...
New Map and Data Representation Interface
Initially during paper prototyping, we had a sequence of three pages: an initial map page to enter a destination, a calendar page to select a date range, and a data/summary page to display other people traveling to a close destination within a similar time range. Originally, we represented our data in the form of Figure 2.1. Several users had trouble deciphering this graph. In order to make our design more simplistic and consistent with the real world, we decided to change the data representation page to a map, seen in Figure 2.2. Finally we combined this map page with the first map page where users enter their destination information. This made the design more simplistic and reconciled inconsistency issues with the first and second map pages. The summary page's map was slightly different from the map on the first page because it had adjustable bars to change the date range and change the radius. For many users, they were confused by the two really similar but slightly different maps. They also could not see direct feedback as they were setting their traveling dates and destinations. Moreover, we decided to discard the adjustable bar for dates and instead allow users to adjust their date range directly on the calendar. The radius adjuster was kept.
Figure 2.1. Users found this interface because people are not typically represented as line graphs in the real world.
Figure 2.2. The new interface allowed users to adjust the radius from their destination as well as the date range.
Figure 2.3. The final map interface combined the initial map page where users entered their destinations with the map page that displayed data about other people in the area. This was more consistent with the real world and across the TRavelTech site.
...
We included a reset button (which can be seen in Figure 5) in case the user messes up his trip planning and wants an immediate reset.
1.2 Alternatives
There were several alternatives that we considered:
- Line-graph data representation of travelers near the user and then two map pages
- TravelGroups
- Facebook integration
- Forum
Line Graph and Two Maps Representation
Initially during paper prototyping, we had a sequence of three pages: an initial map page to enter a destination, a calendar page to select a date range, and a data/summary page to display other people traveling to a close destination within a similar time range. Originally, we represented our data in the form of Figure 2.1. Several users had trouble deciphering this graph. In order to make our design more simplistic and consistent with the real world, we decided to change the data representation page to a map, seen in Figure 2.2. Finally we combined this map page with the first map page where users enter their destination information. This made the design more simplistic and reconciled inconsistency issues with the first and second map pages. The summary page's map was slightly different from the map on the first page because it had adjustable bars to change the date range and change the radius. For many users, they were confused by the two really similar but slightly different maps. They also could not see direct feedback as they were setting their traveling dates and destinations. Moreover, we decided to discard the adjustable bar for dates and instead allow users to adjust their date range directly on the calendar. The radius adjuster was kept.
Figure 2.1. Users found this interface because people are not typically represented as line graphs in the real world.
Figure 2.2. The new interface allowed users to adjust the radius from their destination as well as the date range.
2 Implementation
2.1 High Level Discussion
...