Untitled Travel App

Description

About

Goal of the App: To help travellers effortlessly document and share their journeys by integrating visual storytelling (photos), private reflections (notes), travel planning (itineraries), and public recommendations, all linked to an interactive map. As well as planning future trips.

Similar Apps

As inspiration for our travel app, we examined similar travel journal apps and identified both limitations and valuable features that we aim to address and incorporate into our own concept.

Polarsteps

Polarsteps is a free travel app designed to help you plan, track, and relive your journeys in a visually engaging and effortless way. It's ideal for travellers who want to document their adventures without the hassle of manual journaling.

Main features of the Polarsteps App includes:

Automatic Travel Tracking: Polarsteps uses your phone’s location data to automatically log your route, even when offline. It syncs once you're back online, ensuring your journey is captured without draining your battery.

Digital Travel Journal: You can add photos, notes, and details to each stop on your trip, creating a personalised digital scrapbook. Each location is marked as a “step,” building a visual timeline of your travels.

Trip Planning Tools: Plan future adventures using the itinerary and transport planners. Polarsteps also offers curated travel guides with insider tips from editors and fellow travellers.

Share Your Journey: Share your trips with friends and family via private links—no account needed for viewers. You can also follow other travellers and keep your adventures private or public

Travel Book Creation: After your trip, transform your digital journal into a printed hardcover travel book—a popular feature among users .

Inspirations out of Polarsteps:

From the Polarsteps app, we aim to adopt key features such as the interactive map, the trip planning functionality, and the ability to share one’s journey either privately or publicly with friends.

Additionally, the option to attach photos and notes to each step of the travel experience was particularly relevant and inspiring for the concept of our own travel app.

Contextual Inquiry

Objectives

• Observe how travellers document and share their journeys in real-life or simulated contexts.

• Identify pain points and limitations in existing tools and journaling processes.

• Explore how users plan trips, reflect on experiences, and give/share recommendations.

• Understand user behaviours, motivations, and preferences around privacy, storytelling, and public sharing.

Method

To explore how users currently document and share their travel experiences, we conducted a Contextual Inquiry using semi-structured interviews as the primary method. This approach allowed us to gain in-depth insights into real user behaviours, motivations, and pain points in their natural context.

We selected 11 participants who had recently completed a trip or were active travellers. Participants were chosen to represent a diverse range of travel styles, including solo travellers, frequent business travellers, and people travelling with friends/partners.

Each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and was conducted either in person or via video call, depending on participant availability. The interviews followed a semi-structured format, allowing for open-ended responses while ensuring that key themes—such as trip planning, memory documentation, journaling habits, and recommendation sharing—were consistently explored.

To ensure consistency and completeness during the sessions, we created a Google Form for the interviewer to fill out during or immediately after each interview. This helped standardise data collection across participants and ensured that no key questions or observations were missed. With participant consent, all interviews were also audio recorded to allow for more detailed review and analysis. The collected data was later analysed using a thematic analysis approach, allowing us to identify recurring patterns, common frustrations, and unmet needs. These insights directly informed our design decisions for the proposed travel app.

Participants

We recruited a total of 11 participants, all of whom were either frequent travelers or individuals who had recently completed a trip. The goal was to ensure relevance and freshness of experience in relation to travel journaling, planning, and sharing habits. Participants were selected to represent a diverse range of travel styles, including solo travellers, leisure travellers, business travellers, and students. This diversity allowed us to capture a wide spectrum of user needs, preferences, and challenges. All participants were briefed about the purpose of the study and gave informed consent before the interviews, including permission to record the sessions for research purposes.

Limitations

While the contextual inquiry provided valuable insights into user behaviours and pain points, several limitations should be noted:

1. Sample Size and Diversity: The number of participants was limited, which may not fully capture the breadth of travel styles, age groups, or cultural differences. As a result, the findings may not be generalizable to all user segments.
2. Simulated Contexts: Some interviews were conducted post-travel or in simulated planning scenarios rather than during actual travel. This may have influenced the accuracy or depth of recalled behaviours.
3. Interviewer Bias: Although a structured Google Form was used, the presence of the interviewer and subjective interpretation during observations and analysis may have introduced bias.
4. Technology-Comfort Bias: Most participants were relatively comfortable with technology, which may have excluded insights from less tech-savvy users who could struggle with app-based travel journaling.

Analysis of CI

Overview

Synthesized findings from a contextual inquiry conducted with 11 travellers aged 22–36, focusing on how they document, share, and plan their journeys. The research aimed to identify pain points, preferences, and opportunities for improving travel documentation tools.

Key Findings

Documentation Habits

Primary Tools

• Smartphone Photos: Used by nearly all participants for basic documentation.
• Google Maps: Widely used for location tracking, saving spots, and sometimes for adding private notes.
• Notes Apps & Google Docs: For detailed notes, impressions, and trip planning.
• Specialized Apps: Some use apps like Polarsteps, Outdooractive, or “Visited” for tracking and sharing.

Hybrid Approaches: Many combine multiple tools (e.g., Instagram + Notes + Google Maps) to capture different aspects of their trips.

