ESM and Task Analysis

CSE 440 Autumn 2008| Assignment 3

Online URL|

Group Manager| Jonathan McKay

Designer| Linda Hong Le

Usability Tester| Alireza Bagheri Garakani

Writer| Nuo Yan

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Overview

Finding parking in a congested area is difficult. A recent study by the University of California found that 30 percent of traffic congestion in major business cities from difficulties in parking, and this wasted effort burns 47,000 gallons of gasoline and produces 730 tons of carbon dioxide.(Simon)To help resolve this issue, we propose an application that will allow an iPhone to help drivers find vacancies by retrieving information from anonline database. The application would provide drivers with information about areas such as parking garages and park and rides. In these lots a gate or sensor would be placed at the entrances to count the number of cars in the lot. This information would then be uploaded to a database that the application would access to determine the number of vacancies. Drivers would be able to input their destination to find suitable parking nearby or use GPS to cross-reference their location with a database to highlight available areas. By providing drivers with an efficient means to find parking we can relieve stress, reduce CO2 emissions, save time, and save money.

Experience SamplingMethod

In order to refine our ideas about the pertinent ideas and features to include in the program, we have conducted a limited Experience Sampling Method Survey with customers who park often. We chose two individuals to participate in our ESM survey, for a Sunday and Monday. We did this to get information from weekend leisure driving and weekday commuting.

Customer 1: Alan

Alan is a 25 year-old Software Engineer at Microsoft. He lives in Bellevue and usually drives to work. While he has 5 years of driving experience, he says that it would be hard to find parking if he goes to work after 10:00am. We selected Alan as one of our ESM participants because he works full time.In our Contextual Inquiry process, all the customers we interviewed and observed were students so he represents a category of customer that we have not yet been able to examine.

Customer 2: Alice

Alice is an undergraduate student at the University of Washington, and she drives frequently in the University District. For her it is usually difficult to find ideal parking spot in the U-District because many areas have a limited number of spots, while others are too expensive. Alice represented an ideal target because of the daily constraints she faces in parking.

Survey Methodology

We asked these questions every three hours to determine if the participant had parked during the last three hours. If they had then the device would show the full survey; otherwise the full survey would be skipped and the device would wait for three hours to ask whether the participant had parked again. To see the questions that we asked, refer to Appendix 1.

ESM Results

The data from the ESM process shows that in only two days both participants parked several times. However, both were familiar with most the places they parked and had few problems parking. They spent from 1 to 10 minutes on parking, and they were usually able to park near their destination.[i] We were surprised to find that the weather conditions didn’t affect the time the participants used to look for parking. Also, our ESM participants were not concerned about the safety of the parking spots they found. Both of these findings went against our previous interviews with other customers.

Despite the useful information that we gained, there were limitations with the ESM study. Although the periodic survey was designed to be triggered every three hours, the participants didn’t respond to it as frequently as we expected. They responded to the survey every three to six hours. Additionally, during the ESM process neither participant had trouble with parking. This meant that our ability to collect information on difficult parking situations was limited. If we could do it again, we would ask some specific questions on the route the participant used to find the parking spot. Our project has a proposed feature to provide parking information based on the route the customer is on. But from the data we gathered, we have no way to interpret the relationship between how the customers found the parking space and the routes they were on. Also, we would ask questions about “why” in addition to the “yes/no” questions. For example, we asked whether the participant checked parking for availability in advance or not, but we didn’t ask why. In such cases we were only able to guess the reasoning, instead of knowing the participants’ real reasoning.

For the MyExperience Tool we used for our ESM process, we were happy to have such a tool so that we didn’t have to be with the customer all the time. There weren’t serious problems with the tool, but it could be better if the following areas could be improved:

  • On the main screen, if the user pressed backspace or home button on the keypad, the device shows the previous screen the user was on or the home screen. At this time, the tool was not closed, but was hidden, which could be misinterpreted by the customer.
  • After each periodic survey, the program goes back to the main screen of the tool with a survey button and a menu button. Users may not know what that means and may wonder if they need to do anything more.
  • The timestamp data we gathered from both users were not correct. We were very sure all the timestamp data did not show the real time the users took the surveys. But the relative time duration between the timestamps were correct, so that we could approximate the time they took the surveys.

