Apps Parking Application Idea Feedback

[mchanceb]

I'm pretty new to mobile application development (I'm fairly competent with the languages though since I'm currently taking plenty of programming classes as an IT major) and was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on an idea that I have...

I'm toying with the idea of creating an app that helps users find parking around my university's campus (as the lack of available parking is currently a major topic among the student body here). The general idea that I have right now is for the user to be greeted by an interactive map of the campus upon logging into the application, this map will show all of the parking areas and will have a colored overlay depending on whether or not there is parking in that area (green = a lot of parking, yellow = little parking (gonna leave this black to save your eyes), red = no parking).

The app would get the parking information via user input as well as existing information (i.e, how many spaces are available in each area). If a user parks in Lot A, they will report that they have parked in Lot A on the application. If there are 80 parking spots in Lot A and 59 other users have reported that they parked there, this would mean that (as far as the application knows) 60/80 spots in Lot A are taken and it will appear as yellow on the map. When the user leaves the lot, they will report it in the application and the information will update accordingly.

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There are a few problems that I can think of before starting anything:

1.) I wouldn't even really know where to start with this. I've gone through some of the basic tutorials of Android Studio and am kinda starting to get a hang of it. Knowing some of the languages used in Android Studio (Java in particular) has helped me pick it up a bit quicker, but I'm not sure if I'm competent enough to give this project a shot just yet (especially since I would be doing this alone).

2.) The great majority of students around campus use iOS devices. By limiting the user population to Android users only, I'm losing over half of the user feedback that this app needs to be effective. I would need to find a friend that has experience with iOS development, or I would need to find the time to learn it myself.

3.) Like I said above, the application relies solely on user input to be effective. I'm certain that I could gain a large amount of users by advertising it around campus, since parking is currently a major issue here. But if enough users forget to mark that they've parked (or left a parking spot), the information will be pretty inaccurate. Though I'm sure there are some ways to combat this.

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What do you guys think? Is this project too overly ambitious for one newbie to complete or is it manageable? What problems do you see with this idea and what would you do differently? How would you go about creating this app and what resources would you recommend using for it? I'm open to any and all suggestions/critiques!

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

 

[Deleted User]

It's a great idea for an app, but I have to say there are some technical and practical difficulties that I can see with this.
Aside from the technical challenges, I think that your point 3) above almost surely makes the system a non-starter. As you rightly point out, not all people have an Android device, but even if you made an equivalent iOS app, there's no way to ensure that every single person who takes a parking space will register it with the app. Just think about someone arriving at the car park. They've got to voluntarily fire up your app, search for the exact location they've parked, and mark it as taken.
It's just not going to happen is it?
Sorry to rain on your parade, but if the parking bay information isn't accurate, it makes the app practically useless. But do you have ideas for alternative solutions to this problem?

So let's get on to the technical challenges. To make this app successful you're going to have to think very carefully about the UI design. Ease of use is of paramount importance with this app. It has to be extremely easy and intuitive to locate the parking bays. I'm not even convinced that your idea of showing a map is the best way. Imagine someone having to scroll and pan around a map to locate where they are. It could be a bit fiddly and time consuming. If the bays have reference numbers e.g. C40, you could have the user just type that straight in.

Then there are the issues of where to store the data. You'll presumably need a central server to accept and process the data, and enable sharing of it with all registered users. You'll need a server-side application to implement a web service and a back end database.

And finally, if you want cross platform compatibility, consider implementing this as a website. Then users on whatever device can access the system using the web browser. No local apps required!