Hall of Fame, or Shame?Olivia Buzek

Jeffrey James

The Maps Homepage

Mapper’s Mission: Getting Directions

• A large portion of users are interested in getting from one location to another.

• They want to:enter a start pointenter an end pointhit “GO!”see directions

• These users vary in their computer experience.

• Our test case: the user wants to get from their house to the beach.

Does Google Maps help them, or hinder them?

Our user approaches…

Location 1: Searched!

Getting directions

Getting directions

Getting directions

Good Points

• Interface is consistent and clean• Expert-user options available but hidden• Allows for multiple destinations• Gives the user options but has a default• Live traffic view (!?)

Bad Points

• Not tailored for our use case (directions)• Destination-first approach threw us off• Switching start and end not obvious– Reverse directions not an advanced feature

• Default location feature didn’t work as expected

• “A” and “B” rather than “start” and “end”