5 ms·
Fun story. There's something to be said about the importance of naming. Google Maps likely set UX precedents for a lot of other map software to come, for better
by supernintendo 8y ago
Fun story. There's something to be said about the importance of naming. Google Maps likely set UX precedents for a lot of other map software to come, for better and worse. Had Google went with "Bird Mode" (and not trademarked the phrase) we would have probably seen it propagate throughout other map apps and the Internet at large.
To this day, I still see the floppy disk used to represent "save" even though we haven't used floppy disks for decades now. It's not uncommon to see it used in mobile apps, especially the less UX-obsessed ones you might find on the Android Play Store.
The next time you assign a name or symbol to something, give it some thought. You never know how others will use it.
- dmix 8y agoI saw a floppy disk icon (no text) as the save button in the contacts app when adding a number on a friends (very) budget phone today when I was helping them add a number. I was surprised to say the least. Especially in such a critical OS app. The fringes of Android Chinese manufacturer mods are a mess.
- mikeash 8y agoThis is an example where it has an impact beyond just the name, too. A lot of people think the “satellite” imagery actually comes from satellites, and thus vastly overestimate the imaging power of actual satellites.
- digisign 8y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Labs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Labs
- TeMPOraL 8y agoJust because Planet Labs can do a little bit of this today, doesn't mean that for the past 15 years, Google's "Satellite" map had anything to do with real satellites. Google literally lied to the world here, and screwed up the worldview of many millions of people.
- tinus_hn 8y ago3-5 m resolution is a lot worse than what people expect from ‘satellite’ images.
- vatueil 8y agoI would have preferred "aerial view" or even "bird mode" as well, but I think the negative impact of calling it "satellite view" is somewhat overstated here. It's not as if without Google Maps the general public would be much better informed about the limitations of satellite footage: spy thrillers and Hollywood have a long history of dramatizing their capabilities.
- mikeash 8y ago“Satellite” view has way better resolution than 3-5 meters in most places. That resolution would indicate that there might be a car, whereas Google’s “satellite” view has enough detail that you can take a good stab at the make and model of each car you see.
- Stratoscope 8y agoThe floppy disk icon is scheduled for deletion the same year that we stop dialing our phones.
- Asooka 8y agoRight after we stop using "dashboard", eh. I doubt anyone here (me included) has ever seen a real dashboard.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoIsn't that like saying "I doubt anyone here has ever seen a real ladder" because ladders aren't made out of coppiced staves but instead are formed from aluminium? [Dashboards originally were wide mud-guards on the front of house drawn wagons, the same feature was fitted to early cars, eg Peugeot 2.]
- taneq 8y agoThe instrument panel in front of the driver in a car is still a 'real' dashboard.
- Piskvorrr 8y agoNot in the 'original' sense of the word, which was the point: status webpages are twice removed from the original meaning.
- kijin 8y agoOnly to be replaced with an "SD card" icon, which looks surprisingly similar to a floppy disk.
- flurdy 8y agoDo people still use SD cards? I am fairly certain my kids have no idea what they are. I guess some hardcore photographers still swap SD cards in and out all the time. An area where wifi and cloud sync seems slow to proliferate. I have a few cards hiding in some drawers somewhere and some stuck in an old SLR camera I have not turned on in a few years. But I literally have not seen any SD cards for a long time. And floppy disks... :)
- jakeisnotadog 8y agoRe: floppy disks as save icons - if you show an elementary-school aged kid an actual floppy disk, they’re probably more likely to call it a 3D-printed save icon now. How things change!
- bradknowles 8y agoThere are two hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors. — @codinghorror https://twitter.com/codinghorror/status/506010907021828096?s=12 https://twitter.com/codinghorror/status/506010907021828096?s...
- alpb 8y agoBing Maps already has “bird’s eye” mode and has always had it as the name of the aerial imagery. Although theirs’ is totally a bird’s eye, you can see buildings from an angle instead of from the top.