Chad Tinsley 3/13/2013 Geog 583 Term Project: Pickup Portland Abstract: There is a real culture surrounding pickup

sports in Portland, OR. Pickup games are generally non-competitive casual gatherings that are unassociated with any league. While a pickup sport's popularity varies by city the most common sports in Portland's pickup culture are soccer, basketball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, and touch football. This paper proposes a design for an interactive web map that allows users to find or create pickup games. The game may be daily, weekly, monthly, or just a one-time occurrence. The principle function of this design is to provide pickup sports enthusiasts with an easy way to find games whenever and wherever they want. Additionally, using this design, people wanting to organize a game can easily find interested players. Portland, being an active and social metropolis, is a perfect city in which to implement this GIS. Existing Interfaces: Before the prototyping process, it is always important to look at existing interfaces with similar concepts to learn from their strengths and weaknesses. A number of different web sites and applications exist for finding pickup games. Google recently developed an application called Pickup Sports [1], in which people can find team sports, running partners, fitness workouts, and more from an android powered device. Although the application has received some positive reviews, it lacks optimistic feedback from people looking for pickup games. One problem, is that it was released on a national scale and that the majority of cities had no games existing in the application data at the time of release.. The application's target user is so broad that it does not suit someone looking to set up or find a pickup game. Additionally, the interface is accessible by only Android powered devices. The idea for the application is decent, but it attempts to do too many things in not enough detail to actually be useful. A similar application was created for Apple devices called NextGame [2]. At this point, the interface is not organized in an effective manner and no games were easily viewable in the entire Portland area, leading to the conclusion that it was also launched without any preobtained game data.

Figure 1 shows three interfaces for the Apple mobile application NextGame. Hundreds of sports and activities are supported, including archery, beach tennis, bike polo, cornhole, four square, quidditch, spelunking, tetherball and many other activities that could not thrive in the pickup culture. The application also supports traditional pickup sports.

The Mac and Google applications both failed by implementing the software before significant data was gathered. Applications that rely on VGI (volunteered geographic information) will not likely be successful without preliminary data. Other interfaces, including Infinite Hoops [3] and Fubles [4], failed by not having a user friendly interface and lacked a web map. The most successful existing correlated design is Sportaneous [5]. Sportaneous successfully resolves the design flaws of other applications. The application has received positive reviews because it already had preloaded information that was acquired from organizations and gyms. The application is currently only available in New York, although it plans to expand and cover other major cities. The application, however, does not compete with Pickup Portland's target users of pickup players, as it focuses on more individual fitness activities.

Figure 2 shows Sportaneous, a working application with existing data that is currently only available in New York, but is looking to expand to other cities. The application is successful in its design, but does not support pick-up sports, only the fitness activities shown on the left interface. The map interface (center) is similar to the interactive map that would appear on Pickup Portland.

Stewart McCoy wrote an analysis on existing pickup sports applications [6], arguing that "the creators of these apps don't seem to understand the mental model of pickup players and as a result there are several key problems with how these apps approach game organization". Pickup Portland attempts to meet McCoy's expressed concerns pertaining to recognizing the "mental model" of pickup players. McCoy claims that the existing models failed by 1) launching an application that has no preloaded information, 2) using the "friends" model of facebook to organize games, 3) assuming activities like "archery, bocce ball, inline skating, and lacrosse" that require excessive equipment will be popular as pickup sports, and 4) ignoring players looking to spontaneously find a game. The prototype for Pickup Portland takes all of McCoy's critiques of existing models into consideration. The following sections will demonstrate how Pickup Portland proposes to understand the mental model of pickup players by launching a design based on potential user profiles that is already usable, doesn't require membership or finding "friends" to participate, focuses only on popular pickup sports, and supports any level of participation. User Profiles: There are four potential user types of the proposed design. The first potential user is someone who already organizes games. The second potential user regularly participates in a game that is overcrowded and is looking to start a new game to meet the demand. This user might chose

to create a new game at an adjacent time slot or a nearby location to the overcrowded game. The third potential user is someone looking to find and join a game that suits their schedule. The last user is someone looking to create a new game who believes that there might be an interest for a particular game at a specific setting. Maybe this user has a few friends already interested, but needs to solicit more individuals. After looking at the varied situations of the potential users, the desired functions (user needs) of a design can be envisioned. To fulfill all of the user needs for this project, the design must have a large range of functionality. Although many supporting design tasks could be drawn up from the situations of the potential users, four principal functions are required that support all of the user needs. First, users should be able to create a game and easily convey information about the game. Secondly, users require the ability to find new players for a game. Third, users should be able to contact players already involved in a game. Finally, users should be able to find an open game in a particular sport in proximity to a specified location. Prototyping: The process of prototyping this design begins with sketching an interface that attempts to seamlessly meet the users' needs.

