Reimagining outdoor exploration with community pins
Finding the right outdoor communities is a frustrating experience, requiring you to sift through scattered information for hours. What if we leveraged the wealth of data that Google Maps possesses to add community pins and introduce an AI-powered agent that curates the information for you? Reducing decision fatigue and helping GenZ focus on spending time outdoors with the people they care about.
IMPACT
The feature reduced the time to find outdoor communities from over 2 hours to just a few minutes. The feature was showcased to 500+ users, where GenZ gave unanimous approval stating this is the future direction of Google Maps. The feature was presented to Google Design Leads and is currently circulated amongst the team as inspiration for future vision.
Role
User Research
User Testing
Prototyping
Video Editing
Product Management
TEAM
2 Product Designers
1 User Researcher
1 Product Manager
Timeline
6 months
Jan 2024 - Jun 2024
COntext
A dynamic view for Google Maps
The Google Maps design team came to us with an ask -- “How might we create a more realistic map that better reflects the moment by introducing dynamic data in a way that benefits users’ communities?”
Brainstorming ideas for dynamic data
Being in Seattle, one thing that stood out to us was the number of outdoor communities centered around activities like running, hiking, swimming, pickleball, and more. We decided to focus on outdoor activities during this project.
research
Observing Gen Z in the wild
After initial literature reviews and understanding the benefits of spending time outdoors and building communities, to decided to step out and meet GenZ. We observed and interviewed them at various outdoor spaces, parks, UW campus, and outdoor stores.
GenZ is the most mobile generation
As we spoke to GenZ, one thing stood out, the fact that lots of GenZ had recently relocated. That quickly made us pivot the questions we asked.
When GenZ move to new places, they want to explore but..
From interviews, focus groups, and literature reviews we learned that while GenZ likes to explore there is,
Lack of awareness about local communities and activities
Absence of social networks in new places
Reduced accessibility because of distance, money, and weather conditions
Without a social network in place, they turned to familiar social platforms like Facebook groups, Reddit, and Instagram to find information.
🗣️Word of mouth
🤳🏽️Social media
🔍 Google search
Maps
Visualization of how GenZ finds activities and communities
Google Maps is not top of mind for exploration
Why wasn’t Google Maps their go-to for finding outdoor groups? Our focus groups revealed that there were three main reasons.
Lack of trust
Due to sponsored content and reviews
No visual search
Content forward search and information
Reduced personalization
Detailed and specific searches and no personalized feed
How might we help Gen Z quickly discover communities that align with their interests— reducing decision fatigue, and eliminating the need to sift through scattered sources?
Ideation
Social media elements as inspiration for discovery features
All the focus group participants spoke highly of social media’s ability to help them find communities quickly. I started drawing parallels, taking inspiration from social platforms to shape new features for Google Maps.
What if Google Maps could integrate social elements to bring community discovery to the forefront?
Validating design directions
Through brainstormed we decided to present three different concepts to our users, to learn if these features would bring them value in the current discovery flow.
Heatmap + Community Pins
A visual representation of heatmap with active outdoor communities pins, displayed directly on the map.
Visual Search Experience
Creating a search experience that prioritized image-based navigation, like users were familiar with on social media.
Mt. Rainer National Park
Green Lake
Swimming AAB
Burke-Gilman Trail
Pool AA
Olympic National Park
Generated Bookmark List
A personalized and curated recommendation list is generated based on previous searches and location history.
Moving away from visual first to focus on content
The concept testing (N=6) gave some surprising findings:
Information over visuals – While Gen Z prefers visuals for social media interactions when it comes to Google Maps, they view it as a practical tool. They wanted concise, actionable information.
Activity first, community second – Participants were focused on finding specific activities that match their tastes, with the community aspect being a bonus. This shifted our focus to design activities as the entry point.
Passive and active discovery – Gen Z wanted a balance of both. They appreciated actively searching for communities but also loved the idea of stumbling upon suggestions while navigating their day.
Iterations
Prioritizing data points for community pages
Quick decision-making was crucial for Gen Z users when exploring outdoor communities —they wanted the most important information upfront. We analyzed interviews and focus group transcripts to identify data points.
Frequency
Size
Location
Contact
Busy Times
Distance
Weather
Information prioritization matrix
We built an information prioritization matrix to help us rate and rank the various data points, ensuring the most valuable information was easily accessible.
Designing for a specific use case
We decided to design for a specific use case— a local running club. By focusing on this niche, we were able to fine-tune design details and create a model that could be scaled in the future for different communities based on available data.
Iteration 1:
Radius of transport
Only icon based pins
Iteration 2:
Radius of transport as a chip
Icon + Image based pins
Iteration 3:
Addition of heatmaps based on Google Design Systems
Design iterations for community pins and page
Meeting times
Size of crowd
Reviews
Description of the club
Tags
Community page design details
Enabling passive discovery of communities through AI
I designed a simple toggle to increase discoverability. Humans are creatures of habit and visit places regularly. What if we could use that as an opportunity to find new places and communities?
Suggestions along the way feature
Now that community pins were added to Google Maps, it was time to address the root cause of the issue, friction in the discovery of communities. From research, we know that GenZ hesitate to explore communities because of weather, transport, and lack of awareness
We introduced an AI-powered curation feature that would leverage the wealth of data already within Google Maps — transit times, busy hours, weather, average time spent at locations, and event details.
Transport
Activities
Weather + Time
By connecting these data points, the tool could generate personalized, dynamic itineraries for users based on their preferences, which significantly reduced decision fatigue.
Choose time
Choose area + transport
Choose category
AI- Powered curation feature
Solution
Aiding GenZ in finding outdoor communities in new places
Watch this short video (directed and edited by me) to see the final results.
Find communities for your outdoor activities
Discover communities around you on the go
Curate your perfect day with tailored itineraries
Impact
A community driven Google Maps? It’s the future!
Presenting our designs to the Google Maps team in Seattle, we were able to showcase the potential of this new community-driven feature. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with both the Head of Design and the Product Manager for communities expressing excitement. They saw our work as a future evolution of Google Maps, highlighting its ability to bring deeper value beyond just navigation.
“You left our team inspired and we were all in awe of how thoughtful and considerate your design proposal was”
-- Google Maps Lead Designer
“I am inspired by your work and shared it more broadly with my PM team and leads.”
-- Google Maps Lead Product Manager
In our showcase, 1 in 3 GenZ agreed that this feature was exactly what Google Maps had been missing—a tool to increase discoverability of communities.
“I would move from Apple Maps to Google Maps if these features were added”
Feedback from GenZ at the capstone showcase
Reflections
If I had more time...
Scale the solution to include a wider variety of communities, particularly indoor groups like hobbyist clubs, and refine how information is classified for different types of communities.
Designing the back-end for clubs, allowing organizations to directly input and manage their information. This would ensure more accurate and up-to-date data.
What I learnt…
Communication is key. My favourite part of this project was the team I worked with, we navigated ambiguous design tasks by leaning on each other's strengths and talking to mentors to guide us.
Thinking about the why. I revisited the user research insights a few times to understand the root cause of critiques rather than dismissing my ideas too quickly.
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