Milestone 2:

Definition & Related Work

Chrome Browser Recommended
Some links & features in milestone 2 may not work correctly if your browser is not on the latest version of Google Chrome.

Task & Problem Definition

Problem

Our problem of study is tied to the troubles new students and faculty are facing when attempting to navigate the campus. While this problem typically exists to some degree each year, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has amplified this problem as many returning students and faculty are transitioning from online learning and have little to no knowledge of the campus layout. Several news sources have described this issue being present on various college campuses around the country.1,2,3

In the Washington Post, an article stated that, “First-time students face a wave of new responsibilities [including] class schedules and social calendars” and describes why new students are struggling to adapt to life on campus and how this problem has been compounded by the emergence of the COVID pandemic.3 In another article from the Cornell Daily Sun, the articles describes how many students have spent “their freshman year under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic” and how “rising sophomores said they are both anxious and eager to adjust to a college experience filled with everything from daily walks to class to Cornell traditions.”1 Finally, in an article from the Badger Herald, one person that the article interviewed said, “‘I don’t know where anything is because I didn’t really leave my room that much, but I’m pretty excited about what it will be like to have a ‘normal’ year of college.’”2 It is clear that our problem of study is a consistent and prevailing issue across most if not all colleges.

The Enterprise Information Technology Services Department has several recommendations throughout the UGA website for new students, faculty and visitors which claim that the UGA app will assist with navigation. For example, one such recommendation says that “The UGA Mobile App is the official mobile app for the University of Georgia, where students, staff, faculty, and visitors can find campus resources and learn more about the University.”4 This description signifies to any potential users that the app should afford the user access to relevant navigation information that will offer them meaningful assistance in reaching their destination. However, due to several design flaws within the UGA App (explained further in Section B: Analysis of Existing Solutions), many of the features the app supposedly has cannot be recognized as affordances for the typical user.

This issue is a problem because students having trouble navigating campus ultimately leads to decreased academic performance as they miss out on portions of important lectures. Additionally, late students arriving in class would cause disruptions for both the instructor and the other students in the classroom. This problem is relevant to face-to-face instruction because arriving at a class and navigating the campus is specifically unique to it. When it comes online and hybrid classes, a student could simply view the lesson online and have no need to actually navigate campus.

A typical interaction would be that a new student/faculty would have a goal of traveling to a particular classroom at a specific time. Without any previous knowledge of the campus layout, they would plan to use a navigation application like the UGA App and consider various travel options like walking or public transit, specify where they want to go and how they would like to travel there, then perform their planned action by following the route layed out to them by the app.

At this point, various issues may arise for the user; the user could potentially end up waiting on an out of service bus, be unable to get on a crowded bus, and/or get lost because they were not sure where the route is trying to take them. The user would perceive the situation with feelings of stress and worry as they try to rush to the building that they needed to get to on time. They would interpret this situation negatively and think to themselves about how detrimental it would be to them if they arrive late and miss out on a portion of the lesson. The user would compare their current situation with their goal and would judge that they would have failed their goal even if they ended up finding the classroom that they need to be in.

Looking at the UGA App reviews on the Apple App Store, there have been many reports regarding issues with bus tracking and overall user experience regarding the app.5,6 It is clear that these reviews contain bias regarding the UGA app since there are many conflicting reviews saying that this app is great and how horrible this app is; however, despite the biases in the reviews and the fact that some people have had no issues with the app, the amount of people complaining about the live bus tracking definitely cannot be ignored. These reviews show how many people relied on the app to travel around campus but ended up having a negative opinion of the app due to the issues regarding the UGA app making it difficult for them to travel around campus. In addition, these reviews show that the interaction previously described is typical for many users of the app.

Potential Users

While many UGA students and faculty sometimes struggle with navigating the campus, the problem is particularly relevant for new faculty, new students, and, due to the recent pandemic, many returning students and faculty who have yet to acquire the relevant knowledge of the campus.

