Internet in the Middle of Nowhere: Performance of Geoportals in Rural Areas According to Core Web Vitals

Abstract

The spatial planning system in Poland is undergoing a fundamental reform. It emphasises the digital representation of spatial data. Low performance of geoportals, no Internet access, or poor connectivity can contribute to the exclusion from the spatial planning process, and consequently to the exclusion from a specific part of public life. Considering these developments, the present study seems relevant by pointing out the issue with geoportal performance and availability of quality Internet in rural areas. The primary contribution of the article is (1) results of performance measurements for selected geoportals; (2) presentation of measuring tools and performance indices combined with methods for ad-hoc performance measuring; and (3) presentation of potential actions to improve geoportal performance on the device with which it is used. The article offers case studies where the performance of selected geoportals was tested in rural mountainous areas with limited Internet access. Five geoportals were tested with PageSpeed Insights (PSI), WebPageTest, GTmetrix, Pingdom, and GiftOfSpeed. Core Web Vitals indices were analysed: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and First Contentful Paint (FCP). The author verified values of the Speed Index and Fully Loaded Time along with other performance indices, like GTmetrix Structure. The study failed to provide unambiguous evidence that radio link users in rural areas could experience problems with geoportal performance, although the results seem to suggest it indirectly. PSI Lab Data and Field Data tests revealed a relatively low performance of the geoportals. The Performance index remained below 50 in most cases, which is ‘Poor’ according to the PSI scale. The fully loaded time exceeded 10 s for all the geoportals and 20 s in some cases (Lab Data). It means that the perceived performance of the tested geoportals on a radio link in rural areas is most probably even lower. The case studies demonstrated further that the user has limited possibilities to speed up map applications. It is possible to slightly improve the geoportal experience through the optimisation of the device locally, but the responsibility to ensure geoportal performance is mainly the publisher’s.