Roamster practice case study
Overview
Roamster is a mobile application designed to improve and enhance the experience for outdoors-loving individuals and groups such as scout groups, mountaineering clubs but also for just outdoor-loving families or anybody seeking a break from today’s stressful and difficult city lifestyle.
It acts as a combination of a fitness tracker, enabling hikers or mountain bike riders to track their route, and a social network for enthusiasts, where they can browse, share, rate and comment on custom routes that wouldn’t usually be marked in any GPS-based map or sport tracking app.
Additional features are the ability to mark and share a spot that would be good for camping or marking an event, a venue, playground, or outdoor place suitable for families with children. Similar to routes, users are also able to browse, share, rate and comment on them, raising or lowering the popularity of a certain location.
Problem statement
The goal of this app is to make it easier for enthusiasts to find a good (and legal) place to camp, a route to go for a hike, or maybe just a nice, sunny meadow where you could take your partner and children for some quality family time outside. At this point, there is no such app encompassing all the above noted features
Users & audience
The target audience for this app are individuals and groups who like to spend their free time outdoors, surrounded by nature, but apart from advertised, known and well-established locations and routes, wish to go further and explore nature deeper. It’s perfect for individuals and groups who desire a more off-the-grid escape.
In terms of users, there will be two major groups of users, conveniently called “Scout” and “Patron”.
Scouts:
Regular users of the app
Able to record and publish a route/spot/venue
Able to browse, like, rate, comment on them, as well as follow and communicate other Scouts using in-app messaging system
Able to search for a site/route according to a specific type of outdoor activity (Rock-climbing, hiking, mountaineering, mountain-biking, camping, fishing, family and kids-friendly activities etc.)
Able to search within a pre-specified geographical radius (either from their current or a specified location)
Patrons:
Bars, restaurants, camping sites and other establishments with accent on their outdoor content
Must provide images and services/amenities they offer to their clients.
This is paid membership as their published content will appear on top of searches specially labelled as “Patron”
Scope and Constraints
The whole concept relies on a mobile app that would work on both Android and iOS phones. A desktop, web version is not initially planned although it could be feasible, however, keeping only the social media element, without the route tracker, for obvious reasons.
Apart from using mobile data, the app relies heavily on GPS signal. It uses Google maps for general orientation, and location mapping, but, since a user is encouraged to primarily record an unknown or less known route or road, the GPS will record phone’s coordinated in optimal intervals to draw a route on a map. Mobile devices with low-quality GPS chips or places that are not exposed enough may affect the quality of the recorded route.
The process
The app’s design is executed by following standardized steps in UX/UI methodologies as well as following Design thinking methodology.
