APPLE MAPS CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL LAYER
a feature that informs users of an area's historical significance to broaden their cultural awareness
MY ROLE
TEAM
Faith Ong, Anne Fernandez
DURATION
6 weeks
TOOLS
Figma
The landscape
How can we integrate cultural and historical knowledge into a user's everyday life?
Growing up in Washington state, I've grown familiar with Native American land acknowledgements, which remind me to stay mindful and aware of the historical and cultural roots of the ground I walk on each day. However, my team and I recognize that this experience isn't universal. In technology, cultural education and awareness is often put on the back burner. Without this knowledge, technology risks perpetuating ignorance and misunderstandings.
This presents an opportunity to expand upon users' knowledge of the cultural history of everyday places, with the goal of encouraging empathy and creating tools that connect people in meaningful ways.
Research methods
We conducted competitive analysis to look for methods that current applications use to address cultural education.
We evaluated the strengths, weaknesses and UX design in search of potential opportunities for improvement we could implement into our own design.
TRIPADVISOR
GOOGLE ARTS AND CULTURE
ALL TRAILS
We interviewed potential users who had varying degrees of knowledge of Apple Maps to gauge whether or not this feature would be beneficial.
We asked our interviewees questions about their past travel experiences such as when they visited new countries, explored new cultures, and what tools they used to navigate their surroundings.
"On a scale of 1-10, 1 being least to 10 being most, how important is cultural and historical awareness to you?"
9.3
out of 10
"Was there ever a time you felt culturally uneducated when visiting a new place?"
75%
of participants said yes
"What resources do you turn to when wanting to learn about a new culture?"
Google
Social Media
Friends
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
We created core principles from our research to consider while designing.
COMMUNICATE WELL
Historical and cultural information can be overwhelming. Focus on the information you want to convey and do it well so you don't lose sight of the main goal!
INFORMATION IS KEY
The accuracy of information is critical. Content must be well-researched, and correct to most effectively promote cultural understanding.
ADHERE TO THE SYSTEM
Designing for Apple means we must stick to the design language and Apple's own design principles.
Concept exploration
What information will we show and how will we do it?
While iterating, we sought to highlight regions with rich history while simultaneously providing a way for users to view this information on demand. Through rapid ideation, we came up with three ideas that we combined to create flows for user testing.
Separate filter maps
Cultural education drawer
Highlighted regions
FIRST FLOW
We tried a "layer" feature which would allow users to see information only when they wanted to see it.
The user would be able to toggle the layer according to whether they wanted to see the information or not. The layer would focus on regional education, highlighting areas on the map
In terms of visuals, we did not move forward with overlaying a color over denser areas because it did not adhere to Apple's current design language, and realized that it could get complicated showcasing where certain areas "ended." However, we moved forward with the idea that there would be some visual indicator to show what locations had more information to be revealed.
SECOND FLOW
We also drafted a filter feature which would allow users to see specific information separate from each other.
The second flow introduced a filter feature which would allow users to see specific information on separate layers.
We chose to not move forward with the filter feature as we though information could grow too repetitive and deviate away from the unique history that each site could offer. However, we felt that there is potential for growth in later encompassing cultural customs and education.
User testing
From monitoring click-through user testing, we received feedback that would inform our next design decisions.
"I would read the information if I had the time, but if I was in a hurry I wouldn't but try to read it later."
Participant 1
"Once you know how it works and what it's for, it seems very self-explanatory."
Participant 2
From here, we decided that we wanted to ensure our solution would default to a "hidden" state.
Thus, if users were in a rush, they would not be distracted by extraneous information. However, we wanted to make it easy for the app to reveal the information when the users wanted to read more. This allowed us to rethink the hierarchy of how we placed this information.
Final prototype
The final deliverable is composed of two flows: one for when the user is in a hurry and can easily access the cultural information on their own later, and one for when the user has more time to browse the area.
learn when you want
Tap the cultural education button in the drawer of the selected location to read more about its historical and cultural significance.
Or, for when you've got more time on your hands…
01. REVEAL
Turn on the cultural education layer in the top right corner to reveal locations with more information.
02. LEARN
Tap on an area to reveal more information.
03. Explore
Zooming in and tapping places marked with the icon allows you to explore other notable spots within walking distance.
04. LEARN
Find more information by expanding the carousel card. Dive into history by reading and seeing pictures of historical sites.
FUTURE EXPLORATIONS
CREATING ROUTES
Down the line, a possible extension upon this project would be to create routes based on locations with rich cultural history. This would be a feature that would likely be most beneficial to tourists, as having the app create a route for them will minimize the labor of planning out trips.
EXPANDING THE KNOWLEDGE
As mentioned above, we believe that spreading cultural education is a natural extension of this current scope. Helping people learn about etiquette in new places can help them feel even more secure while traveling.
Takeaways
BALANCING PERSONAL INSIGHT AND USER RESEARCH
Coming into this project, I had an idea of what our solution might look like already because I could imagine myself using it. However, it's important to acknowledge that even though I may be a user of this product, I am not the sole user; therefore, collecting data and insights from other users should still be priority. I'm proud of the outreach and interviews my team and I conducted for people of varying skill levels so we could eventually come up with our solution.
DESIGNING WITHIN A SYSTEM TAKES TIME
Capturing all of the details within an existing design system takes time to implement. The visuals and microinteractions took a lot of time to finalize, but working towards an existing experience helped me better understand how the product should look in the end. The patience will pay off!