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PARK ME | A PARKING SOLUTION
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Problem
Awareness
Users
Research Plan
Results
Usability Test
Solution 1
Final Solution
Site Architecture
Wireframes
Final Mock-up
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THE PROBLEM
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Problems:
1. Which streets have parking for the general public
2. Where there are available spots on those streets
A lot of time and effort is put into finding a parking a spot. For
pass buyers, the first wtime searching for a spot is not easy since
the sectioning of campus is confusing. Buying a pass allows you
to park on certain streets, which requires you to remember all of
those individual street names.
For non-pass buyers, people dont know which streets are for the
general public and which are only for people with passes. Theyhave to spend time driving up and down each street to figure out.
The street signs can be misinterpretted because of the complex
rules.
People who forget about street sweep days get their car towed
and they have to spend time to retrieve it from the impound lot.
Instances that parking can be an issue:
1. Returning from Holidays
2. Running an errand
3. Leaving for a trip
4. Returning after a street sweep or a football game
5. Leaving for a school reason
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CURRENT EXPERIENCE
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Awareness
Days such as game days pack large amounts of people within the
small campus area. On these days there are a lot of people need
to find a parking spot which leads to backed up traffic and wasted
time. The growth of the population in the Off-Campus is morethan the streets were built to hold.
It is annoying to have to remember to move my car, on top of my
busy college lifestyle.
People dont always park logically. There are instances I could
have parked somewhere if the person in front would have moved
their car up a couple feet. All the spots are parallel parking spots.
What I want to know
Im not sure why some of the streets are free and some arent.
The unawareness for the user without a pass can leave themsearching in the wrong area, causing lost time and effort.
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Users
We specifically are focusing on users related to The Ohio State
University for this research. This idea can spread to other areas and
universities with the ability to be slightly altered to meet the needs
of the users in those areas.
1. The Students, Staff, and Faculty such as commuters, off-campus
residents, and non-pass owners.
2. The non-students such as vistors, tourist, etc.
Some students live on the Off-Campus and use the street parking
as the main source of parking. Other students park their cars there
to go to class if they dont have a parking pass with the university.
Some staff and faculty also park there if the dont have passes.
The other group of people consists of non-students such as
visitors, future students, parents, etc. These people are usuallyunfamiliar with the area and need direction. The off campus parking
does not provide this and can lead visitors to be lost.
We dont like to waste time and effort.
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RESEARCH PLAN
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Intended Conclusion
To understand the exact problem, we need to understand the quantity
and quality of the time and effort wasted. Does it annoy people enough
and often enough to result in other ways of parking; paying for a pass
or a day pass in a garage? The solution should make street parking on
the off-campus at Ohio State a better experience for all the users.
We need to meet the users and understand their current experience.
From here we can co-design with them to find the ultimate solution
to this problem. When parking is a hassle, why is it a hassle, are there
personal stories to share?
Research Methods
For the time span of this project, we will only be able to complete
evaluative research and investigate their current experience of otherapplication that are simular instead of experiential research.
Observations: Immerse ourselves into the off-campus environment to
see the parking frustrations in person.
Semi-Structured Interviews: There are questions that need to be
answered but there are also a lot of good answers that can come from
causal conversations with our users.
Surveys: We can send this out to the large participant pool; which
consists of all students, staff, and faculty that use off-campus parking.
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Observations
To understand the problem more, we needed to immerse ourselves
into the field. This way we could see the experiences of people trying
to parking first handed.
There were multiple times where people would attempt to park in a
spot and then give up because the spot was either not large enough
or they were lacking the skill to parallel park. This problem could be
solved if some of the vehicles were moved a couple of inches forward
or backward. A possible solution could be marked out parking spots
to reduce the amount of random space between cars that sacrafice
parking spots.
There were also multiple times that vehicles would circle the streetsmultiple times in hopes that someone would move in that time. Some
vehicles would pull up in a spot where their car was partly behind the
no parking sign.
The general mood of the people that seemed to spend a lot of time
and effort parking was frustrated and rushed. I can conclude that these
people dont allot out the time in their schedule to find parking spots
and therefore are rushed to their next appointment, class, etc.
From my observations, I also can conclude that there are more vehicles
that need parking spots than there are parking spots available.
