TrailXplorer: A Web-Based Hiking Companion Community Sharing System -Design and Preliminary Usability Evaluation Study

Abstract

Currently, hikers in Malaysia rely on scattered sources such as blogs, social media, and community forums to find trail information. This approach is inefficient, as it lacks centralized, verified data and preparation tools. Users face difficulties in planning trips, accessing accurate trail conditions, and tracking their hiking plans. Administrators also struggle to manage trail data, user reviews, and community content efficiently, leading to delays and inconsistencies. These limitations highlight the need for a centralized system like TrailXplorer to streamline trail discovery, trip planning, and community engagement. The development of TrailXplorer: A Web-Based Hiking Companion System is important as it addresses the challenges faced by hikers in Malaysia in accessing reliable and centralized trail information. The system provides a structured platform that allows users to search for trails, view detailed trail information, plan trips, share tips, and interact with the hiking community in a single, unified space. This enhances safety, simplifies trip planning, and encourages active engagement among hikers. The system is developed using PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with Visual Studio Code and XAMPP used as development tools. UI/UX principles were applied to ensure usability and accessibility for both users and administrators. Online documentation, tutorials, and official API references such as Google Maps API were also consulted during development and testing, contributing to the system’s reliability, effectiveness, and overall quality. Testing result show 100% of test modules have passed the Unit Testing, while result for User Acceptance Test (UAT) shows majority of the respondents are happy with this hiking sharing platform. The system offers benefits to multiple stakeholders, hikers gain convenient access to accurate trail data, safety alerts, and community-driven tips and reviews, administrators can efficiently manage trail records, user accounts, tips, reviews, feedback, and homepage content, and the wider hiking community benefits from shared experiences, promoting outdoor activities that are safe, well-informed, and effectively coordinated throughout Malaysia.