Pain Points

• Fragmentation: Need to use several apps for planning, documenting, and sharing.
• Manual Geotagging: Some manually add locations to Google Docs or Sheets, despite automatic GPS features.
• Post-Trip Amnesia: Difficulty recalling details after returning home.

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Sharing and Privacy

Sharing Preferences

• Private Sharing: Mostly with family and close friends via WhatsApp, email, or private albums.
• Public Sharing: Some share on Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook, but with varying degrees of openness.
• Selective Sharing: Many use Instagram’s “Close Friends” feature or direct messages for curated sharing.

Privacy Concerns

• Granular Control: Desire to share certain content publicly (e.g., hiking photos) while keeping other details private (e.g., restaurant recommendations).
• Safety: A few avoid sharing location details entirely for safety reasons.
• Private Notes: Some keep private notes for personal reflection or future content creation.

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Trip Planning

Planning Tools

• Google Maps: Most popular for marking and organizing places to visit.
• Booking Platforms: Airbnb, Booking.com, and A&O Hostels for accommodations.
• Social Media & Blogs: Instagram, Pinterest, and travel blogs for inspiration and itineraries.
• Word of Mouth: Recommendations from friends and family.
• ChatGPT: Used for generating ideas and itineraries.

Planning Pain Points

• Information Overload: Too many resources can make planning confusing.
• Decision Paralysis: Difficulty balancing depth and duration, especially with limited time.
• Credibility Gaps: Distrust of influencer recommendations; preference for Google reviews or local insights.

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User Behaviours and Motivations

Motivations

• Memory Preservation: Documenting to remember experiences and share with loved ones.
• Community Engagement: Sharing publicly to connect with others or build a following.
• Personal Reflection: Keeping private notes for self-reflection or future reference.

Pain Points

• Distraction: Concern that documentation tools distract from enjoying the moment.
• Platform Lock-In: Content stranded in discontinued apps.
• Offline Functionality: Need for tools that work in remote areas without internet.

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Feature Opportunities

• Auto-geotagged timeline

User Value: Reduces manual tagging effort

• Privacy-preserved collaborative planning

User Value: Enables group trips without oversharing

• Offline-first documentation

User Value: Supports remote area usage

• Overlay private notes on photos/videos

User Value: Streamlines reflection and sharing

• Integration with maps for geotagging

User Value: Enhances context and organization

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Rejected Features

• Mandatory Social Sharing: Most oppose being forced to share publicly
• In-App Advertising: Many dislike ads and find them distracting
• Public Follower Counts: Considered unnecessary and potentially distracting

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User Archetypes

• Selective Sharer

Description: Shares selectively with close contacts, values privacy

Example Behaviours: Uses WhatsApp, IG Close Friends

• Memory Hoarder

Description: Documents extensively but shares little publicly

Example Behaviours: Keeps private notes, shares <20% content

• Experience Purist

Description: Minimizes documentation to stay present

Example Behaviours: Rarely uses apps, focuses on experience

• Content Creator

Description: Shares publicly for audience engagement, keeps private notes for content

Example Behaviours: Uses YouTube, IG, private notes

Recommendations

• Integrated Documentation: Develop tools that combine photos, notes, recommendations, and maps in one interface.
• Granular Privacy Controls: Allow users to control who sees each piece of content.
• Offline Functionality: Ensure tools work without internet for remote travel.
• Context-Aware Capture: Use passive sensors to auto-capture moments without distracting the user.
• Trip DNA Profiles: Use machine learning to auto-generate journey summaries from fragmented inputs.

Conclusion

Travellers want integrated, easy-to-use tools that respect their privacy and reduce cognitive load. Successful solutions will bridge the gap between rich media capture and authentic experience preservation, while offering flexible sharing and robust offline capabilities.

Interview Questionnaire

Google Form

1. Travel Habits

-How old are you?

-How often do you travel?

-Do you usually travel solo, in a group, or both?

-What type of trips do you usually take? (e.g. backpacking, city trips, digital nomad, road trips, etc.)

-How long are your trips?

2. Travel Documentation

-How do you currently document your trips? (Apps, journals, social media, photos only, etc.)

-Can you walk me through how you documented your last trip?

-What tools or apps do you use (if any)? (e.g. Polarsteps, Instagram, Google Docs, Notes app, written diary)

-What do you like about those tools?

-What annoys or frustrates you about them?

3. Sharing & Privacy

-Do you share your travel experiences with others? If yes, how and where?

-Who do you share your content with? (Public, friends, family, just for yourself)

-Do you ever keep private notes during a trip? Why or why not?

-How important is privacy to you when documenting a trip?

4. Planning & Inspiration

-How do you usually plan your trips? (Apps, blogs, word of mouth)

-Do you look at other people’s travel stories or recommendations while planning?

-Would it help to see what others enjoyed in a place you're going to?

5. Feature Feedback

-If you had an app where you could combine: Photo sharing, Private notes, Recommendations from others, Public/Private modes. Would that be useful for you? Why or why not?

-What one feature would you love in a travel app?

-What feature would you definitely not want?

-Is there anything else you'd like to add or think we should know?

Personas

The following Personas were created using the data collected for CI and its analysis was done in Atlas.

Group Members

• Abhidnya Girme
• Anders Umholtz
• Justin Greegor
• Julian Wiegand
• Marwa Shaaban