The research and experience gained in these diverse locations give us insights into real-world usage and help us better serve the needs of our users. Our User Experience team comprises a small group of designers, researchers and prototypers in offices around the globe. The work and evolution behind this ambitious undertaking is a combination of design vision, product strategy, engineering prowess, and ethnographic and usability research. In the same vein as Google's mission, we are organizing the world's information in a geographic context. Soon it was not only used it as a "clean" map for wayfinding and browsing but also as a base for overlays, search results, directions, and personal customization-with sources from all over the web. It is a map that serves pedestrians, motorists, tourists and locals alike. Today we display business and transit networks, three dimensional cities, natural terrain, and much more. Since its launch in 2004, Google Maps has come a long way from its relatively simple beginnings as a simple pannable and zoomable road map of the United States and United Kingdom.
When this is successful and the product works as it should, the nuances and details behind these experiences can often go unnoticed, written off as algorithmically derived and invisible. Geographic navigation and search should be smooth, efficient, and ultimately straightforward.
With Google Maps, this is certainly the desired outcome. It is often the case in interaction design that the best solutions simply get out of the way, allowing the user to achieve their goal and get on with their life.
0 kommentar(er)
