Hi everyone,
The way Highway Radar alerts you about upcoming threats was initially designed at the very beginning of the applications lifetime. At that time the application was very limited in terms of features, and my hands we quite tightened. As the application grew up, it gained a lot more capabilities helping with alerting, such as road graph, speed limits, tts, etc. All these improvements brought updates to how the app alerts; however, the general idea remains the same -- we have 5 threat levers (dots), and we have a beeper. The muting behavior hasn't changed since the very first version of the app.
I think as the app grew a lot, it is time to redesign all this from scratch. To do this, I want to ask your opinion, what would be an ideal alerting behavior for you. You may be either generic or specific, I appreciate any input. Also, please don't be concerned about any app's limitations, just describe your ideal scenario.
Let me be the first, to show what I'm expecting to see, check the spoiler.
This is what I think about it; however, I'm absolutely sure, you may come up with some great ideas I couldn't even think about. Please share your thoughts and what kind of alerting you think as ideal. If you think the existing way of alerting is close to ideal, please let me know either.
The way Highway Radar alerts you about upcoming threats was initially designed at the very beginning of the applications lifetime. At that time the application was very limited in terms of features, and my hands we quite tightened. As the application grew up, it gained a lot more capabilities helping with alerting, such as road graph, speed limits, tts, etc. All these improvements brought updates to how the app alerts; however, the general idea remains the same -- we have 5 threat levers (dots), and we have a beeper. The muting behavior hasn't changed since the very first version of the app.
I think as the app grew a lot, it is time to redesign all this from scratch. To do this, I want to ask your opinion, what would be an ideal alerting behavior for you. You may be either generic or specific, I appreciate any input. Also, please don't be concerned about any app's limitations, just describe your ideal scenario.
Let me be the first, to show what I'm expecting to see, check the spoiler.
- Police
- For police on the same road I want a voice message 3-5 miles ahead - "Police reported in 4 miles 3 seconds ago on <street name>"
- Another reminder voice alert ~0.5-1mi before the marker: "Approaching police, speed limit 60, confirmed 15 seconds ago on <street name>"
- For police not on the same road I want a voice message 0.5-1 miles ahead
- I want another voice message if a stale police alert gets confirmed: "Police in 2 miles on <street name> confirmed 5 seconds ago"
- I want a beeper to start if I'm closer than 1 mile and I'm going PSL+3 or PSL+5% -- whichever higher
- I also want an option to temporarily bump beeper threshold for a given alert, say to PSL+10
- The beeper volume should go down about 3-5s after it starts
- I want to be able to disable beeper while not dismissing an alert completely (e.g. getting a reminder voice message)
- I like how police markers are displayed on the map now -- can't come up to anything better
- Aircraft
- For every aircraft I want both an arrow and a map marker with trace to be displayed
- I want every dangerous aircraft in 20mi radius to be displayed as an arrow, not necessary alerting audibly
- As an aircraft approaches I want
- To get a voice message with all the ID information
- The map to zoom out to fit the trail of the aircraft
- I want to be able to disable the map zoom out for a particular alert without dismissing the alert
- Once the aircraft is getting close to the kills zone (where your car is <2000ft away and in the line of sight)
- I want a beeper to kick in with the similar rules as I described for police
- I want another voice message like "Aircraft approaching, speed limit 50"
- I want to be able to quickly whitelist an aircraft to avoid getting any more alert on that one
- Historical
- I want a voice announcement when the risk score goes up fast
- I also want a voice alerts about a mile ahead, when I'm approaching a "hot spot" on the heat map
- Hazards
- I want a voice message ~0.25-0.5 miles ahead
- I want them to be displayed on the map as they are now
- Speed cameras
- I want a voice message ~0.5 miles ahead
- I want a beeper if I'm PSL-1 or faster start ~0.25 miles ahead
- I want them to be displayed on the map as they are now
- RL cameras
- I want a voice message only ~1000-2000ft ahead
- I want them to be displayed on the map as they are now
This is what I think about it; however, I'm absolutely sure, you may come up with some great ideas I couldn't even think about. Please share your thoughts and what kind of alerting you think as ideal. If you think the existing way of alerting is close to ideal, please let me know either.
