Context maps-classifying contextual influence for decision support system design

Modern decision support systems (DSS) are expected to be designed to be more `pro-active´ and provide `context aware´ decision support. To develop a context aware DSS, designers must first be able to measure and model context. Therefore, this paper presents a methodology for constructing context maps from interviews and focus groups of potential DSS operators, which map the breadth of scenarios faced by operators and what context features combine to form those scenarios. An example context map was generated from an interview of general aviation pilots during the planning and re-planning tasks due to weather.