Over the past decade, interest and visitation to National Parks has skyrocketed. At the same time, infrastructure and staffing has remained the same or even declined. This issue has been recognized by the US government, and in 2022, the federal budget approved $3.5 billion annually in funding for NPS infrastructure.

Initial ideas were focused on VR and AR handheld devices that users would take with them into the National Parks. Ultimately we chose to pivot away from these concepts as they would corrupt the idea of the National Parks, escaping into nature.

Once we settled on our final direction, a trailhead hub with on-trail Trackers, we were able to quickly ideate on the system. Developing the form and function of the Trackers to include weather data in addition to hiker location. For the Hub we added a check-in feature for safety, as well as a way for hikers to share experiences on the hike and leave feedback for both hikers and Rangers.