Gates of the Arctic National Park

Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve protects habitats and resources in consultation with local rural residents to provide subsistence opportunities on lands that have supported traditional cultures and local residents.

Gates of the Arctic National Park wants to better educate their guests so they can visit parks responsibly. In addition, they also want ways to hold visitors accountable so they leave the park in a way that is not disruptive.

The Business

My Role

As the research lead I was influential in defining the research objective for the project. With that objective, my team and I drafted interview questions and usability tasks as well as a list of survey questions. As lead I was also responsible for managing our timeline, ensuring we scheduled and conducted interviews and usability tests by a specific date. Once interviews were complete, I coded each interview using Dovetail and as a team we discussed our theories.

Business Needs

Gates of the Arctic is experiencing an uptick in visitors as people have begun to travel more again. In order to uphold their mission of preserving park ecology, they need solutions for better education visitors as well as holding them accountable. 

The Objective

Understand how park visitors plan and execute trips to national and/or state parks

Interviews

We conducted 5 interviews with individuals who have visited national or state park in the last 5 years. 

We specifically asked about their knowledge of rules and regulations as well as wildlife at parks they’ve visited and where they learned it. 

Interview Insights

We used Dovetail to transcribe and code the interviews. The research team found common categories and themes around visitors negative and positive experiences. Ultimately, we determined that park information and education being more readily accessible before arrival could improve the experience for both the park and guest.

Usability Testing

Objective:  Understand user pain points navigating the current NPS app. 

Task 1: Navigate to Gates of the Arctic Park from homepage.

Task 2: Where would you expect to find rules and regulations?

Task 3: Where would you expect to find wildlife information?

Usability Insights

An affinity map was used to organize key insights. Some key takeaways were the categories were confusing and information wasn’t where users expected it to be. The current app had key information on safety buried in the Amenities tab. Other information on wildlife, which was readily available on the website, wasn’t available anywhere on the app.

Survey

We sent out a questionnaire through both Twitter and Reddit to understand pain points park visitors face when visiting and learning about a national/state park. We screened for participants who have visited State or National parks within the last 5 years. There were 32 total participants when we ended our discover phase. 

Survey Takeaways

• 81% of visitors use their phones when visiting park

• 68% of those interviewed use the current National Park Services app

• when asked how users prefer to learn new information, 46% said they prefer text or video options

Comparative Analysis

We researched other national and state park apps to compare features.

Problem Statement

The client needs a way to best hold park guests accountable while providing guests with unique and educational experiences. They believe by better educating their guests and increasing accountability they can better achieve their goal of preserving park ecology.

Visitors need a way to easily access rules and regulations, as well as wildlife information. However, the current NPS app makes accessing this information difficult.

How Might We

HMW  encourage users to preserve the wildlife and follow the rules and regulations.

HMW make necessary educational tools more accessible to navigate the park’s wildlife while giving them a responsibility to follow the rules and regulations.