Navigators
Deploy and collect nodes in teams.
- What have I got left to do?
- Am I working on the right piece of work?
Case study · STRYDE
Beyond traditional maps
Navigating locations beyond traditional maps.
01 Context
Who are STRYDE?
STRYDE, a pioneer in seismic imaging technology, set out to make this complex field accessible to a wider range of industries beyond oil and gas.
As a UX designer at STRYDE, I worked across software platforms with a team of expert engineers. Our mission: modernise seismic imaging software to make it affordable, user-friendly and highly efficient for a diverse range of clients.
02 The challenge
Rated ‘not usable’ by internal and external users.
Nodes, often numbering in the hundreds of thousands, are deployed with centimetre accuracy across deserts, forests, mountains and even Antarctica.
Our plan status screen had been rated ‘not usable’. It didn’t help people do their jobs, and the data had to be massively manipulated to make sense. It needed an overhaul.
03 Discovery
Listening to the stakeholders.
I began by working closely with our field support team, who manage STRYDE systems with our clients in the field. From this I:
- Identified more users than the screen had been designed for.
- Learnt it’s not just needed for reporting.
- Learnt maps aren’t helpful for planning when there are no landmarks.
- Learnt how plans are made: equal distances between nodes to create a grid pattern.
As the sole designer, I had to think about how we might aid deployment by:
- Improving visibility of deployment progress
- Ensuring accuracy of deployment
- Making navigational planning easier
This ensures comprehensive analysis of the land being surveyed, and accurate data.
“I don’t care about what has been done, I need to know what is left to do.”
Field Manager for Australasia
Identified users
Foremen
Manage and organise the Navigator teams.
- Ensure deployment is accurate
- Ensure deployment is completed on time
Data Officers
Survey QC.
- Ensure data quality
- Work with the foreman on accurate deployment
- Manage changes needed to keep data quality
04 Design
What’s left, at a glance.
I started with sketches, presented in early meetings with the field support team. They responded to questions from those conversations: how much work remained, how long it was taking, and how to present a better summary. I also considered whether a map-like visualisation, like OpenTable’s, might work better, and whether progress bars beat numbers.
The brief became:
- Demonstrate location in relation to other points
- Allow users to plan routes
- Handle 150,000 points
- Clearly show the status of each point, as well as a summary of the plan
- Let users see just their work, or the entire plan
I focused on refining these ideas, hoping to uncover usability issues quickly through prototypes.
4prototypes, with 4 rounds of testing and changes in between
15internal tests across different company roles
1external test, with an interview
05 Learnings
Scroll like a graph, not a list.
For our users, the relationship between the vertical and horizontal axes was crucial for visualising plans in the field, so the assumed vertical scrolling didn’t work.
We changed the layout to match how Data Officers and Foremen picture their plans: a grid with an X and Y axis, starting at 0,0.
06 Filtering
From 100% failure to a 100% pass.
Our commitment to Material Design 2.0 initially led us to filter chips for controlling plan status. However, users:
- Didn’t understand the chips’ on and off states
- Didn’t realise they could be used to filter
Changing to a filter icon and dropdown took comprehension from a 100% failure rate to a 100% pass rate in testing.
Usability and workflows
Further research during usability testing revealed a crucial missing piece: a way for Navigators to focus on their own tasks, often assigned by Foremen. We added this to the filter dropdown, so Navigators can view their designated tasks while still using other filters.
07 Colour
Emphasise what’s left to do.
Our predefined colours didn’t emphasise what every user cared about: what is left to do? We reworked the colour order to give more prominence to what’s left, or not right, than what’s done.
We also improved accessibility: most users are men, and two colleagues were colour blind.
08 A new requirement
A plan status map and a GIS map.
Because of cost, we had always avoided a GIS (geographic information system) map, but the research suggested we should provide both.
The plan status map lets users see groups of areas to fix or do, plan segments and work out efficient clusters of work for different teams. The GIS map solves different but important use cases, particularly for Foremen and Navigators.
The Product Manager took this new requirement on board. Because we build iteratively in MVP style, it will come later, as there are workarounds using software on the laptops.
“Is this real? When can we start using it?”
During the external user test
Other opportunities this project highlighted
Journey planning
Field support suggested helping crews plan trips: how many nodes to carry and where to drop them. It was explored, then judged a better fit for STRYDE’s pre-field planning software.
Why a point was skipped
Letting Navigators note why they skipped a point (impassable terrain, GPS issues) could save Data Officers unnecessary field visits. Widely liked, but it needs more testing.
Accuracy forecasting
The most common mistake is assigning a node to the wrong point and repeating it down the line. A heat map would help, but Navigators rarely check plan status, so this is better solved on the navigation screen.
Separate summary
A summary by device and by day for Data Officers and Foremen who report to different managers: an extension of plan status with a full overview.