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Thanks for the reply and the suggestions!! Paper maps I would actually have to do some work or effort. GPT (once it does maps) can do this automagically in a

Thanks for the reply and the suggestions!! Paper maps I would actually have to do some work or effort. GPT (once it does maps) can do this automagically in a few seconds and boom it’s done/easily shareable.

eesmith 1y ago
Yes, I understand the appeal of automagical. I just don't understand why it's useful or why your friends would care. Like, do you want the specific route highlighted, and if so, why? Or do you want longer labeled line segments or curves, like an Indiana Jones movie? Because you can do that in a couple of minutes with a good drawing program. Do you care if the distances cover items on the map? Do you care about the level of detail on the map? Like, if you visit Cloudcroft do you want the map to have that name on it? Since you won't get that from doing a screenshot from most digital maps which include both ABQ and El Paso, in my testing.
- paul7986 1y ago
  It's for trip planning & discussion ... showing my friends how far each route is from each other to then discuss and plan each travel day. Also, you mentioned using a drawing program ... i use GPT for everything and can just type to ask it to create this or these types of images (when it finally does maps) why would I use anything else to create these images automagically without any work or effort on my part minus typing the request for it into a text box? I am lazy along with billions of other people are the same and why they use and will continue to latch onto GPT.
  - eesmith 1y ago
    You have very high faith that automagic will do the right thing, but you can't explain to me what it is you want even when I ask direct questions about presentation alternatives. How then do you expect any AI system to do what you want?
    - paul7986 1y ago
      Hi :) and maybe the following visual helps explain what I want GPT to do for me instead of slogging thru Apple Maps and creating the routes myself. https://postimg.cc/xNXRtr59 https://postimg.cc/xNXRtr59 That image can be improved with graphical enhancements of each stop as it's meant for discussion between friends and plan out our travel days. AI can do that much easier then me adding such flair. Please note I do UX for a living and my focus is keep it simple stupid ethos of design. Unless I’m missing something (apologize in advance if so) using GPT either by typing into it's text box or even easier chatting to it to create these route images is the quickest and easiest way too accomplish what I seek; least effort; automagical.
      - eesmith 1y ago
        I tried this out on a couple of different public mapping systems. It's interesting that a few of them REALLY don't want you to take US-62 between El Paso and Carlsbad. I think it's because of the salt flats, which OSM humorously describes as a "ford". [1] I thought that https://brouter.de/brouter-web/#map=7/33.519/-106.496/standard&lonlats=-106.48502,31.76415;-104.448002,32.175479;-106.219528,32.713854;-104.534912,33.395004;-106.647583,35.080815&profile=car-eco https://brouter.de/brouter-web/#map=7/33.519/-106.496/standa... was pretty good, though it doesn't let you label, and it gives elapsed distances (in km at multiple of 100 miles(?)) rather than segments. Mapquest at https://www.mapquest.com/routeplanner/from/us/tx/el-paso-282042037/to/us/new-mexico/carlsbad-caverns-national-park-446618740/to/us/new-mexico/white-sands-national-park-471712477/to/us/nm/roswell-282039886/to/us/nm/albuquerque-282039130 https://www.mapquest.com/routeplanner/from/us/tx/el-paso-282... doesn't show distances on the map - those are in the turn-by-turn instructions for each segments, and it doesn't let you change the markers. On the other hand, its "Let use reorder stops" option points out that El Paso to White Sands to Carlsbad Caverns to Roswell to ABQ is faster, at 9 hr 23 min / 589.6 miles instead of 10 hr 46 min / 675.9 miles. Which ties back to questions of, what's the goal? If it's route planning between friends, a link to an editable map page - especially one which can re-route for you - seems to me more useful than a static image of the map. The low-detail map you linked to doesn't show POIs, which means you can't decide if perhaps you want to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park, or drive through a (small) salt flat. This was why I asked what you meant by "best route" - strictly minimal distance/time? or are you okay with taking 20 minutes longer to detour and visit a shallow cave which was a prehistoric home? (It's on the drive from White's City up to the caverns.) From a UX view, is your goal to optimize a one-shot "make an image with this route highlighted, with marker images for the waypoints, and with distances for each segment"? Or is it collaborative effort based on multiple changes? If it's the latter, then the UX can be very different. For one, typing all those place names to update the map each time will become a nuisance. Plus, I cautioned that your automagical interface needs to know enough to fix the ambiguities in your original routing, and of course your personal preferences of "best route". My definition of "best" includes going on roads I haven't been on before, so I would drive an extra 1h20m to avoid the backtracking Mapquest suggests. [1] There's a story about some German POWs during WWII held in a camp in the Southwest. They found a map which showed a river nearby that went to Mexico. They managed to make a raft and break out, but when they got to the "river" it was dry. They weren't expecting seasonal rivers. It's likely that in really wet year that salt flat does turn the road into a ford.