Some of the related tasks for both for new students and faculty members would include finding certain on-campus services like libraries, having to quickly travel from location to location in a short span of time, and meeting up with others in a specific location. In order to combat the difficulties in accomplishing these tasks, many students or faculty would likely attempt to refer to the UGA App for navigation information, as this is the solution recommended by the University. This particular solution involves several steps for the end user including downloading the app (if they don't already have it), opening the “Maps & Directions” tab within the app, and searching for their specific destination. Alternatively, some students and faculty may prefer to instead use services like google maps or apple maps to help navigate them to their destination. A more in-depth comparison of these three solutions from the perspective of the end user can be found in Section B: Analysis of Existing Solutions.

Users would benefit from a solution which easily allows them to access simple, relevant, and easy-to-access navigation information as navigating to the next class is a time sensitive objective. Having a functional solution that provides the end user with meaningful affordances can more effectively help the user get to their class/destination on-time and decrease the time-to-learn for important campus layout information. The information provided by a functional solution should also reduce anxiety resulting from being late to classes and reduce late arrival interruptions in class.


Sources
  1. Cornell Sun - ‘Our Real Freshman Year’: Class of 2024 Looks Forward to an In-Person Fall
  2. Badger Herald - Freshman Year 2.0: The Class of 2024 reflects on COVID filled first year, looks to new beginning ahead
  3. Washington Post - For many students, the prospect of a new year in college is exciting and stressful
  4. UGA EITS - UGA Mobile App
  5. Apple App Store - UGA Mobile App Ratings and Reviews
  6. Google Play Store - UGA Mobile App Ratings and Reviews

Analysis of Existing Solutions

Existing Solutions

Some existing solutions for our identified problem include the following:

Software-based Solutions:

  • UGA Mobile App
  • Google Maps
  • Apple Maps
  • Other Navigation Apps (Waze, etc.)

Alternative Solutions:

  • Paper Maps
  • Map Signs Around Campus
  • Asking Other Students & Faculty for Directions

Features UGA Mobile App
UGA Mobile App icon 		Google Maps
Google Maps app icon 		Apple Maps
Apple Maps app icon
Walking Directions *
Campus Transit Directions
Live Bus Tracking
Building Information †
Building Amenities
Building Hours
Lyft & Uber Integration
Building Images §
Street-level Imagery ‡
Integration with Course Schedule
The Fine Print
  • * The UGA Mobile App does not provide walking directions natively, which means that it directs the user to a 3rd party application like Google/Apple Maps to provide directions.
  • † The UGA Mobile App only provides a list of all buildings. Apple and Google Maps provide other detailed building information like the building type (i.e., academic, library, store, etc.).
  • ‡ The Street-level Imagery feature on the UGA Mobile App is only available for UGA bus stops.
  • § Apple Maps building imagery is powered by Yelp. It is not available for all UGA buildings and sometimes contains incorrect imagery.

The UGA EITS department has attempted to establish the UGA app as the primary solution to reducing difficulties with navigating the complex layout of UGA’s campus. This can be seen in how they describe it as the “official mobile app for the University of Georgia” on the university’s website.1 In addition, the UGA mobile app includes multiple detailed building features not found in other existing solutions, further suggesting that it is specifically targeted at solving the unique problem of locating and navigating to specific places on the UGA campus. The same cannot be said for the other primary solutions such as Google Maps and Apple Maps which are more directed at solving general navigation problems and less focused on the specifics of the UGA campus and the needs of its student and faculty population.

Despite these shortcomings, Google Maps and Apple Maps are far more widely known among the general population (both inside and outside of UGA) and therefore would likely end up being the first route of choice for many new students or faculty looking to navigate the campus. Google Maps can be considered the Status Quo when it comes to navigation due to its popularity.2 Google Maps is the more popular option between the two apps due to various reasons such as increased convenience and reliability compared to Apple Maps.3 Google Maps offers much more information and features while also being fairly simple to use when it comes to navigation in general. Furthermore, the UGA app when providing directions sends the user to their default navigation app on the phone, which tends to be either Google Maps or Apple Maps.

