UV Mapper

Three questions to the project team

What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
In UV Mapper, we are trying to conceptualise a useful tool that empowers those concerned or physically sensitive to UV exposure with the opportunity of exploring the city in a both protective and explorative way. The app aims to challenge the dominating status quo of delivering navigation products in an efficiency-oriented practice, so there really aren’t many products we can build upon or anchor ourselves to. Building upon our live and spatially curated UV map, demonstrating and testing the prototype helped us to include features like customisable route planning, shaded indoor routes, exposure level, and travel time balancing.

What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
One of the most enlightening moments in this project was realising that UV Mapper isn’t just a tool for avoiding sunlight—it also brings emotional comfort, and a new way to experience walking. Someone we interviewed mentioned the exhaustion of walking under the sun, and “finding shade” felt like a small but funny way of self-care. That shifted our focus from simply visualising data on a map to caring for the experience itself of exploring the surroundings around them.
We resulted in an experience that was not just a shadow finder, but a way to unfold a city differently: malls, skywalks, underground passages—every shade became a valid route. Walking took on a new dimension.

Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
We see UV Mapper maturing into a new form of spatial experience—one that blends meteorological data and environmental awareness with real-time navigation. While current technical constraints like real-time UV mapping and seamless AR overlays remain, the rise of platforms like MR devices, the continuous refinements in digital maps, as well as the progression of AI and computer vision suggest such context-aware navigation will soon become viable. As XR and ambient computing evolve, UV Mapper could redefine how we walk—not just efficiently, but safely and sensorially.
As UX designers, we aim to continue shaping inclusive solutions to create products that connect the physical environment and humans. UV Mapper is just a start.