Which website page is more intuitive?

Which page is more intuitive?

  • https://www.overhere.co.za/get-a-mapcode/

  • https://www.overhere.co.za/findme/

Results are only viewable after voting.
Foxhound5366 said:
@quovadis, you really suggesting that GPS coordinates are a legitimate alternative for human use? No? Good, I hope not, coz there isn't a single case they'd be preferable.

And Quovadis, with all due respect I think you need to just experiment with the respective technologies a bit more. Every time Google Maps doesn't get you exactly where you want to get to, remember this conversation ;P The technology sells itself over time, I'm that sure of its benefits.
Click to expand...

I'm suggesting that there are plenty of technologies that are used every day that mask the use of GPS co-ordinates in the form of sending your location or dropping a pin which is more than sufficient than trying to reduce that to 3 words or any other alternative descriptor for GPS co-ords unless there is a restrictive reason (ie. not being able to hear or speak clearly) especially since you need a device to determine or use those alternatives in the first place.

Whether a location drops a pin, provides GPS co-ordinates or whatever descriptor or three word combo to map their location it still has the same outcome in finding it.
 
_kabal_ said:
The best thing about Open Location Code / plus codes is that they are calculable/there is an algorithm.
AFAIK mapcode requires a “database”
Click to expand...
No, not actually. They both work on pretty much the same principle, and you install converter libraries for both.

Mapcodes (and all these systems) divide the world into groups of nested rectangles, and then assign letters and digits or words to these grids. what3words pretty much works from the base level, while the other systems start at bigger grids and then add accuracy as you keep going down to smaller and smaller levels (with longer and longer codes). Mapcodes have a "high-accuracy" mode for scientific/engineering applications, for example, but I prefer to use the "small enough for convenience" versions.
 
quovadis said:
I'm suggesting that there are plenty of technologies that are used every day that mask the use of GPS co-ordinates in the form of sending your location or dropping a pin which is more than sufficient than trying to reduce that to 3 words or any other alternative descriptor for GPS co-ords unless there is a restrictive reason (ie. not being able to hear or speak clearly) especially since you need a device to determine or use those alternatives in the first place.

Whether a location drops a pin, provides GPS co-ordinates or whatever descriptor or three word combo to map their location it still has the same outcome in finding it.
Click to expand...
Ok Quovadis. You want to put your office's visitors parking bay as an address onto your business card. What do you do? Print out GPS coordinates or maybe a Google Maps pin URL that has to be hand-typed? Obviously not, right?
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Ok Quovadis. You want to put your office's visitors parking bay as an address onto your business card. What do you do? Print out GPS coordinates or maybe a Google Maps pin URL that has to be hand-typed? Obviously not, right?
Click to expand...

Ok Foxhound5366. You're missing the point. Whether I use GPS or other descriptor which converts to GPS at the same or lower resolution is a matter of convenience or limitation (ie. hearing someone clearly). For normal people in normal situations they type in the name or address of the place they're going to and it navigation will work as expected but let's say I wanted to invite 50 people to a secret location in a field somewhere I'd simply send an invite with location using a pin drop and send it with the invite. I don't open an app to determine the location as an "easier to use descriptor" and expect people to copy/paste it as then I might as well send the coordinates for copy/paste. It's convenient to reduce GPS to simpler versions but if you don't need to send the actual GPS in the first place it is redundant in normal scenarios.
 
quovadis said:
Ok Foxhound5366. You're missing the point. Whether I use GPS or other descriptor which converts to GPS at the same or lower resolution is a matter of convenience or limitation (ie. hearing someone clearly). For normal people in normal situations they type in the name or address of the place they're going to and it navigation will work as expected but let's say I wanted to invite 50 people to a secret location in a field somewhere I'd simply send an invite with location using a pin drop and send it with the invite. I don't open an app to determine the location as an "easier to use descriptor" and expect people to copy/paste it as then I might as well send the coordinates for copy/paste. It's convenient to reduce GPS to simpler versions but if you don't need to send the actual GPS in the first place it is redundant in normal scenarios.
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I don't think I am missing the point. Are you proposing that typing in an entire physical address for your office is preferable to a few digits for a mapcode? Are you suggesting that that single address is as accurate as a mapcode (which can be as precise as the visitor's parking bays or preferred entrance)?

Do you have a business card? How is your address written on it right now, and how many lines of text did that take?

The reality is that text-based physical addresses are outdated, inaccurate and inefficient. Typing in abbreviated physical addresses in big cities is risky: there are many streets with exactly the same name, so you need to go down to suburb level at least to have some confidence ... and even then you don't know where exactly you're ending up.
 
Foxhound5366 said:
No, not actually. They both work on pretty much the same principle, and you install converter libraries for both.

