THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF LAND SURVEYING AND GEO-INFORMATICS

LSGI4321

Individual Essay

Cheung Ka Ho (10601022D)

11/19/2011

Topic: To further enhance the transparency of the planning system and to facilitate a

wider dissemination of statutory planning information to the public, a mobile version of

the Town Planning Board (TPB)'s website was recently launched. As a GIT consultant, you

are instructed by the TPB to review this newly launched mobile version of TPB homepage.

Please critically review the strength and limitations of the technologies employed and

suggest improvements in enhancing its GIT applications.

IntroductionRecently, the use of smartphone and mobile devices has become very popular since 2007, when iPhone was released to public by Apple. It makes the web become more accessible and in 2008 mobile access to the Internet exceeded desktop computer-based access for the first time (International Telecommunications Union, 2009). Due to the great demand of mobile internet access, mobile web become more and more important for extending the market of merchants and establishing public services. As a result, the Town Planning Board, (TPB) has developed a new designed website for mobile phone access so as to promote and provide a more convenient way for public engagement. In this essay, the strengths and limitations of mobile web will be discussed and improvements of the mobile web of TPB will also be discussed.

Background of Mobile WebThe mobile web refers to the use of Internet-connected applications, or browser-based access to the Internet from a mobile device, such as a smartphone, or tablet computer, connected to a wireless network.

Traditionally, access to the Web has been via fixed-line services, which are used by desktop computers. They are not portable and users have to sit in front of the computers in order to have Internet surfing. Although notebook computers are invented and become easy to carry to outdoors, they are still inconvenient to carry because of their non-pocket size.

In 2007, the release of iPhone and Android phone made a tremendous change of internet surfing habits of people. The Web is becoming more accessible by portable and wireless devices. As shown in Figure 1, it shows the total data consumed in TB by users worldwide who use Opera Mini, which is an internet browser application on smartphones. The shift to mobile Web access has been accelerating with the rise since 2007 of larger multi-touch smartphones, and of multi-touch tablet computers since 2010 (Figure 2). Both platforms provide better Internet access and browser- or application-based user Web experiences than previous generations of mobile devices have done.

Figure 1 – Total data consumed by Opera Mini users worldwide in TB (Kozuch, 2009)

Figure 2 – Smartphones and Tablet computers

Strengths of mobile webThere are quite a number of strengths the mobile web has so that it become more and more popular nowadays.Improved user experience

Mobile websites are specifically designed for handheld devices. Nobody wants to

browse a desktop website on their tiny small-screened smartphone. According to J. Nielsen in 2011, a research was done by him on mobile website suability showed that mobile-optimized websites improve user experience and satisfaction.

Faster download speed

Mobile websites are specifically designed for mobile standards and optimal download speed. A mobile web design is small and targeted, which means less waiting and more browsing.

Engagement and context

A mobile website allows to immediately engage users with mobile-specific features. It enables services to take advantage of mobile device capabilities such as clicking on a phone number to call it or add it to the device address book. It can provide location-sensitive content. Location technologies can enable location-sensitive information be provided to a user. This can reduce the steps required for the user to reach useful content, and so makes it accessible with the least amount of effort.

More flexible and cost-effective than app development

A mobile website is generally a much less restrictive means to build a mobile presence compared to app development. For one thing, app development requires the production of different apps for different platforms such as iPhone, Android and Blackberry. It needs to submit to an app store, making apps much more fragmented and expensive to produce with a longer timeline before they reach target visitors. Most importantly, an app requires users to download the app before it can be accessed. On the other hand, a mobile website is universal to all contemporary smartphone browsers, making a mobile website more flexible and cost efficient, with fewer barriers to target users.

Inevitability

The mobile web is no longer a concept. It is a mainstream reality that will impact any organization that aims to communicate with target audiences online. Most leading industry analysts project that within a few short years, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide. The responsibility now falls on website owners to take advantage of the unique opportunities mobile offers for connecting with the growing number of visitors who will inevitably access their website on mobile devices.

