Problem statement

Urban stormwater management is a critical environmental challenge, yet public awareness of innovative solutions like green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) remains limited. Traditional educational approaches often fail to connect with diverse audiences or showcase real-world applications effectively. Our main guiding question was:
How can a locative audio tour inspire deeper engagement and understanding of green stormwater infrastructure in Shorewood, Wisconsin?

Research and Insights

Competitive Analysis
As a first step, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of existing locative audio apps and storymaps, evaluating features such as usability, engagement strategies, and content depth. This helped us identify:

The need for concise, engaging scripts tailored to diverse audiences

Opportunities to incorporate soundscapes and ambient audio for added immersion

Gaps in navigation aids and accessibility features in similar projects

Case Study

Research Objectives

Highlight the importance of GSI in urban areas

Educate participants about the specific GSI projects implemented in Shorewood

Create an immersive experience that blends environmental education with engaging storytelling

Target audience
The primary audience includes local residents, students, and tourists interested in environmental sustainability and urban planning.

Initial Protypes
We developed a locative audio mobile guided tour of recent and planned green stormwater infrastructure projects in the Village of Shorewood, Wisconsin. We created three versions of the same tour using VoiceMap and Echoes, apps selected from our competitive analysis samples for their functionalities. We also built our own custom web app using Leaflet.js. The story content was taken from an already existing storymap created by our partners in Milwaukee (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/63a66207e2eb4893a4d1d7f2de654c9d).

Expert Evaluation
Seven collaborators, including myself, conducted a walkthrough of the initial tour using all three prototypes. We evaluated the route and content using a structured questionnaire and focus group discussions. The following map shows the route walked by each of the participants and identifies major pain points during the walk.



Key recommendations made by the experts included:

1. The need to adjust stop locations and radius for GPS-triggered audio playback for better flow and accessibility

2. Suggestions to re-design the route, refine scripts and using sound for a balanced and memorable experience

3. Recommendations for enhancing navigational clarity and audio-visual aids to make it more intuitive



Finding The Best Solution

We also made comparison of the three technologies to find out the best solution for the case study.

Design and Scripting Process

Redesigning the Tour
Following the expert evaluation, several strategies were adopted for redesigning the tour:

1. Route Optimization: Route was shortened and looped back to the starting point to improve accessibility and efiiciency.

2. Re-ordering tour stops: The tour stops were reordered and numbered for a better flow and added variety - the ones outside the new route were removed, some were added along the route.

2. Script Revisions: Content was rewritten and reiterated multiple times to emphasize relatable examples, numeracy facts, and reflection promtps for the audience.

3. Multimedia Features: Enhanced auido-visual aids such as images, maps and diagrams along with sound were integrated effects for a more immersve experience.

Key Design Principles

Educational Depth: Feature one unique type of green stormwater infrastructure at each site, provide detailed yet accessible explanations of each type and highlight one benefit.

Narrative Structure: Maintain a structure for the narratives that looks like this:
Site identification -> Numeracy facts about the particular GSI practice -> Gray Infrastructure problems in the particular area -> GSI benefits achieved -> Other relevant facts -> Critical thinking prompts -> Direction to next stop

Immersive Soundscape: Incorporate ambient sounds, such as water flowing and bees buzzing, to contextualize the environment.

Engagement Through Prompts: Encourage critical thinking with questions like, “How could you adapt similar solutions in your community?”

Ensuring safety: Incorporate GPS-triggered audio playback and provide diretions and warnings for crossings through both audio and visuals so that the user doesn't have to keep looking at their phone while walking.

Beta Prototype Development
Since the comparison showed that the Leaflet.js prototype gave us more control over the design and functionalities, we developed a beta version of the app using Leaflet, HTML and CSS, featuring:

Interactive map with clickable points, narrative and images for each stop

Automatic audio playback (trigered by GPS) integration for site-specific content

Audio and visual elements (images, maps, customized diagrams) to guide users seamlessly through the tour

To see the prototype on mobile device, please scan the following code:

To see the prototype on PC, please click on the following link:

Green Shorewood Locative Audio Tour

Ongoing tasks

While the prototype demonstrates the core functionalities at this moment, it is still in progress. I am currently working on the following tasks:

Revising the images and diagrams to follow the narrative

Integrating sound with the audio recordings

Making the UI more user friendly - adding audio control panel for better control over the narration, adding swipe control for images, repositioning the buttons and menu options, adding metadata, etc.

The following prototype reflects its current state and will continue to evolve through iterative design and development.

User Evaluation Plan

Due to winter constraints, user testing with broader audiences is planned for Spring 2025. The study will be conducted with 20 participants and will consist of a 2-hour long walk, thinking aloud and observtion methods, and post-tour questionnaire survey to assess:

Usability of the beta prototype

Engagement levels with the audio-visual content

Effectiveness of the design and educational prompts

Design Challenges

Balancing Detail and Accessibility: Ensuring content was engaging for non-experts without oversimplifying key concepts.

Scheduling Issues Managing delays due to weather and coordinating schedules among collaborators, which affected iterations and user testing timelines.

Sound Quality: Addressing ambient noise during on-site recordings and ensuring seamless integration of narration and soundscapes (currently in progress).

Next Steps

1. Make the design responsive for different kinds of devices

2. Conduct user testing in Spring 2025 to validate the beta prototype and refine design features.

3. Expand the tour to include further interactive elements, such as Augmented Reality overlays.

4. Collaborate with local schools and community groups to use the tour as an educational resource.

5. Publish findings and insights in academic and professional forums to contribute to locative audio design literature.

Project Takeaways

This project taught me the importance of blending creativity with structured design methodologies to create meaningful user experiences. I gained hands-on experience in:

Conducting collaborative research and evaluations

Designing for locative and auditory mediums using modern web technologies

Using narrative to simplify complex environmental topics

While this project is ongoing, it represents my growing expertise in user-centered design and my commitment to making environmental education engaging and impactful.