A Map Interface to Brazil’s CACHACA Distilleries UPDATE

It is great to see a web map put to great use. This website uses a Google Map with simple pushpins to locate Brazil’s CACHACA Distilleries. Cachaca is the most popular distilled alcoholic beverage in Brazil and this site gives the end users a map based index to the distribution of the distilleries in Brazil. Clicking on each push pin allows the user to drill down into each distillery and discover more information on the site.

I like that that map is very simple, uses the basic Google Map navigation tools and contains simple push pins used to drill down for more information.

I think that the site would benefit from custom pushpins to further add branding to the overall user experience.

Map da CACHACA

 

 

 

UPDATE

 

 

This month I had a chance to revisit Mapa da CACHACA and what a nice surprise. This site continues to evolve making it interesting, easy to use and fun. This site moved from the standard Google Map view to a custom base map that gives the reader a warm feeling fuzzy feeling adding a touch of nostalgia to the experience. They have also added custom pushpins that further make the appearance one of their own and along with clustering makes drilldown and selection easy and intuitive.

I think that this points out a great strategy during development. Get your application out early listen to what your readers are saying and continue to evolve the overall experience. If the site flops then move on to something else.

 

Great going Mapa da CACHACA



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Map Visualization and the use of a Timeline. A Great Example

Here is a great map that uses quite a few visualization techniques that convey a lot of information in an easy to consume and comfortable interface. The goal of this map is to show earthquakes, their location, their intensity and when they occurred.

First of all lets take a look at the map. The creator is using a familiar google maps interface and use the standard controls as are out of the box. A point to be made here is that millions of people are already familiar with these controls and allows a user to get right in and start working instead of learning a new system of controls. This site decided to use a single color icon to show where earthquakes have occurred which makes it easy for the brain to quickly understand what it is looking at. To display earthquake currency the creators have applied an opacity so that older earthquakes get fainter as the time goes on which is a great visualization technique because any user seeing the different opacity's can immediately infer that it is measuring age. The icons that are being used also are using size to display intensity, again something very easy for the user to quickly understand.

Moving away from the map the author of this site is using a timeline as another way to access the information about the earthquake's. The timeline can be controlled by the user to view past dates extending the use of the map and giving the end user the ability to browse different time periods. Incidents have been grouped  by hour and clicking on an incident interacts with the map by resetting the view and showing a balloon for further information. One other item to note that under the timeline the author uses hash marks and color to mark intensity.

What I like:

• Common map controls using a industry standard map
• Multiple visualization techniques to tell the story
• Symbolization that makes since so that the reader can quickly tell what they are reading. In fact they do such a good job there is no need for a legend
• No need for a legend that if not necessary will just add noise to the read
• The use of the timeline to allow the user another means of navigation
• Single focus, this map is telling a single story that makes if very usable and not a bunch of stuff that can confuse or distract the end user

What can be done better:

• I would not change this map, I think they have done a brilliant job

What makes this map great is its ease of use. A average consumer can get into this map and quickly become an expert in its use. The story is simple and easy to understand.

I give this map a 9 out of 10

Happy Mapping ...

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Trulia Adds Custom Shapes to Their Map Search

Trulia does it again by adding custom shape search to their map interface and they did it with the common user in mind. Trulia made the tool easy to discover by adding a simple, easy to understand icon in the upper right hand corner where a consumer commonly looks for tools. Once the tool is activated mouse tips are used to walk the user through a very easy process to create a polygon that will be used to constrain their search. Once the shape is in place the user automatically sees the result without the additional step of clicking that annoying "Refresh" button. And did I say that it is FAST? It is Super fast which is important to the new impatient consumer.
Once you have the shape you can save it for future access or setup alerts that will email you any updates for the defined area.

What they did correctly:

• The tool is easily discoverable
• It is easy to create and edit your shapes
• Their search engine is lightning fast
• You can go beyond the current session by setting up alerts and saving your shapes

What I would like to see in the future

• Multiple Shapes
• Shapes that can be used as Inclusion or Exclusion searches

I give this product enhancement a 9 out of 10 and give Trulia a +1 for bringing hidden GIS to the masses

Give it a try at Trulia.com and let me know what you think!

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New Belgium Brewing Company Libate Me!

New Belgium Brewing Company has taken the Store Locator's to a new level and has added a great interface to let their fans find the beer that they are looking for. Store locator's were all the rage in 2008 and provide a very simple solution to a simple problem, Where can I get one?
The New Brewing Company has taken data that they already have and maintain, and present it in a way that helps market their brand, drive traffic to their site, and provides a simple solution for their fans.

The interface is very comfortable and simple. Just add your location and markers appear on the map. They have added a buffer tool selection which is pretty standard though affective, and an easy way to check what type you are looking for.

What I like:

• The use of marker symbols to note if the beer is on draft or by retail packaging
• I love the twitter stream to the left. This makes the user be a part of something bigger then just a six pack, makes them feel part of the New Belgium Herd
• I like the use of the standard map controls. Nothing fancy just familiar!
• When clicking on a beer in the popup it brings you to a page and provides details about that beer. Cool!

What I don't like:

• Locator facts are confusing and clutter the screen. Might be better as a new link.
• Clicking on another location should close the previous balloon. (Small usability issue)
• The legend is below the scroll line and out of sight. It took me a bit to find it.

