Our team is interested in encouraging Stanford students to spend more time outdoors, especially during the daytime. We researched a few apps that share the goal of getting people to spend more time outdoors. Some apps utilized AR games, while others simply shared information about various parks and outdoor recreational activities.
Analysis of existing comparators
- App provides content and social interaction for people who already ar inclined to go outside – for established outside goers
- AllTrails
- Relive
- The Dog Spot Beach Guide
- OuterSpatial
- Notifications/reminders based app
- Finch
- Fitbit
- Location based app
- The Dog Spot Beach Guide
- All Trails
- OuterSpatial
- Game / Story based apps:
- Ingress
- The Gruffalo Spotter
- Pokemon Go
- Finch – take care of a finch and earn currency to buy it items by completing tasks
- Wearables
- Fitbit
- Augmented Reality
- The Guffalo Spotter
- Pokemon Go
- Ingress
- For tracking outside time:
- NatureDose
- 1000 Hours Outside
- AllTrails
- Relive
Comparator deep dives
AllTrails
Product description: AllTrails is an online outdoor travel database meant to be used to provide community curated trail maps. Users are able to scan detailed, hand-curated maps, trail reviews and photos from their local community members. Users can explore the outdoors in a guided format and share the experience with their family and friends.
Target Audience: beginning and advanced hikers as well as trail walkers. This encompassess almost all age groups, income labels, ethnicities, and genders
Problem Overview: Inexperienced hikers and trail walkers struggle to find safe trails at their level to explore. The trails could be out of their skill range, no longer in commission, require special equipment, or only available during limited time frames.
Their Solution: With AllTrails, people can view trail maps submitted and up-kept by community members. Users can check trail conditions, read thousands of reviews, view crowd-sourced images and more, enabling more users to have easy access to the outdoors.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Ability to save trails and categorize them
- Offers to plant trees as rewards for users accomplishing app goals such as add a new friend
Weaknesses
- Does not mention current trail conditions so the trail could be too muddy to use after rain
- Requires users to make an account to view app
- 7 day free trial then $35.99 per year for Trail+ – confuses new users and makes the payment seem required
- Must share location to user
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users: Our app will not attempt to mislead users into purchasing expanded services they are unsure they want.
Source: alltrails.com
Relive
Product description: Relive is a social media-esque app for tracking outdoor recreational activities. Its primary feature that makes it stand out from our activity tracking applications is that it has a “stories” feature where users can attach photos and videos to their outdoor experiences.
Target Audience: Users who want to capture their outdoor memories and share them.
Problem Overview: Users wanted a way to capture memories and share their stories with friends and family after a rewarding, beautiful experience outdoors.
Their Solution: Relive is an app whose main two features are to track your outdoor activities and to share those activities as “stories.” Stories are composed of photos and videos you took during that session.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Cute bear mascot sprinkled around
- Gamification of challenges
- Clean, bright UI
- Connects with Apple Health
Weaknesses
- Requires location to track
- Requires account to be made to view
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users – Our product will not require users to share their location in order to maintain their privacy and expand our potential user base.
Source: relive.cc
Finch: Self Care Widget Pet
Product description: Finch is a virtual pet application that grows when you accomplish your self-care goals.
Target Audience: Individuals who struggle with completing self-care goals due to poor mental health.
Problem Overview: Finch was started by two friends who personally struggled with anxiety, depression and self care.
Their Solution: Finch is meant to make self-care fun and accessible in order to help people take care of themselves and build good, positive habits. The user is a “finch guardian” and takes care of a pet finch by completing their goals.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Calming music
- Vibrant graphics
- Gamification of daily chores and de
Weaknesses
- Users may feel stunted if they repeatedly fail to accomplish their goals and in turn, never seeing their finch grow
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users: Our app will make sure there will always be a way for the user to continue to grow and reminders to not give up on their goal of increasing outdoor time.
