Use and user requirements of ecosystem service maps: Analyzing decision makers’ needs within the context of Target 2 (Action 5) of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 on EU, national and sub-national level.

Mapping ecosystem services presents a key component of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2020. Ecosystem service maps aim to support decision- and policy-making by functioning as a bridge between science producing and decision-makers using those maps. Yet, past analysis showed, that the uptake of the provided information by the end-user is very low, which, amongst others, is caused by uncertainty produced by missing assessment of the users’ needs and map-makers’ intentions. This highlighted the need of exploring the use and user requirements of ecosystem service maps.This presentation is a practical application of exploratory user research, with the intention of deriving user profiles, use scenarios and recommendations for map design, which aim to increase the usability of ecosystem service maps in the decision-making process. To achieve this goal, we applied mixed user research methods such as interviews and thinking-aloud to identify usability issues of existing maps. In doing so, both the end-users’ and the map-makers’ perspectives were taken into consideration, as both play a key role in the map communication process. To derive and compare scale-specific requirements, we assessed their aims and intentions at EU-level and national- and sub-national level, with the example of Greece as a case study.The analysis revealed usability issues related to uncertainty caused by different ecosystem service definitions and mapping approaches, as well as missing awareness of the potential users and uses of ecosystem service maps. Furthermore, mismatches between the map-makers’ intended map use purpose and the use intention by the end-user were
identified. Based on those findings user profiles, use scenarios and recommendations for future mapping were derived for each administrative level. This output aims to reduce uncertainty within the map-making process and underlines the importance of focussing on user requirements to increase the uptake of the produced maps by the end-users.