Figure 3 is the first prototype sketch of the interface for finding a game in Pickup Portland. Users narrow their search using selection options on the left side. Games meeting search criteria, signified by the points on the map, are updated while users narrow their search. As shown on the northern-most point on the map, game information is shown when users hover the mouse over any game. Users then click the game for more detailed information.

Multiple drafts of the design sketch are created based on a discussion of potential user scenarios. Multiple scenarios are proposed to incorporate each of the aforementioned potential

users' situations. In this case, scenario-based design is preferred over persona-based design. A design based on the needs of a persona is more effective if there is only one type of user. Persona based design would suit only the user that meets the persona's qualities, and wouldn't accommodate a variety of uses [7]. Scenario-based design involves changing the design based on accommodating an imagined scenario of each potential type of user. As new scenarios are imagined, the design is continuously modified to fit the needs assessed across multiple circumstances. Using scenarios avoids creating a solution-first strategy in which an attachment is made to the first solution and it becomes difficult to elaborate on a predetermined design [8]. Scenario-based design creates a design environment that is evocative, reflective, and shows appreciation for all of the users' needs. After the most effective prototype sketch is chosen, user feedback can further be elicited through paper prototyping. Users help model a design based on their understanding of the problem. User sketches prove to elicit better feedback as opposed to verbal responses [9]. This feedback is ultimately incorporated into a design which is modeled as the final interface in digital format (Figure 4).

Figure 4 shows a digital mockup of the interface for finding a game after receiving feedback from potential users. Credit Balsamiq.com for digital mockup demo software.

The most involved process of the design is gathering adequate initial data to implement an interface that is useful to users upon the website's release. Analyzing existing systems demonstrated that without any pre-existing data for pickup games, the initial launch of the system will not attract users. The solution is to gather information about existing reoccurring games by visiting obvious host sites including gyms, fields, parks, and outdoor courts to do some real fieldwork to gather game data. Gyms that have basketball, volleyball, and indoor soccer games will be excited to provide information as an opportunity to potentially boost their popularity. Gyms should jump at this chance to cash in on drop-in fees and gain exposure to attract potential members. Information from fields, parks and outdoor courts will come from talking to players about the design and getting people excited about the potential of Pickup Portland. In Portland,

there is already a website, Meetup.com, dedicated to all sorts of groups that regularly "meet up" for a variety of activities [10]. The site has a page dedicated to sports and recreation that has groups including "Weekend Pickup Sports", "503 Basketball", and "The Portland Pick-up Soccerers" which all have information pertaining to weekly pickup games. The website does not have a spatial component or a lot of game data at this moment, but collaborating with the various groups could provide useful startup data for Pickup Portland.

Figure 6 shows the main interface in Group View for Meetup.com in the Portland area. Any group can be selected to go to a generic website with lists of upcoming meetings in the area. The site is much more effective for organizing meet ups for interest groups rather than pickup sports due to its interface organization. The website fosters an environment for scheduling meet ups all over the United States.

Figure 7 is a screen capture for the "Weekend Pickup Sports" page after selecting from the interface on Figure 6. The page shows some upcoming touch football and basketball games in the area. The interface provides users with the ability to sign up for a game. The screenshot shows that upcoming games only have a few "attending" players, suggesting that there are not enough users to support the design.

The design must have the ability to associate each game to attributes that have been proven important based on user feedback including sport, location, day, time, cost, competition level, indoor or outdoor, gender (men's, women's, or coed), and organizer contact information. The design must allow users to create a game with all or some of the information and also allow users to find a game by searching based on their desired criteria. Once the system is actually released, and

there is a substantial amount of gathered data, people will be encouraged to input their own games with an interface like the one below.

Figure 5 shows the first prototype sketch of the interface for creating a game on Pickup Portland website. Users must register and have username to create games or comment on other users. The user who creates a game is the contact for that game and may chose to share additional information such as email or phone number when he/she creates the game.

Implementation: While game data is gathered from gyms and parks, the implementation process can begin. In the beginning, a number of decisions need to be made regarding the implementation of the design. The first impactful decision is weighing the choice between an open source or proprietary server. Since Pickup Portland would likely be a non-profit organization, it would benefit from an open source server. Open source encourages development and improvement from outside related sources, hence is beneficial for a small-scale project that can't afford to pay lots of software developers. The project can also benefit from Portland's reputation of having many open source geography professionals. The open source atmosphere is also beneficial for spreading the project to other cities, for which future developers will continue to improve upon the project and share ideas. Everyone wins in an open source non-profit environment as people share and develop ideas using the combined intellect of fellow developers. For this project, a highly developed open source server like GeoServer is capable of creating the variety of output formats needed for Pickup Portland's interactive user interface. GeoServer allows others to share information to be incorporated into the web map [11]. GeoServer has excellent compatibility with other applications with the ability to display data over existing APIs such as Google. Many other highly effective and developed existing

web maps already utilize GeoServer to great success (See Figure 8). An excellent gallery of services that use GeoServer is available at geoserver.org/display/GEOS/Gallery.

