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What is a map?

As iRobot's suite of products expand beyond floorcare, and we work towards a home centric app, it has become increasingly important to be intentional about how we leverage our mapping capabilities — Our current maps have a lot of elements, and as we expand our product lines and features they’ll have even more. To address this, I conducted an audit of maps today, their purpose & their potential in a future smart home centric app.




Role & Team: Sr. UX Designer, iRobot

Tools: Miro, Figjam

Skills: UX Discovery + Ideation

Deliverables: Audit, Direction for future functionality


 

APPROACH
  • Distill the main jobs we rely on maps to accomplish today

  • Explore what types maps are most critical to achieve these jobs

  • Consider what jobs we will want maps to accomplish in the future


AUDIT OF TODAY

WHAT WE FOUND

At their core, iRobot leverages maps to offer transparency 🪟 or control 🎮.


Though there were many map types in the current app, we could really break down what we need to 4 main categories:


1. Home Map 🪟

A living, ever evolving map that is the underlying spatial information to drive any other map in the app.

Key Job: Provide a single, easily comprehendible source of truth for spatial characteristics of the home.

2. Display of Data 🪟

A map used to tell a particular story, displaying only what is necessary to convey that information clearly and concisely.

Key Jobs:

  • Static: Summary of a goal or mission(s), etc. – quickly show what area was covered, objects encountered, dirt events, new spaces found, etc.

  • Living: “Live” snapshot of the home – answers the question: what is the most important thing going on in the home, now?

3. Editing 🎮

A view of the map with controls to add or edit characteristics of the basic map.

Key Job: Enable map customization, such as dividers, zones, labels, viewpoints etc.

4. Mission Initiation 🎮

A view of the map with controls specific to starting, or controlling robot missions

Key Job: Initiate & control a robot at the start of & during a mission.

NEXT STEPS

As a result of this exploration, further discovery work has been defined & workshops are in progress to collaborate with product and research to answer questions like:

  • What does each view of the map look like – what do we need to show (or not show) in order for it do its job successfully?

  • When would we need to transition from one map type to another? What do those transitions look like? How can we make these transitions seamless for users?

©2024 LAURA TRAMONTOZZI

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