Object and asset mapping with AI
Utility design, UX/UI
Object mapping is essentially the process of associating or tagging the ports of physical devices with the underlying automation and control networks, no matter the physical layout of the site. This configuration map allows the system to monitor and control devices, to track and schedule energy consumption, to keep environments comfortable during occupied periods, and more.
This tagging process can be labor-intensive, especially at larger sites where there may be many hardware devices with many control points, and with complex scheduling needs across several buildings. This is why my team built our object mapping tool, including its AI-assisted auto-tagging feature.
ℹ️ FogHorn Systems was a leading developer of industrial and commercial applications optimized for industrial edge environments with limited or no network connectivity. FogHorn was acquired by Johnson Controls in January 2022.
Early wireframe concepts
To figure out how to present a complex task like this to the user—what its interaction model should be—I like to start with loose sketches. Thinking procedurally and iterating over versions allows me to work through core questions with my team: how should the steps be sequenced, how should we present the information in an extensible way, and what controls should be surfaced where?
A little bit of this progression is shown above. The earlier sketch focused on the basic relationship of assets to objects, and what properties might be listed for each. The latter sketch reflects an evolution after many conversations my team had about how the user would actually go about the tagging of the assets and objects, from bulk selection of entities to the setting of their properties.
Early concepts: UI for site hierarchy and selection
The user would be establishing the layout of their site—its floorplan—in our tool, so in the meantime I was exploring concepts for hierarchical workflows. Once defined, the user would need to be able to select any of those areas for tagging, and the approach would have to scale well for sites with potentially hundreds of hierarchical nodes.
Site setup properties editor
Once we’d established our design approach to the site setup, we provided the user with the means to tell us the “where” and the “what” of their site, by entering the properties of their floorplan, and uploading a list of the assets installed there. Our system had to be able to accommodate sites of all sizes and complexities.
Mapping assets and objects
My design for bulk-tagging of multiple assets alleviated that time-consuming tagging process for our users. But a new AI-assisted approach could speed the process up even more. I worked directly with the engineering team to visualize, design, and implement a one-click tool that could assess great numbers of ingested objects, and instantly assign the best standard matches, which users could easily override.
Working directly with end users, and incorporating their feedback early in the design process, ensured that their needs were met at every step of the way.
UI for AI-assisted tagging of multiple assets