map.stlzoo.org
let abstract = "map.stlzoo.org elegantly solves for the Saint Louis Zoo’s 3 million annual visitors the difficult problem of navigating its 90-acres and 16,000+ animals using modern open source 3D web tech. I was responsible for developing the map concept and selling it into our marketing scope with carefully-designed features to meet the client’s specific needs at the right budget, including:
* No install, no app store – just a short URL or QR code that loads like 🫰⚡
* The entire build is optimized to 14mb (or about one 4k photo)
* All animal and destination data is searchable and content-managed
* Turn-by-turn directions anywhere in the park, without using Google Maps or any external API – everything happens on-device in milliseconds using a clever combination of GPS signal and videogame “navmesh” technology
* The site works offline, and can be installed to your iOS or Android homescreen as a PWA.
* It supports six languages.
* It runs well on a 12-year-old Samsung Galaxy S10 (2014) using Android 8 (12 major versions behind).
I drove the vision for the project, built early prototypes and proofs of concept which turned into a polished final product. I built the content management system in a modern node.js framework, wired all data into Algolia Search (and secured non-profit credits for my client with them), and created the 2D DOM UI and 3D world space UI components for the app. I also did all the estimating, scoping and scheduling accurately for a completely novel product, keeping production costs under 1,000 hours all-in on a three month schedule.
This project was an Honoree in Websites & Mobile Sites – Cultural Institutions at the 2026 Webby Awards in the same category as the National Gallery of Art and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
For more information, see the informational page zoo’s official site, or try the map yourself: https://map.stlzoo.org
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