Replica Places Study

The Places Study feature revolutionizes how users interact with mobility data, offering a granular view of daily life dynamics for residents, visitors, and commercial vehicles nationwide. It provides comprehensive insights through an intuitive interface, enabling detailed analysis of demographic and mobility patterns.

Objective

The goal was to redesign a rudimentary MVP feature called Explorer and replace it with a new robust and scalable feature that would be called a Places Study. This replacement feature was focused on enhancing user experience and technical architecture, making complex data more accessible, interactive, and actionable for users involved in planning and analysis.

Development Timeline

The project began in August 2020 and was successfully launched in June 2022, following extensive user research, design iterations, and beta testing.

Initial Plan

Collaborating closely with the CEO and product managers over the subsequent nine months, we embarked on a journey to deeply understand our target audience—their needs, behaviors, and how they interacted with our platform. This collaborative effort was not just about immediate enhancements; it was a strategic endeavor to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive redesign. We meticulously mapped out which features to introduce, refine, or retire, ensuring each step brought us closer to a more sophisticated, user-centric version of Explorer.

User Research

Our approach to user research was multifaceted, involving direct conversations with users and insights from our Customer Success Team. A recurring theme emerged: many users were overwhelmed by the complexity and depth of data available within Explorer, struggling to grasp the extent of insights that could be extracted from Replica’s seasonal mobility datasets. Even technically savvy users, who understood the potential of the data underpinning the maps and charts, faced barriers in accessing the raw datasets for deeper, more personalized analysis. This feedback highlighted a significant disconnect between our platform’s capabilities and user engagement, underscoring the need for a more intuitive and accessible design that could bridge this gap, making powerful data analysis within reach of all our users.

Prototype, Test, and Repeat

Our commitment to excellence drove the development of our flagship feature, central to our product’s entire business model. Through an iterative process of prototyping, testing, and refining, we engaged in detailed feedback sessions with both internal teams and external users. This approach ensured that the feature not only met but exceeded the diverse needs of our community, enabling us to deliver a solution that truly resonated with our users.

Changes and Improvements

Direct Dataset Access

Enabled users to access underlying disaggregated mobility data for detailed analysis.

Intuitive Filtering

Developed scalable methods for filtering both tabular and geospatial attributes.

Enhanced UI/UX Patterns

Improved geospatial analysis capabilities directly on the map.

Revised Information Architecture

Provided a cohesive view of maps, charts, filters, and datasets.

Results and User Impact

The Places Study feature saw significant updates and refinements following beta testing, achieving a threefold increase in user growth within a year. It contributed to Replica surpassing revenue targets and advancing towards profitability and created a scalable feature for future development.