Southwest Plant Selector: a Mobile App Included Landscape Plants Suited to for Homeowners New Mexico Landscapes Or Even the Southwestern U.S
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database-driven plant selectors. None Southwest Plant Selector: A Mobile App included landscape plants suited to for Homeowners New Mexico landscapes or even the southwestern U.S. (Nevada, California, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona). Stefan Sutherin1, Kevin Lombard2, and Rolston St. Hilaire1,3 AppleÒ acquired ChompÒ in Feb. 2012 and shut down the autonomous Ò Ò Chomp website in Oct. 2012 (Zibreg, ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. iTunes , landscape plants, landscape water conservation, smartphone, tablets, usability test, xeriscape 2012). An app would extend the cen- ter’s horticultural information to mo- SUMMARY. To fill a critical need for more information on desert-adapted low water- bile users. In early 2012, a total of use landscape plants, we created Southwest Plant Selector, a mobile plant selector 34% of mobile users in the United application (app) of landscape plants from the New Mexico Office of the State States used apps, and 25% of mobile Engineer (NMOSE) online database of New Mexico landscape plants. The app, web users were mobile only, meaning which is available for AppleÒ iPhoneÒ and iPadÒ, was designed for homeowners and lists plant descriptive items, pest and disease information, and a photograph of the that they did not use laptop or desktop plant. The app also displays a graphic of the three regions of New Mexico and El computers (mobiThinking, 2012). Paso County, TX, overlaid with text that provides plant water requirements for each Over 85% of new cell phone handsets of those regions. An associated web page allows users to calculate supplemental were mobile capable and about half plant water requirements for individual plant selections. Homeowners can select of those handsets were smartphones landscape plants based on botanical or common name, plant type, and category, (mobiThinking, 2012). The share of region, and sun exposure. Even with the specific user base of New Mexico residents mobile users is expected to rise. AppleÒ who own AppleÒ mobile devices, the app has been downloaded nearly 5000 times and Googleä (Mountain View, CA) since its first release on 29 June 2012. New Mexico State University (NMSU) are currently the major players in the Cooperative Extension Service agents now use the app as a part of their standard extremely dynamic app market. toolkit for interactions with homeowners. Mobile technologies such as smartphone and tablet apps are gaining prominence as outreach tools. Land-grant institutions Apps must be tested for function- can be more involved in leveraging mobile application technologies for education ality (how well they work), general and outreach. This article describes a process that land-grant institutions can use to acceptability, and usability. Protocols produce apps for horticulture outreach. designed for website testing are also suited to mobile app testing. For ex- ample, usability, which is the capability orticulturists find it challeng- elevations to nine in the southern part of the software product to be under- ing to disseminate regionally of the state, giving New Mexico one stood, comprehended, used, and at- relevant information on land- of the greatest diversities of temper- H tractive to the user when used under scape plants to homeowners in New ature ranges in the United States specified conditions (International Or- Mexico because the state is climato- (USDA, 2012). Average annual rain- ganization for Standardization, 2009), logically diverse and geographically fall of New Mexico ranges from 254 is tested similarly for mobile apps and expansive. The U.S. Department of to 508 mm with extended periods of websites. Usability issues include navi- Agriculture (USDA) hardiness zones drought (Western Regional Climate gation, screen appearance, accessibility, range from four in northern, higher Center, 2012). New Mexico ranks fifth and consistency (Teoh, 2009). For 2 in land area (315,200 km ) among usability testing, three to five hands- The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer U.S. states, but only forty-fifth in pop- on testers uncover as many problems (NMOSE) plant database development was funded ulation density. in part by a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclama- as five or more testers. Furthermore, tion. This work was funded in part by a grant from the To meet the challenge of dis- iterative testing with a few testers uses Rio Grande Basin Initiative, a collaborative research seminating information statewide, resources more efficiently than a single program of NMSU and Texas A&M University NMSU established the Center for awarded to K.L. and R.S.H. test with many subjects. For low- Landscape Water Conservation (2013), We thank Jeanne Gleason, Barbara Chamberlain, budget projects, two testers can be John Chamberlin, Connie Padilla, and the staff of a web-based clearing house focused optimal (Nielsen, 2012). the New Mexico State University (NMSU) Media