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Introduction

Applied collaborated with Princeton University to develop an app that makes campus navigation as inclusive as possible. It works seamlessly alongside the physical wayfinding system Applied developed, creating a cohesive, accessible experience journeying across the campus.

Challenges

The app needed to address accessibility challenges posed by the campus’s sloped terrain and stepped areas, helping users navigate these obstacles more easily. As the campus undergoes significant expansion and development, the app also needed to support users planning routes from point A to point B while avoiding under-construction zones.

Solutions

Applied conducted moderated usability testing on-site following the app’s launch. The findings helped to inform the product roadmap, with a focus on enhanced mobility features and inclusive design. This human-centred approach ensures the app can bring value to the widest range of users.

The Princeton Campus Map app has a route planner which generates two routes for each trip; the most direct route and a step-free, low gradient route. This aids people with long term mobility needs and temporary sporting injuries. Zooming into the map reveals detailed campus features, with a specific focus on mobility and legibility. It highlights main and accessible entrances, steps and ramps, and indicates areas of steep inclines.

The digital map features active construction sites and routes around these for accessible and less noisy routing. This pairs with Applied’s temporary on-site construction pathway maps that include site-specific information about how to avoid nearby construction areas.

Results

In usability testing the app received an average usability score of
84.6 and a customer satisfaction score of 4.5 out of 5, indicating that 92.5% of test participants were highly satisfied with the app.

Princeton has also seen a 60% increase in ridership on the University’s TigerTransit shuttle bus service compared to pre-pandemic levels. Alongside new electric bus fleet liveries, a bus stop prototype and network map Applied introduced Princeton to E-Ink technology, which has been rolled out across many of the University’s key bus stops to provide real-time updates. The digital Princeton Campus Map app integrates this real-time TigerTransit information, showing live departure times for each campus stop, and even displays buses live as they travel along their routes.

The app is part of Applied’s long term vision for integrating and connecting Princeton’s campus navigation services for students, staff and visitors.

“Broadly speaking, there are some designers who lean toward beautiful design, which certainly has a role in some circumstances. Then there are other firms, such as Applied, who focus on the user experience and user behavior and complex systems of information. They are very smart and good partners.”

Ron McCoy
University Architect at Princeton University

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