“I want to help the planet, I want to plant at least one tree...but I don’t know how, where, and when!”
“Its hard to find resources...how do I know where I can go to plant trees?”
“I have to travel a lot...if there is a way to plant tress on the way, sign me up!”
There is increasing awareness for planetary wellbeing. However, the real issues is the large gap between users and resources.
How do we get the right user to the right resource so that we fulfill our responsibilities towards our planet?
This project has a poster presentation and publication at World Resources Forum.
PlantMaps also has a published paper in Springer.
PlantMaps is an app that helps users locate spaces to plant trees, nearby nurseries, and seed dispensers — turning every city into a potential forest. It functions like a regular map, ensuring a minimal learning curve and maximum environmental impact.
A human centered approach has been followed in the design process. The solution is integrated in everyday use - ensuring ease of adaptability, retention, and efficiency.
To ensure the ease of the user, the number of options that they might need to choose from are set to almost none. By presenting the user the option to directly enter the destinations of their choice, they don’t have to look for areas that might need planting.
The call-to-action buttons and other elements have been designed in the required size and placed by following Fitts’ law to ensure discoverability and accessibility.
“Chunking” or grouping of elements based on functionality has been carried out to help users process the contents easily and to reduce cognitive load. The aforementioned components ensure the ergonomic factors of the user interface.