119 A Comparative Usability and End-User Satisfaction Analysis of Two GIS Applications Mark E. Barner US Air Force Academy USAF Academy, CO 80840 719-333-8387 email: mark.barner@usafa.edu Summer E. Bartczak University of Central Arkansas 201 Donaghey Ave. Conway, Arkansas 72035 501-852-2359 e-mail: sbartczak@uca.edu Kevin L. Elder Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA 30460-7998 912-478-5474 email: kelder@georgiasouthern.edu James P. Downey University of Central Arkansas 201 Donaghey Ave. Conway, Arkansas 72035 501-450-5327 e-mail: jdowney@uca.edu ABSTRACT U.S. Air Force installations are making increasing use of geographic information systems. Without AF-wide oversight early on, however, multiple applications, which serve similar purposes, emerged. As such, continuing support is problematic and has generated interest in a comparison method for determining which of similar applications perform better. This research details a first attempt at developing such a methodology focusing specifically on usability and end-user satisfaction. Two different GIS applications being used in the AF Civil Engineer (CE) community for the management of airfield obstructions—the Airfield Obstruction Management System (AOMS) and the Airfield Obstruction Tracking, Analysis, and Management System (AIROBS)--were the focus of this study. The results showed that the proposed methodology can be a start in attempts to compare GIS applications as it revealed that AOMS had fewer usability issues and rated slightly higher in end-user computing satisfaction.