Interaction Design and Prototyping
The SF Muni Map Project
A SIMS Final
Project by Maggie Law and Kaichi Sung; 1st prize winner of the Dr. James R.
Chen Award.
Increasing numbers of public transit riders are using computers to access information about
buses, subways, and other modes of mass transportation. Today, transit systems
worldwide have online counterparts to their paper map alternatives, many borrowing
common visualization and presentation techniques from popular mapping websites.
The result: a spectrum of approaches to the seemingly simple problem of getting
from point A to point B. Many fall short of tapping the full potential of the
online environment. This project compares a variety of public transit sites and
explores techniques for solving a set of fairly standard mapping problems. We
then apply the more usable approaches to a web- and kiosk-based prototype designed
for the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) system. In doing so, we hope to
offer a user-centric model for use by transit systems everywhere.
Final
report (PDF, 3.95MB)
Final
presentation (PPT, 2.2MB)
Final
working prototype (note: due to subsequent changes to 3rd party data sources,
trip planner is no longer functional)
The home page presents navigational paths to the three main areas of our prototype, also represented by tabs.
Plan A Trip (no longer functional in live prototype) presented the user with a simple form for setting trip parameters....
... Suggested trip results allowed users to view start and end points (thumbtacks), Muni lines overlays, single or double "magic lens" zoom tools, and access to larger area maps. All map details were able to be manipulated either via direct mouse manipulation or arrow keys.
Explore the San Francisco Muni Map presents the user with a clickable bird's-eye view map of the city....
... Clicking on the map zooms in on a specific neighborhood, with access to 3 levels of zoom: 100%, 75%, or 50%. A small version of the full city map, with a tile highlight to indicate detail area, provides focus and context simultaneously, as well as an additional means of navigating the map through direct mouse manipulation.
Legend and scale prompts are available as overlays using buttons at bottom of screen.
Muni Line Info lists each available line, categorized by vehicle type, as well as stop and transfer information for each individual line. An overlay of each Muni line path on top of the SF map provides immediate and useful context.