Thoughts on how I use a map app

I have thought about how I use navigation interfaces and what I do and don’t like about them. I’d like it if I didn’t have to get my phone out of my bag every time I need to check where I am and where I need to head, when I am using a maps app. If I were to create a list of steps I take when I use the app it would be something like this:

1. I get my phone out of my bag
2. Key in the pin to unlock it.
3. Open the navigation app I am using
4. Thank the GPS gods for being able to choose ‘current location’ and have it accurate most of the time. Or swear under my breath because I have to type in the address because the map gives my current location as being on the other side of the motorway. While not that far from where I am if I were to go through people’s yards, run across the motorway, scale a fence and go through more yards, I can’t do that, legally. So I have to type in the destination, usually just the number and street are enough but not always, or a contact’s name, which then comes up with the address if I have one associated with them. To be fair, if I am on a website for somewhere I want to go to I can click on the address usually and then pick the directions to/from and it will plot the route for me. It used to open up the google maps app on my phone, however the Apple maps app has replaced it, and so it opens up google web map instead.
5. Then I have look for the first turn or two in the directions and off I head, usually while putting my phone back in my bag because I don’t always like carrying it in my hand.
6. I usually need to look at my phone again either to confirm I am heading in the right direction or to get the next lot of directions. This is where the pain comes in for me, metaphorically speaking. Having to get my phone out, unlock it and then check for the next directions can be a tad annoying. I usually end up stopping when I do this, it’s distracting looking at the map and walking at the same time, especially when it’s in a busy place like the city.

Interaction Design: User Interface Musings

I have a number of ideas swirling about my brain about this project, and it’s probably about time that I committed them to blog. I am particularly interested in making a map that not just the sighted can used but also the visually impaired. Which possibly makes it a little more difficult and I don’t know the number of visually impaired on campus, but it is an important aspect of user interface design that I don’t think should be overlooked. However, depending on how I approach the design it could actually end up being easy for sighted people too to use as a navigation aid.

Often I try not to rely on maps when I navigate myself around a city, especially one I know well. I will look at a map to get a general idea if necessary and then head off in the general direction. I’ve even done this in cities I don’t know that well. If I had to describe how I navigate I would say I navigate by gut instinct and a little cheating look at a map every now and again. Though I only usually do this when I have time, if I don’t I use a map.

I think this is one time where I feel quite fortunate having been around as an adult when there weren’t smartphones to do the navigating for me and I had to use an old-fashioned paper map to navigate. As the chief navigator in the car because of my permanent passenger status I got very good at navigating using a map, even though I suffer a little from right left confusion. I get my left and right mixed up.

I now own a smartphone with maps and GPS navigation and I would say I use it often apart from the fact that I do find it a bit annoying to actually use. I think it goes back to honing the navigation instinct because I hated having to stop and get a map out to see where I was and where I needed to go next. I find I still hate having to do that with the phone. I would rather it knew where I was and I put in where I needed to be and it reminded me when I needed to turn without my having to get it out or hold it.

This may seem a little tangent but is part of my process. I often find myself thinking about the wee personal assistant imp that Vimes has in the Terry Pratchett books. Yes! Finally got to refer to his ideas! How can I sum up the imp…. It’s the Discworld version of the smartphone without the phone or Internet bits. Essentially he reminds Vimes about his appointments at the necessary times by speech. Vimes doesn’t need to get him out and look because he is told. Another idea from Pratchett’s Watch series is the way Vimes navigates the streets of Ankh-Morpork. As the commander of the City Watch and before that just another beat cop in the Night Watch, he walked the streets constantly, at night; often in extremely poor light, he learnt to know exactly where he was by the feel of the street underneath his feet.