Other UGA students have also attempted to solve a similar problem. Submitted to UGAHacks 7, Geonho Kim, Jae Park, and Jae Oh have developed a project called Path Finder to find the fastest method to get from point A to B on UGA’s Campus.4 The project appears to still be a work in progress, and there is little to no information on how users view the project; however, it shows how the problem of our study is prevalent enough to the point where other UGA students have attempted to create and develop a solution to a related issue: difficulties in using the UGA app to learn the UGA transit system and navigating the campus.


Pros and Cons

UGA Mobile App

The UGA app keeps a live view for the locations of the UGA buses and shows their routes. You can also see the routes for the Athens Transit buses. The app also includes easy access to links to other useful features like UGAMail and ELC. Unfortunately, the app is often difficult to navigate and has an unstable bus route interface. It is also difficult to trust as there are many duplicate places listed in the app’s locations lists. The app also does not give you actual directions from place to place, simply directing you to a third-party navigation app. This means that the UGA app inherits many of the problems of the other apps that will be listed below.

A picture of the UGA Mobile App Map & Directions Page
Figure 1. The 'Map & Directions' page of the UGA Mobile App includes a sidebar allowing you to easily select and view bus routes along with live busses. The bus routes are overlaid on top of a campus map which can be used to locate specific buildings or places on campus.
A picture of the UGA Mobile App Search Page
Figure 2. The search function on the 'Map & Directions' page of the UGA Mobile App allows you to search for certain buildings and locations on campus. Unfortunately, several nearly identical results will often pop-up causing confusion for the end user.
A picture of the UGA Mobile App Building Information Page
Figure 3. The building information page of the UGA Mobile App provides the user with specific information about a given building on the UGA campus. While much of the information it provides could be helpful to users, it is often obscured by empty dropdown menus and information boxes that aren't applicable to the given building (i.e., The 'Computer Labs' dropdown is present on the Joe Frank Harris Commons page even though this building has no computer labs). In addition, there is supposed to be a map displaying the building's location at the top of the page, but this feature does not work for the majority of the buildings on campus, leaving a large empty space at the top of the page.
A picture of the UGA Mobile App Building Information Page
Figure 4. The 'UGA Bus' page of the UGA Mobile App allows you to obtain navigation information and directions to a given building using the currently active UGA bus routes. Notably, this page, while titled 'UGA Bus', also includes the walking directions tab. When clicked on, the walking directions button will redirect the user to their default maps app.
Google Maps

Google Maps’ interface is very easy to work with as has been detailed above. The walking directions are accurate and come with good time estimates supplied. However, Google Maps does not have live bus locations. Using buses is an integral part of navigating around UGA, and the fact that Google Maps does not have it makes it nearly unusable for longer distances between classes.

A picture of the Google Maps Map Page
Figure 1. The Google Maps search function allows users to easily locate the building they are looking for and provides them with relevant pictures of the building of interest.
A picture of the Google Maps Location Information Page
Figure 2. The Google Maps location information page provides users with more information about the building or location they have searched for, including access to a street view of the building exterior and the relevant public transit routes that are nearby.
A picture of the Google Maps Routes Page
Figure 3. The routes page in the Google Maps app provides users with multiple different routing options to get to their destination including walking, UGA buses, and even Lyft. This gives users access to information which can let them know which route is most efficient in order to reach their destination.
Apple Maps

Apple Maps is very similar to Google Maps. It also has good walking directions with accurate time estimates. Uniquely, it can show the user a 3D view of the buildings in order to help them to identify the buildings they are attempting to locate. Unfortunately, Apple Maps has only scheduled departure times for buses, no live bus tracking, which limits the user’s ability to predict if a bus will be at a given stop at a set time. This knowledge could be the determining factor between two near equivalent routes, and the lack of this functionality makes determining the correct path to take more complex and thus difficult.

