A Shared Mobility Data Management Platform
Ride Report offers tools for managing shared mobility data, including customizable reports, fee setting, real-time tracking, trip data heatmaps, and policy monitoring. It also provides precise trip tracking, ready-made graphs, an Open Data Portal, and measures outcomes of various infrastructure changes and policies.
Company
Ride Report
Size
10-25
Industry
GovTech, Mobility Data
Target Audience
City Planners, Micromobility Operators
Role
Full Stack Designer / Lead
Position & Responsibilities
I joined Ride Report as it was maturing into a Micromobility platform during a sensitive period in Spring 2019.
As contracts and goals continue to grow, we've realized that taking some risks is necessary for our long-term survival.
After launching 3 new products and implementing more than 20 large updates, we successfully merged with Inrix Transportation Analytics in December 2023 to continue our journey as a market leader in micromobility management platforms.
Classic Product Design
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New feature developments
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Customer service related upgrades
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Fixes
We successfully delivered around 24 medium to large product enhancements (each requiring at least 2 weeks of development time), all of which had a significant impact on our continuously expanding user base. We upgraded the interface system for map views, giving users increased control and independence over the data.
Our goal was to "democratize" the user experience with our data, allowing for more detailed inquiries. We also introduced custom data imports and large-scale, time-based data plots, which allowed us to present entirely new insights into micromobility and its structural integration. Constant updates and tweaks of our data visualizations and data table handling through new data views and advanced filtering.
Research & Prototyping
Runtime ca. 3-12 months each
My responsibility was to:
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Create new products / ideas
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Conduct ideation workshops
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Lead testing and gathering of user insights
Over the past two years, we've successfully launched two new data products in the market:
- Global Micromobility Index
- Impacts - City Outcomes.
I'll provide more details about these products later.
A summary of my insights:
Our product, used by officials from small towns to large organizations, serves a broad scope and faces challenges in mapping user journeys due to diverse needs. To understand city planners' challenges better, we conducted surveys and interviews beyond our static group of loyal users.
We recognized that many cities handle data in an old-fashioned, isolated way, inhibiting flexible data contextualization. This issue was incorporated into our product manifesto. We also developed the Global Micromobility Index, a publicly available data aggregator providing new insights into cities' low-carbon mobility performance.
Our research led to the creation of the “Impacts - a city outcome storytelling” platform, underscoring the significant challenges of conducting user research in GovTech for city planning and transportation.
GMI - a global micromobility dashboard
The concept, which originated from a technical demo using public micromobility data, required us to address privacy and operator neutrality concerns.
We regularly tested with select clients to maintain our focus on delivery speed. This approach did create a short-term design-development gap, which we accepted to meet our launch timeline.
As we wrap up our initial development phase, we've scheduled a substantial UI upgrade. We've kept parts of our vision and design direction flexible to accommodate new demands as we progressed.
The platform's successful launch, also adopted by New Zealand as a public information layer, has led to new collaborations and iterations, such as the "Project Impacts" shown below.
The non-polished Beta can be found here:
Impacts - City Infrastructure Outcomes & Analysis
Effortlessly and continuously measure and share the impacts of new infrastructure, events, and policies. Cities set the parameters, and Impacts handles the ongoing data collection, analysis, and visualization.
I led the design effort from the pitching stage to post-launch in mid-2023 for ten pilot cities.
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We launched successfully with new features like RideShed maps visualizing facility reach.
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The project boosted Ride Reports by expanding micromobility tools.
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I designed customizable UX modules for social features on multiple platforms.
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This work sets the base for a product focus on outcome prediction and infrastructure storytelling.
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Early prototypes and high-fidelity mocks brought valuable feedback and created good momentum for the initial launch without delays.
Data visualization uplift
The platform manages millions of previously inaccessible data points for clients. In order to make use of all the data, I came up with some helpful actions on my end:
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Creative prototyping and regular feedback rounds refined data output. We build a first best guess and then discussed it with selected clients.
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Data visualization work emphasizes clustering, contextualization, proactive insights generation, and accessibility.
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UI challenges addressed include grouping, balancing information and details on demand, and ensuring an intuitive orientation.
Performance was critical in handling large data sets. Collaborative efforts in design, front-end, and database optimizations were crucial to enhance perceived performance and minimize delays.
Strategy / Pitches / Marketing
Typical deliverables in this space were
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Conducting strategy workshops
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Graphic Design for conventions and pitches / tenders
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Slide decks
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Visual language & branding work
In addition to standard design tasks, I actively participated in pitch work, led workshops, and created slides, documents, and communication materials for stakeholders and customers.
This encompassed a variety of projects, including conference layouts and brand design improvements. I also established efficient processes for new products, which included creating briefings and standardizing documentation styles, to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Top takeaways
I appreciate the trust given to me in this creative field. I've successfully used innovative concepts like "dynamic vision iteration" and "best-guess-designs." I've discovered that extracting and contextualizing information is key for big data. I've highlighted the need for modular data views for quick iteration and foresee auto-generated insights in future data ontology models.
I've observed that initial designs are vital in gaining momentum when problem-solving. Transitioning from bullet-point requirements to design drafts resulted in faster turnarounds and smarter solutions.