SmartCity

Provides services for users, businesses, and brands, helping them to create their own ‘smart cities’. Discover how Computools developed a geolocated social network for tourists and businesses that allows users to find interesting places and events nearby, connect with other tourists and get useful information about their surroundings.

Industry:

Hotels, Restaurants and Leisure

Location:

USA

Business size:

Startups

Problem and Solution Summary

The client wanted to create an app that would allow users to find interesting places and events nearby, connect with other tourists and get useful information about their surroundings.

Computools suggested developing an app that uses geolocation to provide users with relevant content. The application includes the following features.

Search
Tags
Instant messaging
Content information
Augmented reality

The app has been successfully launched and has received positive feedback from users.

About the Client

The start-up was founded in 2017 in the United States. Its team is made up of experienced professionals in technology, tourism and hospitality. The company aims to create a new generation of mobile applications for tourists and businesses.

Outcome

Computools' experience and the expertise of our engineers allow us to create, implement, and ensure the stable operation of applications with a wide range of features. The result of this project was an application distributed among local and international users. Due to its usefulness for a wide audience, including various industries and businesses, the client's profit has increased several times over.

Several key issues we solved:

Implemented and customised a geospatial search engine.
Implemented social media platform options: sharing images, messaging, uploading and editing own photos, subscription, etc.
Built-in internal 3D navigation can use any other third-party navigation system or user's favourite travel app.

+78%

Throughput, Users

+61%

AVERAGE ORDER VALUE

+62%

INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY

+58%

INCREASE IN REVENUE

-47%

REDUCTION IN COSTS

53%

BUSINESS PROCESS AUTOMATION

Business challenge

weaknesses

The need to develop many separate elements of the application for each location
The lack of time for comprehensive testing

strengths

The great potential of the application for use in travel, advertising, brand promotion
Application with disruptive technology, which helps to popularise it
Wide application functionality

Project Completion Details and Current Arrangements Why Computools?

Business challenge

Project Completion Details and Current Arrangements

The SMARTCITY project was a collaborative effort with Computools and the client. The initial phase involved defining project goals and identifying potential challenges. Computools then conducted in-depth research and analysis to explore existing solutions and develop their own innovative approach.

Currently, Computools and the client maintain an ongoing partnership. Computools provides ongoing support and maintenance for the app while the client continues to leverage its features to engage users and grow their business.

Business challenge

Why Computools?

SMARTCITY's decision to partner with Computools was driven by a combination of factors. Computools' demonstrated expertise in the travel and tourism industry and our proven track record of successfully delivering innovative mobile app solutions instilled confidence in SMARTCITY's leadership. Furthermore, Computools' agile development methodology, characterised by transparency and open communication, aligned perfectly with SMARTCITY's own collaborative approach.

Contact Computools' experts to learn what we can do for your business!

STORY IN DEPTH

The company conducted market research and considered several options. When selecting a contractor, the client considered the following factors.

Experience in developing mobile applications for tourists and businesses
Knowledge of the tourism and hospitality industry
Ability to provide a full range of mobile application development services, including design, development, testing and launch
Feedback from other clients

Computools met all of the client's requirements. The company has years of experience developing mobile applications for various industries, including tourism and hospitality. Computools also has a team of experienced professionals who specialise in developing mobile applications for tourists.

Project Description

The client sought to create a product that would be equally useful to businesses and customers, would be able to connect them and enhance their journey with useful information. The main principle is to display useful information about nearby establishments in the app and augmented reality based on geodata.

The Computools team took on the task of mobile app development to build the functionality of an Android application that would meet the target audience's needs. The app shows Wikipedia articles about the nearest objects, Google Place, general geo content, and more. The application is also supplemented with an internal instant messenger that allows the creation of groups and the sharing of information in a new way. Chat rooms can be private, public, or even just a place where users can collaborate with themselves until they're ready to invite others.

The app also allows the user to tag any object in any photo, link it back to its original place and discover it in augmented reality when the user is there. The app gallery gives info about the weather at the time of the photo, the current weather and the closest Wikipedia articles to the location of your photo.

Digital Platform & Technology

The team determined the stack of technologies needed to complete the tasks based on the goals and needs of the project. The optimal solutions were identified, providing the necessary functionality and stable operation of the platform.

Java

Java was designed to be easy to use and is therefore easier to write, compile, debug and learn than other programming languages. This allows the creation of modular programs and reusable code. One of the most significant advantages of Java is its ability to move easily from one computer system to another.

Android SDK

Android SDK is an open-source platform allowing developers to share worthy and precious technologies on a larger scale. It is coupled with many sets of libraries and development tools, which help the software programmers to build and test various applications. Android SDK supports all Android versions, which means developers can develop and test Android applications for older version devices also.

Retrofit 2

Retrofit is a REST Client for Java and Android. It makes retrieving and uploading JSON (or other structured data) relatively easy via REST-based web services. Retrofit is used in the following three classes: model class, which is a JSON model; interfaces that define the possible HTTP operations; Retrofit.Builder class - Instance, which uses the interface and the Builder API to allow defining the URL endpoint for the HTTP operations.

rxJava

Reactive extensions in Java allow you to manipulate multiple actions simultaneously due to certain system events. Rx allows you to use functional transformations over streams of events, and it doesn't require using nasty things like callbacks and global state management.

ButterKnife

ButterKnife is small, simple and lightweight. It allows developers to inject arbitrary objects, views and OnClickListeners so they can focus on writing useful code. Consider Android ButterKnife a reduction library.

