Hike it UP!
Overview:
MY ROLE:
TOOLS USED:
User Interviews, Competitive Analysis, & Data Collection.
Persona, Empathy Map, & Wireframe.
User Flow, Responsive Wireframes, Prototype, & Usability Testing.
HTML5, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery, REI API, Firebase, Weather Channel API, MapQuest.js, AJAX.
By conducting user interviews as part of an ideation phase, we interviewed a collection of 10 people. Our market was broad because hiking and outdoor activity is not limited to one specific type of individual.
While making this app, we understood that there are many applications that are similar. Instead of the user having to look for trail details on one application, weather on another, and reviews on yet another application, Hike It Up simplifies the hiker’s experience by giving them an all-in-one solution to finding trails near them. Hike It Up also offers the opportunity to be part of a community by submitting their trail reviews/comments.
Taken from the Statista which is an inclusive statistics portal, we found that in 2018:
-St. Augustine
We wanted to create a platform that would help people get connected with the outdoors. The user will expect to search for hiking trails by location on the home page, using the Hiking Projects API.
To provide a more enhanced trail search experience, the user will want to view weather for their specific area so they can pack and plan accordingly. Upon input the code will call the Open Weather API and display the data to the user (including: weather summary, temperature, and humidity) with an event handler.
When the user selects a trail, a modal will be displayed listing all of the trail details, including a Plan My Trip button that will display the map/directions to the trail head with the MapQuest API. The user may also expect to go back to the trail details, so included is a back button or close button to allow them to view more trails.
Before deciding on a trail, a user may want to look at reviews and comments from their fellow hikers. Hike It Up allows users to add reviews for trails they’ve hiked to help other hikers get prepared for their next adventure. The HTML page will include an Add a Review button that will allow the user to add their ratings for trails in a modal. We’ll be connecting to Firebase to store and display all the reviews/comments data from the user so anyone can access the information.
Similar to the research I had 8 people sit down for a usability test session. During the test, participants completed locating a trail in their preferred city and then navigated to the turn by turn directions page to enter directions from their home or respective starting location. Our goal was to identify any usability problems, collect qualitative and quantitative data and determine the participant's satisfaction with the product.
For a 2 week deadline and the knowledge only of HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JS, AJAX, & jQuery the app surpassed our expectations. The UI is clean and modeled after Hipcamp, a trendy site to reserve camping spots.
Improvements: 1. Re-writing the application in React & Swift. 2. Cleaner UI to display weather details. 3. Finding more trails of the beaten path.
Expansion: Mobile application.
