Why do rail companies make us feel like cheats?

We understand that railway companies are commercial enterprises and that they need to make sure people travelling on the trains are paying for that right.  But why do they have to make us all feel like potential fare dodgers?  Ticket barriers everywhere inconvenience us (more queues, tickets that then don't work, etc); staff on trains are now "Revenue Protection Officers" there to police us and watch us.

Perhaps the worst element being the arcane and invisible rules around ticketing.  There are plenty of articles on on people being given the wrong advice by staff and then fined once on the train or falling foul of the "rules" in any number of ways.  Mostly innocent mistakes.

It's not a passenger or customer service orientated approach.

So it was interesting to see on the BBC website, that we are not alone.  Rule changes introduced in Switzerland have produced a similar outcome and are resulting in an increasing passenger dissatisfaction with the service.

With railway companies and governments increasingly wanting to encourage modal shift to rail travel, isn't it about time this major obstacle in customer service was removed?

Impact of digital mapping on wayfinding

An interesting article in the New Scientist recently highlighted some of the emerging trends in digital mapping and how our experience of navigating spaces and environments is changing. 

What does this mean for traditional methods of providing navigational information?

The way in which we find our way is changing.  The coverage of mapping information from Google, Apple, Bing and others is getting increasingly comprehensive.  The more recent move to mapping internal spaces is also growing – Google now has the annotated floor plans of over 10,000 buildings.

The real change with this mapping technology is that the way is accessed, usually via GPS and a smartphone, places you at the centre of the map and can often orientate the map to show you which way you are facing.

The question for traditional designers of wayfinding signage is whether this is a competing technology or a complementary approach to help us find our way.

Digital mapping offers many opportunities.  Augmented reality technology can be used to show the location of the destination (i.e. the entrance to a specific building) or points of interest along the way.  Other data can be drawn into show imminent weather or perhaps crime spots that should be avoided (with its own potentially negative impact).

However it is clear that there are a number of issues with an increasing reliance on digital mapping technology.  Research has shown that the limited view that we get on a screen narrows our field of view so whilst we can follow the directions we never effectively develop a mental model of where we are.  This increases our reliance on the technology as we don’t really learn the route – a problem when you leave your phone at home!

This lack of understanding where we are highlights one of the other main issues with the current technology…and that is trust.  The recent debacle for Apple has undermined the trust of many users.  When seen alongside the various tales of woe of people following their satnavs and getting into trouble.   It is clear that the technology still has some way to go!

We are also recognizing that the mapping technology is owned by large multinationals with their own agendas – for example, perhaps they are more likely to identify points of interest with whom they have a commercial interest than those of genuine interest to us.

Digital mapping will only increase and the technology will improve rapidly including how that information is provided.  Research has shown that people referring to their phones walk more slowly, actually walk longer distances and were worse at orientation than those using a paper map. So for success maybe the future is more integrated technology like Google Glass.  At the moment, it feels like reliance on mapping technology makes us less likely to absorb our surroundings, be less inquisitive and adventurous – a less interesting way of getting around.

But the need for us to consider the built environment independent of the technology will also not go away – the technology will always have shortcomings and we have to cater for those who can’t or don’t use the technology (inclusive design?). 

The challenge is how can we provide wayfinding using a range of methods and how can we harness all of these to help people get the mental model of how a space is laid out and how they can navigate without reliance on any one method.