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 point  enter an end point  hit “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

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”