Designing for mobile devices

Share live location

WHAT Allow other people to track and follow your location. WHY As people and things move around and change their location, the need to keep track of their exact place in near real-time is important to make appropriate decisions like estimating time of arrival, intercepting or meeting along the route, and making sure everything is […]

Search this area

WHAT The search this area pattern allows the user to search various points of an area, giving the user control over when to update features in the map. Search this area avoids updating features in the map until the user instructs the app to do so. It can avoid confusion and frustration for the user. […]

Floor selector

WHAT The floor selector pattern lets the user switch between floors or levels in a 2D indoor map. The floor selector, sometimes also referred to as level selector, floor picker, or floor filter, becomes an essential UI control providing a means to toggle between floors and gives visual feedback on the currently selected floor. WHY […]

Offline maps

WHAT The offline maps pattern uses offline maps that can be downloaded to a user’s device to provide access to data when the need arises. They are useful when the user needs access to data in areas in which the internet is slow, mobile data is expensive, or the user cannot get online. WHY Offline […]

Nearby

WHAT Show objects that are in close proximity to your current location or a place of interest. WHY Users have a deep interest to know what is happening around them. Showing them the location of nearby objects has therefore immediate impact on decisions they may want to take, e.g. if a friend is nearby they may want […]

Locate me

WHAT The locate me pattern helps users quickly find their current location in the map. It is a crucial mechanism for providing meaningful context about the user’s location and surroundings. WHY Users on mobile devices are focused on their immediate area and tend to have a narrow center of interest or activity. They are usually […]

Augmented reality (AR)

WHAT The augmented reality (AR) pattern helps the user identify location and nearby features by visualizing them through superimposing digital information on whatever the user is looking at through their phone camera. WHY Studying a map takes time, and it’s often difficult to orient yourself. It’s hard to identify and locate points of reference in […]