Google Maps API Screen

[syren1]

Description

Users will be able to find fields and games relative to their location by incorporating the Google Maps API. This allows the user to be shown relevant information and grants the user the ability to make an informed decision based on their current location. The app will also allow the user to view games and fields across the entire map, giving the user the ability to make informed decisions in real time in any location. It's an extremely useful tool for building a location based experience that brings a new dimension to our application.

The Prototype

The prototype will be a html/css/javascript webpage with a editable Google Maps API.

List of features to be tested

• Icons for different sports on the map
• Current user location
• Pop up for each sport
• Find games starting soon

Icons:
The icons on the map are currently Olympic stick figures each playing their representative sports. I want to test whether people like these current icons or whether I should change them just to sports balls rather than the stick figures or whether I can change the current stick figures to make them look better.

User Location:
The user location is currently a little blue dot on the screen. I want to test whether the icon colour should be changed and whether the icon should be made bigger/smaller. I also want to test whether an icon is necessary at all.

Pop-Ups for each icon:
The pop-up when you click on an icon is the name of the park/court and a time for when the next game is scheduled or will start. I want to test whether that is enough information for a pop-up and also test whether people will want to go straight to the court page or have the pop-up with a link to the court page.

Find games starting soon:
Currently if a game is starting soon, the pop-up text will be red rather than black to signify the game is starting soon. I want to test whether that is adequate or whether users will require more visual cues to signify that a game is starting soon. I also want to get an idea from users on what the icon should be for a game in progress.

Screenshot of Prototype

Testing Approach

I gave the users a list of tasks to do and made a note on whether they struggled to do the task or if they found it easy. The tasks were:

• Find a game of tennis
• Find a game of basketball
• Find a game of soccer
• Find a game that is happening soon and get the details of a game that is happening soon
• Find the game closest to their current location
• Zoom out of the map and see if there are any other games happening anywhere else

Users were all given the same laptop to use and were all in the same environment. Once they finished the activities then I opened the survey for them to fill out which would allow me to see what features they liked and which features they didn't.

Testing Questions:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfrmcmkaz0mVJ55-t_QOqdWDQR_ouZF7gGsOFXsVWLk6MWqcg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Testing Results:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17BGpgLpV9umYJY8DCQ045rbog9zBgZhlomdsAaRuk1Y/edit#responses

Evaluation Outcomes

Results:
No user found it Hard (5) to complete all tasks but 2 users found it almost hard (4) and 3 users found it easy (1). 75% of users answered "yes" to the question about struggling with the tasks. All the responses to question elaborating on that said that they struggled with find a game happening soon. 43% of users said that we should leave the current location icon and 28% said we should change it with the remainder specifying something else later on in the survey. 85% of users thought we should change the sports icon and specified what they meant later on in the survey. All users thought that the sports icon should change either 1 or 2 hours before the game is due to start. All users thought that the current games icons should be changed into something else not currently available as there was no option for current games in the prototype. In the final feedback section, most users said the icons should change in some ways, either by colour, background, or styling.

Conclusions:
Some users found it easy to complete the tasks but others found it difficult. In particular most users had issues finding a game that was starting soon. To fix this I am going to change the icons by either changing the colour or putting a circle around them so they are both easier to see and it is easier to find out which games are starting soon. Only half the users liked the current icons so I will make sure that they are changed. Users seemed to like the current location icon, but had a mention that the colour isn't that obvious, so I will change the colour of the current location icon. The fact that 85% of users thought we should change the icons just solidifies the fact that I need to change the icons. I will leave the timing of the icon changing colour at 2 hours before the game. As most users didn't seem to mind whether it was an hour before or 2 hours before. The current games icons will be green, the games starting soon icons will be orange, and the games starting within 12 hours will be red. I will make this change to the prototype and do more testing purely on the icons as that seems to be the thing that most users had trouble with. The prototype I created was sufficient to test what I needed, apart from the current games icons. I got the feedback I needed and even got some feedback that I hadn't thought of. Changing the icons is top priority now with more user testing to follow.