Document Type

Project

Lead Author Type

CIS Masters Student

Advisors

Dr. Jonathan Engelsma, jonathan.engelsma@gvsu.edu

Embargo Period

12-16-2014

Abstract

Many dogs don’t get enough exercise and people may be unaware of great hiking locations in their neighborhood. Paw Parks iOS mobile application (app) was created to raise awareness of pet friendly locations and encourage dog lovers to be more active with their pets. Paw Parks uses GPS to obtain the user’s current location and displays a map with pins indicating nearby parks. The user can click on the park and see a park description, amenities list, photos, reviews, and can even log a visit. The user can also leave a review or comment on the park, mark the park as a favorite, and edit park information. If the user’s favorite dog friendly area is not available on the map, they can easily add it. Paw Parks is a crowdsourced application that relies on users entering park data.

Paws Parks includes a user profile area where the user can enter their dog(s) and dog’s profiles along with notes on their favorite food, birthday, and photo. In the profile area, the users will see a collection of all the photos they have posted, their history of check-ins, and quick links to their favorite parks. One challenge of this application is to get users to add data so the app is more useful. However, the love most dog owners have for their pets and social media features make Paw Parks an app that is expected to maintain an active user base. In addition, gamification components are included to encourage interaction and data input. The user with the most check- ins becomes Top Dog of the park and has their profile image, name, and number of check-ins displayed on the park. Each photo also has a number indicating the number of likes it has received.

Many times application development is specific to company use, which can be either confidential or too obscure for family and friends to interact with the application. Mobile application development is unique from other application development since smartphones are widespread and common making it fun and easy to share, which allows you to involve your friends and family. With an idea for a new app, persistence and dedication to learn, anybody could be an iOS mobile application developer.

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