Posts Tagged: gps

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9
Jun 08

Do we need LBS?

Bernhard Schindlholzer wrote that “even though I am confident that there will certainly be significant growth in some areas (i.e. vehicle tracking, in-car traffic information) I doubt that someday everyone will be using Google’s “Search nearby” feature to find the next ATM, restaurant or supermarket…the majority of people still roam in just a few locations and in general they do not move far from home. Vacations and business travel are exceptions – the percentage of time individuals spend in locations they don’t know is very small.”

Link: Do humans really need location-based services? (customer-experience-labs.com, via)

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6
May 06

Driving directions

A wonderful piece from the New Yorker about the history, current technology and social aspects of in car navigation systems.

“In 1909, an engineer named J. W. Jones invented a device called the Jones Live-Map, which connected to a car’s odometer. It consisted of a glass-enclosed dial, on which you could place a disk representing a particular trip. The disk had mileage numbers around the perimeter and driving directions printed like spokes on the face. As you progressed down the road, the disk would rotate, telling you where you were and what to do. Live-Map No. 16, for example, guided the “motorist tourist” from Columbus Circle to Waterbury, Connecticut (specifically, the Elton Hotel), telling him, at various intervals, to “take right fork at flag pole,” “pass under trolley arch,” or “caution for dangerous curves.” A promotional booklet for the Jones Live-Map read, “You are always sure of your road. . . . You fly past sign boards at speed without a thought. You never stop to inquire your way. Right or wrong, all chance information is useless to you. You are as easy about your road as though you were ‘running on rails.’ ””

Link: Getting There (newyorker.com)

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12
Mar 06

User experience review of Garmin GPS

Jan Miksovsky reviews the user experience of a Garmin GPS unit.

“Clear screen organization, with careful use of color, shape, contrast, and typography to define a hierarchy of screen elements. Consider that in the above image they’ve made the “200” in a significantly larger font than the “m” (meters) unit that follows it. Moreover, they’ve top-aligned the “m” unit to maintain the legibility of the much more important number. In this particular application, it’s critical for the user to be able to glance down at the screen and get a sense of how far they have to go until they need to turn. That is, if they see three characters, they know they have hundreds (3 characters) of meters left to go, not thousands (4 characters).”

Link: Approachable UI package in Garmin Nuvi GPS (miksovsky.blogs.com)