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David is an occasional blogger, software engineer, Nintendo fanboy, liberal, news magazine addict, voracious TiVo user, and bibliophile. He was born in St. Louis, grew up in southern Indiana, and returned to St. Louis to attend Washington University. He hasn't managed to escape yet. He's a fan of free wine tastings, too many tv shows to name, and eating out. David makes his living developing web applications used internally by his employer. He doesn't blog about work because he's heard too many stories about that causing workplace troubles. There's more on the about page. |
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29 January 2006 - 9:05 pm
On map sites you can usually get directions for going from point A to point B on criteria like shortest distance or least travel time, but when I give directions to people I don't use either of those criteria. Instead, I usually try to give the simplest directions possible. It's easier for me as I don't have to spend time explaining how to fin my favorite short-cut and it's better for the person I'm directing, since they'll hopefully have less trouble finding their destination. I think it would be cool if map sites could give you directions that involve the fewest turns or use only major roads.
Landmark-based navigation is almost always how you, I, and most other humans give directions and I don't see why we shouldn't expect the same from our automated systems. Since places like google maps can pinpoint all kinds of businesses on their maps, that they should try to tell you what you're going to see at an intersection where you need to turn. Knowing that you should head west on Main Street isn't nearly as useful as telling someone to turn left at the McDonalds onto Main Street.
Finally, if you've ever tried to follow print outs from, say, Yahoo maps at night in area you haven't been to before, you know that reading the directions and driving are (or at least should be) mutually exclusive. That's why we need either simple directions that can be committed to memory or in-car navigation systems. I'm cheap, so I prefer the former. And I think my two suggestions above at least partially address that need. Now someone just needs to implement them.
Posted by on 29 January 2006 at 8:48 PM
Comments
I really can't figure out why some people prefer cardinal directions to a simple "left" or "right," unless they have a very detailed mental map they refer to when traveling. I will never be one of those people.
At the very least, Yahoo! now includes the location of the address in question (left or right side of street), which has saved me a lot of time slowing down and craning my neck to read the addresses on businesses and mailboxes.
Posted by Rachel on 30 January 2006 - 3:27 PM
Jerry Cox figured out how to get home making no left turns.
Maybe these sites should accept profile information about driving habits.
Posted by rkc on 1 February 2006 - 6:12 PM