International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

This work is based on the connection between two important and growing fields in computing: Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In this kind of system is important the concept of teamwork, due to the complexity and size of the projects underway around the world, where there may be situations where users need to access, modify and share spatial information in real time from different geographical locations, and also perform classifications, georeferencing and other activities synchronously. In the study summarized in this paper, was conducted a process of requirements engineering about the collaborative work in the TerraAmazon system, a multiuser workspace, developed with the open source geoprocessing library called Terralib, used in major important projects of urban and environmental research institutions, like the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). With regards to the requirements elicitation technique, it was made a kind of half-open interview with introspection and discussion of scenarios with photo interpreters (potential users) from INPE (The Amazon Regional Center) and Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA). The requirements are validated and solutions are proposed using important concepts in CSCW, like awareness, coordinators and communicators. Finally, the conclusions are presented.