What could be better:

• It would be simple enough to add driving directions to the address on the popup balloon
• Move the legend up so that it is visible without scrolling

Overall I give this site a 8 out of 10. It is very comfortable and consumer friendly. It serves its purpose and makes you feel apart of a large crowd of New Belgium lovers. I am a Fat Tire fan and am always looking for a place to sit and have a cold one.

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The FOODS of ENGLAND Food Map

Have you ever wondered what a Saucer Pie was? How about a Brompton Water Cake? Does Macon Ham sound tasty? Check out the Foods of England food map. Foods of England food map. This mashup was created to accompany The FOODS of ENGLAND book and is a fun way to see all of those crazy English foods and where they originate.

The map is easy to use and uses a set of fun icons to help you find different food types. The creator also is using a bit of clustering so that all of the locations can be added at once.

I would like to see a search tool or a filter control so that I can show fewer pushpins on the map at once. Now I am off to find some Yorkshire Relish!   

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Hungry for some English Fare? The Foods of England Food Map. A New Post - @SkipCody http://bit.ly/nByMCZ #GoogleMaps  #MAP #FOOD

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Hipmunk uses heat mapping and an intuitive color scheme to enhance your experience

Hipmunk’s hotel search has created a great user experience utilizing a web map interface. Not only have they done a great job with their pushpins but they have added a heat map overlay experience that gives the user an easy way to see hotspots of restaurants, tourism, shopping, nightlife, and vice (bars, gambling, etc.). Hipmunk has created 5 themes that are important to the consumer when looking for a hotel. Keeping the number of heat map themes to a minimum makes for an easy to discover and use feature set. Putting the heat mapping control up front and center also aids in the discovery of this functionality and is easy to find even for the most naïve map user. By using a 5 color heat map that is stepped and not smooth appeals to a broad consumer base making it easy to figure out the intent of the data and message that is being conveyed.

Beyond the heat maps Hipmunk has also limited their pushpins to a three color intuitive color scheme (green = cheep, blue = average, and red = pricy). Three colors with easy to interpret color scheme lets the end users consume the message much more easily then if there are 6-10 colors. Their clever use of pushpin clustering has allowed the web map to go beyond the 200 location search limit found today in most sites and shows all of the locations in the area of interest.

Overall I will give Hipmunk props for keeping to a small number of datasets that are most relevant to the purpose of the website, keeping the color scheme simple and easy to understand and not compromising the number of locations on the screen do to client browser constraints.

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Hipmunk, heat mapping and an intuitive color scheme makes a great user experience! A New Post - @SkipCody http://bit.ly/po0Uwf #GIS #MAP



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Google Hotel Finder filters using your own search area!

While many web mapping sites are still trying to catch up with map interactivity, Google Hotel Finder has added the ability to create your own search area to filter hotels. Google has kept this feature very simple in that you only have control over 4 points in the search shape. This sounds limiting at first but they have followed up this limitation with the ability to add multiple shapes.

The interface is clean and easy to use for a consumer audience. The hotels in your search light up but ones outside of your search are muted so that the consumer knows they exists and are easily captured with a move of one of the shape handles. They also have a nice layer that highlights the most popular areas. As you zoom in the points on the map turn to pictures of the hotel and when clicked on goes to a detail page about that hotel.

They have limited to just the street map view which was probably intentional with the thought being that it makes a nice user experience displaying off the hotels points very clearly. Once zoomed in I found myself wanting to switch to aerial map view to actually see the hotel in question. Nevertheless I like the idea of keeping the interface very simple with as few widgets as possible. Taking this approach usually appeals to a broader audience.

I give Google Hotel Finder a +1 for this map experience.

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Map Usability Fail Series: #1 Zoom to Rectangle

My biggest gripe about Google Maps is not having the ability to “Zoom to Rectangle”. You as the end user have to double click on the map 5 times before you are at a zoom level and area that is of interest. This is akin to taking the bus with 5 stops versus taking your car with one stop. The map savvy user is just not going to have the patients and get very annoyed with the lack of this feature.

Tip: Keep in mind the goal of your web map and add just the tools that give your end users the answer quickly and with little work.

Map Usability Fail Series: #2 Widget Hoarding
Map Usability Fail Series: #3 Creating Custom Map Controls

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Great example of how NOT to use Client Side pushpins

The other day I was browsing real estate mapping examples. My search results came up with Cheap Bulgarian House which can be found at Cheap Bulgarian House. At first I was pleasantly surprised to find a map front and center which started with a loading map message. As a GIS’er I don’t have any problem waiting for a map but after a few seconds I noticed that this site was going to load 2902 properties as push pins on a Google Map.

I waited and waited and sure enough after 5-10 minutes all properties were loaded. With so many push pins on the map my browser got bogged down and it was difficult to pan and zoom around. This site did add a filter bar which allowed you to filter your search (Good) loading all points before a filter could be set (Bad).

A quick solution would to limit the number of properties show to 300. Don’t load any points until a filter has been put in place and change the default symbol to a custom symbol to add branding to your site.

Loading this many push pins at once gives a very poor user experience and just confuses the end user.

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