Responsible-Computing--AI--and-Society_86A0689-Enhanced-NR.jpg","body":null,"created":"1793728520","gmt_created":"2026-11-03 17:55:20","changed":"1793728520","gmt_changed":"2026-11-03 17:55:20","alt":"Clio Andris","file":{"fid":"266073","name":"Summit-on-Responsible-Computing--AI--and-Society_86A0689-Enhanced-NR.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/03\/Summit-on-Responsible-Computing--AI--and-Society_86A0689-Enhanced-NR.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/03\/Summit-on-Responsible-Computing--AI--and-Society_86A0689-Enhanced-NR.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":101625,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/03\/Summit-on-Responsible-Computing--AI--and-Society_86A0689-Enhanced-NR.jpg?itok=Ug8TbMEx"}}},"media_ids":["681641"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"142","name":"City Planning, Transportation, and Urban Growth"},{"id":"155","name":"Congressional Testimony"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}