OnStation’s 3 Most Popular Updates

My main goal as the Lead iOS Developer is to mold our app into a powerful tool that is easy for anyone on a roadway project to use. Our most recent feature rollouts were driven from our users’ suggestions to improve the overall feel and performance of OnStation. Providing these updates comes with some challenges, but even with some of the challenges and roadblocks, we have released awesome advances in the app. I’m going to bring some light to the 3 most popular updates we have pushed out this month.

1. Organizing chats, markers, and tags in flag icons of your choice

This was in our most recent update release and is my favorite so far! Before, users only had the ability to drop green flags on project maps. We decided to put the control in the users hands and provided them with the ability to effortlessly classify flags.

First, we had to come up with a library of icons. We looked to our team mate Jake, our CTO who has worked in the roadway construction industry for 12 years, for his guidance on what icons would make sense. After much deliberation, we came to a set list of library icons which included 8 colored flags, 8 colored construction cones, 10 construction machines, and 12 utility icons.

Since this update released, users have spoken very highly about this new feature.

“I like it because you get to choose what you have instead of just dropping green flags. With the different icon options, we can easily identify water problem or just to be able to have a color code to help the contractor or help whoever figure out what we're working with.”
John Wakeman - Project Supervisor at Indiana Department of Transportation

2. Quickly search and find Flag & Chats with our tag customization

The team thought we could really amplify a team’s productivity, both on the road and in the office, by updating the tag feature. The goal of the new tag feature is to give users the ability to organize flags more efficiently. While on the road, users can quickly search for flags and communicate with others quicker and more effectively. While in the office, users can organize and export flag and chats according to their customized tags. Some examples of tags are Punch List, RFI, Force Account, Test Location, and now endless other possibilities.

The key items developed in this feature update were:

Creating New Tags
Adding a Tag (choosing from a pre-populated list of recent tags or by searching)
Removing Tags

3. Add project work items list to keep your notes and conversations organized

As you may be able to tell, our main concentration these past few months have been organization. To add on-to the custom tagging feature, we also developed out the work items options so users could tag project-specific work items to organize Flag & Chats more accurately. So not only can users organize project communication in tags, but they also now have the ability to do so with work items. How great is that?

Conclusion: The evolution never stops

These features, along with the many others we have released, are key to making OnStation the go-to roadway location app. As we continue expanding within the app, I am excited to hear about how our users benefit from our features.

Aside from building out features, bugs have been squashed to give our users a much smoother experience as well. One bug we recently fixed was improving the load/drop time for flags.

Overall, the last month has been very productive and great things have happened within OnStation.