THE INTRO
The National Park Service has an app for visitors to use for planning and exploring their park system offerings. The App is marketed as a one stop shop for potential visitors to navigate for lodging, activities, events, alerts, live webcam and park amenities. 

PRODUCT AVAILABLE AT: Apple APP store or Google play. 
PURCHASE PRICE:  Free

THE REVIEW

   My first thought as I was downloading this app was, I hope it truly provides ease of use, is not clunky, is intuitive and provides things like downloadable maps.
 
MAIN WELCOME PAGE
Love the presentation with its clean and clear messaging to easily cascade to your next action. The app provides immediate ability to find your park that suits your wishes, for example search by state or by activity. The main page also provides the your park favorites, access to those you have visited and check in on news and events for that park. 

INDIVIDUAL PARK PAGE
The Park page is great for what it is, an information kiosk for basic high level information like hours, fee & access information, hours of operations and weather. The customary offerings of Things to Do, What to See, Where to Stay and add on features like park calendar and volunteer opportunities all tie in nicely to their website. 

FEATURES TO KNOW:

• POSTCARD - use this feature to snap a photo or upload a photo and have that parks logo added to your photo.
• make reservations - use this feature on the lodging page to reserve a campsite or reserve a room on park grounds.
• PARK NEAR ME BUTTON - a wonderful eye opening feature to see and recognize all the parklands just a short distance from your front door. All the work to locate those is done for you!

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Where the park page begins to stumble in the user experience is its inability to go in depth for true visitor planning. Each individual park page provides hike trails, bike trails  and sight seeing trails however there is no option to download a trail map, which should be considered a life saving tool. The App also misses the boat on providing the ability to purchase a park pass or annual pass in advance. 

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LOVE!

• Ease of use
• Filter and search capability including "parks near me"
• Ability to reserve a camping spot via the app
• Get news, events & real time weather
• Webcam
• Postcard feature

not love

• Hiking trail information is limited
• No trail maps or downloadable trail maps
• Inability to purchase park pass or yearly pass 

THE WRAP UP

The App is a long overdue addition to the park service user experience. Its feature set enables the user full exposure to the park conditions, setting & amenities. You can tell the app is in a growth model and evolving to cater to total planning experience within a national park.  for those looking for quick reach to your local national park or that big summer family trip, the app serves as a great baseline for planning and navigating your trip.

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