Indoor Mapping
Company
IBM
Year
2020
Disciplines
UX Design, Mobile design
Platforms
Apple Indoor mapping Core Location for iOS
Overview
I worked with two developers, a content designer, and a product owner to design and build an indoor mapping application, built with Apple’s indoor mapping Core Location for iOS technology. Our MVP included 5 IBM locations, and its purpose was to help IBMers and guests navigate inside of IBM buildings.
Challenges
Nobody on the team had any experience with this technology so we had to define rapid sprints that included learning, designing and building. We had to learn the limitations of the Apple Indoor mapping technology — for example, at the time of our work, floor level was not detectable so we knew the user would have to provide some input during the experience.
Also, IBM had nothing like this so we needed to do some user research to find out what features would be valuable to IBMers. (This was the fun part!)
Approach
First, we got familiar with the technology, what it was capable of and where we could customize. I worked with developers to start sketching out a user journey based on the known technical parameters.
Next, I interviewed as many IBMers as I could (200+) across different geo locations, using a survey and interviews. Using an online survey + interviews, users shared current pain points of navigating IBM buildings, prioritized functionalities, and brainstormed with me on potential features for this app.
Using the user feedback, our small team brainstormed and prioritized all of the data into a prioritization grid based on importance and feasibility. We used Mural for easy collaboration. From these artifacts, we defined our MVP goals and began to build.
I began doing wireframes and built clickable prototypes for developers to use as a guide to build the app. Once we had a working prototype, we went through the halls testing the app ourselves, documenting the bugs and glitches in the experience, and bringing those issues back to our backlog.
Outcome
We built a working MVP for 5 US IBM locations. The app was available using iPhones, and we also positioned iPad kiosks around the buildings for easy access. It was a unique experience to align a mobile user experience to the ‘real world’ of physical spaces, considering both the digital experience and physical experience at the same time.
Unfortunately, the launch of this application was not possible to lack of funding and deprioritization. We didn’t get to make this IBM indoor mapping application happen :(