Closing the User Feedback Loop:Effective and Swift Interface Development at ASF

J.I. Garron1, D.A. Simmons1 and B.E. Crevensten2

1Alaska Satellite Facility, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 903 Koyukuk Dr., Fairbanks, Alaska 997752Scenarios Network for Alaskan Planning, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 3352 College Road, Fairbanks, Alaska 99709

ASF’s Users are its most valuable feedback mechanism . User feedback is constantly being collected via:

• E-mail• Phone calls

• Personal interactions• NASA User Survey• Feedback forms

The ASF User Working group (UWG) is a group of enthusiastic SAR users, actively working with ASF to shape ASF’s development requirements.

The ASF Leadership Team brings new missions, design concepts and direct guidance to the user feedback loop.

Manifesto for Agile Software DevelopmentWe are uncovering better ways of developingsoftware by doing it and helping others do it.

Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiationResponding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items onthe right, we value the items on the left more.

As a User, I can’t see the website.

As a User, I can’t log in.

As a User, I would rather directly download pre-processed data than wait for the processing of my imagery.

As a User, I would like to see a thumbnail browse image of the available SAR data before I choose a specific scene.

As a User, I want to write a script to connect to and pull data from the ASF archive; I want to bypass the user interface altogether.

As a User, I want to bulk download my SAR data instead of having to click on every link individually.

As a User, I want to filter my search returns via airborne SAR mission names.

As a User, I want to subset SAR mosaics through an ASF on-line interface.

As a User, I want my searches to be faster.

As a User, I want to see more than 1000 search returns when there are more than 1000 granules present for my search area.

As a User, I want to display my SAR data in Google Earth.

As a User, I want to understand more about the spacecraft and sensor that collected my SAR data, without having to navigate somewhere else.

As a User, I want to search for my ALOS data via path and frame.

As a User, I want a good map to use in search for my data.

As a User, I want to see what data are archived at ASF over my research area, even if I don’t have access to it.

As a User, I want to perform seasonal searches.

Testing is multi-faceted and mirrors each stage of software development, allowing for quick iterations of functional code.•Baseline tests •Unit tests•Functional tests•Regression tests•Manual tests•Third-party tests

Vertex is ASF’s response to the many user requests for ease in archive exploration, visualization and access. Designed to highlight the contents of the pre-processed ASF Datapool, Vertex is a flexible and responsive interface powered by the ASF API and user feedback. https://vertex.daac.asf.alaska.edu/

RTTM is a ticket handling system ASF employs to track daily developments requiring action.

ASF Vertex in Google GroupsTM displays user feedback coming in through the feedback button in Vertex.

RallyTM, an on-line project tracking system, organizes user requested features, software development milestones, defects, and manual test cases.

Software development engineers use open source technologies to code requirements, increasing the velocity of the iterative process:•Catalyst (Perl)•Test::More (Perl)•Backbone (JAVA script)•Underscore (JAVA script)•Jasmine (JAVA script)•jQuerry (JAVA script)

Example of a SeleniumTM test suite running against the Vertex web page. Once all tests pass, newly developed code is delivered to the user community.

GithubTM, a software development tracking system, serves in team code review, “bug” tracking, project wiki, and code merge environment for team members.

NetInisghtTM is a metrics tool employed by both NASA and ASF to monitor web activity.

Metrics collection and analysis validates improvements requested and implemented.•NetInsigtTM

•Google AnalyticsTM

•SawmillTM

•EMSTM