eesmith 1y ago

Yes, I understand the appeal of automagical. I just don't understand why it's useful or why your friends would care. Like, do you want the specific route highlighted, and if so, why? Or do you want longer labeled line segments or curves, like an Indiana Jones movie? Because you can do that in a couple of minutes with a good drawing program. Do you care if the distances cover items on the map? Do you care about the level of detail on the map? Like, if you visit Cloudcroft do you want the map to have that name on it? Since you won't get that from doing a screenshot from most digital maps which include both ABQ and El Paso, in my testing.

paul7986 1y ago
It's for trip planning & discussion ... showing my friends how far each route is from each other to then discuss and plan each travel day. Also, you mentioned using a drawing program ... i use GPT for everything and can just type to ask it to create this or these types of images (when it finally does maps) why would I use anything else to create these images automagically without any work or effort on my part minus typing the request for it into a text box? I am lazy along with billions of other people are the same and why they use and will continue to latch onto GPT.
- eesmith 1y ago
  You have very high faith that automagic will do the right thing, but you can't explain to me what it is you want even when I ask direct questions about presentation alternatives. How then do you expect any AI system to do what you want?
  - paul7986 1y ago
    Hi :) and maybe the following visual helps explain what I want GPT to do for me instead of slogging thru Apple Maps and creating the routes myself. https://postimg.cc/xNXRtr59 https://postimg.cc/xNXRtr59 That image can be improved with graphical enhancements of each stop as it's meant for discussion between friends and plan out our travel days. AI can do that much easier then me adding such flair. Please note I do UX for a living and my focus is keep it simple stupid ethos of design. Unless I’m missing something (apologize in advance if so) using GPT either by typing into it's text box or even easier chatting to it to create these route images is the quickest and easiest way too accomplish what I seek; least effort; automagical.
    - eesmith 1y ago
      I tried this out on a couple of different public mapping systems. It's interesting that a few of them REALLY don't want you to take US-62 between El Paso and Carlsbad. I think it's because of the salt flats, which OSM humorously describes as a "ford". [1] I thought that https://brouter.de/brouter-web/#map=7/33.519/-106.496/standard&lonlats=-106.48502,31.76415;-104.448002,32.175479;-106.219528,32.713854;-104.534912,33.395004;-106.647583,35.080815&profile=car-eco https://brouter.de/brouter-web/#map=7/33.519/-106.496/standa... was pretty good, though it doesn't let you label, and it gives elapsed distances (in km at multiple of 100 miles(?)) rather than segments. Mapquest at https://www.mapquest.com/routeplanner/from/us/tx/el-paso-282042037/to/us/new-mexico/carlsbad-caverns-national-park-446618740/to/us/new-mexico/white-sands-national-park-471712477/to/us/nm/roswell-282039886/to/us/nm/albuquerque-282039130 https://www.mapquest.com/routeplanner/from/us/tx/el-paso-282... doesn't show distances on the map - those are in the turn-by-turn instructions for each segments, and it doesn't let you change the markers. On the other hand, its "Let use reorder stops" option points out that El Paso to White Sands to Carlsbad Caverns to Roswell to ABQ is faster, at 9 hr 23 min / 589.6 miles instead of 10 hr 46 min / 675.9 miles. Which ties back to questions of, what's the goal? If it's route planning between friends, a link to an editable map page - especially one which can re-route for you - seems to me more useful than a static image of the map. The low-detail map you linked to doesn't show POIs, which means you can't decide if perhaps you want to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park, or drive through a (small) salt flat. This was why I asked what you meant by "best route" - strictly minimal distance/time? or are you okay with taking 20 minutes longer to detour and visit a shallow cave which was a prehistoric home? (It's on the drive from White's City up to the caverns.) From a UX view, is your goal to optimize a one-shot "make an image with this route highlighted, with marker images for the waypoints, and with distances for each segment"? Or is it collaborative effort based on multiple changes? If it's the latter, then the UX can be very different. For one, typing all those place names to update the map each time will become a nuisance. Plus, I cautioned that your automagical interface needs to know enough to fix the ambiguities in your original routing, and of course your personal preferences of "best route". My definition of "best" includes going on roads I haven't been on before, so I would drive an extra 1h20m to avoid the backtracking Mapquest suggests. [1] There's a story about some German POWs during WWII held in a camp in the Southwest. They found a map which showed a river nearby that went to Mexico. They managed to make a raft and break out, but when they got to the "river" it was dry. They weren't expecting seasonal rivers. It's likely that in really wet year that salt flat does turn the road into a ford.