Communication Framework

One of the important points of work on a mobile app development project is establishing a stable and high-speed communication system. This allows quick decision-making and approval. Skype was used for interaction, allowing for exchanging information by conducting video and audio conferences during the project discussion.

Skype

Jira

Team

Computools screened their pool of software engineers. The most experienced developers were chosen to accelerate the mobile app development.

Business Analyst

Nikita Abelmasov

Nikita started working on commercial IT projects in 2009, focusing on web development, then switched to management and BA in 2015. He has extensive experience in requirements gathering, start-up and ongoing business solutions consulting, development preparation and organising business processes for a wide range of mixed teams. He is passionate about urban exploration, new technologies, photography and sci-fi universes.

Project Manager

Viktoriia Semenchenko

Viktoriia is an open-minded Project Manager at Computools with over four years of experience in software development using Agile and Waterfall methodologies. With a background in Business Analysis and Scrum Master courses, she excels in building productive customer relations and delivering successful projects. Viktoriia's skills in managing multiple teams, facilitating, negotiating and coordinating software development using Agile and Scrum make her a valuable asset to the company.

Team lead

Vladyslav Komarov

Vladyslav has a rich history in mobile app development and is known for his expertise in building applications that run on multiple platforms. With a deep love for coding, Vladyslav is a developer and a technology enthusiast who stays up to date with the latest trends in the industry. He enjoys exploring new tech gadgets and experimenting with coding projects in his free time.

UX/UI Designer

Denys Hubriienko

Denys is a highly skilled designer with a keen eye for detail. He is also a talented communicator and can effectively collaborate with teams of developers and engineers. He is a big fan of travel and loves to explore new cultures. He believes travelling is a great way to learn about different people and perspectives.

COMPUTOOLS ENGINEERS

Quality Assurance Engineer

Glib Kovalenko

Glib has over three years of experience as a manual QA. He has demonstrated proficiency in testing websites and mobile and desktop applications. He deeply understands client-server applications and excels at writing and maintaining relevant documentation. His dedication to ensuring product quality and standards sets him apart.

1. Computools team 2. SmartCity

Business Analyst

Nikita Abelmasov

Project Manager

Viktoriia Semenchenko

Team lead

Vladyslav Komarov

UX/UI Designer

Denys Hubriienko

COMPUTOOLS ENGINEERS

Quality Assurance Engineer

Glib Kovalenko

CEO

Story of a Team Decision Backstage Communication Flow

Story of a Team Decision

The Computools team that worked on the project was formed by skilled specialists with experience in developing mobile applications for tourists.

Backstage

The backstage of the project was a series of meetings and conversations that took place before, during and after each sprint. These meetings were essential for ensuring that the project was on track and that the team was aligned on goals and objectives.

Sprint Retrospective

The sprint retrospective was a meeting held at the end of each sprint to reflect on the team's performance and identify areas for improvement. The team discussed what went well, what could be improved, and what changes they would make for the next sprint.

Planning Session

The planning session was a meeting held at the beginning of each sprint to define the goals and objectives for the sprint. The team discussed the backlog, prioritised the tasks, and created a sprint plan.

Sprint Demo

The sprint demo was a meeting held at the end of each sprint to showcase the team's progress. The team presented their work to the client and received feedback.

Communication Flow

The communication flow between the team and the client was essential for the success of the project. The team used a variety of communication channels, including video calls, phone calls, email and chat.

Project Management Methodology

The optimal methodology is selected to work on the project, which determines how the code will be developed, tested and released. We chose Scrum, a flexible, agile methodology.

Scrum addresses complexity in work by making information transparent so that people can inspect and adapt based on current conditions rather than predicted conditions. Transparency of common terms and standards is required in Scrum development to ensure that what is being delivered is what was expected. A frequent inspection ensures progress and detects variances early on so that adjustments can be made quickly.

Project timeline

5 months

11 months

1 week

Consulting & design phase

Engineering phase

Launch

CONSULTING

Defining business goals and target audience
Analysing competitive market and identifying unique selling points
Studying feasibility and recommending technology
Researching users and developing personas
Planning project roadmap and resource allocation

Product DESIGN

Establishing user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design principles
Designing information architecture and navigation flow
Wireframing and prototyping for iterative feedback
Branding and visual style guidelines
Interaction design and animation prototypes

Product Engineering

Developing software based on a chosen technology stack
Developing Agile methodology (Scrum)
Integrating and testing continuously(CI/CD)
Optimising security and performance
Bug fixing and maintenance during development

Launch

Developing marketing and communication strategy
Optimising for app store (ASO) and SEO
Beta testing pre-launch and user feedback
Launching or campaign execution
Monitoring performance and studying post-launch analytics

Design

The designer’s role was to provide an intuitive interface and extreme responsiveness that will provide superior UX and high user retention.

USER PERSONA → WIREFRAMES → USER INTERFACE

USER PERSONA

Unveiling the ideal tourist powering the SMARTCITY app

WIREFRAMES

Building the framework for a seamless user experience

USER INTERFACE

Crafting the visual language of connection and discovery in SMARTCITY

PRODUCTION RELEASE

Following the completion of all development and testing activities, the SMARTCITY app was released to the public in a phased rollout. The first phase of the rollout included a limited release to a select group of users who provided feedback that was used to improve the app before its wider release. The second phase of the rollout included a global release to all users.

ONGOING SUPPORT

Computools provides ongoing maintenance and support services for the SMARTCITY app. These services include:

Bug fixes and security updates
New feature development

Specific examples of ongoing support activities include monitoring the app's performance and identifying potential issues, and working with SMARTCITY to develop new features and functionality