Nobody in this team has developed a mobile app before, with Jacob being the only team member confident enough to learn the new skill in such little time. The team has decided to attempt to develop the app for final submission for a few selected scenarios, however there will be active participation amongst all group members required in order to develop the new skills set and research.
Android SDK allows us to incorporate google API’s with ease into the app due to the Android-based operation system. The java-like language provides some familiarity to some of us, however the knowledge we have is only basic opposed to what is required for development. This is where the iterative development method would come in hand and great use, as we are able to release prototypes often and then build off these prototypes to improve performance. The Google API’s incorporated into our prototype allow us to enable a GPS feature in the app, which allows the user to find the nearest hospital and be guided to it. This concerns me, as the Google map API requires a data connection in order to work efficiently for the user; however it is the only option we have come across to date. There were suggestions regarding an augmented reality hospital finder, where the user can hold up their phone and the feature would be able to tell the user the distance to the hospital and direction – almost like a compass. Given the relatively short time frame however, and the many features we are trying to include in this app – the augmented reality option would have to be kept in mind for the future of the application once assessment is over.
Social media was brought up recently by the tutor. This is not used as a social tool, but as a marketing strategy. The app can have it’s own social media accounts to share information viral to fans and friends through their news feeds, which in turn would promote the app and it’s services. Again this is excluded from the scope of the current project; but may be a feature in the future for the completed app.
Stage Four: Research into development
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