I can look at a printed city map and remember roughly where neighborhoods sit relative to one another. A phone map gives much better turn-by-turn instructions, yet I keep zooming in and out without building the same mental picture. Is the fixed view of paper making it easier to form a spatial overview, or am I just remembering how I learned to navigate?
Why printed maps can feel easier to understand than a zoomable phone map
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4 replies
I think the fixed view helps because your brain can keep the whole shape in one frame. With a phone map, you're constantly switching scales,...
I think the fixed view helps because your brain can keep the whole shape in one frame. With a phone map, you're constantly switching scales, and that makes it harder to hold the larger layout in mind.
That makes sense, but I wonder if it's also about how much attention the phone demands. If the app is always telling you where to turn next, you may never pause long enough to build the mental picture.
I was going to say the same. The paper map makes you choose what to notice, while the phone keeps narrowing the task to the next street.