Trail Explorer (SW45)

Conditions

The engineering firm already established trail stops with educational installations, all with markers that could be used for Augmented Reality scanning triggers.

Assumptions

• As this trail is a full ADA compliant trail, the people using it could range in age, accessibility needs, and fitness levels.
• Trail is not connected to wider trail system, most people will be driving and parking at one end of the trail

Research

User interviews on the trail and similar trails helped us gather information about what kind of experience people had with VR/AR apps, and what sort of apps they use in the outdoors, as well as some demographic information.

• 60% of trail users were families
• 20% Cyclist/Bikers
• 20% Individuals
• Snapchat and Amazons AR Apps were some of the apps people were familiar with
• My Fitness Pal was another app people were using often

Low Fidelity Designs

After gathering research, I went ahead and created some basic designs so that way I could visualize what the UI would look like and get some of the flows worked out.

App Flow Diagram

I worked out an app flow to share with the devs to guide them during their initial prototype creation

Prototype Mockup

After the team was on the same page about the direction we were going to go forward in, I created a prototype in Adobe Xd with the help of a storyboard artist. This would help us visualize more clearly the steps the app would take. The storyboards also help us do some very basic user testing to see if we could identify any issues early on.

Developer Prototype

Since this is an Augmented Reality app, we had no tools at the time to do quick tests with users with the actual Augmented Reality Parts of the app. So I handed off the Adobe Xd Prototype to the Devs and they got to work on a version we could use to at least test 1-2 interactions with people out on the trail.

This is one of the main flows you can see, scanning a sign on the trail, placing the scene and listening to the narration.