Contextual Inquiry
The broader goal of my project is to re-design ZotFinder to support UCI students’ full navigation journey, from traveling to campus to selecting study and assembly areas once they arrive. ZotFinder already provides clear campus layouts, building contacts, restroom locations, assembly areas, walking paths, and estimated times to destinations. These features help with on-campus wayfinding, but ZotFinder still functions largely as a static reference and does not yet support the door-to-door, context-aware decisions students make before, during, and after arrival.
This matters because student navigation extends beyond campus boundaries and often involves several tools used in sequence. For example, students make transit or parking decisions at home, find specific classrooms when they arrive, and choose a comfortable place to study. General-purpose apps such as Google Maps or Apple Maps handle commuting, but they lack UCI-specific context. ZotFinder has that context, yet it does not integrate useful pre-arrival factors such as parking status or street-level previews of entrances, and it does not provide real-time social or comfort signals that influence where students ultimately settle.
My initial design goal is to evolve ZotFinder into a context-aware campus navigation hub that bridges the off-campus → on-campus → class/study flow. Beyond improving mobile interaction, I propose adding a live assembly-flow feature that shows crowd level and a simple activity or noise signal. This would help students quickly choose spaces that fit their preferences without advance reservations and without disturbing others while they search. Additional opportunities include clearer indoor-to-outdoor transition cues and lightweight accessibility filters.
For this contextual inquiry, I observed how students plan commutes, arrive on campus, and select study or assembly areas. I focused on the tools they use, how map information is interpreted while moving, and the moment-by-moment decisions that lead students to stay, move, or try another location. These observations clarify where ZotFinder’s existing paths and time estimates are helpful and where stronger context, integration, and real-time environment signals are still missing.
Participants:
Participant 1– Off-campus senior, walk-first commuter
Participant 2 – On-campus first-year student, exploration stage
When, where, and how
Two in-person observations will be conducted on typical class days that reflect realistic navigation pressures and decision-making contexts:
Both sessions will occur in natural contexts (outdoor commute, campus interiors) with minimal interference. I will take timestamped field notes on observed actions, app usage, and hesitations, plus one anonymous contextual photo of each participant. Notes will highlight decision triggers such as switching apps, or stopping to check direction.
Task
Each participant will be asked to travel to or across campus as they normally would and find their class or a study area following their daily routine. They are able to use any navigation tools they prefer.
Note-taking method
I will record each step in chronological order and write down any key things, focusing on:
Planned follow-up questions
Participant 1
Method note: I followed the participant from her apartment to campus and into her classroom. I minimized interruptions; when clarification was essential, I asked brief questions that are recorded as sub-points below.
Chronological steps
Summary:
Although the participant was familiar with the general route, she still switched between multiple apps, from TransLoc, Google Maps, and ZotFinder to confirm timing and location details. The long distance and lack of consistent transit access required constant checking. Her decisions were shaped by safety preferences, familiarity, and comfort with specific routes. She used ZotFinder only after arriving on campus to locate assembly areas.
Participant 2
Method note: The participant was observed leaving her dorm and walking to her chosen study area.
Chronological steps
Summary:
The participant relied on ZotFinder primarily for orientation and exploration. She took extra time to navigate the app and confirm her direction. The difficulty in finding quiet or available study spots led her to explore multiple floors once she arrived. Her navigation behavior reflected the needs of new on-campus students who are still learning building layouts and map orientations.
Participant 1
Participant 2
Participant 1
Folleered-up Interview Summary:
From the participant’s perspective, the biggest challenge was stitching together multiple tools and dealing with outdoor conditions while traveling. She also felt that both Google Maps and ZotFinder offered limited walking options, noting that being routed through a park at night was not a good suggestion. Therefore, she picked the car route since the wider roads make people feel more at ease. She lacked a single, integrated resource that combined bus timing, crowd levels, and comfortable places to rest after arrival. Despite these issues, she enjoyed ZotFinder’s accurate campus details and found it particularly helpful for navigating smaller campus paths once she was on site. For commuting, she preferred using TransLoc and Google Maps because they provided reliable timing and distance information. After reaching campus, she relied on ZotFinder for campus-specific paths and building information. Ideally, she would like to see an integrated version of ZotFinder that combines TransLoc features and real-time crowd indicators to make navigation smoother and more connected.
