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A new kind of map: it’s about time

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Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#101

Post by wutbrodo »

hammock wrote: post #82
nerdponx wrote: post #76

By removing literal geography, we now have a map that more closely reflects the way we think about our environment: a cluster of restaurants “five minutes that way” versus “ten minutes the other.” Speak for yourself! I feel way more confident getting around when I know the actual geography.

Imo when it comes to that there is a huge difference between men and women, or perhaps more accurately people who are highly skilled in map-reading vs people who aren't. In general men prefer to navigate using a map, cardinal directions and can adapt their routefinding on the fly (the actual geography); women prefer to navigate using turn-by-turn directions and fixed landmarks ("five minutes that way," "make the seco…

In case it's unclear to anyone reading this, it's not just anecdotal: this has actually been studied http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01...

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#102

Post by TylerE »

shurcooL wrote: post #61

I think this is great, but I can see it being potentially improved further if there was a temporary overlay of the physical map whenever you hover over a destination. Basically, I feel that completely removing the physical map is okay until you've picked a target. Then, having to click on it to be able to see what the route looks like (which streets to take, etc.) is higher friction than I'd like. Instead, imagine if…

Best, although I don't really know how you'd do it computationally, would be something like a London Subway map... schematically correct but only geographically accurate in a broad sense.

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#103

Post by hnnsj »

jmilloy wrote: post #59
hnnsj wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, to some degree, yes. Maybe it's even mostly true. But the fact that point A and B are close to point C by some mode of transportation does not guarantee that they are close to each other. They might be separated by some geographic feature like a river, mountain or large road that doesn't separate them from C. Or the transportation options between A and C and between B and C may be excellent, but horrible betwee…

If you click on A, you will be able to see if it is close to B or not. Or, more generally, clicking on a few points in a cluster on this map should give you an idea of whether you'll be able to travel easily between places once you get there. So I don't think it's as useless as you are making it out to be.

Then again, I fail to see how this is a major improvement over just clicking the first location of interest in an ordered list to generate a new list etc.

My main point is that to me, you're either interested in going to the closest location from where you are, and you'd probably want a brief description of each location to filter out points of interest to you. A list is just as good if not better (since you can quickly glance more information about each place) for that purpose.

Or else you're interested in the geography of the different locations or their exact spatial relationship and then you need a normal map anyway.

Sure, this is a neat geographic data visualization, but I just can't see myself using it in a real world situation.

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#104

Post by chippy »

hammock wrote: post #82
nerdponx wrote: post #76

By removing literal geography, we now have a map that more closely reflects the way we think about our environment: a cluster of restaurants “five minutes that way” versus “ten minutes the other.” Speak for yourself! I feel way more confident getting around when I know the actual geography.

Imo when it comes to that there is a huge difference between men and women, or perhaps more accurately people who are highly skilled in map-reading vs people who aren't. In general men prefer to navigate using a map, cardinal directions and can adapt their routefinding on the fly (the actual geography); women prefer to navigate using turn-by-turn directions and fixed landmarks ("five minutes that way," "make the seco…

Map reading is a learnt skill, it doesn't come naturally to anyone regardless of sex, culture, background.

Now, navigation and a kind of natural spatial knowledge is different, and I'd like to learn more about this. I would imagine it would be an innate skill to humans, but be limited to a certain size / level of detail. E.g forest floor, village, a couple of blocks, 100 people.

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#105

Post by SubiculumCode »

TylerE wrote: post #102
shurcooL wrote: post #61

I think this is great, but I can see it being potentially improved further if there was a temporary overlay of the physical map whenever you hover over a destination. Basically, I feel that completely removing the physical map is okay until you've picked a target. Then, having to click on it to be able to see what the route looks like (which streets to take, etc.) is higher friction than I'd like. Instead, imagine if…

Best, although I don't really know how you'd do it computationally, would be something like a London Subway map... schematically correct but only geographically accurate in a broad sense.

How about deform the physical map by a deformation field defined by ETA (i.e. stretch and compress)? e.g. https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/4.2/Modules/Deform...

What would be cool about this is that it is still a map of the map, but the unit becomes time adjusted mile.

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#106

Post by chippy »

wavefunction wrote: post #20

Removing the geography seems great until you are trying to cross rivers or highways.

It does account for it, but only for one starting point. So the spatial relationship of the objects to each other mean less than the relationship of the objects independently with the starting position (the centre). A user would have to do it multiple times manually, or specify some kind of travelling salesman route to figure out the best way. I think our brains do this more efficiently and quickly but this would really be worth looking into with this new map.

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#108

Post by nerdponx »

chippy wrote: post #97
nerdponx wrote: post #76

By removing literal geography, we now have a map that more closely reflects the way we think about our environment: a cluster of restaurants “five minutes that way” versus “ten minutes the other.” Speak for yourself! I feel way more confident getting around when I know the actual geography.

As a geographer I cringed. The article was written in a way that made it sound a bit more important than it actually is, and I think that quote was one of it. A designer finding geography and cartography for the first time. It IS good stuff though. Maybe the writing is stylised and maybe not as humble as usual techy writing? People do think about space and the environment in spatial terms and also in time. This artic…

Can you explain the "Pizza in San Francisco" meme? Not sure I get the joke.

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#109

Post by zingplex »

nerdponx wrote: post #108
chippy wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a geographer I cringed. The article was written in a way that made it sound a bit more important than it actually is, and I think that quote was one of it. A designer finding geography and cartography for the first time. It IS good stuff though. Maybe the writing is stylised and maybe not as humble as usual techy writing? People do think about space and the environment in spatial terms and also in time. This artic…

Can you explain the "Pizza in San Francisco" meme? Not sure I get the joke.

I believe that "meme" in this context is being used within the dictionary definition of the word, meaning "an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture" according to Merriam-Webster.

Re: A new kind of map: it’s about time

#110

Post by msutherl »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #105
TylerE wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best, although I don't really know how you'd do it computationally, would be something like a London Subway map... schematically correct but only geographically accurate in a broad sense.

How about deform the physical map by a deformation field defined by ETA (i.e. stretch and compress)? e.g. https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/4.2/Modules/Deform... What would be cool about this is that it is still a map of the map, but the unit becomes time adjusted mile.

And given a suitable vector representation of the street layout, the stretch-and-compress could be given constraints so as not to warp (i.e. curve streets on) the map
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