Final Project Presentation

William BlaneyChris CombsEllen EramyaDavid Wagner

Our ProjectBuild and test the interface for an interactive trail guide Android Application Designed for UCI Ecology Preserve, but can be adapted to different trails

Goal: Assist hikers by providing a map of the trails that will "present" information about plants and animals

Our ProcessFirst, we contacted our customer for potential user contactAfter receiving contact, we created a survey on survey monkey asking about interest in our project and mobile phone use

We polled our contacts and collected interview times

Our ProcessNext, David built our prototype

Ellen tested it with five Informatics students

David improved our prototype

We finally tested it out with three of the referred users, and, due to scheduling conflicts, we also tested it with two professors

more detail!

Methods used in studies

SurveysInterviewsPrototype DesignUsability ExperimentPrototype Redesign

Professor Kay wears a vest, but doesn't have a vested interest in our project!  This makes him a great participant.

Usability experiments give us the important feedback we need!

How neat!

Prototype

Prototype vs Real App

Play/pause - Our simulation walks you through the trail automatically, without giving the option to start walking

Phone buttons - Our simulation only simulates the actual app, and not any of the other phone features or buttons

Plant data - Our simulation contains sample data that we pulled from the web.  Real data for the application would be entirely user submitted

VS

Key Tasks

• Start the application• Understand what was happening• Understand the red dot• Understand the blue dots• Stop and learn more about a plant• Stop walking and scroll ahead• Learn about a plant farther ahead (after scrolling)• Take a picture and upload it

Key Tasks to Test Users on (8):

Our Users, first round, pilot testersOur first round of users are all Informatics seniors who have completed 131, all former classmates with Ellen

They were tested from 5-10 min. while a note-taker noted what they did

They tested the prototype without being given the scenario

Improvements were made after they tested to reduce the test speed

how did they do?

Our Users, first round, pilot testersThey all found the initial speed to be too fast, they assumed they were watching a simulation, not something that can be interacted with

They all suggested an intro/scenario option on the home screen

They all had issues with the "upload" button without instructions

Interesting...

Our Users, second roundWe interviewed 3 users referred to us by our client

We either visited them or they came to the UCI campus

No reimbursements were offered, they came completely as volunteers

They were all read the script which gave a scenario and instructions, and all tested for 30-45 min.

 

Our Users, third roundWe were experiencing scheduling issues with outside users, they would not show up and not call or they would show up late and not call

We were grateful for their participation, but we wanted more guaranteed users

We contacted professors on campus and interviewed two, plus one of the professor's wife with him, using the same methods as with the other users

 Your results?

Results

Issue Area #1Stop walking and scroll ahead

Results

Issue Area #2Take and upload a picture

Results Proposed Changes:

-Issue #1    - "Instructions" button on the start page that goes to an instructions page           when clicked    - Add "Drag map to look around" instruction with an icon, so that users will        know the map is draggable.

-Issue #2    - Change "Upload" to "Take Picture" with a camera icon    - Also include instructions in the How-to page

Results Extra Additions/Changes:    In addition to the information we learned from the tasks we gave our users, our users offered many great suggestions for how to improve the application.

Some of their suggestions we will be able to work into our prototype, some of the suggestions can't be easily integrated into our prototype but could be adapted to work in the final application, and finally, some of the suggestions, while good, may be too ambitious to implement or not possible to implement with current technology.

Results User suggestions:

- Ability to zoom in and out- Include a compass (N, S, E, W)- "mile markers" both in the application and physically on the trail that let you know where you are - pictures of plants in different seasons- show all the locations where a specific plant is located.- show historical data about the trail (i.e. how the trail has looked over time) and points of interest (such as abundance or population over time)- People from all disciplines should be able to upload content relevant to their discipline (artists, geologists)- Don't require moderator approval

Results User suggestions continued: 

- Display less information, and offer links if people want more information- Be able to create your own personal notes on the trail- Be able to close the "you are near" popups- Adapt guide to be a detailed urban guide which allows you to add personal annotations at specific locations, and pop up that information when you're near the location- Adapt the guide to be used for geo-caching - Be able to switch to other Google Map modes, such as the elevation mode- Be able to point the camera at an animal and the app will tell you about it (i.e. use computer vision to identify animals)

RedesignHere are the planned changes for the redesigned prototype - Add an information/help page that has instructions about how to use the app. - Add a compass - Change the "upload" button to say "take  picture" with a camera icon - Make it more obvious that buttons are clickable - Add the ability to close the "you are near" popups - Add a small icon and "drag map to look ahead" instruction, so that users know the map is draggable

Timeline

What's left?

• redesign interface (David)• final project report (group)

 

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