5.1. Ease of Learning

The learning curve is quite high for most of the best-known full-featured GIS mapping tools like ArcView, MapObjects, GRASS GIS etc. There even exist university courses to teach their use. However, those are commercial tools, mostly for professional use. Therefore, they offer many features which require a lot of effort to learn.

The two tools tested for this webpage are relatively simple. Google Fusion Tables is an experimental project from Google Research and the team adds new features every year. It does not require rigorous courses to understand the usage of the tool. A number of documentations and tutorials, which are available on-line, are good enough to grasp the initial usage of the tool. Another advantage is that many people are already accustomed to using some Google Web services and the environment of using Google Fusion Tables is not unfamiliar. However, it is still difficult for people without computer background to successfully learn and apply many of the features, which require some programming knowledge. Another shortcoming is that Fusion Tables is not particularly focused on mapping language data. This makes it difficult to find appropriate examples and tutorials on the Internet, which can provide a quick understanding of the tool for the purpose of this work.

Unlike Fusion Tables, LL-MAP is a focused initiative for mapping language data. There are lots of examples available on the LL-MAP website. However, the creation of a simple map using LL-MAP involves many more steps compared to Fusion Tables. This makes it difficult to get hold of the tool at the first try. Moreover, most of the people are usually not familiar with the environment of the tool. The combined effect is a discouraging first start. It gets better, though, once one has become more familiar with the functions and the interface.

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