Snorkel Safe – The Wikipedia of Snorkelling Locations
Alexander Foster
Snorkel Safe is a crowd-sourced website with an interactive map that lets snorkellers worldwide discover, share, and update snorkelling sites—complete with real-time conditions and safety information—to make the activity safer and more accessible for all.
Design Problem
Snorkelling can be a hazardous activity and there is an absence of snorkelling services to help people snorkel safely.
Snorkel Safe is a crowd-sourced website that allows snorkellers of all abilities to discover and share snorkelling sites anywhere in the world, in essence the Wikipedia of snorkelling locations.
The primary interface of the website is an interactive map showing pins of snorkelling locations. Users can click on a map pin to see a detailed listing of that specific snorkelling location. Snorkel Safe uses crowdsourcing, meaning any snorkeller can add a new location to the website, update the information for an existing listing, whilst others can upload pictures, trip reports from their snorkels at that site and add location hazards.
Description of the Project
Additionally, each snorkelling location page dynamically pulls in useful information for people wanting to plan a snorkel in this location. Dynamic data includes tide times, weather forecast, wave height, swell height and direction and water temperature. The website includes gamification elements to encourage users to continue to add information and interact with the site
Research was carried out through an online survey shared in snorkelling Facebook groups as well as a focus group with snorkellers and an immersion trip. Several design solutions were generated using module techniques like associative thinking, but Snorkel Safe was selected as the solution to develop as it best addressed the problem, constraints, and criteria of the design brief. Elements of the design were refined through a card sorting session and usability session.
Process
About me
Design has been a passion of mine since high school, which is why I chose this degree pathway. Now I know accessible design is where I want to continue after graduation. Looking at the world and seeing where it fails to be inclusive but now having the knowledge and abilities to change that.