Research gathered data on the trail closure from government sources and social-media posts to understand the situation, then compiled it into a report to identify trends and gauge user sentiment. Interviews with trail users surfaced how they navigated the closures in practice. Analysis was conducted in Miro and Google Sheets — Miro for open-ended exploration through a flexible, visual interface; Sheets for structured data, visualisation, and insight extraction.
Current state at trail entrances — note the lack of signage and information about detours.
Key takeaways
Lack of usable information at trail-closure sites led to trail abandonment and detour avoidance. Available information did not match user needs and failed to improve the experience. Users preferred high-level information over granular status updates. Their main concerns were: "Where can I access the trail?" and "Is it a paved or a nature trail?"
Consolidating the data in Sheets made it possible to analyse detour impact and identify trends. Insights — such as correlations between bridges, user-submitted images, and trail distances — informed how the data should be chunked around users' mental models.
Google Sheets consolidated the data, surfacing correlations between bridges, user-submitted images, and trail distances. Those patterns informed how content should be chunked around users' mental models.
Bridging navigation gaps
Initial user testing revealed that bridges were the most recognisable landmarks on the trail, leading to a bridge-focused design for the first version of the navigation system. At first, traditional maps were deemed unnecessary due to the trail's linear nature, with users orienting themselves by proximity to the next bridge. Subsequent testing showed this approach was insufficient for finding trail entry points and detours, leading to a quick redesign that incorporated traditional map elements — a more holistic solution that served users from the moment they began seeking the trail.
