THE ROCK POOL PROJECT
Progressive Web App
BUILDING BETTER APS
The Rock Pool Project, a non-profit focused on connecting people of all ages with coastal wildlife across the UK, reached out to Buzz with plans to give their current app a total overhaul.
The brief was to develop the right tools to improve functionality and user experience, streamlining registration and event participation.
Why? Because engaging more people with citizen science means generating more invaluable data (in turn, used to make important discoveries about species around our coast!).
COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE
The Rock Pool Project needed families, schools and community groups exploring, identifying and recording coastal wildlife at their BioBlitz events… but the user experience made building engagement more difficult. While an early prototype and a partially-built mobile app already existed, neither offered the user experience or the technical foundation the project needed to grow in a sustainable way.
That’s where creating purpose-built tools for testing and communicating complex scoring systems (and other aspects of the app) long before they make it into the main codebase became a key part of the Buzz Discovery Phase. From here, we could rebuild the app as a Progressive Web App, integrated with iNaturalist (the species identification tool used as a foundation).
With new features like automatic syncing with iNaturalist projects, leaderboards, and a scoring system that rewards finding rare and diverse species, we were able to build the cornerstone for a better user experience.
Behind-the-scenes, we also re-engineered the architecture to handle larger events reliably and manage third-party API usage efficiently, running regular releases and tests so we could adjust the build with key priorities in real-time.
GROWING FOUNDATIONS
We delivered the BioBlitz MVP, providing a streamlined interface displaying records of coastal species and incorporating leaderboards and a points system to encourage participation.
And now the technical foundation is in place, we’re getting ready for what’s next with phase two, making the app robust and scalable for the future. Think new features that will focus on coordination, communication and event evaluation, helping us learn more about marine wildlife than ever before.
Interesting in finding out more about building an app with Buzz? Book a free intro call to get started.
Thanks so much of all your work on this. It’s been a real pleasure and we are all delighted with the result.
Ben Holt
CEO & Co-founder
The Rock Pool Project
