We all seem to know that the new iOS Maps is bad, but what exactly makes a good map? Using lessons learnt from the lead designer of Nokia, I shared some thoughts on the Budapest New Technology Meetup in October 2012

1. What Makes a Good Map?
Adam Nemeth, Nearby Project

2. What I won't talk about tonight
Air pollution + Stereo Computer Vision
Community Databases + AGPS + Base Stations
PostGIS + Badly written SQL Selects + names

3. What I will talk about instead

4. “Cartography is a special
kind of UX”
Astrid Fasold, Lead of Map Design
at

5. Maps are there
• For specific target audiences
• To solve specific use cases
• In specific contexts

6. That’s why
a single, global map
is hard to design
It tries to solve everything for everyone

7. Target audiences
• What kind of vehicle? (ped., car, bike...)
• Is it you who's driving?
• What's the speed?
• How old are you?
• Are you familiar with the area?

8. People expect things to
see at once!
• Also they expect maps to be permanent
• Mobile screen is small
• Can't be overloaded with information, but
needs enough - no legend!
• Visual Information Hierarchy in each
and every view!
• Level of detail is important

9. Primary and secondary
goals
• Not all goals are told explicitly
• Orientation is a key issue
• But perhaps you need an ATM on the way...

10. Orientation
• Orientation can be anything: width of street, shape
or color of building, a tree, a crane, brand signs...
• Churches are usually high buildings with a tower
or a cross on top of them in Europe - not always!
• India doesn't have street names - they use petrol
station names
• Chinese would prefer a McDonalds to a street
name

11. Use Case Examples
• University students expect their building names to
be present - not meaningful for anyone else
• There's no reason to show pathways while driving
• A “main street” is different for a pedestrian and a
driver
• “entrance” is different for a pedestrian and a
driver, not to mention parking spots
• A metro station can have up to 10-15 exits

12. Cartography is complex
Digital cartography is even more complex

13. You can only implement
it well while actively
trying to use it

14. Any questions?
Nokia Maps (mostly driving)
Google Maps (mostly pedestrian)
OpenStreetMap.org (“could you pls add...?”)