Parking Genius
Case Study
Role: Senior UX Designer
- Wireframes & information architecture
- Data visualization studies
- UX design for Android mobile and auto
- Usability testing creation & facilitation
The Problem
We’ve all experienced this situation before. There’s an event in the city and parking is expected to be harder to find than a parading unicorn. Not to mention, traffic is going to be horrendous. In fact, 30% of all traffic downtown is composed of vehicles searching for available parking. With this in mind, Fybr approached us to design the ultimate Parking Genius by asking:
How can we create an experience that will guide people to ideal available parking while maintaining safety?
The Solution
Parking Genius (a Fybr service) is a consumer application that quickly and conveniently connects drivers with nearby parking. The solution was experienced through two modalities:
- Primary: Android mobile
- Ancillary Exploration: Android auto
A Brief Background
Fybr is an IoT technology company for cities that was founded in 1998.
They are an end-to-end solutions provider that collects and delivers data in order to help solve local/city issues including transportation, power water management and much more. All of this is achieved through real-time communication between their “Edge devices, gateways and end solutions”.
Parking Genius, among their vast solutions portfolio, was created as an entry point into the consumer space. The IoT experience is purchased by the city and the app and its data is
free to the public.
You may be wondering how parking availability is monitored and communicated in real-time. The system relies on parking sensors. Each sensor is installed 10 ft below the parking surface. Metal and proximity detection is used to communicate to street level gateways. The information is then populated from the gateways into the app, which allows users to search available and occupied parking.
The Process
Our preliminary discussions with Fybr involved weighing the options between a UI refresh and a complete design overhaul. At the time, they had already developed a live app but realized it needed change in order to continue receiving funding and investment.
After further conversation, combined market research and app analysis, our unanimous decision was to recreate the entire experience. There is no greater privilege than to have been granted that level of respect and trust from a client relationship — needless to say, we were beyond excited.
Setting forth, we envisioned the new product by first starting with sketches.
I prefer this method for two main reasons:
- Ideas are generated without pressure or commitment.
- Strong concepts are validated quickly and cost-effectively amongst the team.
What emerged from exploratory IA sketching was three strategic themes.
1) Get me there, 2) I’m here, and 3) I’m leaving. Every thought that deviated from the three was considered a departure from our end goal.
Keep in mind, safety was the driving factor behind every decision.
Data visualization studies were necessary once we moved into wireframing. Questions like “What happens when I zoom out to a level larger than the city limits” and “How do we differentiate between areas, zones and spaces” required answers.
A new visual language was established to mitigate confusion and communicate parking types and availability.
Parking Lots and Garages were denoted through shading areas of the map to represent zones rather than individual spaces. Users could then have the ability, within a case-by-case basis, to reserve a spot prior to arrival.
Street parking was communicated through a string of dots that were either filled green (available) or empty (occupied) to visualize specific street location and avoid ambiguous destinations. Upon selection, drivers were routed to their desired space or redirected to the next best available if it was taken
en-route.
Pins were differentiated within each category. Because street parking is specific, pins were pointed. In garages, points were removed because specificity was unknown. Within each pin, real-time availability was displayed through bold numeric values and cost was shown through ranges (similar to Yelp).
Although time and budget did not permit, we explored high-level concepts of Parking Genius via Android Auto.
The Outcome
The project was a success. Our end result helped secure further funding for the service and is still being utilized by cities today. Just recently, Fybr featured their portfolio of IoT solutions at CES 2018.
Parking Genius was one of the biggest learning experiences of my career from team building skills to designing for complex systems. (Let me tell you, despite how easy tech media makes it seem, city infrastructure is a slow-moving and arduous process.) It was a privilege to be a part of this wonderful team. If you have any further questions about the engagement, please reach out. I’d love to discuss. Thanks for reading!
