GIVING A VOICE
Evans Owusu, Dov Ushman, Drew Silvernail, Matt Boisvert
October 24, 2022 | December 16, 2022
GIVING MOSE
A VOICE
Prepared by Dov Ushman, Drew Silvernail, Evans Owusu, Matthew Boisvert
About The Project
With rising tides, a sinking city, and extreme weather conditions, Venice is experiencing more flooding than ever. Luckily, the city now has MOSE. MOSE (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, Experimental Electromechanical Module) is a series of modular gates at the three inlets to the Venetian lagoon that rise from the seafloor to prevent more water from flowing into the lagoon during high tides.
In this project, a series of interviews were completed to find what information residents and business owners currently have access to regarding tide data, flooding, MOSE operations, and how the gates may affect flooding in their area. The data we obtained was then used to design a potential MOSE phone app which was then returned to interviewees for further feedback.
Our final app includes MOSE gate status and updates, tide and weather forecasting, as well as travel information during a flood event. The final model was handed to our sponsor, Commisario Venezia Nuova, so they can fully implement the final MOSE application to our specifications.
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Table of Contents
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Additional Project Sources
Interactive App
Prototype Model
Full Project Proposal
& Executive
Summary
Final App Design File
About WPI Interactive
Qualifying Project
Venice Project
Center
Comissario & MOSE
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Navigation of Booklet & App
The app contains a navigation bar for the four main app services of MOSE status, tide forecasting, navigation, and reliable news ( Figure 1 ).
The app consists of several navigation methods.
These methods were made in consideration of standard android practices and the user’s experience. The following pages describes these systems and how to utilize them for ease of reading the booklet.
The App
Navigation Bar
Tab Pages
Some pages have tabs that display different information. Each tab shares it’s space at the top of the screen with a closely related topic. There are tabs on the weather & updates page (Figure 2)
Figure 2
Figure 1
Weather Pages
Update Pages
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2nd
1st
Navigating the booklet follows the same design motif as the app. There will be a sidebar with a few visual details to indicate where on the app the booklet is. See Figure 4 for a visual understanding before viewing the app model in detail.
Three-Bar Menu & Top Bar
Booklet Navigation
At the top of all pages is another bar. To the left is a three-bar menu. Tapping it will bring additional navigation to the settings, about, account, and help & feedback pages. The settings cog on the right also brings up the setting page (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Figure 4
On the side of every app
page is a vertical navigation bar
←
Like the app,
black icons show what page you’re on
Some bars have indicators
if…
First Tab of a Page
Second Tab of a Page
Three-bar menu access
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Home Page
The first screen users see upon opening the app is the home screen. Our home screen was designed to give users access to most of the features they would need on a day-to-day basis right at their fingertips: MOSE module (1) , a (2) a tide module, and a (3) quick travel module (top to bottom sections). This will help users get quick information about most of the things related to flooding in Venice right from the home page.
The MOSE module was included to meet our sponsor’s request and was supported by feedback from a business owner is reminiscent of the Semafori system stoplights. To have explicit and accessible information, we replaced the four different stop lights for each inlet with one indicator (4) representing the current state of each inlet. The indicator changes color depending on MOSE’s current activity. Green represents no planned activity (and if all are green one circle appears), yellow indicates a possible lifting in the near future, blinking yellow means a raising is planned to happen, blinking red means the gates are actively being raised, and solid red means MOSE is activated, and the lagoon is closed off by the gates. It is worth noting that while the meaning of the lights directly reflects the semafori system, after the meeting with our sponsor, our team decided to add the blinking yellow for further communication.
