How Google can make it easier to print maps.

Google Maps allow you to quickly zoom into a specific region and print out a map of where you are going.  Unfortunately you usually need multiple maps for a specific trip.  The first map shows you the detail of where you are going and the second map shows you how to get to the central region.  While this method helps get you to your destination it wastes paper because the two maps are usually only used once.

Imaging you live in Portland but you don't spend much time downtown and are unfamiliar with the region.  You are trying to get to the corner of NE 32nd and NE Klickitat near the intersection of NE 33rd and NE Freemont St. in the map below.  See the red X.  The first thing you will do is print out a detailed map of the city that shows the cross-street of your destination.

Detailed street view, X is the final destination.

Now you need to know how to get from the freeway to the city center so you print out the other map below.

Zoomed out view showing how to get from highway 84 but no detail at final destination.

Notice, that you don't print out a detailed map for the whole trip, only for the final cross streets.  The reason for this is that people need less information close to their house and more information as they get closer to a new destination.  On their way home, people don’t need as much information because they start to recognize the major streets and can take a number of possible routes.

To make maps that better reflect how people navigate, Google should use multipe scales on the same map.  Higher resolution at the final destination and less resolution further away.  See below.

Multi scale map that increases detail the closer you get to the final destination.

Notice that the zoomed in area is not just a higher resolution, but that it has a slope where it squezes the streets together on the sides.  This makes a blend between the two different resolutions.  In the area between the freeway and the Prospect Street, the side streets do not have names just like the zoomed out map above. Only when you get closer to your destination do the streets start to have names.  Of course, this is just a demonstration; the engineers at Google would be able to do a much better job.

Other people have explored the concept of multi scale maps but many of these solutions just put one map with greater detail over a map with lesser detail with no transition between the two.  When this is done, the more detailed section obscures some of the road leading to your destination.  The method proposed in this article has a smooth transition between the different regions.

By using blended multiple scales on a map, Google can create maps that better reflect how people navigate.  A zoomed out view for choosing freeways and a more detailed view closer to your destination. This will simplify travel by eliminating the need to flip between different pages as you are driving and will save paper and ink by requiring only one page to be printed.