Level of Difficulty
easy 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 difficult
Quality of Results
low 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 high
Quantity of Results
low 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 high
Level of Time/Effort Required
little 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 alot
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Surveys
The survey asked the users to identify their role at Ohio State, how
often the park east of High Street, their feeligns on the street parking,
if they own a street parking pass and their feelings on it, their biggest
annoyances about street parking, and any other comments.
Most of the participants were students at Ohio State. The range of
days that they park on east of High ranged from 1 -7 days a week. Over
half of these students do not own parking passes. The results showed
that there were a lot of annoyances ith off-street parking, not just one.
People dislike the time and effort spent in off-campus parking, parallel
parking, the rules, the amount of spots, and the irregular parking; as
seen in my observations. People think its unsafe and are worried aboutsomething happening to their cars after they park it. Special rules such
as moving cars for football and street sweeping become a huge hassle
because it limits the spots even more.
Level of Difficulty
easy 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 difficult
Quality of Results
low 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 high
Quantity of Results
low 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 high
Level of Time/Effort Required
little 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 alot
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USABILITY TESTING
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Intended Conclusion
I want to understand what makes simular parking solutions successful
and unsuccessful. Why are students not using these now and is there
something out there that already solves the issue of the street parking
on the off-campus of Ohio State. If the current materials dont help, can
they be improve to help or is a new design solution needed?
Findings:
1. Required profiles on an app are frowned upon and logging in while
driving is difficult.
2. Open search results are too broad
3. Be simple! Because this app is used while driving a car, or at least
inside of a car, the navigation must be simple enough to use when
only paying half attention. Also, to reduce TIME and effort, an app that
requires a lot of time to use would be redundant.4. Can an app solve parking? No, its only the interface to something
greater.
Overview of the Test:
Moderator Introduction: I give the directions and things to remember.
The user is reminded that this is not a test.
Pre-Test: This consists of a couple of questions to get the user thinking.
Tasks: A few tasks are given that leads the user through a simular app
while asking questions along the way.
Debrief: Some conclusions are asked and a survey is given.
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Conclusion
The app that was used for the testing was designed
to find open parking garages/meters and how to find
your car once you are ready. The participants all said
that the app was pretty easy to use and they would
maybe use it. No one thought it was an app they
would download unless they absolutely needed it. It
wasnt something that would make their lives easier.
Also this app would not solve the street parking
problem because it only finds available parking in
garages and meters.
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SOLUTION ONE
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Native Mobile App
The app would have multiple apps within it like the The Ohio State
Universties app. You could reserve spots and give notifications on
towing days. Also the app would allow users to create profiles for
different cars.
Why mobile?
People always have their phones while traveling and have a personal
connection with it. They would feel comfortable giving the app
information about their vehicles for the profiles.
The GPS connection on the phone would be helpful to find the area the
users are looking for a spot in.
FeaturesHold times will depend on the distance of the rest stops to avoid using
the phone while driving. Notifications will be sent to the phone if the
car is being towed or on days it needs to be moved. On the main
screen you will know where your car is. Red indicates it needs to be
moved, yellow indicates a reserved spot, and green indicates where
your vehile is without any problems. FAQ explanis OSU game days,
different parts of campus, etc.
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WIREFRAMES
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Native Mobile App
This concept is too complicated. Users may shy away from the app
becase they have to make a profile. The workflow of the app needs
to be shortend so people can use it when their driving. Reserving a
spot may be a good idea but could also cause complications unless
a system is created to a lot out permanent spaces.
An app is a good solution but something more needs to exist to
provide more structure to the off-campus area. There needs to be
a structure that stays consistant throughout the campus to ensure
that people know where and when to park.
People do not want to spend the time, nor the hassle and wasted
hope on turning onto the street if there are no spots. Off-Campus
is easily defined, the streets are marked, but how does that save
the time and hassle put into parking? Making it easier to visualize
which streets are free and which streets the user is allowed to
parking on, they can go straight to those areas.
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FINAL SOLUTION
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The Ticker
The ticker is placed right above the street sign since people are usually
looking in this direction anyway to navigate themselves through the
streets. It displays the number of spots available on each street,
Tickers will be placed at the beginning of every main street. They will
only be placed at the beginning of each street because the distance
between alley ways is not large enough to be significant.
The Native Mobile App
The mobile app is to help people find spots before they get to campus.
For pass users, it shows them their available spots and for non-pass
owners, it shows where there are free spots for the general public.
