University of Toronto - DACCS Marble Platform
Redesigning the website and STAC search for the Marble platform at the University of Toronto.
Before
After
What is a Marble Platform?
Marble, a platform built for researchers and analysts, offers access to climate datasets through STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog). However, users found it challenging to navigate the vast datasets due to unintuitive search functionalities, inconsistent metadata, and cumbersome filtering options.
Marble, a platform built for researchers and analysts, offers access to climate datasets through STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog). However, users found it challenging to navigate the vast datasets due to unintuitive search functionalities, inconsistent metadata, and cumbersome filtering options.
Users expressed frustration with:
Search Performance: Multi-node queries often resulted in delays.
Filters: Temporal and spatial filters were hard to use, pushing users to rely on external tools like Pandas or R for data extraction.
Lack of Clarity: Terms like “carbon levels” and “flood maps” lacked definitions, leaving users confused.
The problem was clear: Marble needed to simplify its interface while addressing the deeper technical and functional inefficiencies that impacted the user experience
The Goal: Transform Marble into the Go-To Tool for Researchers
We set out to redesign Marble with these goals:
Make filtering effortless: Create intuitive temporal and spatial filters for dataset exploration.
Enhance search efficiency: Improve performance for multi-node queries.
Bridge the knowledge gap: Provide easy-to-access explanations for domain-specific terms.
Modernize the experience: Deliver a polished, responsive design for both desktop and mobile users.
The Process: Reimagining Marble
Step 1: Listening to Users
To ground the redesign in real user needs, we conducted:
• 10 user interviews with researchers and analysts.
• Heuristic evaluations to identify usability issues.
What we learned:
Users wanted filters that felt intuitive—like the tools they already use (e.g., Google Calendar).
Spatial searches needed a map-based interface for drawing regions or entering coordinates.
The glossary had to go beyond text, offering clear, visual explanations of terms.