Tow.ay

Google Firebase's ML Kit UX study - A platform to lodge an illicit parking complaint

TEAM

Solo

ROLE

UX Designer

SCOPE

UXR

Contextual inquiry

Data analysis

B2C/ G2C

TOOLS

Miro

Figma

TIMELINE

3 days (mini passion project)

CONTEXT

-a quick brief of the product

OVERVIEW- The what?

A concept to lodge a complaint on the vehicles parked illicitly by enhancing the feasibility of direct warning/ chat system among the users without any dispute to maintain a better communal practice.

THE PROBLEM- The why?

The approximate number of parking complaints [80%] has been getting higher by every hour especially considering the city traffic rate; increase in transportation and road blocking buildings etc.,. making the respective government/ private sectors’ system to slow down because of the less/ no possible solutions.

THE SOLUTION- The how?

“Tow.ay” brings impact to the societal by mapping out three initial solutions to reduce the illicit parking by dodging a complaint; warn/ chat and report instantly aiming to bring more awareness and proper road system as well.

- HOW I EXPLORED -

Framing a persona– who is this for?

Mr. Chethri’s demography

Mr. Chethri lives in his home near the temple where people would visit every other hour/day for regular prayers, festive occasions or other devotional gatherings seasonally.

Mr. Chethri’s pain point

From hanging “No parking” posters on his gate to sticking bills on the walls and providing awareness notice to educate the people to follow the societal regulations, his every effort ended in vain not helping his bad temper.

Did he try to find other ways?!

YES! His weekly routine includes visiting the local government office to file a complaint on the “Illicit parking” issue though 2:5 [2 out of 5 complaints] is the complaint action ratio taken every month.

Mr. Chethri wants an effective portal to get instant result on his complaint.

Would “Tow.ay” be a better replacement?!

Who is this for?

Meet Mr. Chethri, 65!

- Grumpy old retired air force officer

Let’s research on his needs!

Contextual analysis was carried out to better understand the value and depth of the features required for the application.

The need : as-is ; to-be

💡

Read the contextual inquiry sesh here

Benchmark analysis

Getting into the bigger picture!

Illicit parking rates are higher in cities with heavy traffic percentage. A proper system [online/offline] that would comprehend this situation is the major need to sustain a good communal.

Always ask questions!

Turns out the “gaps” were more than Mr. Chethri’s pov

Survey analysis

Benchmark analysis

R ead the full survey details here

💡

I conducted a quick survey with 2 potential users who run shops on the locale busy streets.

“I had to assign a worker to check up on the illicit parking in-front of my shop. No help with the constant complaints. A [good complaint system] is our necessity now” - Vimal, 30

“I have lost several customers because of the inconvenience caused by the illicit parking vehicles in one month. Government “No parking” posts doesn’t stop the public. An [effective vehicle clearance system] would be beneficial especially in this pandemic” - Ranjan, 45

Competitive analysis

The existing application space doesn’t solve the important base [public nuisance complaint] alias our general requirement in a sustainable and diligent way.

Describe your image

1/4

Some of the resources from the existing system

Helpline calls

The help-line call service is time consuming offering one of the most delayed and complex structure to file a complaint.

Whatsapp groups

This idea of digitally simplifying the public service has been launched only on very few major cities making the system less effective resulting in more gaps which also comes with drawbacks such as,

Lack of updates on the complaints
Less privacy
Missing complaints
Delay on replies

The secondary gaps,

Some of the other obstructions that direct/in-directly blocking the system includes,

Heavy traffic areas
Increased transport rate
Road-side vendors
Buildings blocking the road
Missing/ mis-handling of the “No Parking” boards
On private properties without the owner’s consent
Parking on footpaths/ pedestrian crossings

Why & How Might We sesh!

The value of the data collected was synthesized into why [factors defining/solving the user needs] & how [the usability of the features to be implemented] might it can be further iterated.

Why & How might we?

Goals
To plan out the product goals, [3 ways framing] balancing the [Business+ user+ technical considerations] were defined

Determining the features

Based on Tow.ay’s framed business model, implementing features that engage the users and offer more usability touch can help with more effective system flow for the implementation later.

Goal & Effort evaluation

Firebase study

Initial set-up for the application flow where the main functionalities will be added.

Why firebase?

Firebase is one of the swift, easier and real-time collaborative and database enabled tools with synchronized API connection across iOS, Android and Web devices along with the cloud storage, analytics and N number of important features.

Firebase ML Kit tools

ML Kit is a mobile SDK that brings Google's machine learning expertise to Android and iOS apps in a powerful yet easy-to-use package.

Why ML Kit?

The ideation of implementing this project using the ML Kit tools is to time leverage the development phase, to better understand the concepts of back-end integration, the many ways of using machine learning methodologies and to study the Google’s firebase structure.

The tools of ML Kit

Some of the cloud based API integrated tools that will be used to make the system work faster are explored below,

Defining the advantages of the ML Kit tools

To define “how the above mentioned tool kits would benefit Tow.ay system covering the business+ user goals?”

“Theme of Tow.ay is something that would not only bring a better lodging system but also balancing the ease of use and advanced tech features adding up the sustainability”

Firebase study