The launch of Google Maps’ “Bike There” feature has been a pretty big deal in Portland. After poking around on it a bit, Joseph Rose from the Oregonian asked his Twitter followers if it seemed a little “beta” to them. I replied that it was “very beta” and was even published, though my follow-up tweet wasn’t published and my real point was lost. It wasn’t until I was on a long ride over the weekend that I realized exactly why the Bike There feature felt beta to me.
Google has mastered web-based mapping and giving directions from point A to point B. With a car, that’s easy enough because most people have the same goal; to get from here to there. You’re probably not going to consult Google Maps if you want to go on a Sunday drive in the countryside. Trying to avoid rush-hour traffic? You can choose to avoid highways. And if you’re taking public transportation or walking, your goal is most likely to get there as simply, quickly, and painlessly as possible.
But if you’re riding a bike, how you get there isn’t as much the question as who you are and why you’re riding in the first place. I think the Bike There feature is asking the wrong question: I may be trying to get from here to there, but what kind of cyclist I am determines a lot about my route choice. Am I on a lazy weekend ramble where I want to avoid car traffic? Am I comfortable braving the crush of cars in order to get to a meeting as fast as I can? That I’m on a bike is only one factor in the overall experience I’m seeking.
When I look at the Google Maps route from my office to downtown Portland it displays a low car traffic route, but with high pedestrian traffic and several sets of railroad tracks; it’s a route I would never, ever take. As a cyclist, I want to get there quickly and I don’t mind the cars. As a Google Maps user, I’ll probably get rough directions on my route then customize it every time. Am I happy to have the feature? Sure. But it could be better if it asked the right questions in the first place. Then it would be awesome.
Rather than list new features that would improve the tool, I think this is a good opportunity to consider how people actually want and need to use the products and services we put into the world. You may think your service is straightforward and only needs to work in a certain way, but perhaps you haven’t considered your audience more fully. Do they have needs you’re not meeting because you’re “an XYZ company” and not “an ABC company?” Maybe you just need to get to know your audience a little better so you can see these missed opportunities. Then you could take “hooray, but it’s about time” and turn it into “oh wow, this is the best thing ever!”