Source: finchcare.com
NatureDose
Product description: monitors time people spend inside and outside; allows people to compare time spent inside versus outside, compare daily and weekly statistics; allows people to set weekly targets
Target Audience: People who want to spend more time outside whether they are living in an urban, rural or a suburban area
Problem Overview: Screen addiction is extremely prevalent in our current society, leading people to spend less time outside
Their Solution: Providing people with a tool to set goals regarding going outside and giving them an insight into their habits will encourage them to spend more time outside
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- provides encouragement to users
- Provides visuals to help people keep track of their goals
- Comparison is a good motivator
- Provides users with natural locations nearby
Weaknesses
- Has a lot of text
- Might be discouraging for people who can’t spend much time outside since it compares indoor and outdoor time
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users: Less text heavy interface
Source: NatureDose app
1000 Hours Outside
Product description: keeps a record of how many hours you spend outside
Target Audience: people who want to track time spent outside
Problem Overview: people spend too much time indoors
Their Solution: users can track the time spent outdoors, share their results with their family and earn rewards. This in theory will encourage people to spend more time outdoors
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- The interface is simple and easy to navigate
- The user can share their results with family, which creates a sense of community
Weaknesses
- The user must remember to turn the timer
- The app is somewhat limiting since results can only be shared with family
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users: Automate tracking when possible and allow users to share
Source: 1000hoursoutside.com
OuterSpatial: Get Outside –
Product description: Ensures that people have up to date information about their favorite outdoor places. You can discover new places to camp, hike, off-road, fish, walk your dog, or hang with your family!
Target audience: is people who enjoy public recreational spaces and go there often. Families as well.
Their Solution: to provide any updates necessary and help them find any events they might want to go.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- Has lots of information about different natural areas according to location
- Up-to-date information about events
Weaknesses
- not necessarily easy to comb through all their information.
- Not aesthetically pleasing
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users: Ease of use for users, not too informationally overwhelming
Source: outerspatial.com
Fitbit
Product description: Wearable watch technology that will send you reminders to move, keep track of your steps, and track your exercise
Target Audience: Active people, older people trying to be more active who might be less tech-savvy
Their Solution: Technology that reminds people to move and helps them track how much movement they make throughout the day
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
- long battery life
- many different models that can suit different users
- helps users choose the model they want on the website
- unique because it is fitness related
Weaknesses
- not as convenient as apple watch
- price point
- Not necessarily geared towards outdoor activities
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users: affordability of the solution
Source: fitbit.com
The Gruffalo Spotter
Description: Throughout 26 forested sites in the UK, The Gruffalo Spotter app leads children on a game following clues (such as tracking augmented reality footprints). The augmented reality app gets children and their families excited to spend more time outdoors in the forest!
Target Audience: Children and their families
Problem Overview: National forests have been seeing a decline in visitors and in the digital world families find it increasingly stressful to find ways to enjoy nature together.
Their Solution: make a way for children to get more excited about going to the forests!
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths:
- Augmented Reality
- highly exciting and interactive
Weaknesses
- can only be played once
- only works at 26 sites
Aspects where our product will seek to improve the experience of current users: Our app should be able to be used in far more locations, and be much more reusable
Source: Magic Light Pictures
Ingress
Product description: From the company that brought you Pokemon Go (well technically Ingress came first), Ingress is an augmented reality science fiction game that sends users on walks around their neighborhoods to local landmarks. Users either play as the Enlightened or the Resistance, and collect powerups for their factions as they play.
Target Audience: Gamers and science fiction enthusiasts who want to spend more time outside or make more out of the time they spend outside.
Problem Overview: Video games cause people to spend a lot of time inside.
Their Solution: Create a video game designed to be played outside!
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths:
- Appeals to a wide audience
- Revolutionary technology
- Massive player base
Weaknesses
- gameplay can become repetitive quickly
Source: ingress.com
The Dog Spot Beach Guide
Product description: Designed to help plan visits to the beach with your dog! It can help with weather, and show certain restrictions at certain beaches. Unfortunately, it only works in the UK.
Target Audience: Dog Owners
Problem Overview: It can be hard to tell which beaches allow dogs, and which don’t
Their Solution: Create a database for beaches that allow dogs, and which beaches enforce which restrictions!
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- highly useful for its target audience
- has a lot of necessary information
Weaknesses
- database is difficult to expand to new regions
- target audience is rather narrow
Source: The Dog Spot Beach Guide app
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