Limitations of Mobile WebAlthough mobile web does have some advantages to attract people to use the mobile service and let them obtain information anywhere, it has several limitations.

Small screen size of mobile device

Smartphones usually have smaller screen size than desktop computers. The largest screen size of smartphones in the world is only 5 inches, several times smaller than desktop or laptop computers. This makes it difficult or impossible to see text and graphics dependent on the standard size of a desktop computer screen.

Lack of windows

On a desktop computer, the ability to open more than one window at a time allows for multi-tasking. Historically on mobile web, only one page can be displayed at a time, and pages can only be viewed in the sequence they were originally accessed. Even now there are some browsers providing multi-tasking, it allows multiple tabs, but sometimes a limited number, and not multiple windows in the same screen.

Navigation

Most mobile devices do not use a mouse-like pointer, but rather simply an up and down function for scrolling. This limits the flexibility in navigating the whole website.

Broken pages

On many mobile devices, a single page as viewed on a desktop is broken into segments, which are each treated as a separate page. Paired with the slow speed of mobile devices, navigation between these pages is slow.

Inconsistent of different mobile web browsers

The developer must make sure the phone works on all browsers. As there are different brands of mobile web browsers using different engines in the market, the developer must constantly test the mobile application in each of these after an update to make sure the web service continues to work correctly. The costs then increase for doing browsers compatibility testing.

Current situation and current design of the mobile website of TPBThe TPB has just established the mobile version of its website. It provides an opportunity for the public to access to TPB by using mobile devices such as smartphones. However, there are some limitations in the mobile version website.

Text only interface

As shown in Error: Reference source not found, it shows that text only interface of the homepage. Text only implies simple design but less attractive to the public. Users most likely want to have a well-designed website to surf, especially for those companies or organizations that are well-known.

No iconic links

In Error: Reference source not found, the main content is the menu that let public to link for further information. The menu consist of text only links instead of iconic links. Mobile phone users often think that clicking on an icon is much easier than to click on a text link because they are just using their fingers for web navigation. It is difficult for a person to tab on a link on the small and tiny screen of his phone.

No searching function

As shown in Error: Reference source not found, it shows the Press Release page of the mobile version website. It displays all the released press information from the most updated release back to several years ago which created a very long list of hyper-links. There is no searching function for public choose to search for released press. Public users actually cannot easily get the information they may want to know from released press as they cannot easily find the related information. Not only the page of Press Release does not provide the searching function, the whole mobile version website does not offer a searching function for public to search for useful information they need.

Some documents are computer-typed format

As shown in Figure 5, it shows the page of Latest Agenda of mobile version website. It provides links for public to download the agenda addressed by TPB each week. However, the agendas are in PDF format, which is a computer-typed format and it is not fully-supported for all browsers or mobile devices. Besides, users have to download the PDF instead of just using web browsers to surf. They have to use

another software application in order to open the PDF file. It is not user-friendly for users to get the information they need.

Figure 3 – Homepage of TPB

mobile version website

Figure 4 – Press Release of TPB

mobile version website

Figure 5 – Latest Agenda of TPB

mobile version website

Overseas examplesThere are oversea examples that can help to improve the design and the functions of the TPB mobile version website. These examples are served as references to demonstrate how to implement and how to design a user-friendly mobile web.

Example 1: Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Singapore

Government

The first example is from the Urban Redevelopment Authority of the Singapore Government, which is a department for urban planning and urban renewal, similar to the Planning Department of Hong Kong Government.

As shown in Figure 6, it shows the homepage of URA mobile version website. It is the graphical layout design instead of text-only design which is professional and

attractive. The links are iconic and are very like iPhone icons. It uses large icons with text description for each link for easy navigation. Users who use smart phones are familiar with this design as most of the applications in smartphones are designed as this type of layout. On the other hand, it provides useful enquiry tools for public to search for databases and locations. The enquiry tools let users get information they need conveniently. Also, the mobile website allows public to subscribe using RSS. It let the public track for the updated news easily.

