

Map Design: Why the Magnifying Glass is a Terrible Symbol for Zooming-in - j053003
http://www.41latitude.com/post/456326787/magnifying-glass

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bradbeattie
Perhaps more appropriately titled "How map software could be more consistent
with the magnifying glass metaphor".

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arantius
What a pointless misunderstanding.

They're all simply better than the metaphor. Obviously a physical magnifying
glass held over a piece of paper cannot create or remove information, only
scale it.

"Zooming in" in software, however, involves a complete replacement. And at
every level, the most(/best) set of information is displayed. When zoomed out
at, i.e., Miami, the word "Miami" displayed at a readable size covers up
nearby towns. When zoomed in a bit, there's more small towns that can be
displayed (collectively covering up Miami).

Moreover: this is probably even the right/best thing to do. At a wide zoom,
you probably want the big cities as landmarks. Slightly tighter in, one is
more likely to be familiar with the area, and want to know the smaller
details. Tight enough again, Miami is the only thing left in view, so it is
labeled.

This is not broken, or bad in any way.

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j053003
A "pointless misunderstanding"? Average users don't understand the "complete
replacement" that happens when you zoom-in. It's confusing to them.

"Slightly tighter in, one is more likely to be familiar with the area, and
want to know the smaller details."

Someone usually consults a map because they aren't familiar with an area. Do
you look at a map to find your way home every day from work/school?

The point of zooming-in is to offer a clearer view. How are you doing that if
you're removing details? Instead of creating clarity for the user, you're
creating chaos.

"When zoomed in a bit, there's more small towns that can be displayed
(collectively covering up Miami)."

Except that the average user is more likely to be using the map to reference
Miami and not the smaller towns. Larger cities are of greatly more interest to
the average user than the small towns surrounding them; this creates a more
than reasonable case for continuing to display the larger cities as you zoom-
in. Just consider how many people vacation in Miami as opposed to Hialeah, the
city that Miami is replaced with as you zoom-in.

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InclinedPlane
See also: is the magnifying glass a symbol for zoom or for search?

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bradbeattie
It's a symbol for obtaining refined detail within a certain subset of the
whole. The description matches both, yeah?

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InclinedPlane
Not exactly. The magnifying glass for search is an allusion to the Sherlock
Holmes-ian private detective, who "searches" for clues and almost always
carries a magnifying glass, which often is used in the detection of clues. The
fact that there are two completely different functions which use the same
common iconography is inconvenient.

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wlievens
IIRC this behaviour can be controlled with SLD's in GeoServer.