A picture of the Apple Maps Directions Page
Figure 1. The Apple Maps directions page provides users with an overview of the route they should take to arrive at their destination. It also provides users with an estimated time of arrival similar to that of Google Maps.
A picture of the Apple Maps Search Page
Figure 2. The Apple Maps search function allows users to search for a specific location or building. Unlike the UGA app which provides search results for every building amenity, both the Apple Maps and Google Maps search results provide only one simplified result for each building. Notably, because Apple Maps and Google Maps are not specific to UGA, the user needs to narrow their search results further than they normally would in order to achieve this result.
A picture of the Apple Maps Routes Page
Figure 3. The routes page of the Apple Maps app, similar to that of Google Maps, allows users to search for different routing options to get to their destination including walking and public transit such as UGA buses. Unlike the Google Maps app, the Apple Maps app does not provide routing information using ride-sharing services such as Lyft.

Potential Guidelines & Solutions

Given that all of these applications are at their core, maps, they all follow similar guidelines and principles in the design of their user interfaces. Unofficially, one guideline that navigation apps like Google Maps and Apple Maps conform to is to provide a searchable, scrollable, and zoomable map with 2D and 3D mapping. Other guidelines include having interactable visuals, multi-platform support, displaying information in a concise and visually appealing manner, and supporting common multi-touch gestures.

Apple has officially listed some design principles for iOS app developers that they most likely personally followed when creating apple maps. According to Apple’s Human Interface Design Principles, some of their design principles are Aesthetic Integrity (how well an app’s appearance and behavior integrate with its function), Consistency (incorporates features and behaviors in ways people expect), Direct Manipulation (use gestures to affect on-screen content), Feedback (show results to keep people informed), Metaphors (virtual objects and actions mimic familiar experiences), and User Control (finding the correct balance between enabling users and avoiding unwanted outcomes).5

For our team, we believe that we should follow Apple’s Design Principles of Consistency and Direct Manipulation in order for us to better design a solution that would appropriately serve our potential users. This is because as a mapping and navigational application, direct manipulation is extremely important as this allows users to directly interact with the application in a more intuitive and familiar manner. Additionally, we believe that we should try to follow the guideline of displaying our information in a concise and appealing manner, having multiplatform support, keeping our interface simple and focused, and being purposeful with the layout and colors of our design.

We as a team believe these guidelines and principles will appropriately serve our potential users. Our goal is to create an intuitive and easy to understand way for new students and faculty to learn the campus; as a result, our solution should be capable of supporting a wide range of students regardless of what device they have or their previous experience and should be capable of communicating all the affordances that our solution offers in an easy to grasp interface. If we follow these guidelines and principles, we feel that we would be capable of developing a solution that could surpass the status quo and the other existing options when it comes to learning the UGA campus.

Sources
  1. UGA EITS - UGA Mobile App
  2. The Manifest - Apple Maps vs. Google Maps: Which Is Better?
  3. eMarketer - Leading US Map Navigation Smartphone Apps Ranked by Monthly Unique Users, Aug 2019
  4. Devpost - Path Finder | UGAHacks 7
  5. Apple - Human Interface Guidelines

Proposed Solution

Proposed Solution

Required Properties and Respective Affordances to Address the Problem

An app that intends to tackle the navigational challenges faced by many students and faculty who are new to the campus must provide the following affordances to these populations, regardless of their degree of adeptness with the use of technology:

  • An easy-to-use digital map of the full UGA campus that affords identifying buildings and important locations/landmarks easily.
  • An easy-to-use digital indoor building map with room numbers, restrooms, stairs, entrances, etc. that affords locating rooms within academic buildings on campus.
  • An easy-to-understand list of bus routes and their route directions as well as their stops that affords accessing specific bus information like how many people are on the bus (currently viewable only on the web app), bus ID, arrival times, bus status (out-of-service), etc.
  • An in-app navigation system which provides the user with fusion routes to their destination that affords combining multiple modes of transport such as walking, public transit, and/or car and provides time estimates for each route.
  • Step-by-step directions that affords easily navigating to a given destination using whichever route is selected by the user.
  • Integration with UGA’s Athena & MyID system that affords helping students track their daily route based on their classes.
  • For users signed in with MyID, the app should afford suggesting the fastest mode of going to class based on bus arrival times and/or current traffic conditions.