Task Analysis Questions

  1. The users of our application are drivers who want to find parking easier. From our Contextual Inquiry, we have discovered a wide variety of customers that range from commuters to local drivers, students to workers, and people with varying years of driving experience.
  2. Currently, drivers do not know where available lots are located. For example, Alice had to park a few blocks away from her location although it was still relatively close. (ESM) Some drivers have developed methods to cope with overcrowded parking lots: within our Contextual Inquiry interview we found that many drivers just skip the closer spots in preference to more remote areas if the probability of vacancies was higher.
  3. Drivers are denied access to parking lot capacity information. Without this information drivers are forced to guess where they think parking can be found and waste time and money looking around. From our experience sampling, we saw that both of our clients never checked in advance for parking.
  4. With the current parking system, drivers have learned to park faster through experience and repetition. For example, it only took Alice only one minute to locate a spot in Odegaard’s underground parking garage because she had parked there at least 500 times in the past.(ESM)
  5. The task of finding parking was often performed in the car at a parking lot or street side, we rarely saw drivers planning for parking in advance.(ESM) For our ESM study, we saw our customers parking on Seattle streets and parking lots provided by the company, store, or university.
  6. The relationship between the customer and data is one of assistance. Giving drivers accessibility to this information will improve their driving experience by allowing them to quickly determine which parking lots are full.
  7. Currently, drivers have few tools to help with parking. Parking attendants that can help by directing drivers to available spots, but not all locations can afford attendants. Still, this information is not usually available. Finally, if the driver has a friend around their destination they could call and direct them to a suitable location.
  8. Presently, users communicate with each other by word and cellphone to share parking information. However, this rarely happens as parking information changes too rapidly for any single individual to have an accurate model of parking availability.
  9. How often the tasks are performed depends on the driver’s needs. Commuters may park multiple times daily while students such as those from our CI may only need to park once a quarter.
  10. Time constraints on parking vary by user and destination. If the user is late for a meeting then there may be a significant time constraint.
  11. When things don’t go according to plan, users tend to rely on past solutions or repeat their actions like Justin, who had to park at the very back of the Park & Ride and had to walk to catch the bus. (CI)

Task Revisions

Based on our ESM data and feedback, there were two main changes for our tasks. First we changed the easy task to be saving a parking spot on a map rather than checking a lot’s availability. This task is useful because it allows drivers to find their car when the return to their parking spot and if the driver returns to same area, they can use the same parking spot if they believe it will be available. We changed the second task to include directions because part of the parking process is always the method that the driver uses to arrive at their parking destination.

Notes

Simon, Malloy. "Let technology find parking for you." 16 July 2008. CNN.com. 15 October 2008 <

We had one exception to this data, when Alice typed in that she had parked 20 blocks away from her destination. However we suspected that this may have been caused by an input error rather than legitimately atrocious parking conditions. Upon further investigation we discovered that she had actually walked 2 blocks and had typed in 20 by mistake. This demonstrated the limitations of our survey method, because a few mistyped answers could significantly change our results if they went unchecked.

Appendix 1: Questions and Survey Triggers

We surveyed both participants the following questions Periodic Questioning (every 3 hours from 9am - 12am):

  1. Have you parked in the last 3 hours?
  2. if yes, go to #2
  3. if no, exit survey and wait for next session
  1. Did you check in advance for parking availability?
  2. Did you have any trouble parking?
  3. How long did it take you to find a parking spot?
  4. How far was your parking spot from your destination?
  5. What area did you Park?
  6. How many times have you parked in this area before?
  7. What sort of parking location did you park in? (multiple choice)
  8. How many times have you parked in this type of spot before?
  9. How did you find your parking spot? (multiple choice)
  10. How much did you pay for parking?
  11. Were you in a hurry when parking?
  12. Are you concerned about the safety of your current parking location?
  13. Did the weather affect where or how long it took for you to park?

