Maps: a new metaphor for user interaction
Posted by Nicola
During the last year we read more and more discussions about cellphones and how they’ll earn a dominant position in our digital life. The iPhone and the new smart phones are certainly both a confirmation and a push toward that direction. Personally my preferred way to access the information is still a wide monitor (the next one could be a 32″!) and that’s why I’m always been sceptical about forecasts predicting everybody will be using cellphones to access the Web. For how long can you read on a small low resolution display? You can read or write a small post but you can’t spend a couple of hours on a 3″, you have to keep on scrolling and zooming and images are very little or you have to pan to see them entirely.
Today I found on the New York Times an interesting article which doesn’t make predictions but focuses instead
on the new emerging metaphor for user interaction on mobiles: the map. One of the designer of the early Macintosh said we’re facing a revolution similar to the introduction of the window metaphor (initially developed by Xerox). This is interesting news, this changes perspective and scope. The map metaphor means the mobile is not used to access large amount of general information but only small, specific, localized pieces of data while we’re on the go. There are also studies showing how our brain has developed very good skills for map interaction so this could benefit users but for interfaces designers I think this arises a lot of new challenges since we’re all still so accustomed to the old window metaphor. But you know: new challenges new possibilities. So I’m very curious about what this new metaphor will bring us. And the giants are already working on it with Google going to launch its Android which will make large use of Google Maps and the brand new service “Google Latitude“. Nokia is also working hard on maps as I’ve had the chance to see at the last “Web 2.0 Expo” in Berlin.
There’s another important aspect underlined in this article: the concept of privacy and how different generations perceive it. It’s not a typical user experience factor but I think it will greatly impact on the success of this new metaphor. Because it will depend on how much of our personal information we’re ready to share with friends, with companies and with … who knows who is tracing our walk down town or our summer journey? Google? Nokia? The government? A spy satellite? Your ex girlfriend or your boss?
Have you already developed something using the map metaphor? Are you planning about it? Will it be a success? And could we import it on the desktops? Let me know.
Nicola
P.s. I suggest you to read the full NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/science/17map.html
