You’re hiking up a mountain surrounded by flowers and greenery. The gentle breeze rustles the leaves and brushes against your skin. You arrive at a clearing just as the sun is starting to set and you can’t help but stare at the beautiful orange sky. A berry you haven’t seen before catches your eye and you wonder on what it is called and whether it is edible. But as the sun finishes its decline and night sets in, you realize that you don’t know which way you came from or where your route was taking you. This problem plagues many hikers as over 16% of hikers get lost in the woods.[^1] And the consequences of this can sometimes be dangerous. In fact, the National Park Service reports that hiking injuries accounted for over 30% of their search and rescue incidents in 2014 and they attributed this to a general lack of knowledge and experience.[^2] While there are apps that can help with this such as MapMyHike and ViewRanger, these are often in conflict with the purpose of hiking and being in the woods which is to get in touch with nature. So the problem then is how do we help people gain the knowledge they need to stay safe and enjoy their environment while keeping them in the moment and disturbing their interaction with nature as little as possible?

Introducing hikAR! Our project idea centers around the seamless integration of information about the world around you with your everyday life. This would happen through a pair of glasses that the user would wear when they go on a hike. All the user would need to do is say the word and they would be presented information about their environment such as the trail they’re walking on and the direction they should be heading in. It can also give them information on local resting spots, their ETA for the end of the trail, and various safety tips that are especially handy for the user’s location. Furthermore, at the user’s request, it can give information about the local berries, flowers, trees, and wildlife. If the user wants to know if a berry is safe to eat, they can look at it and the device will let them know. When the user is not actively requesting information, they will see the world as normal which allows for them to truly get immersed in their environment while always having a device to tap into if they are either curious about the local fauna and flora or unsure about their surroundings.

https://www.treehugger.com/travel/how-people-get-lost-woods-what-do-if-it-happens-you.html https://nps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/b526c87ae21f4a669eb6c9238c2c4bcf Picture taken from [Blue Forest Conservation](https://www.blueforestconservation.com/)