INTERACTIVE MAPS

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Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Illustration 2 Context 3 Problem statement 4 Problem description with forces 5 Examples 6 Solution 7 Diagram 8 References 9 Literature and Links

Illustration

Context

…you want to build a tool that helps people plan and navigate along routes - NAVIGATION SYSTEM.

One important part of navigation tools are maps.

Problem statement

Studying and looking at maps is one of the main tasks a user will perform with a navigation system. How must those maps be designed and what functions do they require?

Problem description with forces

Maps are an important element and tool for navigation. They serve for planning a route, orientating in unknown environments and they provide an overview of a region or a planned route.

Traditional paper maps however have some disadvantages. They are static as they have a fixed scale and a fixed level of detail and users cannot choose which elements are important for them or show additional information. Moreover they are mostly very large and have to be folded for transportation or storage and unfolded for usage. When visiting a different location, a different map is needed.

To solve these disadvantages, navigation systems on electronic devices should use interactive maps. These maps can be much more detailed while they still fit on relatively small screens. On the other hand they need some special interaction methods that make studying and browsing the maps as easy as possible.

Examples

Interactive maps come in different ways and on different systems:

• interactive maps on the internet (e.g. Map24, Yahoo! Maps [2])
• navigation tools for desktop computers (e.g. Map&Guide [3])
• navigation tools for mobile devices (e.g. Destinator [4], SMARTPATH City [5], Falk City Guide [6])

Interactive maps on the internet vary widely across the different systems. Some provide highly interactive maps using Java technology whereas others only display static images which can be modified using HTML (in fact using this approach a new image is loaded). As the data of the maps is stored on central servers these maps have a great level of detail and are always up-to-date.

Navigation tools for desktop computers mostly provide very flexible interactive maps. These are very detailed as the map information is stored on CDs or even DVDs. But due to this, they run the risk of going out of date.

Navigation tools for mobile devices have some limitations. Due to small displays and limited memory capacity, the interactive maps need special designs and cannot be as detailed as on desktop computers. Here different interaction methods are used to navigate and browse maps.

What all interactive maps have in common are different interaction means for navigating the maps. These means include zooming-, panning- and overview functions as well as legends etc.

Solution

Therefore:

Provide interactive maps as one main part of the system. These maps should be easy, intuitive and flexible to use.

The user should always know where in the map her current position is.

The interactive maps should have controls for navigating in x-, y- and z-directions like a zooming and a panning function.

Additionally they should provide means that display the current clipping within a wider overview.

Also think about including features like an (interactive) legend, an adaptive scale bar or a night view function.

Diagram

References

Functions that an interactive map should provide are described in-depth in the patterns ZOOMING, PANNING, OVERVIEW, WHERE AM I?, SCALE BAR, ADAPTIVE INTERACTIVE LEGEND and NIGHT VIEW.

Literature and Links

1. Map24 - Das Internetportal für interaktive Karten; http://www.map24.de in May 2003
2. Yahoo! Maps and Driving Directions; http://maps.yahoo.com/ in May 2003
3. MAP&GUIDE GmbH; http://www.mapandguide.de/
4. Destinator 2.0; http://www.destinator.de
5. SMARTPATH City; http://www.navman-mobile.com/html/city-pc.htm
6. Falk City Guide; http://www.falk.de