User Interviews Notes from (S)
- Google Maps; Mom ordered me a physical map of Nashville that's good to have in front of me. If I need a larger, broader view of the city that's still pretty close but physically large piece of material (close-up but all over). Really only if I was going there would you print out a Google Map. - She ordered the Chamber of Commerce; you lost it. - City streets are most important maps - Compass in my car, so I follow the compass in my car. - On Thursday, I was in Nashville. Map said to exit on a street that didn't exist. 21 did not equal Charlotte Street. Had to find different cross streets and sort of find mywa to the cross streets and find my way there. - If I got lost, I'd stop and ask someone. If I could manage to find my way on my own, I would. - I do have people sketch out maps for me. Seeing as how I'm very direction oriented (NSEW), if I can verify on my car, right left turns really helpful. Would rather say landmarks are more helpful than "go 1.5 miles." I'd rather know that I'm getting info from someone who lives there and knows the area. Would rather ask somebody like a gas station attendant who I perceive lives there. - I've been in the car with people who use GPS devices. It was really helpful, I'm a visual person, it was right in front of you. - Directory info: Google (computer) - Wants it to physically drive my car where I want it to go. I want it to be an interactive map, just like GPS. It would tell me what to do and show me the map in front of me. Interactive GPS system that let me know exactly what I want to know. I'd always be worried about it not being updated currently, not having the newest road information. You know when you ask for something and the map doesn't recognize it (how do you call the right info)? Put in Rivercrest Circle it doesn' trecognize Rivercrest Drive.
Notes from (M)
- I always get the most current paper atlas out, depending on where I'm going, has to be atlas, *current* is the key word. For example, I recently researched different Tennessee websites and I had a current (more or less) Nashville city map sent to Shannon. One sent to me, researches by paper first an dhaving it send to you. When you're in a car, you don't know if you're going to have internet available. Always better to have paper backup. Don't really know if it is, but you hope that it is. - I still have visions of looking at a new atlas and seeing that a certain rode going through Pennsylvania looks just like 337 and turns out to be a two-lane highway that goes up and down and through the fog and through the mountains and it was awful. Awful road. That was at night. Had we seen it in the daylight, we would've shit a brick. Mountain above us and huge drop-off with a river below us. We could've been in the river. Don't know about topographical map as much as daylight (nighttime, daytime settings very important). Looked like shortcut... - Next step when a map is wrong: Sometimes will turn around and go back to where she knows the map is right. Sometimes she'll just hope. (Like at the swimmeet the other day, knew from what was on paper, how to turn around and go back, and take access road back to 183.) She turns right, took the next right, deadend. Experimented within the confines of what you knew and deduced and guessed until you got there. No data points, just one inkling of what someone had said. She couldn't capture the folk knowledge and couldn't remember it, wasn't listening, etc. (this speaks to map as memory device). - If you drew me a map or someone I trust, I feel pretty confident following it. If someone she didn't know drew her a map, she'd definitely check in on google Maps and MapQuest - trying to get "the big picture." "The more information I have, the better I feel." So if somebody drew her a mpa of cool places in Nashville they liked to go, what would you do with it? If I'm going there for vacation, I'd check out what they had to draw on the map (double-check directions + features of the areas that they represented). Features like hot spots. Botanical garden, walked and hiked and saw lots of interesting stuff. Somehow she knew about it. Somebody suggested places to me, I'd definitely check all of them out on the internet. Convenience, that's always the place I'd check first for features. If I knew somebody, I'd ask them about those particular places. Would like to have memory device for names and places. Within any person's designated area, you find information from people if available and with that, and then magazine, research, and make your own decisions. - "Magic Map" --> there's a lot of places in this world that would be cool to go, but my heartstrings will always to take me to someplace where I have someone that I love.
