A new kind of map: it’s about time • Hacker News Board

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

#41

Post by ctdonath » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 5:31 PM UTC

jamessb wrote: post #22

ctdonath wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternative would be to keep the standard geographic map, but have clear points on all possible destinations X minutes away - ideally with a slider, watching the "X minutes" points slide around. Actually pretty easy, given each road segment knowing expected speed, and "X+1" just extending into untraveled areas.

There are many interactive isochrone maps with sliders - one such example is [1]. Other isochrone maps listed here [2] may also have time sliders. [1]: http://property.mapumental.com [2]: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Isochrone#Examples

They're all public transit. I'm looking for general roads, re: "I'm here, where can I drive to in 35 minutes?"

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

#42

Post by dhritzkiv » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 5:37 PM UTC

peteretep wrote: post #38

peatmoss wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were interested in trip chaining, you could still pick the direction you wanted to head.

The map doesn't guarantee that at all. Two items on the map can appear next to each other and take a very long time to get between -- perhaps they're separated by a freeway that you can't cross, for example.

I feel that should be accounted for in the time it takes to reach that location, and therefore its place on the map.

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

#43

Post by dhritzkiv » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 5:43 PM UTC

VintageCool wrote: post #39

My searches for food in Bellevue, WA found a Thai restaurant that closed 6 years ago (Tewada Thai), and a Mexican restaurant that left 2 years ago (Tres Hermanos).

I noticed that for "lunch", "sandwich", "food" in Toronto as well. Strange, since the demo claims to use the Foursquare API, but the same queries in the app offer better/more relevant results.

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

#44

Post by jdminhbg » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 5:49 PM UTC

dhritzkiv wrote: post #42

peteretep wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The map doesn't guarantee that at all. Two items on the map can appear next to each other and take a very long time to get between -- perhaps they're separated by a freeway that you can't cross, for example.

I feel that should be accounted for in the time it takes to reach that location, and therefore its place on the map.

Imagine a long river with a bridge at the point you are currently located, but no other bridges. Two places across from the river from each other might each be an hour away, but two hours apart from each other because you have to come back to your current location to cross the river. They'd look nearby on this map because they're in close places and similar times to get to.

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

#45

Post by aaroninsf » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 5:51 PM UTC

As a user, I would prefer two options: • an isochrone preserving relevant geometry geography and transit • a relative time ordering like this, but with the X and Y dimensions subject to change based on my current interests.

I.e. I appreciate radius from center as a very useful representation of travel time.

But I would liberate X and Y to be things such as rating and cost (to give two likely examples).

Once you distort space so you might as well go all-in (in this view) and let it pack in two more dimensions.

The resulting clusterings would be very interesting and useful I imagine.

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

#46

Post by hnnsj » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 5:53 PM UTC

dhritzkiv wrote: post #42

peteretep wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The map doesn't guarantee that at all. Two items on the map can appear next to each other and take a very long time to get between -- perhaps they're separated by a freeway that you can't cross, for example.

I feel that should be accounted for in the time it takes to reach that location, and therefore its place on the map.

Two locations that are close to a third location need not be close to each other. A and B might be separated by some barrier which does not separate them from C. Maybe a bit of an edge case, but still, not that uncommon.

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

#47

Post by mxfh » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 5:56 PM UTC

qznc wrote: post #6

microcolonel wrote: post #5

I wonder how it would look if you directly distorted the map by travel time.

This. I was hoping for some weird pictures of distorted maps.

Here you go. The prior art you were looking for: http://www.spiekermann-wegener.com/mod/time/time_e.htm

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

#48

Post by hnnsj » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 6:01 PM UTC

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #28

hnnsj wrote: post #19

How is this more useful than an ordered list of search results, exactly? Once you've picked your destination, based on travel time, you still want figure out how to get there.

Well it still maintains some geographic info by keeping the direction. This helps for instance in identifying clusters of places, so user can think: "If I go that way there a N other places nearby too". Also the cardinal directions are still preserved, which help to interface with user's preexisting geographic knowelege.

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 between A and B. And so on. You need a normal map, or very good prior knowledge of the geography indeed, to know that.

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

#49

Post by npolet » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 6:01 PM UTC

This is a pretty neat idea, and I could see myself using this in day to day life.

It's nice to see real thought, study and execution into new ways of portraying things that have the possibility of becoming stale. While maps and their functionalities are very much "still in development" with many developers adding new features to them... most of these "new features" don't try to rethink how we see and use them. They just extend the feature set instead of stopping and trying to re-think what a map is and what it is supposed to do.

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

#50

Post by redthrowaway » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 6:02 PM UTC

I actually think this is a step too far, conceptually. The isochrone map actually maps better to how I think about travel, and I would find it much more useful.