Product Experience

Enhanced Location: Designing Context-Aware Experiences Around Places

Introduction

Enhanced Location refers to the concept of consolidating pertinent location-related information from various sources, such as on-device data, social networks, social location services, and location-based services, and delivering it to the user through points of interest.
Explored how location intelligence could transform the way users discover, understand, and interact with places.
The study investigated how to combine maps, social data, personal content, and location services into a unified experience.
Designed concepts for location-based discovery, personalized widgets, place sharing, and contextual recommendations.
Focused on building trust, user control, and meaningful interactions with location-aware technology.

User Benefits

Enables users to gain a deeper understanding of the context surrounding a place and access relevant content or perform actions related to that place, eliminating the need to switch between multiple applications and services.
Empowers third-party developers to access and utilize aggregated location-related content through our APIs.

Assisting in Locating the Right Place

Assists users in finding the most suitable location by providing rich content associated with the place.
Facilitates decision-making processes about a place.
Allows customization of location-based content according to user preferences.

Helping Users Stay Informed about a Place of Interest

Offers the capability to create widgets showcasing specific places of interest.
Facilitates tracking and management of events occurring in and around a place.
Enables users to share place-related content with others.

Adding Meaning to a Place

Enables capturing location-specific content using the device's camera.
Enhances the assignment of personal significance to a place.

Use Case: Exploring Rich Content Related to a Place

User searches for a place and proceeds to visit it, such as going out for breakfast.
The user receives a comprehensive and customizable view of content aggregated from various location-based services.
By swiping left, the user accesses activities, media uploads, and past/future events associated with the location.
Swiping right reveals photos taken by the user and their friends in close proximity to the place.

Use Case: Customizing Location-Based Content

User searches for a known place they plan to visit.
User customizes the information they wish to access, such as airline prices, weather updates, or news.
The user creates a widget displaying the selected information, allowing them to stay informed and make travel-related decisions more efficiently.

Use Case: Sharing a Place

User wants to share a place they have visited with a friend who might be interested.
User selects the desired sharing method.
User chooses the relevant content they want to share and attaches a personalized message to encourage their friend to visit the place.

Dependencies & Risks

The success of enhanced location experience relies on our ability to access and utilize content from location-based services, including social platforms.
There is a risk of competing directly with Google Maps, which performs similar functions. However, differentiation can be achieved by incorporating device-wide content and allowing users to customize their preferred services.

Android Location Object: Google Search Result

Actions

Zoom in to address
Set your location here
Directions to this address
Directions from this address
Add as contact

Data

Place Name
Street Address
Phone Number
Website

Enhanced Location Object

Sources

Contacts, Calendar, CMP, Maps, etc.
Google Local, Yahoo Local, Yelp, CitySearch, etc.
Facebook, Yelp, Latitude, Loopt, Dodgeball, etc.

Content

Calendar events, Photos, Videos, Music events, past location searches
Ratings, Reviews, Hours, Price range, parking, Photos, Videos, etc.
Contact's addresses, Contacts who "liked" this place, contacts who have visited, friends currently at the location, past places visited, friend's geo-tagged photos

Enhanced Location Object Types

Basic Android Platform: Provides location as a lens by aggregating on-device content in one place.
Location as a Container: Aggregates on-and-off device content, allowing users to choose which content to display.
Enhanced Location Object: Integrates any location-based service based on the type of point of interest (POI), potentially incorporating recommendations and crowdsourced useful content. Fully customizable by the user.

Enhanced Location Object Actions

Append to status
Set as presence (street, city, country, etc.)
Insert into message (SMS, Email, Messaging)

View

Activity (current and upcoming events)
Media (photos, videos, etc.)
Information, services, and content related to the place (reviews, travel information, etc.)

Create

New event here (Calendar, group message)
Custom widget from this location (activity stream, navigation)
New to-do item (triggered)
Top 5 most active places

Add

URLs from the browser
Message/thread from any conversation
Media from the camera

Set Current Location

Check-in on social location services (Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat, etc.)

Unresolved Issues

User Experience

How do users perceive saved places? Should they be treated as "contacts" or separate objects?
What are users' mental models regarding unnamed/temporary places versus permanent long-term places?
At what level of accuracy does storing a location become insignificant? For instance, if the location fix is as broad as a city, users may be less inclined to "save" it.

Interaction

At what point does it make the most sense for users to switch to a map view of a location? Should it be from the list view or the "Location Detail" view?
Which address should be stored if a reverse geocoded location fix lacks precise coordinates?

Technical

Is it feasible to replace Google Maps' Location Picker with our own?
How long does tracking a location and performing reverse geocoding typically take?

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