Participant 2
Planned-questions Interview Summary:
Participant 2 said her biggest challenge is finding an available, quiet study spot when popular locations like Langson are crowded, compounded by friction in ZotFinder’s interface. She agreed that Zotfinder contains good geographic information about campus, but icons are hard to surface and no clear routes to amenities. She did enjoy how ZotFinder helps locate campus buildings and provides a broad view when exploring unfamiliar places on campus. In addition, the estimated time she could see from the app gave her better ideas of time management. She prefers using Google Maps for most movement because it feels faster and easier to navigate, turning to ZotFinder mainly for destination lookup when she needs campus-specific details.
From each participant, it was clear that regardless of class standing. Whether senior or first-year, they still needed some form of navigation support when traveling to and across campus. Even when they already knew the general routes, navigation tools provided a “scientific” sense of time management by helping them visualize how long each segment of the trip would take.
Through observing both participants, I learned that their behaviors and decision-making were guided by context and convenience rather than by the completeness of the map itself. Participant 1 made deliberate choices about which tools to use at each stage of her commute. She switched between TransLoc, Google Maps, and ZotFinder based on what each could offer, such as bus timing, route confirmation, and campus details. Even though she already knew most of her route, she still reopened Google Maps midway to confirm walking duration, revealing that her navigation behavior was driven by a need for reassurance and time estimation rather than simple wayfinding. When she reached campus, she opened ZotFinder to look for an assembly area but decided not to stay because the area was too sunny and crowded. This moment clearly showed that her decisions were not only spatial but also environmental.
Although Participant 2 lives on campus and therefore has less need to plan long commutes, her behavior still revealed a clear need for navigation support. When exploring areas she did not visit regularly, such as the Science Library. She relied on ZotFinder to locate the destination and then on in-person scanning to assess noise and availability. This contrast with Participant 1 shows that even students without complex travel still need an app to bridge the gap between “I know the building exists” and “I can confidently reach and use this space.” In other words, living on campus reduces commute planning but does not remove the need for orientation, wayfinding, and real-time cues about comfort once students reach unfamiliar places.
What surprised me most was how dependent both participants remained on multiple apps, even when they knew the routes well. I had assumed that familiarity with campus would reduce reliance on digital tools, but both students still used them to verify timing, distance, or comfort. This challenged my assumption that map redesigns should primarily improve wayfinding. Instead, the real need lies in reducing cognitive effort and tool switching. The participant who walked long distances was especially frustrated by toggling between TransLoc and ZotFinder, which suggested that integration of bus stops and timing within ZotFinder would be a simple but high-impact improvement.
If I were to conduct this observation again, I would follow participants for a longer period to capture how they make navigation decisions before leaving home and after arriving on campus. I would also observe how students choose different routes depending on weather, lighting, or crowd levels at different times of day. Specifically, Participant 1’s decision to avoid William Mason Park due to safety concerns at night and her rejection of the sunny assembly area shows that environmental factors and safety preferences are critical pre- and post-arrival decisions. A longer observation would capture these decision points more holistically, allowing me to fully document the context required to design the proposed comfort/safety filters in ZotFinder Including these additional steps would provide a more complete view of the journey and better inform context-aware features.
These findings refined my design direction. I learned that ZotFinder already provides an excellent static map of UCI, but it needs added context, such as bus stops, indoor paths, paths for amenities and real-time comfort or crowd details. Therefore, ZotFinder can become truly useful throughout a student’s daily routine as the unique map of UCI. Integrating these features would reduce the fatigue of switching between apps and make ZotFinder a single, accessible tool that supports both planning and on-campus decision-making.
