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M. Schmidt, F. Ledermann, G. Gartner:
"genderATlas - An online atlas for visualizing gender-relevant data for Austria";
Poster: 27th International Cartographic Conference ICC2015, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 08-23-2015 - 08-28-2015.

To facilitate the consideration of gender aspects in research, administration, politics, commerce and media, easily accessible and understandable sources of gender-relevant information are vital. This project therefore develops an online atlas of Austria that visualizes data about the life situations of women and men in their regional distribution in an innovative and easily accessible way. In some of Austria´s neighboring countries (e.g. Germany, Switzerland) similar products already exist. Also in Austria map-based and gender-related publications were produced. However, they are either only available for a small group of users, or they are quite limited in respect to the spatial regions or the topics covered, or they are hard to update due to their static design or their project-oriented nature. Therefore, we are designing and implementing an online atlas for the whole state of Austria, visualizing gender-relevant data in their spatial distribution to facilitate extensive interpretations. The focus is on the following aspects: (1) Gender-sensitive atlas design: This is ensured by including lead users in the design process from the very beginning. In three workshops during the project, we are inviting lead users to get involved in the design and evaluation of the concept, content and functionality of the atlas. (2) Opening new data sources and developing innovative indicators: Apart from traditional data sources, we are evaluating other data sources, for example, if and to which extent social media data can be used to enable further insights into the changing life situation of women and men. (3) Innovative interaction concept: In addition to using state-of-the-art usability methods, we are investigating methods, which allow for a more interactive communication between atlas users, developers and map designers. We are evaluating, how users interact with the atlas, its contents and its functions and if this concept helps users to understand the portrayed data and to gain new perspectives on the visualized data. The atlas project was started in 2013; a first full prototype will be published in summer 2015.