Figure 8 is a developed web map showing operations within New York City [12]. The map was created using GeoServer. The interface is relatively close to the prototype of Pickup Portland which also proposes using GeoServer.

Personnel: A particular set of personnel is needed once substantial game data is gathered to create the shapefile and develop the website. Ideally, only one shapefile is needed to store all of the games as points with attribute fields pertaining to game information (already input by users who create the game). A GIS professional with programming expertise is needed to develop the data into an interactive web map, in which a user can search for games using the web map interface (see 4 for interface). The data will be displayed over an existing API such as Google Maps. Once the website is in place, minimal personnel are needed to monitor the website, as inputting new data becomes the role of the users. Given the nature of websites with user inputs, the ability to police those who abuse the system would be given to users. If people are inputting games, but not showing up to play, others will have the ability to rate them poorly. On the other hand, if a someone is running successful games, users can give them high ratings that are visible to others. Ideally, the system would eventually become almost exclusively user operated. When operations are left up to the user, GIS personnel will have time to further develop the interface.

Cost vs Benefit: Besides the wages for a limited GIS staff, the costs of such a system are relatively minimal. Using open source software and server technology saves drastically on implementation for a company that does not already use proprietary software like ESRI. Besides the costs of wages for data collection in the field, data eventually becomes completely volunteered by users. VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information) is often critiqued because it may not be completely accurate and it is sometimes difficult to elicit. However, in this particular system, VGI is elicited from the users that rely on accurate information for the success of their own game. When there is a strong motivation to contribute VGI it becomes a sustainable practice [13]. Once the interface has gained popularity, it can become self-sustaining by selling advertising space on the interface. The design would have to incorporate usage logs to show companies the worth behind their advertisement. The usage logs would also act as a metric for the design's success. Furthermore, the success of the design would be evident by an increased number of new members hosting games as time progresses. The gyms that are hosting pickup games can benefit from advertising membership and drop-in rates on an interface whose users are all athletes. Local sporting good stores could also benefit by advertising on the Pickup Portland interface. Selling advertising space and requesting donations are ways that non-profit organizations can continue to improve and benefit a community. Pickup Portland is designed to suit the needs of many users while keeping in mind the mental makeup of pickup players. This design has all of the functions required to successfully meet the needs for every type of potential user. The benefits of the design are widespread; a community can become more active and connected, people moving to a new area can quickly become involved, you can continue to play sports without having to pay for expensive leagues (indoor soccer leagues cost upwards of 600 dollars to put in a team for an eight game season), and community parks may see higher utilization. Portland, as an active metropolis, could really benefit from Pickup Portland as it encourages fun, social, and healthy activity within local communities.

References [1] Pickup Sports, Google Play, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pickupsports&hl=en. NextGame, Itunes.com, 2013. [Online]. Available: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nextgame/id427423697?mt=8. InfiniteHoops, InfiniteHoops.com, 2013. [Online]. Available: http://infinitehoops.com/search?q=Portland. M. Trasciatti, Fubles. 2012. Available: http://vimeo.com/29633054 Sportaneous:The Smart Way to Discover Fitness, Sportaneous. [Online]. Available: http://www.sportaneous.com/. S. McCoy, A better way to organize pickup sports, StewartMcCoy.com, 08-Jul-2012. [Online]. Available: http://stewartmccoy.com/a-better-way-to-organize-pickup-sports/. J. Grudin and J. Pruitt, Personas, Participatory Design and Product Development: An Infrastructure for Engagement, Microsoft Research, p. 8. M. B. Rosson and J. M. Carroll, Scenario-Based Design, in The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002, pp. 10321050. M. Tohidi, W. Buxton, R. Baecker, and A. Sellen, User Sketches: A Quick, Inexpensive, and Effective way to Elicit More Reflective User Feedback, Conference on ComputerHuman Interaction Studies, pp. 105114, Oct. 2006. The Portland Pick-up Soccerers, Meetup, 2013. [Online]. Available: http://www.meetup.com/PDXsoccer/. Bowens, What is GeoServer, GeoServer, 11-Dec-2009. [Online]. Available: http://geoserver.org/display/GEOS/What+is+GeoServer. NYC Scout: Mayors Office of Operations, NYC.gov, 2013. [Online]. Available: http://gis.nyc.gov/moo/scout/index.htm. S. Feldman, Is volunteered geographic information sustainable?, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Jul-2009. Available: http://vimeo.com/6590739

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