Rich 3D City Maps

HERE was developing 3D maps with vastly improved detail and flexible lighting and rendering. The new content included accurate building geometry and textures, lane markings, curbs and pedestrian crossings. It allowed control over lighting, textures, buildings and city landmarks.

I worked with a prototyping team to build an app in which we could test how these new capabilities combined for key routing and navigation scenarios, driving future requirements for map content classification and display.

Principal UX Designer

Key contributions

  • UX Design

  • Map Design

Building shapes, textures and roofs matched the real world. At lower zoom levels, the detail could be overwhelming.

Experimenting with the lighting and character of the map.

Highlighting only buildings along the route. At this point we didn’t have labels implemented.

I designed a prototype app that exposed the capabilities of the renderer. This allowed us to experiment with the ideal map view for different route scenarios.

Designing a glance-able map with natural guidance cues

For each scenario, we classified buildings according to their relevance to the route. For example, a building at a turning point on the route may help the user identify when they need to turn. We left the colours and textures visible on these buildings, to help match the route to the real world. Early testing with users gave us an indication of how well the new maps performed.

Defining how map content should behave for a route oveview at different zoom levels.

Classifying map content along a route.

Outcome

Gaining adoption from HERE and its customers

This prototyping effort helped us gain momentum both within the company and with industry partners. We demoed the technology to executives from several automotive OEMs and their suppliers. The new maps were later used in vehicles from several OEMs.

A tool for customers to design with themselves

The prototype renderer was made into a tool for OEMs to design and test 3D maps at runtime, enabling them to see exactly how they will look and perform directly in the vehicle.

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