CUTGroup: Park Finder

Client: Ann Arbor Parks & Recreation

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Team: Debby, Joe, Raksha, Rhea, Selena

Background

The Park Finder tool went public in December 2022

• “The goal of the tool is to help individuals find park information.”
• “Also, we hope to inspire park exploration.”

Topics of Interest (from initial project proposal):

• Are the pop-ups helpful?
• Is it easy to search for amenities? (“What parks have pickleball?”)
• Specific feedback on the language regarding parking lots

Methodology

User testing was done with 11 residents of Ann Arbor in 30-minute interviews (in-person and Zoom)

Participants were asked to complete 4 tasks related to navigating to the Park Finder tool, searching for parks and finding information about a specific park.�

We assessed if the Park Finder aided participants to locate, visit and explore more parks.�

Participants

• Most of the participants
• visited parks in Ann Arbor regularly
• had little to no familiarity with Park Finder
• were familiar with technology
• 6 tested on laptop, 4 on mobile and 1 tested on iPad

Research Questions

User Testing Overview

Participants did four tasks to interact with features of the park finder to understand if interactions align with goals of the task.

Pre-task questions included asking about their experience with Ann Arbor Parks, procedure to select a park to visit.

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Post test questions included what task was easiest, hardest and potential improvements in the park finder.

Pre-task questions

Tasks

Post-task questions

General Insights

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The comprehensive nature of the tool was appreciated.

Users struggled with navigating to the Park Finder tool.

Users struggled with finding some of the amenities.

Tasks and Questions

Complete Interview Protocol

Insight #1

Different ways to get to the Park Finder tool is confusing

All users struggled to navigate to the Park Finder Tool

Insight # 1.1

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• All users struggled with locating the tool.
• Users took different paths to get to the Park Finder tool, and most of them felt that the journey was confusing
• Example: Participant types “ann arbor park finder” into Google search and clicks on “Memorial Finder”

Users said:

Insight # 1.1

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“I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to search on the site [Ann Arbor website].”

“I honestly do not know how to get to the Park Finder tool”

“Should I click the map or is it just a picture?”

😟

🤔

🙁

Recommendation # 1.1

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• Improve findability of the Park Finder tool by using a different method of accessing the ParkFinder page from the A2gov website.
• Catch the user’s eye with a clear call to action.
• One way to do this is to have a prominent button linking to the Park Finder.

The link to Park Finder should be a distinct button

High Impact

Recommendation # 1.2

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• The search terms for the link to the ParkFinder can include key terms such as "map", "Ann Arbor parks", "park finder".

The user should be able to find the Park Finder by searching relevant terms

High Impact

Insight #2

Users struggled with using the search bar and about (“i”) pop-up

Users struggled with using the search bar and about (“i”) pop-up

Insight # 2

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• Restrictive Search Terms
• Users searched for familiar terms (e.g., “water”, “BBQ”) and received no results
• Search by Multiple Criteria
• Users tried searching for multiple amenities at once (e.g., “grill, bottle”)
• Interpreting the Legend
• Users repeatedly scrolled up and down through the legend searching for amenity names and search terms to use, sometimes missing what they were looking for

Users said:

Insight # 2.1

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“You shouldn’t have to know exactly the right words to use.”

“What if there was a check filter feature for [amenities]? That would be really helpful.”

“There are no instructions for multiple criteria. I wouldn’t know how to find both [amenities] at the same time.”

😕

🤔

😐

Expand search terms associated with each amenity

Recommendation # 2.1

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• Enable users to search for amenities using familiar terms
• “bottle”: “water”, “water bottle”, “water fountain”, “drinking fountain”

High Impact

Recommendation # 2.2

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Enable users to search for multiple amenities at once

• Add a filter feature to allow users to select multiple amenities at once
• Add ability and instructions for using search bar to search by multiple amenities (e.g., “separate amenities with commas”)

High Impact

Recommendation # 2.3

Chunk types of amenities into scannable categories

• Will reduce information overload and promote efficient scanning
• Facilities (e.g., parking, restrooms)

Sports & Activities (e.g., basketball)

High Impact

Insight #3

"Parking Lot Options" title and links was not intuitive to users

Users did not understand what “Parking Lot Options” meant

Insight # 3.1

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• Users felt the "Parking Lot Options" section was not intuitively presented to users
• However, they ultimately felt the information was useful

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Users said:

Insight # 3.1

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“I expected parking lot links to direct me to the park page rather than Google Maps.”

