Back to Our Work
Back to Our Work

Rebranding the Razorback Greenway with an approachable web application

Modernizing Poultry Farms with Internet Connected Feed Level Monitoring

Little Bird Systems approached Lofty Labs to create a customer facing application to allow users to monitor data generated by their innovative audio-based sensors for feed bins in the poultry industry. The team had deployed sensors on multiple farms and were storing data in a database, but had no user interface for analytics, reporting, or even internal oversight. The team also anticipated large scaling challenges with their architecture in the short term future as they prepared a large go-to-market strategy for their IoT (Internet of Things) enabled sensors.

LOFTY'S APPROACH
Little Bird Systems team during a discovery workshop at Lofty Labs Lofty Labs worked with the team at Little Bird Systems to re-architect the pipeline of their sensor data using a standardized API (Application Programming Interface) over the internet, allowing their devices to passively push data into the cloud. The API became the standard interface for retrieving data as well, and Lofty developed an interactive reporting interface to surface insights to Little Bird System’s customers. The API and analytics application support an ACL model that allows for flexible governance of data access where Little Bird's employees and customers can access only the data they are granted, without compromising the confidential data of other customers. LBS On ScreenLittle Bird's IoT infrastructure is now poised for massive scaling and sensors are being rolled out to multiple commercial farms. The API powered dashboard is in use by LBS employees, farm employees, and integration partners to efficiently monitor and replenish feed levels. Native mobile applications are now in development, taking advantage of the API at the architecture's core to provide consistent experience across devices. These applications can be developed at a substantially reduced cost as they leverage a pre-existing cloud architecture and data access. Little Bird Systems is now confidently approaching some of the largest poultry integrators in the world with the knowledge that their automated systems can scale to meet demands of any size

In collaboration with Creative, a brand experience agency, we created an interactive map made especially for users of the Razorback Greenway in Northwest Arkansas.

The Challenge
The Razorback Greenway is a paved mixed-use and alternative transportation trail in Northwest Arkansas. Spanning over 40 miles through 7 different cities, it results from the collaboration between local city governments, the Northwest Arkansas Planning Commission, the University of Arkansas, and the Walton Family Foundation. Collectively these groups wanted to provide a way for community members to connect and discover the art, culture, and entertainment available in the region along the shared Greenway trail. As part of a rebranding and new wayfinding installed along the Greenway's 40 miles, leaders wanted to engage users more deeply and provide information about the trail and its amenities through a digital tool.

A image of the razorback greenway in its entirety

Above is the Razorback Green way in its entirety. the cities are color coded starting in Fayetteville and reaching up to Bella Vista

Javascript and Mapbox
The foundation of the Greenway map is Mapbox, with which Lofty engineers built a fully custom map experience. The tool integrates directly with the University of Arkansas Center for Advanced Spatial Technology (CAST) geospatial data services. As the maintainer of ground truth for the Greenway, CAST is able to update the trail with detours, spurs, and re-routing of the Greenway's ongoing dynamic development. What’s most important about that effort is that it was done in a brand-conscious way, enabling each community to be represented both individually and collectively as a whole.  

Strategic Discovery
Through in-depth collaboration between stakeholders and implementers from both teams and from the Razorback Greenway Alliance, Lofty's strategic leadership team took all parties through a series of workshops to ensure the project was headed for success. Ensuring all parties have a voice at the table from the first meeting ensures that the best ideas win and projects are aligned with desired outcomes no matter the starting point. The rapport and trust built through the initial discovery process allowed the Lofty team to collaborate closely to ensure the Greenway project was successful.

An image of the razorback greenway legend and key

On the left menu we have a legend of the different trails and the colors of the cities. On the right we have an interactive key you can choose which items you want to see and what to hide.

Client Involvement
The digital map must match its real-world counterparts, like physical signage and city coloring along the trail. We participated in many reviews to ensure our designs matched the Greenway Alliance's rebranding efforts. Lofty team members participated in Square 2 Square, the planned annual cycling event where the app was initially released.

Real World Importance
This project helps people to explore, share, and celebrate the culture of the NWA region. The Razorback Greenway trail exists to connect seven communities and drive economic growth and development across them. Even though we are a remote company, we have our Headquarters in Fayetteville, where we do our best to build up and give back to our community.

a image of the razorback greenway zoomed in on Foxfire Park

When you click on an icon it will display all the amenities at the site. for example this is in Rogers and has a playground, a water station and parking.