Overview
The Commonwealth Walkway Trust came to us as they began planning a new route through Edmonton's river valley. They wanted us to build an experience that could guide users along the route while telling stories connected to the places around them.
The solution needed to be simple enough to use while walking, engaging enough to keep people curious, and flexible enough to work no matter where users started or which direction they chose to explore.
Lift Interactive
Senior Designer — Research, Ideation, Prototyping, User Testing, UI Design, Interaction Design
Q3 2018 - Q3 2019
Context
They planned to mark the 10-kilometre route with signage and physical medallions embedded in the ground. Our job was to figure out the best way to bridge those physical touchpoints with stories about the places around them.
But unlike a typical guided tour, the experience couldn't rely on a fixed starting point or direction. The app needed to feel like a natural companion whether someone planned their visit or simply stumbled upon our signage.
Research
Competitive analysis
We started by looking at how other tourism apps balanced navigation, content, and the real world. The most immersive experiences used geofencing to surface content when users physically arrived somewhere.
Walking the route
With the coordinates of where each medallion and sign would be installed, we walked the route ourselves to better understand how and when content should surface — noting likely entry points and the walking distance between each medallion.
Ideation
Story structure
Beyond keeping the length and format appropriate for reading on a phone outdoors, we needed each story to use repeatable components that could be managed through the CMS. So we worked with the client to establish guidelines each story needed to follow.
User flows
We then mapped the experience from app download to story discovery — helping us define exactly where geofencing fit and what screens we needed to design.
Design
Our design phase started with wireframing the screens established in the user flows, exploring the most intuitive way for content to interact with the map. We needed to define how the map would respond to user movement and how geofencing would change what content users saw along the route.
Introducing the experience
For users who discovered the experience by chance through signage in the river valley — we needed to quickly earn their attention, explain the concept, and get them into the app before they lost interest. Our solution was a concise onboarding flow that communicated the core idea of following the route and discovering stories.
Navigation and geofencing
Geofencing automatically triggered the relevant story content as users approached a medallion's perimeter, making discovery feel natural. Outside the overall experience perimeter, each medallion could be tapped manually — allowing users to explore the stories even if they couldn't visit in person.
Storylines
We also gave users the option to explore stories by thematic groupings, making it easier to find content based on their interests.
Each story followed a consistent structure built from components, giving writers the ability to add text, images, video, and audio directly through the CMS.
Golden key
Within the app, users could also take part in a scavenger hunt that eventually led them to a virtual golden key. Solving each clue required users to move through the river valley while paying attention to the physical environment in a way the standard experience did not.
Using geofencing, we revealed each clue and the key as users approached the relevant coordinates. Through the CMS, the client could update the clues and locations each week, giving people a reason to come back.
Impact
We launched the app alongside the physical walkway unvieling ceremony, as covered by Global News — a reflection of the community interest we had generated.
