Treatment Effects
Treatment Effects is a new feature integrated into Planscape, allowing planners to assess the direct and indirect impacts of treatments on their project and planning areas.
Timeline
01/2024 - 02/2025
Team
UI/UX Designer (Me)
Product Managers
Wildfire Analyst
Co-director of Forest and Agriculture
Co-director of Natural Hazards
Data Scientist
Software developers
Tools
Figma
Google Meet
Mural
Task
UI/UX Design
Wireframe
Prototyping
Usability Testing
Challenge
The current Planscape platform lacks functionality for planners to simulate and assess the impact of treatments on their land. Without a way to model different treatment scenarios, users face challenges in making informed decisions about resiliency and land management. There is no seamless method to apply treatments, track their effects over time, or integrate planning data into a structured decision-making process.
Opporunity
Integrating the Treatment Effects feature into Planscape, enables planners to create, apply, and compare treatment scenarios at the stand level. By integrating improved UI/UX flows, fire modeling, and pre-baked data outputs, this feature empowers users to visualize both direct and indirect treatment effects over time. This enhancement transforms Planscape into a more data-driven, interactive, and decision-supportive tool, allowing planners to optimize treatment strategies for long-term sustainability and resiliency.
Background
The Treatment Effects feature was developed to address a significant gap in the current Planscape platform, where planners lacked a robust way to simulate and assess the impacts of land treatments. This feature enables users to apply treatments to project areas and understand their direct and indirect effects over time. To build this feature, I collaborated closely with a diverse team, including a wildfire analyst, Co-director of Forest and Agriculture, Co-director of Natural Hazards, product managers, engineers, and a data scientist. This collaboration helped me better understand the science behind the treatments and the needs of the users I was designing for. We worked together to determine how best to present the direct effects (outputs) in a way that is both meaningful and resourceful for planners.
Additionally, I partnered with a UX researcher to conduct usability testing, ensuring that users could navigate the tool seamlessly. Based on the findings, I iterated on the designs, addressing user feedback to finalize the product and prepare it for launch. This iterative, user-centered design process ensured that the feature was intuitive, impactful, and ready to support planners in making informed decisions for resiliency planning.
Solution
Empowering Planners with Data-Driven Insights: Simulate, Compare, and Optimize Treatment Strategies for Resilient Landscapes
Create a New Treatment Plan
Start with a blank treatment plan to apply treatments to project areas, either uploaded by the user or generated by Forsys. Select a project area from the side panel or map to begin applying treatments. This view also allows users to review all applied treatments before running an analysis.
Apply Treatment Prescription
Treatments are applied at the stand level, represented by hexagons—a method aligned with Forsys' logic for optimizing treatment placement. Users can select single or multiple stands to apply treatments efficiently.
Enhance Context for Treatment Decisions
Users can overlay data and base layers on the map to gain better spatial context, helping them determine the most effective treatment locations.
Treatment Summary
Provides a comprehensive overview of total acres treated across all project areas, helping users track and evaluate treatment distribution.
Treatment Analysis Results
The system analyzes the applied treatments and calculates the percentage change from baseline over Year 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20. Users can view results at the project area level or zoom in to analyze changes at the stand level, based on their selected metrics.
Bridging Science, Usability, and User Needs
Reflection
Understanding the scientific methodology behind Planscape was essential in designing the Treatment Effects feature that is both technically sound and user-friendly. Collaborating with experts allowed me to align the UI with the underlying science framework, ensuring a logical and feasible design for planners. However, scientific accuracy alone wasn't enough—usability testing with real users was critical in refining the experience.
Through testing, I uncovered the need for a clear, transparent process to help users, especially those who are less tech-savvy, confidently navigate the tool. Many users emphasized the importance of understanding how treatment analysis results are calculated, reinforcing the need for accessible, well-communicated insights to build trust in the data and support informed decision-making.