Product Idea for Waze, Apple Maps, and Google Maps
The User Experience Problem
Imagine you are driving while using your GPS. You need to make a pit stop, so you pull over. Now your phone starts telling you to make a U-turn and then yells at you to get back on the highway. You do not want to get back on the highway just yet, you want to make your pit stop. So the phone goes berserk and gives you directions while you’re walking into the rest area.
Your only options are:
Leave the phone in the car
Stop the navigation
Keep the navigation on and bring phone with you
Well, leaving your phone in the car is not an option. We need our phone on us 24/7, obviously.
Stopping the navigation is a pain. The best case scenario is that you just have to re-enter the destination when you’re ready to get back on the road. The worst case scenario is that you have bad service and the navigation won’t load your directions.
Keeping the navigation on is annoying because the phone is attempting to redirect you and provide you with instructions. Yes, you could turn down the volume on the phone to mute the directions. However, if you are talking on the phone, the navigation will still ding at you to direct you back on course. Quite annoying!
None of the options are ideal. Let’s do something about it.
The U/X Solution
Waze, Apple Maps, and Google Maps should enable a pause function. Currently on Waze, for example, if you push stop it brings up another option to actually stop the navigation. Either here or on the previous screen should be a pause button that allows the user to simply pause the navigation. Push go when ready to resume driving and the navigation resumes.
In short, add a pause button instead of just a stop / end button.
Conclusion
Only having the option to stop the navigation is annoying. The available options are not user friendly and can lead to frustration. Simply adding a pause button will allow users to continue listening to their music, talking on the phone, or enjoying some tranquility while making a pit stop.
This may also help avoid drivers from receiving improper navigation while making a pit stop and ultimately ending up in a lake like Michael Scott in The Office.
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