Comments on: How We Watch the City, Paper from Microsoft Research.

By: Don

Don — Tue, 08 May 2007 18:57:20 +0000

That’s a nice thought Rich B, but these images aren’t in real time.
You might look at a video camera shot of the bridge.
But you aren’t looking at real time satellite photos.

By: Rich B, Redmond

Rich B, Redmond — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 04:02:24 +0000

Why watch the bridges in Seattle? Lets see, early morning and late afternoon I commute across the bridges, so I’m looking twice to four times a day. ( I can vary my departure time based on traffic).
If my significant other commutes at a different time, I could check to let her know whats up (especially if internet access is limited for her).
Then if I’m going downtown Seattle to catch the Opera, or a sporting event, or a lecture at U Wash, I’d be checking from my home another time that day.
So the answer about bridge viewing on the net is
a) its to check on traffic
b) its “using the inet force, Luke”.
c) its in the car, or on my phone

By: Joe Mama

Joe Mama — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 02:30:55 +0000

“Unfamiliar with zoom? Not me.

I stay at the same zoom level when I am trying to familiarize myself with the route I’m going to drive. Changing zoom levels is for when I only care about destinations, like when I’m going to actually be flying some place. Or maybe when I already know most of my way there, but don’t know the last bits of the route

I guess what I mean is that I want my view of the map to match my expected itinerary. I don’t “zoom out” while I’m driving, so I don’t so much when I’m scouting my route.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:42:51 +0000

During some user studies that we conducted at YRB we found that many map users are unfamiliar with zoom – they usually stay at one zoom level and pan to get to wherever they want to go. That could explain why they follow the bridges – start at maximum zoom and then pan along known routes (namely bridges) to get to where you want to go.

My hypothesis is that they are looking at online maps using the paper maps metaphor where you can pan but not zoom.