[locationaware-specs] Icon Design -- Concepts 1, 2 and 3

[Michael(tm) Smith]

"Michael(tm) Smith" <mike at w3.org>, 2007-04-05 11:51 +0900:

> I like the basic compass rose idea a lot.

On further thought, I think the compass rose is not a good
metaphor. A compass provides information only about direction, not
at all about position. A sextant is a slightly better metaphor but
still not so good in that all a sextant can tell you is one
dimension (latitude).

Other ideas: On maps, a common way to show map users there current
position is with an arrow or pointer of some kind, marked with the
local equivalent of the phrase "You are here." Google maps and
others seem to have adopted a convention of using a sort of
arrow-shaped lozenge (or lozenge-shaped arrow) for that purpose.

Another way it's represented on some maps is with a push-pin or
thumbtack. But the problem especially with the push-pin metaphor
is that strongly implies static position.

So... I think ideally we need a metaphor that implies motion along
with position -- dynamic position information.

The main metaphor that comes to mind for that is a radar screen,
with current position represented by a blip.

  --Mike
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/x-pkcs7-signature
Size: 2237 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.as.pickupskate.com/pipermail/locationaware-specs/attachments/20070407/ca14d85e/smime.bin