Comparison of Driving Directions from Internet Sources

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Comparison of Driving Directions from Internet
Sources

• By David Schmidtmann

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Goals

• Compare the accuracy among five(5) Internet
  Driving directions.
• Show both strengths and weaknesses of all
  internet sources.
• Determine, based on experiment, the most reliable
  source for driving directions.

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Five Internet Sources

• Mapquest (www.mapquest.com)
• Yahoo (www.yahoo.com)
• Mapblast (MSN) (www.mapblast.com)
• Expedia (www.expedia.com)
• Mapsonus (www.mapsonus.com)

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History

• On the web since 1996
• Standard for online driving directions
• Number 1 internet source for directions

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History (cont..)

• Founded in March 1995 by Stanford graduate
  students David Filo and Jerry Yang
• "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web", a web
  site featuring a directory of other sites,
  organized in a hierarchy (rather than a
  searchable index of pages)

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History (cont..)

• The originator is MSN and their company.
• Based off of a very simply format and directions.

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History (cont..)

• Is a extension of their ability to find travel
  destinations and flights.
• Has a travel theme in mind throughout the website
  usage.

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History (cont..)

• Is a service of Switchboard.com.
• Launched in 1996 as an online yellow page
  industry.

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Quality

• Strengths
• Not case sensitive
• Advanced option is available
• The ability to save previous locations searched
• Options of various output devices (PDA, email,
  printer)
• Zoom-in/out and turn-by-turn options

• Weaknesses
• Too much advertisement within every page
• If using the place/name option, information must
  be accurate

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Quality(cont..)

• Weaknesses
• Directions can get difficult to understand
• No advance option available
• Font format may impair the ability to read or
  understand

• Strengths
• Input is not case sensitive
• Various options for output
• Zoom-in/out function with turn-by-turn
• Smart view traffic overview
• Locations nearby your destination

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Quality(cont..)

• Strengths
• Not case sensitive
• Europe and US directions allowed
• States road/route name change
• Printer and email options
• Advanced options available

• Weaknesses
• Too much usage of route numbers rather than names
• Directions and maps are compacted
• Advertisement makes visual problems

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Quality(cont..)

• Strengths
• Input is not case sensitive
• Various options for output of directions
• Scale for analyzing and zoom capabilities
• Option of different routes upon request

• Weaknesses
• Font can be hard to view (too small)
• Road and names may be inaccurate or not
  up-to-date

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Quality(cont..)

• Strengths
• Input is not case sensitive
• Nearby places can be located
• Zooming capabilities
• Readable font and format

• Weaknesses
• Wording of directions may seem hard to understand
• Only option of output is printer
• Directions are based off of another source

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PerformanceDestination actually travel

• Start Location
• Virginia Wesleyan College
• 1584 Wesleyan Dr.
• Norfolk, Va. 23502-5512
• End Location
• AMF Alexandria Lanes
• 6228A N. Kings Hwy
• Alexandria, Va. 22303

This example will show a comparison and
contrasting for total times, distance, and
directions. Based on a basic search with no
advanced options
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Performance (cont..)
Scale 1 - 5 (1 - least liked, .., 5 - best like)
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Analyzing of Results

• All results are based on a scale of 1 to 5.
• The results are viewed by myself based on the
  strengths and weaknesses of each source.
• The accuracy among the sources is another
  argument for the result.
• Overall understanding and readability was also
  considered.

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Conclusion

• Upon this research Mapquest and Yahoo seems to be
  the most reliable source for directions.
• Mapquest - Easy to visualize route and easy
  to read directions
• Yahoo - Traffic view and easy to read
  directions
• Each had various visual aids for better
  understanding.
• Other three sources has their advantages but the
  disadvantages out weights that of Mapquest and
  Yahoo.
• Mapquest and Yahoo has been proven for accuracy
  and easy to follow directions.

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Bibliography

• www.mapquest.com
• www.yahoo.com
• www.mapblast.com
• www.expedia.com
• www.mapsonus.com
• www.about.com
• David Schmidtmann (researcher)