Report: Designing and Analyzing The Walking Application Mobile App

This report focuses on the design and analysis of a mobile application designed to promote walking as a fitness activity. The report begins with an introduction highlighting the growing need for accessible fitness solutions and emphasizes the importance of walking. It then delves into the specifics of designing the walking mobile app, outlining key features such as graphical representations, user health status input, GPS and accelerometer integration for tracking, and options for setting personalized routines. The report also includes a competitor analysis, examining the features and functionalities of existing walking apps like Map My Walk and Charity Miles. The conclusion summarizes the potential benefits of such an application, emphasizing its role in encouraging healthy lifestyles and the importance of accurate sensor usage and notifications.

Running head: THE WALKING APPLICATION
The Walking Application
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Designing a Walking Mobile App.............................................................................................2
Competitors................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3

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Introduction
As time proceeds, human life is being dragged into the monotonicity of extreme haste
and discomfort. The need for being fit and healthy is slowly turning into a challenge for a
major part of the society. Here comes the need for walking. This is something that does not
depend upon the fitness level of the participating individual. Horton et al (2014), states that
not just elders, but children and young adults should also be encouraged to take up this fitness
regime. In this report, an app will be proposed that will be throwing light upon the
importance of walking and will also document and notify its users about the details of their
walks and benefits.
Designing a Walking Mobile App
In this busy schedule, smartphones have become the most attached belonging of any
human being. It is this platform that should be brought into use in case of promoting the
importance of walking inside the human society (Macias 2015).
Laurier, Brown and McGregor (2016), says that the application to be designed should
consist of all the necessary details explaining the fruits and benefits of walking. The
application should have graphical and or textual representations that will attract the users to
give it a thought. Visual representations should be provided to aware the users about the
practices of walking and the use of smartphone applications. The interface should be
informative enough about the analysis results, also clearly depicting the paths walked on a
map (Kim 2015).
New users will enter their updated health status into the app and it would further
analyse the fitness routine that should be set. The application, on user’s permission, should be
able to keep track of the user’s whereabouts and hence keep recording the walking distances.
This can be done with the assistance of the smartphone’s GPS and accelerometer.

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Furthermore, the app needs to allow the users to add or alter their pre-defined routine for a
day’s walk, the speed that they wish to achieve and the rests that they should take. The app
can hence notify the user regarding their need to walk and fulfil their daily deficiency. These
applications can be made to connect with fitness bands so as to record other health related
data. This includes heartbeats, blood pressure and so on. The app should also calculate the
steps taken, calories burnt regularly and then analyse these data to provide daily, weekly and
monthly analysis reports to the user. These reports should consist of graphs and other data
tools to alarm or notify the user about their experience of walking and fitness level.
Competitors
Map My Walk is one of the heavily used walking apps. They allow their users to set
routes on the maps and then ask them to walk around the same to fulfil the targets and to
experience the surroundings. It also provides audio feedbacks to the users while in his walk.
They have a simple user interface with only the necessary options available and detailed
analysis area to guide their users to a healthy routine.
Charity Miles is another great application that enhances the use of smartphones for
walking. Their idea is to allow the users to walk for a purpose. They donate 25 cents for
every mile the user walks (Higgins 2016). The users can also keep track of the distances that
they have walked, time taken, steps taken and other fitness information necessities.
Conclusion
It can hence be concluded that the development of one such application will enhance
the way people regards the importance of walking. People will learn to analyse their day’s
routines in order to lead a better and healthy life. The applications should in turn be enough
informative and easily usable at times of stress. Also, sensor usage and notifiers should be
accurately handled.

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References
Higgins, J.P., 2016. Smartphone applications for patients' health and fitness. The American
journal of medicine, 129(1), pp.11-19.
Horton, J., Christensen, P., Kraftl, P. and Hadfield-Hill, S., 2014. ‘Walking… just walking’:
how children and young people's everyday pedestrian practices matter. Social & Cultural
Geography, 15(1), pp.94-115.
Kim, G.J., 2015. Human–Computer Interaction: Fundamentals and Practice. Auerbach
Publications.
Laurier, E., Brown, B. and McGregor, M., 2016. Mediated pedestrian mobility: walking and
the map app. Mobilities, 11(1), pp.117-134.
Macias, C., Panch, T., Hicks, Y.M., Scolnick, J.S., Weene, D.L., Öngür, D. and Cohen, B.M.,
2015. Using smartphone apps to promote psychiatric and physical well-being. Psychiatric
Quarterly, 86(4), pp.505-519.