This study outlines the development process of a new touch screen based user interface for controlling bridge crane automation in industrial environments. A user study of existing situation (n1 = 11) was used to develop an understanding of the cognitive and emotional design goals for crane operation. Conceptualization of these goals in the context of automation produced a set of requirements, which were used to develop a map-based touch screen user interface. Two field tests (n2 = 5, n3 = 5) revealed how bridge crane operators cognise and emotionally experience the increasing automation and how the user interface should be designed to support the operator’s spatial mental representation as well as their feeling of competence, trust and anxiety avoidance.