User Experience: map on mobile -

Question

I am creating the application that will manage (CRUD) different routes on a map (inside of cities). So my users will have the possibility to create a route between two points that they specify on the map:

• Set start point.
• Slide map to another part of a city.
• Set end point.

I am looking for a good visual solution for this. For example:

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When a user set 'start point', buttons allow to easy move to another part of cities.

Or next example:

^{download bmml source}

It could possible situation that I am trying to invent a bicycle and sliding is plenty of for this (but for me it is slow and bad manageable). Or some other company created a beautiful user experience for such kind of task.

So I am open for any recommendation/opinion which one way is better for implementing map on mobile devices.

Answer 1

It's best to follow current standards for mapping. That means, in this case, setting a start and end point by either dragging flags into place or tapping on the location while dragging to move the map. Most (if not all) map apps, ie Google maps, Apple maps, Waze, Bing, and more follow this behavior.

At the risk of sounding like you should take the safe road, users are familiar with this behavior type. Having navigation buttons specifically for moving the maps is a slower, less intuitive experience. And if that's too difficult on the system to manage or you're unfamiliar with the best way to go about it, then I'd recommend you hire some people who can do it.

Your choice is to be on-par with today's expectations of how a map works or to be a decade behind.