Natparks App helps you plan your National Park bucket list, record past trips, and ask our AI Ranger any question about visiting parks. Your journey is captured in your digital passport, where every hike, viewpoint, photo, and interaction earns you achievements.
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I thought I would share a very down-to-earth post with some behind the scenes narrative of my journey building and launching a new National Parks app, and my vision for where it's headed.
In 2021 I entered the outdoor space via a fascination with the Web3 space and started a community around one of my biggest passions - national parks. I have a very balanced passion for both digital products and the outdoors. I've worked for large tech companies on very well known products, and also been a landscape photographer as my creative outlet in the outdoors often via national parks. I am constantly trying to find my path to combining all my passions.
I decided about 6 months ago that I need to build a strong foundation from the ground up, and meet people where they are today before I can introduce innovative technology. So I set out to build the Natparks app. It has just been approved in both the Apple and Android stores, and the first version has one mission - to be the one place national park fans can plan future trips, and record memories of past trips.
🤳 Get the Natparks app here: natparks.io/nationalparks-app
The first version is feature rich, but really just a foundation to take advantage of all the advancements about to his us with AI. My plan is to "bring information to you". Based on past trips, things you like, checklists you've created, the app will help you plan, provide suggestions, and notify you about things like timed entry, permits, etc. The social aspects will grow over time to also help you meet fellow travellers.
The feedback so far has been fantastic. I was able to hit 1.5K extremely engaged users during out beta phase, who have logged 5K trips and uploaded 8K photos.
But, in full transparency, I'm not an industry expert. I've had many conversations with people in the national parks and outdoor space, but building digital products is my jam, so I hope I can connect with content creators, industry experts, any folks that would like to chat about this journey I'm on. It's my passion project that I hope evolves over the coming years to finally be the bridge I've been looking for to merge my outdoor-digital world.
Please don't hesitate to introduce yourself and share any thoughts, tell me a little about what excites you (or not) about the above.
Mick, congrats on the launch!
I can't access the app as I'm on the Australian app-store... will you be opening it up to other regions?
Does the app incorporate the NFTs from your National Parks NFT project?
Currently only available in North America. Am gathering feedback on whether we should open to worldwide since it’s currently about the US national parks system.
Q2. No, this is aimed at the entire national parks fan base. We have opportunities to bridge that gap but right now the app is all about reaching the 300million visitors to parks each year.
A quick check and "Approximately 14 million people visit national park sites from other countries annually, or more than one-third of all foreign visitors to the United States." ... that's a number worth tapping into!
Just downloaded it. Love the concept! And the design and visual look so good. Well done!
Thanks so much welcome aboard!
Love this idea! Definitely something I would use if I lived across the pond.