August 7th, 2008, 4 Comments »
I don’t know how widespread this is, but check out this remarkably creative approach to wayfinding in a parking lot:
In Melbourne I developed a way-finding-system for the Eureka Tower Car Park while working for Emery Studio. The distorted letters on the wall can be read perfectly when standing at the right position.
Very clever, eh?
July 22nd, 2008, 5 Comments »
Barry at Search Engine Land reports a new discovery in Google Maps today: walking directions.
Earlier this month, I reported that Google Maps was testing walking directions on a small subset of users. This morning, I noticed that Google Maps now is offering walking directions for all Google Maps users.
For example, conduct a search for 200 Madison Ave to 200 Lexington Ave and you will see the option to take “Walking” directions, as opposed to driving directions.
Hmm…I’m underwhelmed. Compare the route from my old Vancouver apartment to Science World. Here are the driving directions, and here are the walking instructions. The only difference seems to be that the walking directions ignore one-way streets. In truth, shouldn’t the walking directions ought to run along the waterfront? Of course, that route would be longer than the prescribed one, but walkers (more than drivers, I suspect) don’t necessarily want the most direct route from point A to B.
Maybe Google needs to crowd-source this problem to optimize the walking routes?