Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Map Usability

For a research project I am working on, I am interested in what your favorite usability issues are regarding using online and mobile maps.

Some thoughts:

Everyone is using Google mashups to add maps to their websites. It looks the same, works the same, returns the same kind of data, etc. Is this a good thing?

You spend a lot of money on GIS software, you put a lot of thought into figuring out what data to use, what level of detail, etc, you take advantage of all the nifty little usability enhancements that ESRI put into the latest version, you you publish your map on your website. Are people using it as intended? Are people having trouble? What indicators are you using to find out?

How often does your in car GPS system get you where you want to go? Can you rely on it enough to keep your paper maps at home?

Can you provide examples of web-based maps that you find to be incredibly useful and usable?

Thanks.

I'll keep you updated on what I find, but feel free to add your comments here.

Noreen