The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on socialization of students outside of the classroom, especially for freshman and sophomore students who have joined University of Cincinnati (UC) at the beginning and during the pandemic. Students have been stuck indoors and away from campus the past year and a half and do not know the area very well. Additionally, the pandemic has impacted their ability to meet new students outside of the online and offline classroom. UC Night Life was created to allow for students to find locations in and around Cincinnati to go to meet new people and enjoy/explore the city to its fullest.
UC Night Life is a web application that allows for users to find locations of interest in and around campus. They can either navigate the map on the main landing page to manually find locations of interest around Cincinnati or use the search bar by typing in key terms of things that they might be interested in (e.g., restaurant, near campus, music, downtown). When they wish to learn more about a location, they can navigate to its dedicated webpage. Once on the webpage of their desired location, they can find information such as general location data, internal and external 360 photos of the location, a description of what they might expect, as well as information about the location written by fellow students. For locations that have events - such as music venues or sport arenas - the page will provide an up-to-date feed and links to purchase tickets to attend.
Having all this information accessible on UC Night Life will allow for students to visit handpicked locations in and around campus/Cincinnati and prepare them for what to expect at any given location. This will allow for them to go out, explore the city, and meet new people without worrying about finding where to go or what they're going to do there. This platform is a fantastic tool that allow for new students to better navigate Cincinnati.