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MOSE Module
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No Activity
Possible
& Lifting
Lifting
& Active
No activity across all three inlets
Projects next forecast
Example MOSE Module Variations
Possible activity for MOSE gates
Letters to represent each inlet
L-LIDO (2 Openings)
M-Malammocco
C-Chioggia
Shows forecasted event MOSE will prevent
MOSE is on alert and has gates lifting soon
Shows in chronological order what inlets have their gates active to possibly lifting from left to right
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Possible & Active
All Active
Example MOSE Module Variations
Side split when multiple inlets share the same alert/status
Tide forecast now shows the difference in water height from In Venice/Chioggia to At Sea
All gates raised until further notice
Tide forecast now shows the difference in water height from In Venice/Chioggia to At Sea
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Following the MOSE module, underneath users will find the tide module. The tide module comprises three main features: the current tide level (1), a location selector to personalize tide levels where the user is located or wants to travel (2), and tidal peaks with times at the bottom (3). During a tidal event (when MOSE activation is anticipated), the water visual in the middle of the tide page will split in two (4). The split represents the difference in height of the lagoon in Venice/Chioggia and at sea beyond MOSE. This module was included to give users quick information about tides in the lagoon alongside a representation of MOSE’s effectiveness.
No Activity
Possible & Active
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Tide Module
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Finally at the bottom is the “Quick Travel” module. Users can input their location and destination to get a quick estimate of the length of their journey. They also have their preference in transportation methods (1) for their trip: walking, ACTV, and private boats. For certain routes, transportation methods may be combined for optimization (such as walking & ACTV), but the user's preference is still factored in. Once all information (2) is set, pressing “Start” next to the estimated arrival will redirect them to the travel screen with a filled-in map and path to their destination (3).
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Quick Travel Module
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Each homepage module holds an I-icon. This icon provides a handy information-tab. This information-tab will explain the module in detail and will be available at all times for the user.
Need Help
Just Tap!
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Travel Page
After typing in location and destination data into the quick travel tab or pressing the travel icon in the navigation bar, users will be taken to this screen which they can use to plan routes throughout the city. The three (1) buttons at the top indicate different methods of transportation the user prefers to use like the quick travel module: walking, ACTV, and private boats.
There is also a search bar to locate any address for users (2).
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Once users input their location and destination, the map will be filled in with the fastest route to the user's desired destination (1). This system would take into account several factors including current tide levels, the elevation of pathways, and bridge heights (2). Both the user testing and initial interviews had users who wanted to be informed while traveling. Possible conditions include whether parts of their path will be flooded, whether there are walkways built above flooding, accessibility options (3), and paths available by wearing flood boots (4) requested by our participants.
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Example Travel Demo
1st
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Tide Page
This screen consists of two modules, one that shows high and low tides and when they will occur with the current tide level above them (1) with an arrow indicating whether the tide is getting higher or lower (2). Underneath that module is a graphical representation of similar data (3).
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Weather Page
Included here is the current weather condition (1) with temperature, precipitation, forecasts for future rainfall (2), and a standard multi-day forecast for the coming days (3).
Currently, users would scroll through the weather forecast at the bottom of the page to see the other days of the week to conserve space (4).
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1st
Updates Page
The updates page will include various news and information about MOSE, boat cancellations, and other news about the lagoon as a whole (1). Users can scroll down to find additional and past information (2). We also included filters and a search bar to sort the results within the tab (3).There’s a bell to toggle alerts in and out of the app as well (4).
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MOSE News Page
News articles about MOSE’s operation will be found here along with information about possible maintenance (1). Information regarding the number of times MOSE has been activated in total and in the current year (2). At the top right, users will discover a bell icon (3) that users can tap on to bring them to their notification preferences which we included as a result of feedback from our participants.
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About MOSE Page
The about page is a page accessible via the three-bar sliding menu. It provides users a description of MOSE by the Comissario.
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Settings Page
The settings page is where people can change and modify the app for their preferences. The ones currently displayed are options we recommend for the functionality and accessibility of the app
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Account Page
The account page consists of a user’s email, choice of language, and location. The users account is meant to be a convenient way to login with all their preferences at hand. The use of an email-based account page can also help enable communication between the Comissario and the public.
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Help & Feedback Page
The help and feedback page has two primary uses. The first is to enable communication from people about the app and its role in their lives. If a user needs assistance or has a suggestion about the app, the Comissario will be informed. The second use is to establish a communication avenue from the public about MOSE. Many of our study’s participants wanted MOSE to be more public. Users can submit their response by a subject line (1) and text box (2). There’s also three faces (3) that users can click on for a quicker way to express their responses.
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GIVING MOSE
A VOICE
Thank You