Google Smart Parking Solutions
Parking redefined.
Vision and Challenge
Urban drivers seek convenient, affordable, and efficient parking. What if we could revolutionize their parking experience and make every commute stress-free, cost-effective, and time-efficient while tailoring to individual needs? How might we enhance their overall urban mobility experience?
Role
Product Design
User Research
UX Design
Problem
Unpredictability and Stress
Our mission is to empower drivers to feel just a bit more confident about their driving route. Whether it’s the lack of parking spots, the need for accessibility parking, or simply the unexpected hourly parking rate, there is a high amount of uncertainty that comes when commuting to a certain destination. Google Smart Parking Solutions hopes to alleviate just that by catering to diverse driving needs and empowering users to make better informed decisions about their driving journey.
Solution
Future Steps
Google Maps Parking Solutions was developed in partnership with Google's San Francisco and Singapore offices, involving collaboration with the Google User Experience (UX) team, the Front-End Software Development team, and the Vice President of Google for the Asia-Pacific region. The project has garnered significant positive feedback, leading to ongoing evaluations for potential partnerships and broader business impact.
See Entire Process Work
To boldly say...
Google Smart Parking Solutions was designed to meet the needs and enhance the driving experience of not just one driver; But every driver.
Project Background
Unlocking Google Maps’ potential
Problem
In the ever-evolving landscape of urban mobility, the challenge of finding convenient and affordable parking remains a persistent pain point for individuals and communities. Even though people now rely on navigation apps like Google Maps more than ever to navigate their cities, plan routes, and discover nearby places of interest, the parking aspect of this journey has remained largely disconnected from the overall navigation experience, often leading to frustration, wasted time, and even financial pain. Because of this, the potential to revolutionize this everyday predicament into a streamlined and effortless experience through the integration of "Smart Parking Solutions" within Google Maps became evident.
The vision was clear.
To help empower users with real-time parking insights so that they can they can transform their parking decisions into strategic, informed choices.
Research
Understanding how users currently use Google Maps
Interviews, User Personas, and Affinity Mapping
Research Insights
Varied Parking Preferences
Users have diverse parking habits, depending on factors such as location, family needs, and personal preferences.
Pricing and Proximity
Pricing information, particularly for public parking, is crucial to users when deciding on parking options. Additionally, proximity to the destination is a primary concern, especially for users with families or limited time.
Research
“I like surprises. But not when it comes to parking.”
Ideate
A rollercoaster of emotions.
User Journey Map
The Google Smart Parking Solutions User Journey Map highlights three pivotal opportunities. First, there is a need to integrate parking information proactively into the trip planning stage, addressing users' assumption that parking will be easily found upon arrival. Second, enhancing parking entrance discoverability is crucial to prevent frustration and confusion when users arrive at their destination. Lastly, recognizing users' diverse parking habits, influenced by factors such as location, family needs, and personal preferences is key to tailoring the parking experience to individual needs. These insights helped lay the foundation of our ideation and brainstorming stage.
Ideate
"When I'm driving, I don't look at any app for more than 3 seconds at a time because of safety. All I can do is take quick glances when I need to."
Ideate
Mapping the path right.
User and Task Flow
We delved into the motivating factors influencing users as they engaged with the product, beginning with their initial thoughts. Questions like, "How can I find the cheapest parking?", "Will there be an available spot once I reach the parking lot?" or “Is it possible to reserve parking beforehand?” guided our exploration. We meticulously mapped out the entire user experience through two distinct flows. One challenge that emerged during this process was determining how to design and integrate new elements, ensuring they are easily visible to drivers who often glance at the app while primarily focusing on the road.
Prototype
What features do people consider when parking?
Lo-fi Wireframes
The early stages
Pen to Paper
Mid-fi Wireframes
Mid-fi Wireframes
The mid-fidelity wireframes underwent fundamental adjustments to align more closely with Google Maps' established model system. However, new design elements like "promotional coupons" were introduced. In this stage, the filter system adopted a drop-down format, allowing users to sort parking lots by both price and distance in a list. To enhance feasibility, clarity, and overall alignment, certain designs, including the promotional coupons, were either eliminated entirely or modified to streamline the screen and prioritize key elements for better visibility.
Usability Test
Usability Test
The usability tests comprised of hour-long live-video sessions with 8 participants, engaging 3 current Google employees. During these sessions, participants undertook tasks in a virtual environment, and their interactions were recorded for analysis. The tests aimed to assess participants' ability to navigate specific screens using the newly implemented filter options, utilize the newly designed live parking availability tracking feature, and successfully reserve a parking spot.
All participants demonstrated excellent performance across success metrics, including task efficiency, error rate, overall satisfaction, and adoption rate, providing robust validation for the new designs. However, notable concerns emerged, particularly relating to minor visual inconsistencies, information overcrowding, and practicality in terms of adoption.
Usability Test
“All this parking information added is great to have. But, wow. That’s a lot of information to have on one screen.”
Usability Test Takeaways
Overcrowded
Users expressed that while they would appreciate having comprehensive parking information, including daily rates, opening hours, features, and accessibility options, they find the current screens too cluttered and overloaded with information.
Google alignment
The filter system diverges from Google Maps' conventional model, where filters typically emerge from the bottom of the screen. The shift to a drop-down menu was found to be less intuitive for users, and there were concerns about the practicality of selecting filters while driving, given their size.
Information hierarchy
Users expressed surprise at the information hierarchy on the Parking Lot pages, highlighting that they expected to see an overview of parking information first before reviews and pictures, contrary to Google's current model.
Despite expected aesthetic alignment overall, there are a few minor visual inconsistencies that was pointed out during the testing, such as border weight, material icons, and the use of symbols.
Iterations
Tweaking some things
Before and after
By focusing on refining the user interface and experience, the "before and after" screens illustrate the evolution of the product. These changes are not only driven by user insights but also align with Google Maps' existing design system, ensuring a purposeful and effective integration of new features.
Ready for Launch
“Love the idea of having all this parking information readily available on Google Maps.” - Google VP
The Finalé
Next Steps
Seeking Partnerships
In the pragmatic realm, the next pivotal move for Google Smart Parking Solutions involves forging strategic partnerships with selected parking entities. This step entails identifying and collaborating with parking lots in first-world nations that have embraced digitization, ensuring that their information is readily accessible for integration into the Google platform.
Android Auto
Another significant step for Google Smart Parking Solutions involves exploring integration with Android Auto. Recognizing the challenges of using a phone while driving, this initiative aims to extend the functionality of the parking solution into the Android Auto platform where users will have a safer and more accessible means of accessing real-time parking information.
User Testing
Further user testing is imperative to gauge the feasibility of implementing these innovative features across diverse cities worldwide. Conducting extensive user testing will allow Google to assess how the new functionalities resonate with users in varied urban landscapes, accommodating different infrastructures, driving behaviors, and parking scenarios.
Product Design