OS Maps App Research

Ordnance Survey Ltd is Britain's mapping agency and is responsible for the surveying, production, maintenance, and marketing of a wide range of geographic information, relied on by government, business and individuals. Further information on us can be found on our website http://www.os.uk.

OS is a private limited company (company registration number 09121572), and the entire share capital is owned by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology.

Research Brief: Shaping the future development of OS Maps

Project Background

Ordnance Survey's (OS) Consumer divisions' mission is to help more people to get outside more often.

OS's digital mapping service (OS Maps) is one of our flagship products for leisure customers - helping them to access the outdoors in a safe and enjoyable way. Our mapping service helps users to plan and carry out outdoor activities either online (OS Maps) or via our App. By subscribing to OS Maps customers can discover outdoor trails, create their own routes and track the outdoor activities they want to do in Great Britain (GB).

Currently, OS Maps has a loyal customer base of regular subscribers and users, however, they tend to be older (50+) and more experienced outdoor enthusiasts. **We have plans to grow the usage of OS Maps amongst Millennial (aged 27-42) and Genz (aged 18-26) consumers - broadening our appeal beyond our traditional core experienced adventurers**.

At the beginning of this year, a new user interface was introduced within the OS Maps App to ensure the App is easier to use amongst new subscribers. There are more releases planned over the coming year, which will continue to build on these recent changes.

To help inform our future product strategy, we would like to understand the key use cases that consumers want from an outdoor app, explore what they would need/want/expect from an outdoor app, and test the usability of our App. We would like to identify what other apps offer consumers that we currently don't cover, and how our app can develop to encourage future use. Whilst they may already venture outside, these users will be unlikely to be experts at map reading. Therefore, researching our existing user base will not help us identify the right opportunities for increasing the takeup of our application.

OS requires a market research agency that can conduct qualitative research with potential, future OS Maps users**. This should not include our existing customers but should include those using other outdoor activity apps.

Additional information: Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No