Week 12: ERTICO - ITS Conference

On Tuesday we had a chance to present the Google Glass for Traffic Warden project in the Ertico - ITS (European Intelligent Traffic System) Conference. It went pretty well - the people were really interested in our project!

 Essi presenting our project 

Rasmus Lindholm, the Partnership Services & Communications Director of ERTICO 

testing our application with Google Glass.

Demola in the ITS Factory Ecosystem.

Week 11: Interview in Aamulehti

Last week we promised something exciting to happen. So, here it is! Last week, on Thursday we were interviewed by Aamulehti. Aamulehti is published in the region of Tampere, and by its circulation, it is the Finland's second largest seven-day newspaper. 

And here it is: 

 Aamulehti 01.12.2014: Parkkipirkoille kehitetään älysilmälaseja

This summary in the cover of Aamulehti 1.12.2014

The article can also be found from aamulehti.fi

The video is free to watch!

The Team

One of the most important reason for this project going on so succesfully is of course our fantastic team. Our interdisciplinary team consists of five university studends with different backgrounds. We have the knowledge business, user interfaces, user experience and programming - everyone has an important role in this project, and also with helping each other. We would all like to describe our goals, responsbilities, and also tell something about ourselves for you to get know who are behind this project.

Tuğberk Duman

The Project Manager / Business Value

+358414868983, tugberk.duman@student.tut.fi, LinkedIn

Responsbilities in this project:

• Ensuring the feasibility of development plan
• Creating a business model for the end-product
• Communicating the value to the stakeholders & meeting their demand
• Determining and delegating the tasks
• Creating public awareness regarding the project and its end-product

An exciting phase before starting my studies was to win a full scholarship at Okan University for Electrical and Electronics Engineering program. To gain a wider experience in terms of international relations and multicultural environment, I joined the Erasmus Exchange program twice. I spent one semester in Opole Poland as a student which was followed by project engineering internship in Rheine, Germany. Thanks to these achivements and my above average GPA, I was awarded as a “high honour student” in my department. After graduation, I had 1 year of project management experience in the aviation industry. Currently, I am at the end of my master’s degree studies on Business and Technology Management at Tampere University of Technology.

After completing my studies I am looking forward to continuing my career in the Project Management field.

Essi Pihlajamäki

Business Value 

+358505359680, essi.pihlajamaki@outlook.com, LinkedIn

My responsibilities in this project include:

• Business aspects
• Knowledge of cars and parking with ParkMan and EasyPark
• Creating public awareness of the project and the possibilities of Google Glass
• Product testing
• Training the end users
• Stakeholder relationships

I study business in the School of Management in the University of Tampere. I’m an enthusiastic team worker and during my studies I’ve engaged in many activities related to the student organization Boomi ry. I’ve been a part of Boomi’s accounting team, corporate relations team and event organizing team. I have tutored international students from different countries.
 

Before I started my studies at the university, I studied in the entrepreneurship group in Ylöjärvi high school. In the group we had many different kind of projects, for example we started our own company and co-operated with other students from different countries. 

 
Besides teamwork and business, I’m also very interested in technology and especially new technologies, and that’s one reason why I’m very excited to be part of a Google Glass project. After this project I am looking for new opportunities related to business and technology.

 

 Hanna Remula

UI & UX Designer

 +358408312414, remula.hanna.k@student.uta.fi, LinkedIn 

Responsbilities in this project:

• Designing and evaluation of...
• user interface
• user experience
• user interaction
• End user interviews (focus point: usability issues)
• Photographing for this blog and presentations

To get a change to design a UI and UX for the new and innovative technology is very inspirational. Google Glass can offer a totally new kind of user experience, and that is also setting interesting challenges to me and the team for designing also. I study Interactive Technology at the University of Tampere, and my the master's degree program is in User Experience: Design and Evolution. My minors are marketing and social psychology, so in designing user experience, I also have a consumer experience perspective.

I have several years of experience in sales work, and now - since this year - as a customer coordination at the Yrityspäivät (the largest networking and recruiting event for academic students in Finland). So - working between human, technology and the business is a natural choice for me.

In a future I am looking forward to work with user interfaces, user experience and the consumer experience field.

Ali Waris

UI & UX Designer / Programming 
+358466312228, ali_waris89@yahoo.com, LinkedIn

Responsibilities

In the project I am responsible for the UI / UX of the application. My other is developing the front end on android platform.  Designing the interface which will put less cognitive load on the user head and eye, and make sure it should be not stressful when use for a long time. As UX designer is important to ensure that the product logically flows from one step to the next. Define interaction models, user task flows, and UI specifications. Communicate scenarios, end-to-end experiences, interaction models. Suggesting improvements in the interface from the feedback from the real user.

Background

I have 1.7 years of professional experience in working a software company. I worked on developing the Ios applications also on Enterprise solution PeopleSoft and customization of product in Silverlight and C#. Worked as a Teaching Assistant for ArcGIS lab.

