Highlights

• Combining findings from user groups within DELWP and the general public contributed to the discovery of gamified features that would help surveyors collect data by having marks regularly monitored/updated.

• The project was green lit after our findings and concepts were presented to the surveyor general within DELWP.
  

Project Summary

During a 3 month project intensive, I led a team comprised of a communications designer, industrial designer and a geospatial scientist to redesign the user interface of DELWP's Survey Marks Enquiry Service (SMES).

As a team we surveyed and interviewed user groups from the general public and surveyor's employed at DELWP to collect data that informed designs for a low fidelity prototype to present to the geodetic executive team.

Problem

The geodetic survey team within DELWP sought to improve the experience of their surveyors in the field by designing a mobile app version of their web based survey mark enquiry service. The current web application lacked considerations for accessibility and onboarding making it difficult to use and hindered productivity.

Solution

The SMES app condensed a large cumbersome system into a portable, accessibly tool that surveyors could use on the go to locate, record and update information about survey marks around Victoria. Wireframes were also created to explore features that would attract general users to locate survey marks so that information could be updated regularly and accurately.

An opportunity to lead

During the discovery phase of the project we connected with geodetic specialists and surveyor's to identify problem areas to address. As the ux designer I was able to excercise my leadership skills and lead my team through the selection of appropriate research tasks. We decided to collect and interview user groups comprised of two types: Surveyors and 'general users'.  

Component library for consistent collaboration

Creating artefacts at this stage would usually be a waste of time however creating a basic library of components removed the need to make constant design changes. Having the component libary allowed me and my team to rapidly explore different ideas that had a consistent design.

Challenge

In an attempt to increase the amount of ideas and concepts we produced, my entire team had access to design and edit within the figma file. This meant I was coaching communication designers and even geospatial scientists on how to take their ideas from concept to reality.

It ended up being beneficial for our team to explore different ideas this way but was certainly challenging at times coaching team members who had never worked within a program like figma before.

Next Steps

The SMES app project was greenlit by the executive team and the findings of my team helped push the agenda. The project is currently being developed by an external contractor and the final product should be released within the next 2 years.