“At first, I thought ‘Parking Lot Options’ was a dead link, then I realized the links were below it.”

“It's hard to take in so many words.”

😕

😣

😅

Using accurate language to describe function of parking lot options

Recommendation # 3.1

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• Change “Parking Lot Options” to:

📍Google Maps Parking Directions

• [Link 1]
• [Link 2]
2. Instead of using language that might seem more natural or intuitive, use language that is direct and accurate
3. Adding the icon, bold text, and ordered list differentiates this section from the rest of the pop-up text

High Impact

Insight #4

Users expressed frustration with the lack of clarity with the amenities icons

Users Struggled to Interpret and Use Amenity Icons

Insight # 4.1

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• Unclear Icon Meanings
• Users tried to hover/click on icons to discover purpose and were surprised when nothing happened
• Users felt that they didn’t fully understand the purpose of icons and were unsure if they had discovered all possible amenities
• Missing Amenities
• Users felt unsatisfied with the available amenity options
• User wanted to know what the pond is, the sports, picnic tables - wanted to see lots of detail
• User prefered to have trails marked on the map, length of the trails, where they end, where to park
• Accessibility Information
• Users were unsuccessful in searching for amenities specific to accessibility

Users said:

Insight # 4.1

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"I don't feel like I was successful finding the various amenities on Park Finder"

"There are amenities I don’t know about and would want to see - so if there are boardwalks (for accessibility), I'd want to know"

“Walking and sitting should be amenities”

😓

😕

🤔

Recommended Solutions

• Hover/Click for all icons
• All icons should have the feature that allows users to identify the amenity’s purpose
• Add specific amenities relevant to users
• Adding more amenities applicable to different user groups
• Popular amenity requests: picnic tables, biking, benches, trails (start and end point)
• Creating accessibility-related amenities that can be filtered
• Popular amenity requests: benches, walking paths, bridges
• Accessibility icon to indicate whether the park is accessible
• Features that only appear if accessibility icon is also present
• Asphalt vs dirt paths (only visible if accessibility icon is also there)

Medium Impact

Recommendation # 4.1

Insight #5

Users did not immediately notice UI elements and found some interfered while doing the tasks

Users found the size of the content of the pop-up on the Mobile UI frustrating

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Insight # 5.1

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• Users who used a mobile to view the Park Finder tool found it confusing that the pop-up for each park took up the entire screen.
• 2 users clicked the back button from the pop up which navigated them to the specific A2gov park page, instead of the Park Finder tool.

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Users said:

Insight # 5.1

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“ It has a lot of white space. ”

- Participant 2

“ The pop up covers up the park. I can’t see the map. ”

- Participant 5

😮

🙈

Recommendation # 5.1

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• Let users know they are still on the park finder tool when viewing it on mobile.
• One way to do this is to have a smaller pop-up that slides up.

The pop-up in the mobile UI should occupy less space

Medium Impact

Users did not immediately notice the search bar, amenities glossary and map view options

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Insight # 5.2

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• The search bar and legend have important functions, but they are not in the cone of vision.

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• Users did not notice the legend at first, but found it useful. They also did not use the search bar to find a new park when prompted, taking some time to look for it.

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Recommendation # 5.2

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The search bar and amenities glossary need to be easily noticeable

• Shifting the position of the search bar and amenities glossary to the center of the screen would make it easy to find.

Medium Impact

• Another way to get first time users acquainted with the important functions in the Park Finder is to have an onboarding/tutorial showcasing all the functions and where each feature is located.

Questions?

Insight 1

Insight 2

Insight 3

Users experienced difficulty navigating to the Park Finder and searching for park information within the service.

Users found icons to be hard to understand and also preferred more icon options.

The information (language and visual) was not always presented in the most user-friendly way.

Key Takeaways

Thank you for your time!