CSCI-588: Specification
and Design of User Interface Software
Fall 2004
Team
41: Mall Excursion and Shopping Assistant (MESA)
Team
Member
1) John Lin
2) Anshuman Chakravartty
Our
project is the Mall Excursion and Shopping Assistant (MESA)
installed in an automobile. MESA has capabilities to search
for malls and shops according to location, distance, and
product selection. By logging on to the internet it can perform
a multitude of operations. It can perform price comparisons
and reserve items in the stores themselves. One especially
useful feature of MESA is its ability to gain access to parking
information for malls. This allows MESA to compare tolls,
pay tolls, check for open spaces, sort open spaces by distance
to a specific shop, and direct the driver to a desired parking
location. MESA will communicate with the driver through voice
generation and an on-windshield translucent graphical interface.
These will be designed to reduce or eliminate distraction
to the driver.
This
project is motivated by the consideration that some people
still want to go out when they buy things, instead of just
ordering online. For example, many people prefer to try on
clothes, or test drive a car, before they buy. Furthermore,
there are typically two major deterrents to driving to a
mall: traffic and parking. MESA does not include traffic
navigation since existing systems already fulfill that capability.
However, MESA fills a niche by managing parking, which in
turn saves the customer time. MESA further makes efficient
use of time with the item reservation capability.
Currently there are speech recognition systems deployed in
cars that help drivers plan trips, provide entertainment,
etc. The problem with many of today’s systems is that they
require users to learn a fixed set of commands. While MESA
will provide speech recognition technology, it will also
utilize an on-steering-wheel user interface controller.