Mapcodes (and all these systems) divide the world into groups of nested rectangles, and then assign letters and digits or words to these grids. what3words pretty much works from the base level, while the other systems start at bigger grids and then add accuracy as you keep going down to smaller and smaller levels (with longer and longer codes). Mapcodes have a "high-accuracy" mode for scientific/engineering applications, for example, but I prefer to use the "small enough for convenience" versions.
Click to expand...
Just looked at the source code - https://github.com/mapcode-foundation

They all contain and require a data file.

Reading Wikipedia about plus codes, it looks like they can be encoded and decoded to gps coordinates using “pen and paper”, assuming you know the conversion table
 
Foxhound5366 said:
I don't think I am missing the point. Are you proposing that typing in an entire physical address for your office is preferable to a few digits for a mapcode? Are you suggesting that that single address is as accurate as a mapcode (which can be as precise as the visitor's parking bays or preferred entrance)?

Do you have a business card? How is your address written on it right now, and how many lines of text did that take?

The reality is that text-based physical addresses are outdated, inaccurate and inefficient. Typing in abbreviated physical addresses in big cities is risky: there are many streets with exactly the same name, so you need to go down to suburb level at least to have some confidence ... and even then you don't know where exactly you're ending up.
Click to expand...

Let me know when business cards only have mapcodes or 3 word locations and no addresses on them universally and I'll change my view. I trust that Google Maps will take me to my destination even more so if its based on a POI however I might prefer a 3 word location for kids to use in emergency situations etc.
 
_kabal_ said:
Just looked at the source code - https://github.com/mapcode-foundation

They all contain and require a data file.

Reading Wikipedia about plus codes, it looks like they can be encoded and decoded to gps coordinates using “pen and paper”, assuming you know the conversion table
Click to expand...
If you want to have a look at what Open Location Codes require, here is their source code: https://github.com/google/open-location-code

What I'm using is their javascript conversion, same as I do with mapcodes ... mapcodes' data file has an array of the country names, and then all kinds of clever magic that drills down into the assigning of mapcodes to specific rectangles. When it comes down to using both OLC and Mapcodes, you just make a single Javascript call to a function, and boom ... result. That's the easy part. It's also a critical differentiator compared to what3words, which isn't making their libraries publicly available.

The thing to realise with all of these systems is that they aren't massive databases with all possible mapcodes linked to all possible points on earth ... rather all possible places on earth fall within specific demarcated regions that have codes associated with them. So this is a key differentiator compared to Google Maps Points Of Interest, for example ... you don't need to get registered in the database to get listed, you just need to generate the mapcode for whichever location you want.
 
quovadis said:
Let me know when business cards only have mapcodes or 3 word locations and no addresses on them universally and I'll change my view. I trust that Google Maps will take me to my destination even more so if its based on a POI however I might prefer a 3 word location for kids to use in emergency situations etc.
Click to expand...
Wow, steady on there Mr Innovator. Let's just keep using them square wheels until there are round wheels all around us, and be damned if they're more comfortable :P

I'm amazed at the faith people place in POIs. Did you know that the big map systems' number 1 challenge is keeping data up-to-date, and so they're constantly struggling to find new input streams for data into their mapping layers ... and quality control and freshness are two massive issues? If you claim to always trust POIs, here's an example I screenshot from Google Maps just recently:
707215
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Wow, steady on there Mr Innovator. Let's just keep using them square wheels until there are round wheels all around us, and be damned if they're more comfortable :p

I'm amazed at the faith people place in POIs. Did you know that the big map systems' number 1 challenge is keeping data up-to-date, and so they're constantly struggling to find new input streams for data into their mapping layers ... and quality control and freshness are two massive issues? If you claim to always trust POIs, here's an example I screenshot from Google Maps just recently:
Click to expand...

Thanks for providing an exception to the normality of every day life of anyone who uses Google Maps or Apple Maps etc. No system is infallible - my point was that for 99% of times they work fine without any need for changing the way they currently work and without the need for GPS co-ordinates. We're for the most part used to do things the way we've become accustomed - the same reason everyone types Absa on google and clicks on the first link than types www.absa.co.za in their address bar. There are obviously use cases for 3 words and mapcodes etc but they're solving different problems than replacing the mainstream. In my opinion.
 
It would have been option 1 if it allowed me to scroll the map without always keeping the pin in the view port.
 
Barbarian Conan said:
Yes, and as soon as the pin leaves the viewport and you leave the mouse button, it scrolls back to a position where the pin is visible.
Click to expand...
Um I think I'd gotten it auto-centering on the pin. Easy hack is zoom out as far as you want then you don't need to scroll :P
 
Ok guys and gals, so after the success of my last A/B test on this thread, I wanted to check if any of you have thoughts on whether this upgraded page is more intuitive enough or if there is something I can do to make it more intuitive: https://www.overhere.co.za/get-directions/

In my latest update I've emphasised the Google Maps and Waze functions, removed all the other clutter and added some basic error handling (if people leave fields blank). It's clear to me, but is it clear enough?

PS: If you want a mapcode to test it with, just drop in 8B.BT
 
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