Appendix 2: Raw Questions and Data

Customer 1: Alan

Total # / Date / Question / Answer / Question #
1 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / No
2 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / No
3 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / Yes
4 / How long did it take you to find a parking spot? (in minutes) / 3 / 1 of 13
5 / Did you check in advance for parking availability? / No / 2 of 13
6 / Did you have any trouble parking? / No / 3 of 13
7 / How far was your parking spot from your destination? (in blocks) / 0 / 4 of 13
8 / In what area did you eventually park? (i.e. Near UW bookstore, 42 and Brooklyn, etc.) / NE 2nd St and 108 Ave NE, Bellevue / 5 of 13
9 / How many times have you parked in this area before? / 0 / 6 of 13
10 / What sort of parking location did you park in? / Parking Lot / 7 of 13
11 / How many times have you parked in this area and in this type of spot before? / 50 / 8 of 13
12 / How did you find your parking spot? / Looking Around / 9 of 13
13 / How much did you pay for parking (Use ‘0’ if you parked for free) / 0 / 10 of 13
14 / Were you in a hurry when parking? / No / 11 of 13
15 / Are you concerned about the safety of your current parking location? / No / 12 of 13
16 / Did the weather affect where or how long it took for you park? / No / 13 of 13
17 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / No
18 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / Yes
19 / How long did it take you to find a parking spot? (in minutes) / 1 / 1 of 13
20 / Did you check in advance for parking availability? / No / 2 of 13
21 / Did you have any trouble parking? / No / 3 of 13
22 / How far was your parking spot from your destination? (in blocks) / 2 / 4 of 13
23 / In what area did you eventually park? (i.e. Near UW bookstore, 42 and Brooklyn, etc.) / Microsoft Campus / 5 of 13
24 / How many times have you parked in this area before? / 50 / 6 of 13
25 / What sort of parking location did you park in? / Parking Garage / 7 of 13
26 / How many times have you parked in this area and in this type of spot before? / 50 / 8 of 13
27 / How did you find your parking spot? / Looking Around / 9 of 13
28 / How much did you pay for parking (Use ‘0’ if you parked for free) / 0 / 10 of 13
29 / Were you in a hurry when parking? / Yes / 11 of 13
30 / Are you concerned about the safety of your current parking location? / No / 12 of 13
31 / Did the weather affect where or how long it took for you park? / No / 13 of 13
32 / 10/14/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / No
33 / 10/14/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / No
34 / 10/14/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / No

Customer 1: Alice

Total # / Date / Question / Answer / Question #
1 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / No
2 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / Yes
3 / How long did it take you to find a parking spot? (in minutes) / 1 / 1 of 13
4 / Did you check in advance for parking availability? / No / 2 of 13
5 / Did you have any trouble parking? / No / 3 of 13
6 / How far was your parking spot from your destination? (in blocks) / 1 / 4 of 13
7 / In what area did you eventually park? (i.e. Near UW bookstore, 42 and Brooklyn, etc.) / Northgate / 5 of 13
8 / How many times have you parked in this area before? / 20 / 6 of 13
9 / What sort of parking location did you park in? / Parking Lot / 7 of 13
10 / How many times have you parked in this area and in this type of spot before? / 50 / 8 of 13
11 / How did you find your parking spot? / Looking Around / 9 of 13
12 / How much did you pay for parking (Use ‘0’ if you parked for free) / 0 / 10 of 13
14 / Were you in a hurry when parking? / Yes / 11 of 13
15 / Are you concerned about the safety of your current parking location? / Yes / 12 of 13
16 / Did the weather affect where or how long it took for you park? / No / 13 of 13
17 / 10/13/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / Yes
18 / How long did it take you to find a parking spot? (in minutes) / 10 / 1 of 13
19 / Did you check in advance for parking availability? / No / 2 of 13
20 / Did you have any trouble parking? / No / 3 of 13
21 / How far was your parking spot from your destination? (in blocks) / 20 / 4 of 13
22 / In what area did you eventually park? (i.e. Near UW bookstore, 42 and Brooklyn, etc.) / Roosevelt and 43rd / 5 of 13
23 / How many times have you parked in this area before? / 30 / 6 of 13
24 / What sort of parking location did you park in? / Street-side Parking / 7 of 13
25 / How many times have you parked in this area and in this type of spot before? / 10 / 8 of 13
26 / How did you find your parking spot? / Looking Around / 9 of 13
27 / How much did you pay for parking (Use ‘0’ if you parked for free) / 0 / 10 of 13
28 / Were you in a hurry when parking? / Yes / 11 of 13
29 / Are you concerned about the safety of your current parking location? / No / 12 of 13
30 / Did the weather affect where or how long it took for you park? / No / 13 of 13
31 / 10/14/2008 / Have you parked your vehicle in the last 3 hours? / Yes
32 / How long did it take you to find a parking spot? (in minutes) / 1 / 1 of 13
33 / Did you check in advance for parking availability? / No / 2 of 13
34 / Did you have any trouble parking? / No / 3 of 13
35 / How far was your parking spot from your destination? (in blocks) / 1 / 4 of 13
36 / In what area did you eventually park? (i.e. Near UW bookstore, 42 and Brooklyn, etc.) / Odegaard Library / 5 of 13
37 / How many times have you parked in this area before? / 500 / 6 of 13
38 / What sort of parking location did you park in? / Parking Garage / 7 of 13
39 / How many times have you parked in this area and in this type of spot before? / 500 / 8 of 13
40 / How did you find your parking spot? / Looking Around / 9 of 13
41 / How much did you pay for parking (Use ‘0’ if you parked for free) / 0 / 10 of 13
42 / Were you in a hurry when parking? / No / 11 of 13
43 / Are you concerned about the safety of your current parking location? / No / 12 of 13
44 / Did the weather affect where or how long it took for you park? / No / 13 of 13