User Analysis
We have two classes of users: locals and tourists.
Characteristics
Tourists:
- Ages: 15+
- Education: Literate
- Language: English (for now)
- Physical Limitations: Mobility
- Technological experience: Familiar with smart phone applications and Google Maps interface
- Motivation: Explore the city, sample fine dining, see famous attractions, shop, and adventure
- Attitude: adventurous, hungry, bored, lost
- Communication patterns: either by themselves or in a small group
Locals:
- Ages: 15+
- Education: Literate
- Language: English (for now)
- Physical Limitations: Mobility
- Technological experience: Familiar with smart phone applications and Google Maps interface
- Motivation: Show friends around, discover pub crawls, exploring new options, celebrating special occasions in addition to tourist motivations
- Attitude: bored, proud of their city (and want to show off), celebratory, familiar with the area in addition to tourist attitudes
- Communication patterns: social, likely in a group
Use Cases
Tourist Tom is on his way home to London with a layover in Boston. He has eight hours to kill, but he refuses to invest money in a map or a duck tour. He pulls out his smartphone and uses the handy-dandy application Torch in order to locate a tour that equally satisfies his love of revolutionary memorabilia and his desire for authentic Italian cannolis. Along the way, he discovers another point of interest, Frog Pond in Boston Commons, and learns to ice skate: a hobby he never knew he had. Tom ends a perfect day by having a drink at the premiere Irish pub in Boston, Crossroads, before heading back to the airport.
Local Linda wants to have a girl's night after a long and stressful work week. She has her list of favorite hangouts, but she and her friends want to try something new. Using Torch and user-reviews, Linda and her gal pals assemble the finest night of drinking and debauchery possible on a Friday night. They end their night at the finest, local bar Crossroads, where Linda ends up meeting the love of her life, a beautiful, wealthy englishman by the name of Tom. Tourist Tom cancels his flight to London due to his newfound loves Linda and the city of Boston, all thanks to Torch.
Interview Results
Tourists that we interviewed enjoy going on tours and exploring the cities that they travel to and often acquire their information from maps, tour-guides, word-of-mouth, and the internet. Maps and tour books can cost anywhere from $2 to $20 and are a one-time investment and never used again. Using the internet and word-of-mouth are cheaper alternatives but can be unreliable, inefficient, and overwhelming. One tourist stated that "using the internet is great, but only if you already know what you are looking for." Regardless of the source of the information, users still value ratings and reviews from websites, other users, and experts. Example points of interest among our potential users are museums, parks, restaurants, celebrity hot-spots, shopping districts, and other "touristy" spots. Locals also remarked on the importance of being able to find great restaurants and bars. One interviewee stated that he had attempted to find a mobile application that would help him explore new areas in his hometown but failed!
Features requested by interviewees included integrated maps with clickable landmarks, time estimate on routes, featured routes with reviews, and a rating system. Interviewees remarked that they would appreciate seeing user submitted routes as well, but they may not take the time to submit their own routes.
Task Analysis
Find Tours: Based on user needs and interests, find pre-made tours in your area.
Subtasks:
- Entering user preferences, such as
- location
- destination types (Museums, restaurants, etc.)
- duration
- mode of transportation
- Viewing search results in summary or detail form
- Narrowing down possibilities and choosing a tour based on the characteristics of the results, such as
- time
- end destination
- proximity
- rating
Follow Tours: After deciding on a tour, go to points of interest.
Subtasks:
- Follow directions
- View detailed information about points of interest along the way
- Provide feedback for tour as a whole and individual points
Form Tours: Design custom tour routes and share with others.
Subtasks:
- Select points of interest that make tour route
- Classify and describe tour in order to facilitate searching of tour
- Receive feedback from other users
- Edit tour route
1 Comment
Edward Oscar Benson
You have a nice general problem area. Stick with the route-planning idea, with a focus on the routes rather than individual locations. See if you can narrow down into more specific needs of self-guided tours other than the obvious "find interesting things" angle.
User analysis: Needs narrowing in scope, more development of specific needs. I really like that you incorporate emotions into the analysis.
Interviews: Need to dig deeper. Much of the information you've uncovered here is very surface level. If you're building a route-planning app, ask them how they form routes. What aspects of a route makes it good or bad. What constrains their route? Distance? Time? Food/bathroom access?
Task analysis: Think a bit more about these after revisiting the interviews.
Presentation: Use case – not realistic. I love jokes, but this isn't the place for humor. Also, you're not making a pitch for a product ("all thanks to Torch"), you're trying to identify a user need and address it. Focusing on a pitch for the artifact is a slippery slope; the focus should be on the user.