ABSTRACT

CONCLUSION

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iPack: A UNR iPhone ApplicationA.J. Henriques ◦ Christian Maloney ◦ Jeff Naruchtparames

Instructor: Dr. Sergiu Dascalu, PhD External Advisor: Brian Westphal, CliqCliqUniversity of Nevada, Reno Department of Computer Science

CS-426: Senior Projects, Spring 2009

USER INTERFACE

The University of Nevada, Reno is host to a large, dynamic campus, undergoing perpetual growth. Such growth brings new buildings, faculty, students and courses. Our team has proposed an iPhone application (iPack) designed to enhance the campus experience of students and faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). The application shall provide users with an intuitive, mobile interface, which aids in navigation of both the campus as well as various directories of the university. iPack is designed to essentially act as a small-scale version of the iPhone’s native operating system (iPhone OS X), incorporating several UNR-specific sub-applications into a central user-interface.

DESCRIPTION OF SUBSYSTEMSUNR Life Courses Faculty Map

The UNR Life subsection consists of a news section, an events section, an an athletic section and several other UNR-related RSS feeds.

The course index feature of iPack will consist of an interface, allowing users to search current course schedules and view information specific to each course such as time, location, instructor, description and prerequisites.

The faculty directory in iPack shall allow users to view certain information about members of UNR’s faculty (office location, current teaching schedule, contact information, etc.) in a searchable user-interface.

iPack’s map feature should function like a microcosmic version of the iPhone’s built-in Google Maps application, with GPS navigation and detailed mapping of UNR’s campus. Specific locations and buildings shall be clearly marked and information about them stored.

Home Screen UNR LIfe Course Directory Faculty Directory Map

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

CONCLUSION

The concept behind iPack contains myriad potential for expansion beyond currently proposed functionality. One can simply look at the UNR website to obtain ideas for further development. Future additions to the application could include functionality for class registration, viewing of course grades, payment of fees, feeds of University-related news, and possibly even some form of an interactive classroom application analogous to Blackboard or Web CT.

iPack will benefit anyone who accesses the UNR campus on a regular basis. Such a group would consist mainly of students and faculty among a few others. The application will provide iPhone owners with a quick and easy way to look up information on campus related things.

Mobile computing is an incredibly fast-growing field in software engineering and the iPhone is currently the ultimate symbol of progress in this field. The familiarity gained through developing on both the iPhone platform as well as under the Apple OS X environment will most definitely prove to be a valuable experience in the professional development of team members.

This project was developed in Spring 2009 as part of the course CS426 Senior Projects