Education

Master Degree Student in User Experience in TUT, Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Interests

Design application, evaluating user experience, Mobile development, Business Intelligence

Philipp Weitz 

Main Developer / Programming 

LinkedIn

Responsbilities in this project:

• Main Developer / Programmer
• Interface Design

My motivation for this project is that it allows me to work with Google Glasses. This new and state of the art technology provides huge chances for the future and I want to experience it on my own. I want to examine the possibilities and limitations of this new device. My main goal for this project is to produce a product which will provide at least the requested functionality. It is important for me that all the different elements work together to form a product which fulfils the customers’ requirements as best as possible.

Google Glass Traffic Warden: Country-Specific Challenges

When you read our blog, you might feel that everything has been unrealistically perfect about this project. We are not denying the fact that we are a great team who likes to work with each other. We have a dedicated project partner-Vincit- and Demola has been extremely generous when helping us with our needs. All in all, we can say that we are absolutely on the right track! However, it has not been easy as you might have imagined.

It is easy to anticipate that smartphones are already reaching the decline stage in the technology lifecycle, thus a new technology is expected to emerge. Could Google Glass (or virtual glasses in general) be the successor? At least that is what we thought so. The smartphones had a predecessor, namely mobile phone, that is similar only not that smart. However, Glass is a completely new experience with its different look which some even describe as ''dorky''. Now, think about marketing this product to the 40+ years old traffic wardens which are members of one of the world's shyest and/or most introvert (take your pick) society. Sounds challenging, doesn’t it?  

Speaking of country specific challenges, I am sure most of you know how long winter is in Finland. For the ones who do not know, it is 6-7 months long! And  wait! It keeps getting better: The hours of sunshine that we receive here during the winter are approximately  30-40 hours per month. (refer here: YLE-It is official Helsinki was three times glomier, for a simpler explanation refer here: Meanwhile in Finland). Now, let’s re-think that idea: We want to develop an application for the Google Glass that uses the camera to recognize license plates. This might require a bit of  daylight, don't you think?

In the winter also gloves are always needed outside in Finland

Good news; we are lucky to have a team that like challenges. We MIGHT have already overcome the aforementioned challenges.  In order to figure that out you should wait a bit more and keep visiting our blog.  We'll keep you posted!

Week 9: ...continues with Demola Jam II

On Saturday we were again jamming at Demola. We got a chance to show the Traffic Tools working on the Google Glass, and got the application tested by other jammers. 

 The other jammers were eager to test the Traffic Tools

 The lunch was delicious!

We got also very valuable feedback and suggestions for the usability issues we have

Week 9: User Interface Testing with Traffic Wardens

Last few weeks we have been developing our application now called Traffic Tools. Now it's finally working! We  also tested the application several times in the street. Few problems were discovered, but the developing continues...

On Friday we could finally get again to the Traffic Warden's office to show them, what we have developed. Traffic wardens were enthusiastic to test the Google Glass and Traffic Tools. We got really positive feedback and also valuable ideas to develop our implementation further. It was great to notice and hear that traffic warden really think that the Traffic Tools would save much time and other resources - because that is the main goal of the project! City of Tampere's head of traffic wardens Marjo Hallinen is also going to present our project in the official meeting with other cities.

Checking the licence plates with Google Glass & Traffic Tools!

Next week we are going to Vincit to present and test our application. Waiting for that!

Week 8: Mid-Pitching

In the eigth week we had the Demola Mid-Pitching event. Tugberk presented our project to the hall full of people. We got some feedback and also gave feedback to the other groups. The developing process is going further all the time. Next week we should be able to test the ...Traffic Tools!

Week 6: Visit to Vincity

  
Vincit's rubber duck

In the beginning of the project we were invited to Vincity in Hervanta by our project partner. On Friday we were finally able to visit the best place to work in Finland! Petri Suhonen kindly introduced Vincit's innovative working environment to us, and we got an opportunity to present our project to the other Vincitizens. 

 

Inspirational working environment in Vincity.

The Vincity's Street Map. It is used to describe the career progress model.

It was a great honor to have a change to get familiarized with Vincit's working methods. The whole team would like to thank Vincit and Demola to offer this opportunity.

Pssst... The Google Glass has arrived!

Week 5: The Playbook Meeting

This week we had the Playbook Meeting with our project partner Vincit in Demola. We discussed about the issues in the Playbook including the values, challenges and goals. It was very beneficial to us to get valuable feedback from project partner and from facilitator about the things that we had thought with the team. We also got some new information about the project's future. 

Next week we are going to visit the Vincity in Hervanta - looking forward to that!

Week 4: ...Continues with the Traffic Wardens Interviews

We were interviewing the traffic wardens of the city of Tampere. It was so great to hear that they and also other cities are really enthusiastic to this project. They are willing to co-operate with us as much as we need to, and they are really waiting for this project to go further. The new system is now needed to replace the old-fashioned system, and our project with the brand new technology is considered very exciting.

 

 

Traffic wardens working in the Tampere area

We got also very important information about the typical working day of traffic wardens. With that we can understand and develop the process - and continue working with the project.

 

This car is using Easypark

 

With this handheld "computer" the parking fee tickets are written now manually.

Thanks for the interviews! Co-operation continues...