As shown in Figure 7, it shows the feedback page of URA mobile version website. It is an online feedback form to let the public give comments to URA online using smart phones. URA can aggregate and manage comments from public more easily using the online feedback form system.

Figure 6 – Homepage of URA, Singapore Gov’t Figure 7 – Feedback form of URA, Singapore Gov’t

Example 2: South Ayrshire Council, UK

The second example is form a mobile website of a city council in the United Kingdom. It provides a mobile web map services for the public to search for planning applications.

As shown in Figure 8, public can search for archaeological sites and heritage via the mobile web. User can also search for planning application via the mobile web (Figure9). It can automatically capture user’s GPS location from the mobile device for searching archaeological and heritage sites near users. The searching results are displayed on a web map and let the users understand where the sites actually are and their detail information, which is shown in Figure 10.

This mobile website is designed with iPhone icon-like layout, which has large buttons, icons and textboxes. It is very easy for users to navigate between webpages. Also, with the iPhone application like layout, users who use smart phones easily get used to the interface.

Figure 8 – Heritage searching in

mobile web

Figure 9 – Planning Application

searching in mobile web

Figure 10 – Online web map in mobile

web

Example 3: Department of Planning and Community Development, State

Government of Victoria, Australia

The third example is from the mobile web of the Department of Planning and Community Development in Australia. It is an online web application for the public to search and view planning application in the whole city. It also let the public to view the detail report of each planning property in the city.

As shown in Figure 11, it shows the homepage of the mobile web application site. It has clear and large icons for public to navigate to different webpage easily. It provides searching function to search planning application by map or text.In Figure 12, it shows that users can simply enter the locational information and then they can get the searching result of planning applications.

Users can also view the planning property reports (Figure 13) of a site area or a planning application to have further details about the site such as gross floor area, land use zoning and existing land use.

In Figure 14, it shows that the application will automatically capture the current users’ GPS location in order to search for nearby properties through the online map. The searching results will display on the map and let users know where the planning application are.

Figure 11 – Homepage of PlanningVIC Figure 12 – Text search for planning applications

Figure 13 – Planning property report Figure 14 – Online web map for searching planning

applications

Recommendations to TPB mobile version websiteAfter reading and analyzing the overseas examples, the mobile version website of TPB can have some improvements by applying the strengths and advantages that learnt from the overseas examples.

Due to the small form factor of mobile phones, the website for mobile devices needed to be well designed. It includes simple layout for lowering the bandwidth charges and compressed contents and pages. Only the time-critical information that the general public needs to know are displayed and the information should not be too detailed. The layout can be designed like an iPhone application with large icons, text, images, buttons and textboxes for easy access and navigation because the public who uses smartphones are familiar with this kind of layout design.

Furthermore, the TPB mobile website may include some new contents such as ways for public to participate plan-making, apply planning application and make comments to those applications. An online feedback form can also be included in the mobile website for public to give comments to TPB.

On the other hand, a mobile version of the Statutory Planning Portal can be included in the mobile website for general public query. Users can just search on an online

web map or using GPS location that captured from the mobile devices to search for the Outline Zoning Plan and view the detail.

ConclusionIn conclusion, as the mobile devices are becoming more and more popular, it is inevitable to establish better usability mobile web. The mobile web should well-designed with large icons, text and buttons for users to navigate easily. On the other hand, as mobile web can access to the internal devices of a mobile phone such as GPS receivers, phone book and internal map applications, the mobile web better use this information to improve the usability of the mobile website. Using GPS locations for searching planning applications nearby helps the general public increase their engagement of planning application which happens nearby them. With the improvement of TPB planning website, the percentage of public engagement may improve.

ReferenceInternational Telecommunications Union, 2009. THE WORLD IN 2009: ICT FACTS AND FIGURES, Switzerland: International Telecommunication Union.Nielsen, J., 2011. Mobile Usability Update. [Online] Available at: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-usability.html[Accessed 11 11 2011].