Central Park App
The Central Park App is a user-friendly guide offering personalized tours, intuitive navigation, and real-time updates on attractions and events in Central Park, NYC.
Challenge
Central Park, an iconic destination in New York City, welcomes millions of visitors each year. Yet, many of them face difficulties navigating the vast park and discovering all its hidden gems.
This problem sparked the idea of creating a digital guide that enhances visitor experience, allowing them to explore the park without missing out on what makes it special.
Initial research to understand the problem
After the initial survey among a diverse set of users we found the apps opportunities. We asked the user to describe their overall experience in terms of navigation and awareness.
Difficulty in location finding.
Confusing park navigation.
We began with a simple question:
How can we help visitors enjoy Central Park without getting lost?
We identified several pain points, like the difficulty in finding locations and the confusion surrounding park navigation through our research. We analyzed the market, conducted user interviews to understand the user pain points.
Understanding the market
Maps
Tours
Accessbility
Competitor 1
Integrated with GPS but the start point is fixed. No real time information.
Self-guided tours and audio tours available. No live tours. Paid tours.
Audio feature for demo tour available for Central Park. Fixed points
Navigation
Competitor 2
The app drops a pin based on your selection from point of interest, food or restrooms. GPS is not integrated.
The app has no feature for tours.
Text is not readable. No voice navigation.
User Research
Primary concerns
Events Info
User Persona
Luke
24 years old graduate student.
Luke lives in New York since the last 4 years and loves going to the park but always gets lost finding his way through the park.
Pain Point: He gets every time she looks for a particular spot.
Goal: To use the Central Park App for better navigation through the park and get more information about the places she likes to visit regularly.
Limited knowledge of park spots.
Awareness of events.
Competitor 3
GPS is not integrated. No map. Only tour ticket links
The app has various tours but all are paid tours.
Audio for text available. Text size is small and non readable.
To better understand why users have a problem to navigate in and around the park we spoke to five people of a diverse age group. Through this conversation we wanted to figure out…
Difficulty in navigating around the park.
Awareness of attractions, events at the park.
Locating sightseeing spots
Historical information or fun facts about various spots.
Custom Tours
Three key primary concerns that the users expressed regarding their experience at the park were difficulty in navigating around the park, lack of information about events and lack of custom tours without tour guides. These are points that we made sure to address in the design.
Sophia
35 years old corporate employee.
She just moved to New York for her new job and loves to explore the city. She has visited the Central Park and was lost and had no clue from where to exit.
Pain Point: She keeps going in circle and reaches the same spot. She wants to attend the events at the park but avoids going to them as she thinks she won’t be able to locate it.
Goal: To use the Central Park App for a customized tour through the park and get updates about the upcoming events.
User Insights
“I love visiting the boathouse, but finding it is often confusing. Most of the time, I end up relying on luck to get there.”
“I was curious to learn more about the iconic spots, but I only ended up taking a picture of it.”
User Journey Map
Ideation
We started developing the product by sketching and thoughtfully mapping out the core features and how they interconnect.
We empathized with the user journey, focusing on how we could make exploration seamless and fun.
During ideation, we prioritized features that would deliver both practicality and delight—like personalized tour creation and real-time event updates. We sketched wireframes, prototyped, and iterated based on feedback from usability tests.
User Flow
The app evolved into much more than just a navigation tool.
This project really reinforced the value of empathy and adaptability in design—ensuring that we continuously aligned with user needs while creating an app that delivers both functionality and delight.
Looking Ahead…
We’re exploring opportunities to add new features, such as augmented reality tours and virtual guides, to further enhance the park experience. We also plan to introduce social features, allowing visitors to connect with each other and share their favorite spots in the park.