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ARIN is a smartphone application designed to provide users with a more intuitive and engaging way to navigate through unfamiliar indoor environments using Augmented Reality (AR) as the interface. By leveraging AR technology, ARIN makes indoor navigation more user-friendly, accurate, and efficient, especially in large and complex indoor environments.
The increasing reliance of people on smartphones for navigation in unfamiliar environments has raised concerns about the lack of effective indoor navigation options. Despite the availability of numerous outdoor navigation techniques and GPS-based applications, the same cannot be said for indoor navigation, which is equally critical in large indoor spaces like malls, office buildings, and institutions.
This realization has prompted the question: How can we improve indoor navigation and provide a more seamless and user-friendly experience for individuals navigating unfamiliar indoor environments?
Our team has published a research paper that presents a survey of various Augmented Reality (AR) interfaces, as well as different indoor positioning and navigation techniques.
We surveyed different types of Indoor navigation techniques and Augmented Reality to implement handheld, mobile indoor navigation using augmented reality. We also studied the newest and most trending technological advancements and available tools that enhance and ease the implementation of Augmented Reality applications.
Because it was not a flexible solution to deploy the hardware across the campus, we came up with a solution to use accelerometers, pedometer available in our smartphones and marking the landmarks with the physical map of the campus and saving these data sets into our Database.
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Step 1.
1. Developer adds landmark images of the intended area.
2. Images are considered as key and the corresponding value is assigned to them.
3. They are entered to the database in the form of value pair.
Step 2.
1. Source identification is done
by extracting the text from the image captured by the user using optical character recognition.
2. The destination is selected from the list of available options by the user.
3. Text is compared to each key-value pair from the database.
Step 3.
1. Once the source and destination are verified the shortest path is calculated along with that the application counts the user's footsteps by an embedded pedometer.
2. These steps are mapped to the destination’s positional values for showing the directions to the user.
Source Detection here refers to determining the user’s current location relative to the intended region. We identified the prime locations of the navigation area, and stored in the database. We implemented a text recognizer in the backend to detect text from the captured image. The text of the prime location was stored as a key and the corresponding value of its location was saved as a key-value pair in the database to match the image with them.
Technology used - Pedometer
We integrated a pedometer into our application in order to count the number of steps taken by the user and map it to the destination location.The average steps taken by the user were recorded in the database which denoted the weight of the path and the shortest path was calculated using Dijkstra's Algorithm for guiding the user with an optimized route.
We integrated ARCore into our application to show directional arrows on the user's screen.
ARCore is Google's platform for building augmented reality experiences that seamlessly blend the digital and physical worlds.
Back then when we were working on this project we were more focused towards the development side since technology was new and complex. It took considerable amount of time in learning and integrating the 3 main functionalities (Text recognition, Navigation, Augmented reality) together.
I am proud of the work we did. However, there are few things we could have done differently.
Users should have an option to search destination and save routes through home page.
Users should be able to set date, time and destination with the help of calendar.
Users should be able to save routes in their profile to revisit again and not having to search destination again.
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Based on various feedback from 4 other peers + mentor feedback, I continually iterated my design over the span of 3 weeks- with 3 major improvements along with additional features
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Click to view full Figma work file here ↓
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I had the opportunity to work on a year-long project aimed at developing a functional product. Working alongside a team of talented and hardworking individuals in an environment that encouraged knowledge-sharing, I am grateful for the experience.
Having been a part of a successful project that was recognized with several awards, I was motivated to take up the challenge once again. The project had a significant impact on me, and I feel that revisiting it with fresh insights and a deeper understanding of UX design could further improve its performance.Here are some key insights and takeaways that I have gained from my design experience.
1. User-centered design: Always focus on the user and create designs that are centered around their needs, not your own preferences or assumptions. By prioritizing the user's needs over my own preferences, I was able to create a product that resonated with my target audience and met their expectations..
2. Consistency is key: Consistency is important in UX design to create a seamless experience for users. I used consistent design patterns, color schemes, and typography throughout the product to create a cohesive and visually appealing experience.
3. Keep it simple: Simplicity is key to creating a great user experience. I tried to avoid clutter and unnecessary features, instead focusing on the core functionality of the product. This helped users quickly and easily accomplish their tasks and goals, leading to a positive user experience.
4. Keep learning: The field of UX design is constantly changing and adapting to new technologies and trends. During my bachelor's degree, I was taught how to develop projects that meet the needs of users. And during my master's degree, I learned how to create interfaces that are both functional and enjoyable to use.
