Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions • Hacker News Board

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#111

Post by shrx » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:04 PM UTC

sd9 wrote: post #27

This is a really good proof of concept. I would use this. Something about the moment of the turn itself isn’t working for me though. Just before the turn you have essentially no information about the route ahead, until after the turn is completed. This would make a sequence of consecutive turns difficult to navigate.

This is also a problem with Google Maps navigation. It is always showing the perspective looking straight ahead of your current direction, even when you're approaching a sharp turn. Instead, the perspective should be along a vector connecting your current location with the point where the navigation's path crosses the edge of the display, pointing straight up.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#112

Post by overtone1000 » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:05 PM UTC

SubiculumCode wrote: post #77

let's give drivers motion sickness isnt a good strategy, just my opinion.

I also experienced vertigo, but I'm particularly prone to vertigo induced by 3D scenes. Still, I think this is the first time a screen as small as my phone did it.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#113

Post by Freedom2 » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:07 PM UTC

tomgp wrote: post #23

First time I saw this idea was Berg's "Here and There" poster from 2009 (a year before Inception) though they acknowledge a bunch of earlier inspirations... https://berglondon.com/blog/2009/05/04/here-there-influences...

I remember working on something like this as early as 1999! It was for a small European company, sadly we weren't able to put it out due to licensing restrictions at the time.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#114

Post by kccqzy » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:17 PM UTC

shrx wrote: post #111

sd9 wrote: post #27

This is a really good proof of concept. I would use this. Something about the moment of the turn itself isn’t working for me though. Just before the turn you have essentially no information about the route ahead, until after the turn is completed. This would make a sequence of consecutive turns difficult to navigate.

This is also a problem with Google Maps navigation. It is always showing the perspective looking straight ahead of your current direction, even when you're approaching a sharp turn. Instead, the perspective should be along a vector connecting your current location with the point where the navigation's path crosses the edge of the display, pointing straight up.

That seems very wrong and unintuitive for U-turns.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#115

Post by leblancfg » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:18 PM UTC

philistine wrote: post #85

Carrok wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment confuses me a bit because Google Maps (at least in the US, in my experience) is really great about telling you what lane to be in.

Not every road owner in the world has provided how many lanes a road has. To tell you which lane to stay in, it need to know how many there are!

That's also where this map would help, it can definitely degrade gracefully. If I know I have two right-hand turns coming, I can take the decision for myself.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#116

Post by ssl-3 » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:22 PM UTC

kccqzy wrote: post #114

shrx wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also a problem with Google Maps navigation. It is always showing the perspective looking straight ahead of your current direction, even when you're approaching a sharp turn. Instead, the perspective should be along a vector connecting your current location with the point where the navigation's path crosses the edge of the display, pointing straight up.

That seems very wrong and unintuitive for U-turns.

It does.

Let us embrace this minor imperfection by simply excluding U-turns from this presentation method.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#117

Post by tikotus » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:24 PM UTC

tshaddox wrote: post #105

fishpen0 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why on traditional gps maps I prefer it to be very very zoomed out. It's far too common that mapping tools make something like a sudden second turn invisible to you until it is too late to switch lanes.

I find that Apple Maps is typically pretty smart with its automatic zoom. For a typical intersection with just one turn to navigate, it will zoom in to give you a good sense of the lanes, stop signs/lights, etc. But when there are consecutive turns to navigate, or a heavily curved section of road (like highway on-ramps) it will zoom out and even rotate the map to show that upcoming context.

Apple Maps got really good at some point! I once pick it by accident for navigation, and never went back to Google Maps.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#118

Post by ssl-3 » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:29 PM UTC

philistine wrote: post #85

Carrok wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment confuses me a bit because Google Maps (at least in the US, in my experience) is really great about telling you what lane to be in.

Not every road owner in the world has provided how many lanes a road has. To tell you which lane to stay in, it need to know how many there are!

Where in the world are these road owners, and do they really eve provide this kind of information to mapping companies?

Here in the States, most of the roads are "owned" by the people and our various thousands of governmental jurisdictions do not tell anyone about these kinds of details in any uniform way.

We just kind of figure it out on our own.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#119

Post by pishpash » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:34 PM UTC

shrx wrote: post #111

sd9 wrote: post #27

This is a really good proof of concept. I would use this. Something about the moment of the turn itself isn’t working for me though. Just before the turn you have essentially no information about the route ahead, until after the turn is completed. This would make a sequence of consecutive turns difficult to navigate.

This is also a problem with Google Maps navigation. It is always showing the perspective looking straight ahead of your current direction, even when you're approaching a sharp turn. Instead, the perspective should be along a vector connecting your current location with the point where the navigation's path crosses the edge of the display, pointing straight up.

So why not use 2D maps, have people lost the ability to read North up maps? I swear ever since paper maps have not been used in cars, people have gotten spatially dumber.

Re: Inception-style curved map for turn-by-turn directions

#120

Post by ssl-3 » Fri, Aug 28, 2026, 7:35 PM UTC

lacoolj wrote: post #84

Patent Pending? Any patent attorneys here know what exactly about this is "patent-able"?

Maybe nothing here is patentable. We don't know yet.

All we know is that they've applied for a patent. If the patent they seek is granted, then it will be published and there will be no mystery about what it covers. :)