top of page
output.png
Hyperwalk Intro Page.png

RIT Hyperwalk

Unlock the Campus: Explore RIT with Ease.

Getting around RIT’s massive campus can be tricky, especially with its maze of outdoor paths and underground tunnels. Existing maps and apps don’t always cut it, leaving students, faculty, and visitors struggling to navigate—especially newcomers.

​

Enter RIT Hyperwalk!
We redesigned the campus map app with augmented reality and real-time data to provide faster, more intuitive navigation.

Understanding the problem

Navigating the sprawling Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus is a daunting task for many, including new students, visitors, and faculty. Existing maps and apps don’t always cut it, leaving students, faculty, and visitors struggling to navigate—especially newcomers. We conducted research interviews and contextual enquiries with our primary users to uncover the pain points that they were experiencing with the existing RIT navigation app.

​

Our research involved:

​

  • Gathering insights from students, visitors, and faculty about navigation challenges

  • ​Analyzing issues with current indoor and outdoor navigation systems

  • Uncovering pain points with existing user journey​

​​

Gathering insights

After collecting the recordings from the user interviews, I conducted affinity mapping with my teammates to synthesise the pains identified. We grouped these problems under common themes and features in the platform.

​

​

To clearly understand the pain points, we created a word cloud to prioritize the most pressing issues.

RIT_Hyperwalk Afinity.png

User Journey

We crafted user personas from our research insights to clearly represent the diverse needs of campus users.

Core findings

We uncovered key issues impacting campus navigation, which informed the design of our solution:

​​

  • Navigation Confusion

Users, especially new students and visitors, struggled with unclear and poorly oriented campus maps. The transition between indoor and outdoor areas, particularly through the tunnel system, caused confusion and inefficiency, highlighting the need for a more intuitive and cohesive navigation tool.
 

  • No Real-Time Assistance

A major pain point was the lack of real-time guidance. Users faced difficulties adjusting to changing conditions like construction or weather. There was strong demand for features like real-time updates, augmented reality navigation, and turn-by-turn guidance to help users navigate complex areas seamlessly.

​

  • Inadequate Signage

Both physical and digital signage were often unclear or incomplete, making it difficult for users to confirm their routes. Improved signage—both within the app and on campus—was a clear user priority for enhancing navigation.

​

Presented below are screenshots of the current RIT navigation app, which align with and support our findings.

​​​​​

These insights drove our design, resulting in a user-friendly, adaptive prototype that addresses the core challenges of campus navigation through real-time assistance and enhanced indoor-outdoor integration.

Our prototype

We designed a prototype that incorporates a variety of functionalities to address the needs identified in the analysis.​ Our prototype features include:

​

  • Comprehensive Indoor and Outdoor Navigation

  • Integration of Real-Time Navigation by leveraging Augmented Reality

  • Enhanced User Interface

Clear distinction between indoor and outdoor paths.

Real-time Augmented Reality navigation

Enhanced user interface tailored for specifically categorised locations.

This thorough analysis provided the basis for the design and development of the RIT Hyperwalk prototype, with a focus on enhancing the user experience and tackling the core navigation challenges faced by the RIT community.

bottom of page