Humber College released an app in August called “Campus Compass” that helps students get around north campus and the University of Guelph-Humber.

The app has campus maps that assist you in finding your way to anywhere from classrooms to places to eat.

University of Guelph-Humber student Angelisa Hatfield had both an interest and need for downloading Campus Compass. Hatfield said the app should have been introduced a long time ago.

“If I had this app from first year, I would’ve used Humber resources a lot more because I would be more confident in where to find them, without getting lost or spending half a class trying to figure out where the book store is,” Hatfield said.

Hatfield works at Guelph-Humber’s help desk and uses the app to guide students around campus.

Since the app is in its early stages, Hatfield suggests how it can be improved. “Considering we have such a diverse community of students, faculty and guests, having an option to choose the language for those whose first language may not be English,” she said.

Omar Davis, the supervisor of Humber’s IT services, said that Campus Compass was created to help navigate the Humber community.

“Its central purpose is to remove the stress of finding your way, or simply an opportunity to explore the campus.”

Humber did not develop the application itself, its staff reached out to an external company to do all the coding and design. Datarockets did not have anything to do with creating Campus Compass, but their business development manager Yulia Garanok provided information on the process of app development. Datarockets is a business that builds custom web and mobile applications.

Garanok said that communication between the client and developer is vital when creating an app.

“When developers are doing a task, they check with the client on multiple occasions to ensure that they are creating what they asked for. It is all about communication between the developer and the client,” she said.

Before being available for download in the App Store and Google Play, apps must confirm their guidelines are being followed. Correct steps have to be taken by developers in order for apps to be approved.

Davis said that banners and posters are located around campus to promote the app. Content will be updated in real-time as Humber expands and changes.

Humber Lakeshore students can look forward to their campus being added to Campus Compass in Fall 2020.