Web-based or mobile-based application?
A vital consideration to our project is determining which platform to use, as it is generally considered that this has strong implications on usability, ease of use and who might use the app [3]. Based on market research and evaluation of similar apps, there tends to be a wide range of platform usage. This means we are free to choose a platform that suits our app the best, rather than being restricted by what is considered to be a market normality. Firstly, we should compare platforms, and secondly we will conclude with which suits our project the best.
A web application is a piece of software that runs on a web browser (mobile and desktop), written with any of various browsers supported programing languages [1] while mobile applications are software designed to run on mobile devices [2]. Mobile applications are required to be installed and usually platform or operating system specific; mobile apps designed to run on one OS cannot run on another OS without significant changes to the software due to difference of source code programing language etc.
One of the main advantages of web applications is that they run without distributing or installing any software[1], mobile applications on the other hand provide access to the innovative features of mobile devices such as location services, network services, camera, microphone etc. that extends the operability of the application in more useful ways than it is, on a web app. The ubiquity of mobile computing which has shown no signs of slowing[5], makes it important for applications to have mobile versions, while this can be capital and resources intensive it also has the potentials to reach a maximum number of users.
After a careful research of the deliverable features of TravelSafe, the group decided to start it off as a web application with APIs that mobile versions of the application will be incrementally built around. An Application Programming Interface (API) is a way for an application to use and/or exchange data with other applications over the internet [3], some applications like Facebook open their APIs for free while other are rather closed for reasons beyond the scope of this post. TravelSafe will make its data available via an API, which will be used to design the mobile versions of the app for all the popular mobile operating systems as well as extending the functionalities of the web [4].
The TravelMate Web based application will serve as a data and user configuration repository, a separate post has been made on this blog about TravelMate’s data sources (click here), please refer to that post for more details. We are aware that the web version of this application will be limited in implementing the neat granular “Nice to have” features such as voice commands, location detection etc. however it will implement all of the important features such as safest route generation, Alert Pushouts etc. The mobile version of TravelMate will then use the data provided by the web version’s API to extend the functionality of the application by adding all the “nice to have” features listed above, this way we reach a wider population in a very limited time.
This post represents that the group has chosen appropriate economic and social Contextual Factors that directly link to the marking criteria, and are vital to understanding what requirements the product will have in terms of technological platform. This is based on market analysis, evaluation of existing app technology, and identification of platform limitations. There is evidence that questions and the short-list of app features have been chosen intelligently (by reference to literature and analysis) to produce a conclusion of professional quality, leading to a successful product.
This post additionally represents Engineering decisions. This is based on the Contextual Factors and literature review the group have tailored the product to incorporate a platform which has been identified as being useful, technologically reliable and with ease of access. This dictates future engineering steps, illustrates how and why the product has been influenced in its design, and shows how engineering may help solve problems.
Written by Ashiru.
[5] Cambridgescholars.com, 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/58105. [Accessed: 26- Apr- 2015].