ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how 'usability analyses' can assist developers in designing Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), formerly known as Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS). Although the methodology outlined in this chapter can be used to assist developers in the design of any particular component of an ITS, focus on the Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) portion, primarily because an ATIS will be heavily used by the general public. Field study methods include ethnography, contextual inquiry, and cognitive work analysis. Field study methods allow researchers to gather information about end-users and their tasks in the user's environments. This environment may be a home, an individual's office, or a cubicle in a company, but for an ATIS it will most likely be an automobile. Usability research is crucial to the ease by which people can use a system, the application of the system in their daily lives, and the acceptance the system will have as an information source.