Our Solution

As previously outlined, the UGA App is proposed by the University of Georgia as the ‘official’ solution to navigational challenges while on the university’s campus. Due to this, the UGA App already has a fairly large user-base specific to the populations affected by our problem of study. Therefore, we believe that this app serves as a good starting point from which to directly address the populations most affected by our outlined problem of interest.

Suggested design modifications to the UGA App would include:
Property Additions:
  • Rather than redirecting users to other navigation apps, use an in-app navigation system with affordances such as those outlined above in the required affordances to address the problem section.
    • Keeping the navigation system in the UGA app itself rather than forwarding the user to another app simplifies the user experience and is less jarring as it doesn't involve having the user interact with two completely different User Interfaces.
  • Use the MyID integration already incorporated in the UGA App to pull in a signed in user’s class schedule into the app so that navigation results can be tailored to their specific needs.
    • This incorporation helps the user reach their classes using the most efficient route possible and significantly reduces the time it takes them to learn the daily routes they will travel to get between classes.
  • Incorporating additional information to the UGA Bus section such as route direction, bus capacity, bus ID, bus status, etc.
    • This will provide greater clarity to the user when checking the bus routes and the bus stops as this provides assurance that the user is at the right bus stop and getting on the bus that is traveling in the user’s intended direction.
    • Moreover, having bus capacity and bus status with the bus ID allows the user to identify a bus easily and allows them to decide whether to get on the bus if the bus is going out of service or if the bus is packed.
Property Movements:
  • Moving the page which allows you to get directions from one place to another out from under the ‘UGA Bus’ section and instead implementing it under the ‘Map & Directions’ page.
    • This change would provide the end user with better signifiers to reach this crucial property of the app.
  • Moving the specific building features, such as vending machines, bike racks, and other amenities into a section of the app that is separate from its ‘Map & Directions’ page, with clear signifiers for the specific type of amenity and its location.
    • While this information may ultimately be helpful for the user, its current implementation will likely result in confusion as all amenities for a given building are named identically to one another. Moving these amenities to a separate location will de-clutter the ‘Map & Directions’ page, while renaming them will make them easier for the end user to identify when needed.

Implementing the changes outlined above would not only give our new UGA app a significant advantage over the current UGA app, it would also make the UGA app significantly more competitive with other external generic solutions such as Google Maps or Apple Maps, especially when it comes to assisting with navigation challenges on the UGA campus. Features such as the incorporation of live bus tracking into route estimates and the tailoring of user experiences using class schedule data from MyID and Athena are properties which are inaccessible to generic competitors.

Measuring Success

There are several major techniques we could employ in order to judge if the design is a success. The simplest to implement would be an in-app survey that could poll the response of the general public to the changes our team would make to the UGA app. It could ask if the user is satisfied with the routes that are calculated or with the location of certain features.

Another useful criteria would be the accuracy of the time estimate provided to the user. This could be found by tracking the time it actually takes for a user to reach their destination. For example, if a user uses the app to navigate between their classes, we could measure the time elapsed between the app providing them with the directions and when they arrive at their next class.

A final metric we could use could come from a user experience study. This study could be used to determine the app (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Old UGA App, Our UGA App) with which the user is able to find the optimal path between two arbitrarily picked points fastest. We could also ask the participants of the study regarding their feelings after using the app to see if there are any pain points as well as asking their feelings to see if they are annoyed by the app, satisfied with the app, etcetera.

Summary Video

Milestone 2 Presentation


This video is in 10-bit HDR format. If you experience issues with the video, please view it on a non-HDR display.