on urban landscape plants and water The objective of this article is Productions and Learning Games Lab, part of the NMSU Cooperative Extension Service for technical conservation. The center saw the evo- to detail how a unique horticul- assistance. We gratefully acknowledge Dan Smeal for lution of mobile apps as another ave- tural mobile app was created to assist assisting with the development of the Southwest nue for disseminating useful consumer homeowners in selecting landscape Plant Selector Water Calculator. We also thank John Longworth and Cheri Vogel of the NMOSE for information to a wider audience. plants that thrive in distinct climate permitting the use of plant database. The initial search of available plant regions of New Mexico and El Paso Use of trade names does not imply endorsement of database apps on iTunesÒ (AppleÒ, County, TX, with little or no sup- the products named or criticism of similar ones not Cupertino, CA) and ChompÒ (San named. plemental irrigation. We also ex- Francisco, CA) revealed just a few plain how the app was tested for 1Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Box 30003, Las Cru- ces, NM 88003 2Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Units Agriculture Science Center at Farmington, New Mex- ico State University, Box 1018, Farmington, NM To convert U.S. to SI, To convert SI to U.S., 87499 multiply by U.S. unit SI unit multiply by 3Corresponding author. E-mail address: rsthilai@nmsu. 0.3048 ft m 3.2808 edu. 25.4 inch(es) mm 0.0394 602 • October 2013 23(5) functionality, general acceptability, and the database was relatively small and After the app was launched, we usability as an educational outreach returned few entries with increased collected and analyzed ratings and tool for homeowners. sort selections. reviews from the iTunesÒ app store, We created a display in the app and download data via Mopappä Materials and methods that consisted of an overlay of a (2013) to further evaluate the app. DEVELOPING SOUTHWEST PLANT graphic of the three regions of New Mopappä is a free online app analyt- SELECTOR. Southwest Plant Selector Mexico with text that gave the supple- ics service that provides download used the NMOSE’s New Mexico mental water requirements for each data on the app. Mopappä was pre- plant list database (NMOSE, 2011). region. After several iterations, we ferred for this project because, at the The database design was suited to an settled on text that now includes the time, the free version allowed the data app format because the fields were following: not suitable for xeriscaping; to be downloaded and distributed as separately identified and set up in precipitation only; little or no supple- PDF files; currently, there are other a searchable index. The database had mental water; 1· per month or 2· in services that provide as-good or bet- 745 plant entries, each defined by 12 summer. iTunesÒ requires a dedicated ter downloadable data. In addition, criteria: botanical/common/alternate support website and a support e-mail we noted verbal and e-mail sugges- names, region [northern, central, address. Southwest Plant Selector has tions as important qualitative indica- southern (area within New Mexico a dedicated website and support e-mail tors for a possible future upgrade. to which the plant is best suited)], address (Southwest Plant Selector, MARKETING SOUTHWEST PLANT category (tree, shrub, annual, perennial, 2013). The support page is simple so SELECTOR. On 25 Feb. 2012, the app, turfgrass, ornamental grass, ground- that little, if any, maintenance will be still in development, was piloted at cover, cactus/succulent/desert accent, required; it was patterned after similar the 16th Water Conservation/Xeri- vine), type (evergreen/deciduous/ app support pages on iTunesÒ. scape Conference and Expo in Albu- semideciduous), bloom color and time, EVALUATING SOUTHWEST PLANT querque, NM. We showed the app to exposure (sun/shade/partial), size, soil SELECTOR. At the late stages of de- individual vendors by walking booth- type, water requirement, animal/pest velopment, a beta version of the to-booth with an iPadÒ and allow- attractions, and a general description. Southwest Plant Selector app was ing them hands-on use. At the initial We selected NMSU Learning uploaded to TestFlight (2013), an app launch of 29 June 2012, NMSU Games Laboratory, as the vendor– online resource that allows developers Media Relations generated both a developer because of our history of to beta test their iOS apps before print and a video press release, which collaboration and their competitive de- launch. Testers’ devices are identified were distributed through their media velopment fee. We did a cost–benefit and permitted by the developer to outlets. The app support page link comparison of AppleÒ,Androidä install specified apps. The developer and an iTunesÒ link were posted on (Googleä), BlackberryÒ (Waterloo, tested functionality and general ac- the Center for Landscape Water Con- ON, Canada), and MicrosoftÒ (Red- ceptability of the app using TestFlight servation website and FacebookÒ mond, WA) platforms and selected with our staff and his peer network.