Super New Look Super New Features

Bristolstreets.co.uk has just received a major upgrade to its interface. The old interface was good and had evolved with the data set which allowed it to incorporate new features as new possibilities arose. However, there were limitations which came from the underlying model of using markers and route lines. This upgrade has been an opportunity to consolidate the interface making it simpler to use and offering yet more flexibility to the visitor. It also employs a different technology, map overlays, which allow the visitor to see all bus routes at the same time.

Enhancements include:

• The map is the site - The map now fills the entire web page which maximises the amount of map space for the visitor and emphasises the fact that this site is driven from the map and that the map is not simply the end point of other activities such as text based searching.
• Terrain map style - Google recently introduced a new map type called "terrain". The greatest virtue of this map type is that it has an uncluttered appearance which makes it ideal for overlays and markers. This map type is only available to zoom level 15 so the "normal" map type is used at higher zoom levels which shows road names in more detail.
• Cleaner web 2.0 feel - The removal of colours from the filter buttons, replacing black backgrounds with white and a general tidying of text styles used gives the site a more current and professional feeling.
• Versatile map controller - Google maps have a number of controls floating within the map which makes the controls significantly more visible to the visitor than controls places outside of the map. By placing all of the site controls within the map the visitor is continually aware of them and knows where to click next.
• New map overlays - Previously routes for buses etc, could only be shown one at a time. Using the tile based overlay system, all routes can be shown at the same time. This offers a fantastic insight into where buses go (especially in the city centres) and where the heaviest routes are. Where multiple routes use the same road, the road colour alternates between the different routes giving the route a stripy pattern. Many printed maps show routes on the same roads in parallel, but this does not work well in city centres and obscures much of the surrounding map on busy roads. Different overlays are shown for normal buses, park and ride buses, night buses and airport buses.
• Cycle paths shown as overlay - Previously the cycle paths were shown using the same "routes" model as the buses. This was never a good fit but was forced by the limitations of the polyline technology. Cycle routes are now shown as one with no visitor interaction required other than panning and zooming the map to explore where routes go.
• Color coded bus routes - When routes were shown one at a time, there was little advantage in colour coding the routes, and blue was the optimal colour for showing routes over the roads of the map. With the new multi-route overlays, colour adds a powerful identification aid for visitors and routes are now colour coded wherever they are shown.
• List of routes - In the spirit of offering as much information as possible, when the buses mode is selected, a list of bus routes is displayed automatically. This gives the visitor an overview of the routes that are shown on the map and it gives them yet another tool to find and display routes on the map. Clicking the route number, origin and destination all show the route differently on the map.
• Simplification of the "which stop" problem - Because information is presented via the stop markers, the visitor has to click on the right stop marker for the route of interest. In places where there are clusters of stops it can be confusing or difficult for the visitor to locate the stop of interest. Now that the bus map overlays make stop positions and routes more visible, the actual stop markers are not displayed as early in the targeting process. A visitor's first click opens a list of colour coded routes with stops near the point that they clicked. Clicking the route number shows route frequencies in the control panel, whereas clicking on the destination or origin place names shows the nearest stop marker for buses going in that direction.
• Live bus information - When the information window for a stop is opened, the times popup for the departures list can be changed to "Live info" to show a feed of live departure times for that stop (not all stops have this facility and not all routes are monitored, data provided via Bristol City Council).
• Improved zoom control - The standard Google zoom control offers too many zoom levels as people really have no need (in this sort of context) to zoom out to see the entire planet. The standard control also has a single increment mark which makes it difficult to count off the zoom levels. The new controller in this site has thirteen zoom levels with a heavy divider mark every three levels. These three divisions are not labelled but make it much easier for visitors to click directly onto the level they want.
• Location cloud - Getting to places around the map can be combersome involving zomming out panning and then zooming in, or speculative dragging of the map in one direction. The places cloud lists the names of the areas shown on the map in a "cloud" style block of text with larger places shown in larger text. Clicking on the place names will pan or jump th emap to those locations.
• Find less prominent - Old habits die hard and the search blank on the old site was very prominent. People would fall back on techniques learned on other sites and enter search terms. The search facility is still there but it requires a click on the control panel to reach it. Once a search is done there is also an improved page selector at the bottom of the list.
• Many other refinements - There have been many other refinements in the use of the system which are of interest to software developers but simply smooth off rough edges for the visitor.