- Go to Mapquest and Mapquest it from her computer. The GPS unit that they have (they were looking for a geocache, would find on computer, plug coordinates from computer into GPS, GPS would store it, and then you'd drive or walk). There is a map on the computer that shows you were a geocached object it, but they follow the geocache unit when you're going somewhere, so you follow the arrow. Function that you use is called "goto," first it triangulates where you are, then go to will get you there. -They had to get downtown and thought they knew were they were going, pulled a map out of her glovebox. She often prints out maps and use them to go to new locations within the city and within her own neighborhood. Mapquests or print out - she can pretty much figure it out (restaurant downtown, or a new store, or whatever). Prints out everything from MapQuest. Usually how she follows them. If they're wrong, she usually gets very angry. (That's what happened when they tried to get to J's psychologist, they couldn't find her, MQ really messed them up. Finally, Brian went into a Starbucks and they asked directions, and they gave him verbal directions on how to get there.) Needed driving directions. - When she went to Chicago with Lynn, they wanted to find the famous popcorn place, they just went - asked Concierge and they asked that person. That person pulled out a map and circled where they were and drew on the map as to where they were, and gave them the map to follow. Disney, stop and ask a cast member, and they'd tell you which way to go, they might pull out a map and show you or give it to you (theme parks are interesting). Lots of maps are provided at every location. - Nashville because it's not touristy, not a refined tourist destination where everyone's doing the exact same thing. If she was going to go to Nashville, she would probably email the Chamber of Commerce or Triple A and they would send her maps of where she was going. Would asked people at her hotel because they're trusted - have to look you in the face. - People in starbuck's: why did we trust them? We were frantic and late. Business or establishment in the neighborhood. Tried to get him to stop at dentist office but he wouldn't. College-looking student or professional? - For MapQuest, how would you change? Would need to be updated on a monthly basis, don't know how they would do it, but for all areas, you run into this problem with the toll road. (Have been up and running since November; when you go to MapQuest, they're not shown on there, and there's no option to click, "use toll roads or don't use toll roads." But because maps aren't updated, you don't have those options with the roads you have around here.) Long time for Google Maps to gain new satellite images, but knows for a fact that on Google Maps, what's interesting is looking at satellite images b/c it's easier to see than a regular map. Hasn't been updated in 3 years for their particular area...makes her not trust it. Sort of useless to her. More recent satellite data. - For GPS, how to change? If I had a better GPS, I wouldn't run intothese problems. A $450 GPS, I could download every geocache every GPS coordinates that I wanted. Plug into computer and software would download it for me. I'd like one that's more user-friendly. Quality of what we purchased. Found out after the fact that we could use it for (after you had a GPS). Didn't realize we could use it to find places, but were using it to track our running progress. Impossibility b/c of the government, the triangulation - if that could be within 3 feet instead of 3 meters (better precision)...for our purposes with geogaching. On a day that it's cloudy, GPS unit took her to other side of group of trees - at least 10 feet away from point given as center point. Does weather affect it? Cloudiness causes triangulation errors with satellites? Called a friend who had foudn the cache before and she told them that they were looking in the wrong place. - Map would be in her vehicle most of the time (she's a driver), would be like laptop (portable), would only have to type in or say where you wanted to go, and it would come up with different options (nearest Starbucks in zip code 78761 and would give locations that she could choose, touch or say A, B, or C, and she would see directions on where to go and what turns are hte shortest way). If you could add in the satellite descriptions of traffic, that would be awesome. Alternate routes, I would use it everywhere. Would use it to go usually travelled routes. Toll road. This would make it an everyday device. "tractor trailer overturned on I35." That availability by turning on the traffic channel now, all it does is flash pics of differenet points on diff roads. It's up to date, but you have to sit there forever to get the pic you want, and half the time their cameras aren't working. TXDOT, but same cameras. She wants pictures and descriptions (don't actually know if I'd need the pics - I would need to know, "how far back is traffic snarled up?" See how fast cars are moving - basic big brotherish. Some sort of sensor where cars are going slow and fast.) This is for city driving. (Misty: what about weather overhead in addition to traffic data?) Based on actual information instead of having a helicopter fly overhead and report it. On the news, you have to wait for it. It's not portable and it's not instantaneous. - Find me an alternoute route to get to such-and-such address. If I had a computer or a magic map, put wings on my car too and then I don't have to worry about traffic anymore.