Week 4: Time = Money

In the fourth week of our project we were waiting for algorithm and the Google Glasses to arrive. Meantime we were considering the values and needs of our product. For that we needed valuable experience and knowledge from the traffic wardens. We had many thoughts and questions in our minds, and we decided to arrange a interview with traffic wardens to get some answers and feedback about our design this far. Based on those interviews we could design our product further. 

One of the most important things was to to find out the process of their normal working day duties. How long it does take to check a) one car's b) for example 100 cars' parking tickets manually? Our expectation is that with Google Glass the process is much simplier, and takes much less time. And in this work especially - time is money.

Of course the time and the money aren't the only values we are delivering to the customer. A hands-free system is not only effective but also ergonomic and reduce the workload and unnecessary work tasks. And this could maybe give a focus on something new - like taking photos of graffitis etc. and reporting of those - and so on. By that the city and its citizens benefit too. Being also the first one to use this technology makes traffic wardens the pioners in their area of expertice.

In Demola's No-Slide Pitching event we were supposed to bring all that value together and present them only in a one minute - without any slides, videos or similar. We got feedback about defining the target group, and after some changes to the pitch - it sounded pretty good! Thanks to Philipp presenting our ideas in front of audience!

Week 3: Creating Value & Jamming at Demola

Value Creation Workshop 

This week the whole group participated in the value creation workshop. The first part of the workshop gave use a theoretical overview about value propositions and how those should be communicated to different stakeholders. The second part required us to create a one minute pitch to communicate our values. This workshop helped us a lot. It was not only the fact that we learned about the basics of pitching and the NABC model. It was also useful to understand everybody's individual ideas and to combine all of them into one project vision.

Demola JAM 

Last Saturday we went to the Demola JAM. In this whole day workshop we managed to get some interesting insides about our project. We thought we would only have one group of users which we would bring value for. Everything seemed to be so easy but in fact it is not! The workshops made us think more about our stakeholders (primary and secondary) and about their wishes and needs. We developed a very simple prototype of Google Glasses and tried out different user interface designs for our application. All in all it was a great experience. Not only because we where able to get further with our project idea. It was also a great team building experience.

Other activities 

During the week we finalised our playbook and started to think about our development process and tools. We had a look on the Android development environment and created repositories for the Google Glass application and licence plate integration.

We are ready and eager to start our first Demola innovation cycle next week!

Week 2: The Initial Meeting with Vincit

First Team Meeting

This Thursday we had the first team meeting. We mainly talked about our individual project visions, deadlines and what we have to do first to get the project started. We talked about our meeting on Friday and came up with 7 points which needed to be clarified.

1. What is Vincits vision of the project?
2. Has Vincit been working on this project before?
3. What resources will Vincit provide? (contact persons, libraries, licenses, hardware etc.)
4. To what extend we could share details of the project with our own contacts? (how confidential the project is)
5. How much will Vincit actively participate?
6. Is the license plate library compatible with Google Glass? Or is it just used through an android app? 
7. (What are the success criterias?)

Meeting with Vincit

On Friday we had our first meeting with Vincit and it was an eye-opener for us. We got the impression that our customer is really interested in the project, which was very motivating for the whole team. We decided on the playbook deadline and the playbook review meeting. Also, we discussed about our main need: "Google Glasses".

All in all, the meeting gave us a great idea about Vincit's goals and success criterias. The first contact was very promising and we are looking forward to get started with the requirements gathering process and the playbook.

Week 1: Starting the Project

The project started with the Demola Fall 2014 Kick-Off, where we finally got to meet each other and the Demola staff.

As a team we discussed the project's goals, and team member's areas of expertise and our experience. We decided to choose Tuğberk for project manager. We also agreed to meet weekly on Thursdays. We started also the discussion of the project goals, and the basic roles which each of us would have in this project. Because there was the initial meeting with Vincit organized for next week's Friday, we decided to think what should we ask from the project partner about the project. The other task for everyone in the team was to got familiarized with the basics of designing process for Google Glass. Also the Facebook group for the internal communication for the team was created.

We explored some information about designing for Google Glass. We found few very useful guidelines for the start of this project. The first one is provided by Google developers: Start building great Glassware. It includes tools for designing, developing and distributing the glassware. The second one is about Building Your First Glass App - a very practical tutorial for aspiring Google Glass Developers. 

We are all looking forward to meet the Vincit next week!

About the Project: Google Glass for Traffic Warden

Welcome to the project blog for the Demola Project 'Google Glass for Traffic Warden'. We are working on this project for autumn 2014 and it is finished in January 2015. The project partner is Vincit and it is organized by Demola Tampere.

 The timetable

The goal of this project?

It is to implement a software running on Google Glass, which automatically recognizes license plates of parked cars and shows information whether their parking fee has expired. - tampere.demola.net

So, what are we doing in this project? 

Project involves at least implementation of the software for the Google Glass, most probably an application for Android which communicates with the Glass, and a backend for storing the data. Project also needs to be concepted further, and UIs have to be designed.  - tampere.demola.net

Our five member student team includes expertise in several areas - business, programming, user interface and experience design - just few of these to mention. The team is introduced later on this blog.

We all are really enthusiastic for to start this project. More is to come - stay tuned!