IAT235: Information Design
Fall 2012
Proposal: Cycle city is the new bike routing app that's aim is to encourage folks to hop on their bikes by creating a routing experience that is considerate of the rider and enjoyable to use. By conducting user studies and we discovered and translated our user's main needs, goals and motivations into our app's functions.
Team: Sonya Spowage · Joshua Nicholas · Marina Khvan
Role: Research · Interface Design · Prototype (Axure)
Context:
While a prominent focus of this decade is sustainability, there are very few routing applications (and none that are visually appealing) for one of the most carbon-free, safe, accessible and affordable modes of transit : the bike.
Functions:
Calculate flattest route, safest route, fastest route. Allow riders to customize their trip. Make use of bike lanes, trails and shared lanes.
Opportunity:
The barriers that are common in discouraging people from bicycling presented to us an opportunity for an app to address these issues. The Goal: to create a customizable routing experience that is considerate of the rider's safety, comfort levels, motivations and is enjoyable to use.
Personas:
With our app's goal in mind, we created two personas: Matt Daily and Jane Hutten. Matt and Jane represented the engaged bike population we wanted to design for. They are socially, environmentally and ethically conscious just as the population of Vancouver, BC is reputed to be.
Design Goals:
We wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling.
Functions and Features:
Selecting preferred type of route (flat, direct, safe). The directions generated will direct you along the flattest route, will help you avoid the busiest intersections, and will show you when there are bike-only trails or when there are bike lanes available on the roads.
Layers that hide/show:
Landmarks · Nearby transit · Precise locations of bike locks
