From Installation to Intervention:

This paper presents a practitioner-led case study examining the transformation of The Great Map at the National Maritime Museum from an underutilised digital installation into a highly engaged, participatory learning platform. Through the development of The Great Explorer, an augmented reality location-based game, alongside structural changes to staffing and spatial design, visitor participation increased tenfold within eight months. Drawing on service design thinking, agile development, and iterative prototyping, the paper argues that successful digital innovation in museums depends not solely on technological enhancement but on coordinated attention to product, people, environment, and institutional culture. The case demonstrates how rapid user testing, volunteer facilitation, and environmental wayfinding interventions collectively reshaped engagement outcomes. The study contributes to debates in digital heritage practice by reframing innovation as organisational learning and infrastructural change rather than purely technological advancement. It highlights the role of embodied learning in AR experiences and argues for a holistic service ecology approach to digital transformation in museums.