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Of the numerous applications of GIS, administration and public services count among the main fields of application. They are both the users and the owners of the largest amount of spatial data. Portals for higher authorities have been the subject of extensive discussions, but the development and possible use of GIS systems in the form of geoportals at local levels still seems to have been insufficiently discussed. This article presents the process of designing and developing a portal for the lowest authorities - local authorities and the local community. A small town in Poland, Sokółka, was assumed as the study area. The concept development was preceded by, among others: recognition of the needs of an administrative unit in conducting spatial policy; establishment of the objectives, functionalities and assumptions of the designed GIS; a SWOT analysis of the designed geoportal; and an analysis of data resources. Pilot implementation was completed with an evaluation of the geoportal encompassing various groups of potential users.

Map and geospatial information is an essential tool in many fields of human activities. Although cartographers were extensively involved in cognitive map design research during the second part of the 20th century, the map use process as well as the significance of individual map design elements have not been studied in sufficient depth. The article discusses the results of a controlled experiment. The exploratory study aimed to simulate the execution of some problem-solving tasks based on the information derived from thematic maps with differently designed legends, viz.: list-legend, grouping-legend and natural-legend. On the basis of think-aloud protocols, it has been confirmed that some differences in map reading depend on the legend used.