Notes from (P) * “In this age of the Internet, maps have changed. The computer
directions are better than the maps you’d get at the gas station.”
“You get directions from Point A to Point B.” Notes from (J) - Pretty reliant on maps, got better at oriented cardinal directionally
by the Tower; with orientation, they help you to understand the campus
and the layout Notes from (R)
I print out google maps (not usually the generated directions, but rather one to three printouts at various centering and zoom levels, depending on the complexity, with directions that I type myself into the notes field). 2. When you were abroad, how did you use maps to find your way around? I've only crossed the U.S. border once; in that case we were escorted by my in-laws who knew their way around somewhat and I didn't drive or navigate. When I travel for conferences, I take a taxi to the conference area, and use maps from the hotel and convention center and sometimes google for walking and using public transportation. When I visit people, I'm usually escorted but may end up using google maps, or having adventures with their GPS (see below). 3. Do you generally trust directions given to you by other people? I trust them to be accurate but don't trust myself to remember what to do. It generally does not occur to me that my chosen authority could be inaccurate. I deeply dislike the "call me when you get close" approach, and would rather have a whole plan laid out. 4. Have you ever drawn a map for someone? If so, what details did
you I have sketched maps on paper and (in the days before yahoo/google maps) made computer images for directions. I try to get orientation (with respect to cardinal directions) roughly accurate, but discard scale accuracy in order to have each driver decision clear and legible on a single map. I label cross streets (including ones that are passed instead of taken), and occasionally put a box for a prominent store that marks an intersection. 5. What is most helpful to you as far as helping you to find your way? I have generally very poor spatial sense (for questions of any scale involving "Where?" -- where is Guatemal, where is the nearest gas station, where is my pencil...) The best way for me to be able to find my way somewhere is to study maps (moreso than directions), draw the map myself, and write the directions myself. Mile counts and things to look for in advance of needing to react (stores, cross streets) are helpful. Being told what lane to be in is helpful. If I'm walking, colors (next to a red building, green roof) are very helpful. 6. Have you ever used GPS or seen someone use it? Does it seem useful to you? My grandmother and my father have GPS in their cars. The experience of watching them navigate unfamiliar areas was worlds apart. With my grandmother, it was hair-raising menagerie of misadventure, miscommunication, and emotionally charged, anthropomorphized interaction. I'd say total trip time is probably reduced, but I believe she is more dangerous armed with GPS than she ever was when we'd just get lost (and possibly have her talking on the cell phone while driving). She knows the directions correct/recover from wherever you are, but she seems to feel that she absolutely must obey her latest interpretation of the instructions, even if she ends up pulling a sudden u-turn underneath an overpass, or stopping in the middle of a merge/ramp/intersection to consider and consult. I may get my sense of direction from her. Still, it's nice that it just picks up from wherever we've gotten ourselves to. My father seems to use it productively. He only punches in addresses and directions while parked. If he misses a turn or is unsure, he pays more attention to the road and trusts the directions to recover, and himself to adapt to new directions. It's easier for him to get around with GPS. I think it would be useful to me, but that I would still need to or choose to consult maps in advance of driving into unfamiliar areas. 7. If you are in a familiar area, how confident are you that you can I am not generally confident that I can take a detour, or make any adaption, even in a familiar area. My skills are somewhat limited to choosing among MoPac, 183, and 35, and making adaptations within five miles of my home or office (or former home/office). However, my adaptability has grown greatly in the past five years. I've lived in Austin longer than any other city, and I see myself starting to be able to navigate people out of being a little lost or realize that two isolated mental maps are in fact connected/overlapping, merging them into a more comprehensive map. 8. If you had a "magic map" (a map that had any feature
or could do GPS and google come pretty close defying even my imagination for ideal features. Perhaps I should just utilize the interwebz (Internet) more aggressively, but I might like to see more in the way of mashups that map out features of interest to me (like jogging maps or fishing maps, but showing me healthy food, book stores, and swing sets). It'd be nice if google maps could somehow distort scale to show me all the relevant detail of a route on one map like the way I'd draw it, but I recognize why that would be really hard. 9. What do you like most about the maps that you currently use? What The little differences from yahoo maps to google maps -- grabbing to recenter, scrolling to dynamically size, overlaying satellite detail -- make all the difference for me. I'm sometimes unhappy with google for not putting more street names in for a given zoom level, and yahoo still seems to be better at finding businesses.
