Milwaukee Tool
Location History for One-Key iOS, Android, Web
Power tools and equipment can be valuable investments. So what happens when they go missing? The adage of looking where you last left it can work, but sometimes it can be in the second to last place, or so on. What if someone has stolen it? Also, what if you want to make smarter decisions of where to lend out your equipment based on where it’s been historically? That’s where Location History, a feature I designed for Milwaukee Tool’s One-Key web and mobile apps over several months, comes in and lets you know where your tracked equipment has been over time.
MY ROLE
Entire UX process from concepting, research, testing, and leading design
TIMELINE
Spring 2020 – Early 2021
Understanding the previous experience
To start off my UX process, it was important that myself and my team of developers, managers, and copywriters understood how users previously used location data provided by One-Key to find their lost tools. At the time, only one location point was given: the most recent pinged location.
All location data for One-Key comes from where the phone is that connects to the Bluetooth-compatible equipment. Although one location is useful, when their expensive tools get stolen, providing only one location to the authorities isn’t the most helpful. Also, construction site managers wanted better insight into where tools were moving prior to the most recent location in order to make more informed tool assignments, and if a tool’s location updates, then any previous location data isn’t viewable.
Previous equipment tracking experience for web
Previous equipment tracking experience for mobile
Working out a solution
After aligning to what were the issues with the previous experience, I sketched and designed a variety of concepts for Location History, which would eventually be developed into a prototype for testing.
User journey of a foreman using Location History
One of many initial sketches figuring out how to balance the timeline with the map
Wireframe that visualized points being connected on the map, but it was scrapped due to complexity and readability
Once I nailed a solid concept to test and I gathered questions to ask in order to form a plan, I moderated A/B usability tests with some users. Testing users led to solid insights such as:
Needing to know when in time and for how long a tool went missing was a frequent ask.
Concepts only accounted for web because my team and I initially thought the feature would make most sense for bigger displays. However, after hearing how often users reference the One-Key mobile app for location information, we challenged ourselves to design and launch Location History for iOS and Android as well.
As far as for how far back the history should go, my team heard ranges from just a couple weeks to a month, which balanced out well with technical constraints when we eventually landed on displaying at most 30 days.
Questions my team wanted to have answered by users during usability tests. After my manager and I gathered these questions, I incorporated them in an open-ended manner into my test plan
Snapshot of the web prototype tested with users
One of many sketches that visualized the map and timeline components that would make it into the final product and how it fit web and mobile
Early high-fidelity iteration of mobile Location History, annotated with feedback
The final design
Combining insights from One-Key’s previous equipment tracking solution and great observations from usability testing led to the final design prepared for developers to ship for One-Key 7.7 in December 2020.
A combo of Adobe XD and Overflow is provided to devs and managers to view designs. Adobe XD provides design specifications that devs need while Overflow visualizes the connection and flow between screens for both devs and managers
Timeline
The timeline was designed in a way that users can follow seamlessly back in time all of the locations their item has been detected. In addition, data about the item is embedded in the timeline, such as for how long it was marked stolen by the user. On iOS and Android, the timeline height can be swiped in and out of view to balance its presence with the map.
Timelines for web and mobile side-by-side
On mobile, the timeline is swipeable
Map
The map conveys information that both helps users understand where their tool is and has been, as well as help find it in the case that it’s lost. Each point represents a time One-Key detected their item at a location and if many points are too close together, they cluster. The app also allows users to mark when their equipment is stolen or missing, which is represented by the red points.
Maps for web and mobile side-by-side that visualize where an item has been detected geographically by One-Key
Clusters will expand when interacted with or zoomed in
Putting it all together
When an entry in the timeline is selected, that respective point is highlighted on the map, presenting to the user where their item was geographically, when it was there, and for how long.
Selecting a Location History entry on web
Selected Location History entries on iOS and Android side-by-side
Opening the feature on mobile
Even opening the feature on mobile was totally redesigned. Instead of relegating the affordance for revealing location information to such a small row in the previous solution, a large map was introduced to the details screen of each item.
Education
New features in One-Key are highlighted with each version release, of which Location History was part of One-Key 7.7 in December 2020. Bringing attention to Location History this way both brought more attention to the feature, and educated users about what it can do and where to find it.
Educational content for Location History when users opened One-Key 7.7 for the first time
Location History today
Since its release in late 2020/early 2021, my team and I were impressed with the tens of thousands of people using Location History across all three platforms. We were researching why one platform is doing much better than the other two to understand if there are gaps in the experience, as well as iterating based on customer experience.
For One-Key 8.6, the ability to filter date ranges was added based on feedback from tool managers who want better insight into how equipment moves during a specific timeframe.