FeaturesThe streets are divided up strategically and the streets have permanent
spots to make sure that the spots can be tracked and the max amount
of spots will be available,
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Growth
If the streets were to widen or change in the future,
new spots can be created but still leave the ticker
unaffected. (e.g. the street goes under construction and
the result is a wider street with more parking area. Once
the spots are marked, a sensor can be applied).
Basics
Every street will have marked parking spots. Each
spot will sensor if a car is parked in the spot which
will then trigger a sensor to change the ticker.
Reasoning
With actual spots, an exact number can be listed
on the ticker. Otherwise, cars could take up
multiple spots and not set off the sensor, giving
users a false answer via ticker.
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Growth
With time, the Off-Campus area will most likely
expand more south, especially with the introduction of
the Gateway. For growth, more sections can easily be
added on without changing the current ones. (e.g, 9th,
8th, and 7th will become orange).
The area cannot expand more west because of The
Ohio State Universitys defined campus area. If the areaexpands more west, the streets will remain the same
colors since the sections run perpendicular to High
Street. (e.g. 12th dead ends into a rail road tracks)
Basics
Off-Campus is defined as 4th Street to High Street
(East to West) and from Norwich Avenue to 10th
Avenue (North to South). Its also sectioned into 5
even sections. High Street and roads parallel to High
Street are free. Any streets perpendicular to High Street
require a pass.
ReasoningCurrently, even with experience with living on campus,
knowing which streets require passes arent clear. By
sectioning off streets with common ideas (parallel,
perpendicular), people can easily remember and explain
to their visitors where to park. Its easier to remember
generally which streets are free, rather than attempting
to remember which specific streets.
Norwich Avenue, Lane Avenue, Frambes Avenue
High Street, Summit Street, Indianola Avenue, 4th Street
Woodruff Avenue, 20th Avenue, 19th Avenue, 18th Avenue, Iuka
17th Avenue, 16th Avenue, 15th Avenue,
13th Avenue, 14th Avenue
11th Avenue, Chittenden Avenue, 12th Avenue
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Basics
The number of spots available on the street is displayed on the
sign. As spots are taken, a sensor sends a message to the ticker to
change the number automatically. The sign is large enough to see
from far away since the user that will need to use this ticker will be
concentrating on driving. The ticker is placed right above the street
sign since people are usually looking in this direction anyway to
navigate themselves through the streets.
Ticker Locations
Tickers will be placed at the beginning of every main street. They will
only be placed at the beginning of each street because the distance
between alley ways is not large enough to be significant. The parallel
streets will have tickers at the beginning of every section. Again, the
distance between every street isnt significant enough.
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Main Navigation
The navigation is simple enough to use while driving. The find location button makes it easier
for users to search spaces around them without staring at the phone too long.The limited options
for search results to pick from under the pick a street and pick a pass area narrows down
the options for the users. With limited options, the user will not become distracted by attempting
to remember a street or understanding what the app needs to supply search results.The red
indications on the map show parking spots because red can easily catch the eye. The app not only
supplies the same information that the ticker does (if there are spots) but where the spots are at
exactly. This way, the user can concentrate on navigating to a certain location and not become
distracted by looking everywhere but straight in front of them
The Profile
I decided earlier in my research that a profile would be hard to use while driving. However, with the
advice from others and additional research, users would like a way for the app to remember their
pass areas or where they usually search.
Thus.......
The profile aspect of the app is not required. However, once a profile is created, the user can set
two things:
1. Their pass area
2. Where they would like the phone to automatically scroll to when turned on. For example, if the
user wanted the app to show them the parking spots around 15th Avenue everytime they logged
in, it would override their current location.
The users can request to remain logged in if desired to avoid logging in everytime they are driving.
This would increase the safety of the user while using the app.
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Logomain
main screen
#
#
you arehere
searcha street
searchw/ pass
Logo
High Street
11th Avenue
10th Avenue
12th Avenue
13th Avenue
14th Avenue
15th Avenue
16th Avenue
Logo
5t Avenue
Logo
Blue
Green
Red
Purple
Orange
urple
#
Logo
#
you are
here
search
a street
search
w/ pass
you arehere
searcha street
searchw/ pass you are
here
search
a street
search
w/ pass
you arehere
searcha street
searchw/ pass
earc
tree
earc
w pas
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PARK ME
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