How to create a great user experience for totally different users: the Velopark case

The Velopark map serves both as a means to inform bicyclists about parking facilities as well as a gateway for professional users get information on the Velopark data.

The three main user categories in Velopark are:

• people looking for information about bicycle parkings in a certain area = regular user
• people who want to use the Velopark open data = professional user
• people who manage the data = professional user

In the beginning, the Velopark website was mostly focused on the regular user, they could look for bike parkings per municipality or close to a location of their choice.

We wanted to shift the focus to the professional user, more importantly the data managers (cities & parking owners). But how could we ensure a good experience for all user types? At that point information for regular and professional users was scattered throughout the Velopark web pages.

The solution: separating the user flows of both user types starting from the landing page by introducing the button "Professional user". This button leads to a magical place called "Velopark PRO".

In the PRO environment we could inform the new (and current) professional users of all the possibilities of the Velopark platform and at the same time avoid confusing the regular users. We divided up the user flows as much as possible in the interface. For instance we introduced a separate FAQ page for the professional users while keeping the one for regular users to make sure each user gets the information they need.

At Nazka Mapps we believe it is important to identify the relevant user types in each project and make sure the interface caters to their needs. We don't leave any user behind.

Velopark.be collects all information about bicycle parkings in Belgium. The platform offers access to cities and municipalities to add parking facilities and to manage the quality of the data. The information can then be used by all kinds of applications, for example digital maps, route planners, websites of municipalities or events and all kinds of bicycle apps. The information about the bicycle parking facilities can also be consulted on Velopark.be.