Notes from (MJ)
* He has never used a GPS device, but would only use one if he were in a new place * He values discovery. If he has the time and is learning about a new area, he'd rather start off with some general directions and explore. Using the "restrictive" GPS directions stifles that spirit of exploration. * However, if he's in a hurry or needs to get someplace quick, he'd want the specific, accurate, GPS * In a new place, he will study the directions first and memorize them (for the most part) before setting off. * He doesn't trust hand drawn maps that people make because they are not proportionate, lack important details, and emphasize random stuff (if you look at the map out of context, it doesn't make sense). * He likes having street names and landmarks to help him out. In an unfamiliar place, he's not good with cardinal directions. * It's more helpful for him to know the streets that he's got to pass to get to his destination rather than the street that the destination is on. Minimizes his anxiety. * "Magic Map" - He'd like a map that is Internet enabled so that he can access business times for cafes (for examples) while he is out (without having to call or go to a computer or get to the place and find it closed). He'd like the map to be compact and easy to carry around but not bulky like current GPS devices. Notes from (PK)
Google maps, so I guess map printouts 2. When you were abroad, how did you use maps to find your way around? I used the maps in the Lonely Planet guides or the ones at the bus 3. Do you generally trust directions given to you by other people? Yes. They're usually more correct than the ones I give people. 4. Have you ever drawn a map for someone? If so, what details did you Yes, I emphasized street names and cardinal directions, plus the shape 5. What is most helpful to you as far as helping you to find your way? Landmarks pointed out by whoever gave me the directions. 6. Have you ever used GPS or seen someone use it? Does it seem useful Yes to both. 7. If you are in a familiar area, how confident are you that you can Very confident in a familiar area. Not so confident in an unfamiliar 8. If you had a "magic map" (a map that had any feature or
could do It would show all familiar landmarks and intersections. 9. What do you like most about the maps that you currently use? What I like that they have clear and accurate directions that give me the Notes from (LC) 1. What kinds of maps do you use to get around? (Map printout Yahoo, Google, Mapquest, folding maps, sketches, map books (like Mapsco or city guides). When I was searching for a house, I also looked up addresses on the city of Austin's GIS website. 2. When you were abroad, how did you use maps to find your way around?
Did you find them to be reliable? Did you trust them?
4. Have you ever drawn a map for someone? If so, what details did you
6. Have you ever used GPS or seen someone use it? Does it seem useful
to you? 7. If you are in a familiar area, how confident are you that you can What if you are in an unfamiliar 8. If you had a "magic map" (a map that had any feature or
could do 9. What do you like most about the maps that you currently use? What Notes from (CL)
2. When you were abroad, how did you use maps to find your way around?
3. Do you generally trust directions given to you by other people?
4. Have you ever drawn a map for someone? If so, what details did
you
5. What is most helpful to you as far as helping you to find your way?
6. Have you ever used GPS or seen someone use it? Does it seem useful to you?
8. If you had a "magic map" (a map that had any feature
or could do
9. What do you like most about the maps that you currently use? What
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User Testing - Full, Concatenated Participant Responses & Notes
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