Geocache Me
An AR app for geocaching and making freinds
Geocache Me is an AR (Artificial Reality) based app for those who participate in the hobby of geocaching.
You can try out the Figma prototype of Geocache Me here!
Project Overview
Problem
Timeline
Two Weeks
Project Info
Design Exercise
Tools
Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma
Geocaching is an outdoor activity where participants hide and find caches of items around the world using mobile devices and GPS. While some geocaching apps exist, none of them so far include a social element where users can connect with other geocachers.
Solution
Geocache Me stands out by allowing users to connect to each other via scannable QR codes. Giving users the ability to befriend and virtually chat with other users who’s caches they find.
Design Process
Research Stage
Product Research & Comparative Analysis
Other geocaching apps such as Cachly and Geocaching do exist, and during the product research stage my goal was to find a niche in the geocaching app market that hasn’t been filled yet. Thus I reviewed each of these products product and assessed what features they may lack. It was also apparent that most of these apps use a green and white color scheme, therefore I decided to use gold and purple as a dominate color scheme.
The icons of other reviewed apps
Assessment of features lacking in other geocache apps.
Geocaching
User can’t submit their own geocaches on the map.
Lacks any kind of social feature where users can connect with other geocachers.
Cachly
Lacks any kind of social feature where users can connect with other geocachers.
Geocache Placer
Is only for placing geocaches, does not display other user’s caches.
Does not allow connecting with other users.
Some of the icons used in the Geocache Me Figma prototype
initial wireframe for Geocache Me
User flow of Geocache Me
Design Stage
Initial Wireframe
In order to begin conceptualizing what kind of layout and features Geocache Me might have I first sketched an initial wireframe which illustrated some ideas about how the app could implement different necessary features.
During this stage I came up with the idea to use printable QR codes to connect with other users who might find your geocache, adding a social element that is not found in other similar apps.
During this stage I also developed the idea to give the user the ability to scan their immediate environment wit their camera to find a specific cache, in addition to showing the cache on the map. This is a feature not included in other similar apps and it allows users to engage more directly with their physical environment should they chose to.
User Flow
After evaluating other geocaching app and exploring potential features in the initial wireframe, I developed a user flow that took into account the key feature changes that I wanted to include.
These key changes being:
The ability for user’s to submit their own geocaches to the geocache map.
The ability to view other user’s placed caches on the geocache map.
A way for the user to connect with communicate with other app users.
images of social features in prototype
Social Features
As I wanted to include some way for a user to socialize with other users of the app, I decided to include the ability for a user to generate their own printable QR code. The user can then include this QR code in their cache if they would like other people to add them to their friend’s list. The other user could then message the first user should they chose to. Similarly the app contains a scanning feature for scanning any app generated QR codes that a user might find in a cache.
Map Features
images of map features in prototype
Having seen that other geocaching maps were lacking in the abilities for users to upload their own caches and view other users caches on the same map, I wanted to make sure that Geocache Me allowed users to do both things on the same map. And I wanted to make sure that the flow for viewing other’s geocaches and uploading your own was clear. This can be seen in the separation of the “map button”, which allows users to view unclaimed caches, and the “upload cache button” which takes users to the same map but allows them to place thier own cache on the map.
Evaluation Stage
Usability Testing & QUIS Questionnaire
Re-design of AR scanning feature based on usability test
I also conducted a usability test of the Figma prototype with 5 volunteer users. For this usability test I first had the users complete 4 tasks in the Figma prototype and then asked them to fill out a usability questionnaire. The usability questionnaire was based on the industry standard QUIS questionnaire format, which divides the questions asked into 5 categories: screen, terminology & system information, learning, system capabilities, and general impressions. The version of the QUIS questionnaire that was used was QUIS 7, which was released in 2019. The questionnaire also included an open answer space at the end where users could describe any problems they encountered directly.
Changes made based on usability testing
Based on the findings of the questionnaire it was clear that there was some difficulty in the learning aspect of Geocache Me, namely users were having trouble learning how to scan and locate a cache using the AR scanning feature. Therefore I decided to rework the scanning feature to make it clearer to the users what they were supposed to do via clearer instructions and indicators. Namely I aimed to indicate to the users that it is necessary for them to pan their camera to take a scan of the environment, and then in the second AR frame I aimed to indicate to users that they can drag the frame to pan around the scene and see what caches have been located.