Navigating Through Chester
Prepared for Alan Summers | Prepared by Eleni Tsoukalas December 5th, 2017
City of Chester The Issue
The city of Chester is timeless, and the mix between both the Victorian and modern structure of it is what attracts a lot of visitors. The majority of visitors that visit the city are in fact shoppers, which is unexpected, giving the fact that the street signs found throughout the city are tailored to help tourists navigate around, rather than shoppers. A large percentage of Chester is tourism. With this in mind, a lot of the signage and maps have been designed with the tourists in mind. However, while researching into the design of maps for shoppers, I found that the maps were vague, and unspecific in showing where shops are. The Samsung shop located in the city of Chester is in a carefully hidden place. A place that, when asked, a lot of shoppers had no idea about. That is not the only shop that the people of Chester have no idea about; there are also independant shops that rely on the people of Chester’s business. So how can we help the people of Chester navigate around the city more easily?
Our Solution
As mentioned earlier, the city of Chester is timeless. Timeless doesn’t necissarily mean old or new, but can mean a mixture of the two combined. Our solution to the navigation issue surrounding Chester, is to modify the street signs around the city, and create an app that interacts with the signage. The current signage around Chester, though it ties in with the Victorian appearance, is impractical, as all it shows us is street names, which are of no use to tourists and shoppers that don’t frequently vist the city. For this reason, street signs that provide the names of shops, that can also be scanned by the app that can provide directions.
The Research
“I’m not aware of any maps as you go through the city, except small ones on the wall.“ - Tourist “More signs, more restaurants in the main town.“ - Chester Visitor
“Cheaper parking and better traffic control.“
- Chester Resident
56.4%
Of the population use Google maps to navigate. (That’s more than half!)
4.93 Billion
People use smartphone devices with navigation apps installed all over the world!
70%
Of iPhone favour google maps over any other mode of navigation
The App The app has the option to interact with the signposts in Chester. By scanning the QR codes, people with the app have the ability to be navigated around the city.
The camera will then pick up on the QR code and help the user navigate to the desired shop. And if they dont have the app, the signposts will point them in the correct directions.
You then have the option to be guided around the city by one of two avatars that will appear on your map to guide you to your selected shop location.
The app offers the option to choose what you’ll be shopping for that day. From clothing, to restaurants, to cafes.
The map then shows you locations that you can choose from on the map, and your avatar will then help you navigate to your desired location.
There is also the option to choose from a series of shops if you would rather just head straight to your desired shop instead of choosing a shop based on what you’ll be shopping for that day.