Name: 還有這種作用！Google Maps 如何解決印度的街道名稱問題？(How Google Maps fixed India's street name problem)
Uploaded: 2025-03-19T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 4 min 51 s

When Google first expanded maps to India in 2008,

2008 年，谷歌首次將地圖擴展到印度、

and you wake up hoping to get some aloo paratha for breakfast.

一覺醒來，你就希望早餐能吃到 aloo paratha。

You route to the closest paratha restaurant, and you see this.

你走到最近的一家煎餅店，看到了這個。

Street names were the foundation of Google Maps.

in India at that time, nobody used street names.

在當時的印度，沒有人使用街道名稱。

Many streets did not have names or had multiple names.

許多街道沒有名稱或有多個名稱。

This was before phones had accurate GPS, so,

那時手機還沒有精確的 GPS，所以、

unless you had a physical compass with you telling you how far you've traveled, directions on Google Maps were pretty much useless.

除非你隨身攜帶一個指南針，告訴你已經走了多遠，否則谷歌地圖上的導航幾乎毫無用處。

Also, this problem was not unique to India.

此外，這個問題並非印度獨有。

在日本，大多數街道都沒有名字。

Instead, people navigate with numbers and city blocks.

取而代之的是，人們用數字和城市街區來導航。

Cool, we're adding letters to numbers now, but everything is still measured in blocks.

酷，我們現在把字母加到數字上了，但一切仍以積木為組織、部門。

For those places, street names weren't really a thing.

在那些地方，還沒有街道名稱。

Starting with India, this is how Google Maps addressed the street name problem.

從印度開始，谷歌地圖就是這樣解決街道名稱問題的。

Dude, last week was tough, so many fire drill projects.

哥們兒，上週可真不容易啊，那麼多消防演習項目。

This is Olga, a UX researcher, and this is Janet, a UX designer.

這位是用戶體驗研究員奧爾加，這位是用戶體驗設計師珍妮特。

It was their job to solve India's street name problem.

他們的工作就是解決印度的街道名稱問題。

These Googlers knew that people around the world used landmarks to navigate.

這些 Googlers 知道，世界各地的人們都使用地標來導航。

For instance, one might say, oh, you want to get aloo paratha? Okay, okay, over there, yeah, walk past that store with the evil cat, turn left, keep going straight, and turn right at the water fountain.

比如說，有人會說，哦，你想去買 aloo paratha？好的，好的，就在那邊，對了，走過那家有惡貓的店，左轉，一直直走，在飲水機前右轉。

Wait, how do people use landmarks to navigate in India?

等等，在印度，人們是如何利用地標來導航的？

What types of landmarks help navigate anyway?

到底哪些類型的地標有助於導航？

To answer these two questions, Olga and Janet boarded a flight, flew to India,

為了回答這兩個問題，奧爾加和珍妮特登上了飛機，飛往印度、

and started to find the answer in kind of a scrappy way.

並開始以一種廢寢忘食的方式尋找答案。

Here's what happened, they called businesses and asked them for store directions.

事情是這樣的，他們給商家打電話，詢問商店的方向。

Asked people to draw diagrams for familiar routes.

請大家畫出熟悉路線的示意圖。

And they even followed people around as they navigated unfamiliar places.

它們甚至跟著人們在陌生的地方穿梭。

Although the plan was kind of scrappy, a bit DIY, it worked.

雖然這個計劃有點潦草，有點 DIY，但還是成功了。

Through this hands-on ground field research, they found that navigating India involved four critical things.

通過這次實地調研，他們發現，在印度航行有四個關鍵問題。

Number one, orientation, head towards the water.

Number two, description of a turn, turn just past the big bazaar.

二號，描述轉彎，過了大集市就轉彎。

Number three, confirmation of the right path, you'll see a patrol station on the right.

第三步，確認右邊的路，你會在右邊看到一個巡邏站。

And number four, error correction, if you get to the roundabout, you've gone too far.

第四，糾錯，如果你走到了環島，你就走得太遠了。

With these four elements, the team worked several iterations for Google Maps, and this is the final solution.

有了這四個元素，團隊為谷歌地圖進行了多次迭代，這就是最終的解決方案。

它充分利用了地標性建築的優勢。

For example, additional cues were included, such as pass by insert landmark.

例如，加入額外的提示，如經過插入地標。

They also very subtly included road names when it was available.

在有路名的情況下，他們還非常巧妙地加入了路名。

You can actually see this for yourself right now.

你現在就可以親眼目睹這一切。

On your laptop, your phone, go to Google Maps.

在筆記本電腦或手機上，進入谷歌地圖。

And set directions from say Nagpur to Mumbai.

並設定從那格浦爾到孟買的路線。

You'll see these pass by directions in blue text.

您會看到藍色字體的路標訓示。

If you set directions in a place that do not rely on landmarks as much, like the United States,

如果您在不太依賴地標的地方（如美國）設置方向，您就會發現，您的地圖上沒有地標、

chances are, these additional cues disappear.

這些額外的線索就有可能消失。

That's because the US uses street names and address numbers as its main navigational cue.

這是因為美國使用街道名稱和地址編號作為主要導航線索。

So here, Google successfully localized maps.

在這裡，谷歌成功地實現了地圖的本地化。

They made a global, very popular product fit local users and their needs.

他們使一個全球性的、非常受歡迎的產品符合本地用戶及其需求。

Whether you're building an app, a website, software, and you want to make sure that users will actually use it, you want to do user research.

無論您是在開發應用程序、網站還是軟件，如果您想確保用戶會真正使用它，您都需要進行用戶研究。

And you don't need to test with fancy equipment or five-year longitudinal studies.

而且，您不需要使用高級設備進行測試，也不需要進行為期五年的縱向研究。

Janet and Olga shows that sometimes the most scrappy methods are the best methods.

珍妮特和奧爾加》告訴我們，有時最簡陋的方法就是最好的方法。

As a UX designer, when I'm localizing a design, I might ask, how can I get as close as living the life of the user as possible?

作為一名用戶體驗設計師，在對設計進行本地化時，我可能會問：如何才能儘可能地貼近用戶的生活？

What struggles do they actually face, and how are they already working around a problem that I'm trying to solve?

他們究竟面臨哪些困難，他們是如何解決我試圖解決的問題的？

In this case for Google Maps, it's the use of landmarks.

對於谷歌地圖來說，這就是地標的使用。

To better localize products and solve real problems, the key is to ask the right questions, know who to ask, and have answers inform a tailored solution.

要更好地實現產品本地化並解決實際問題，關鍵是要提出正確的問題，知道該問誰，並讓答案為量身定製的解決方案提供依據。

The source of this video is Elizabeth Laraki, former UX design lead for Google Maps.

這段視頻的來源是前谷歌地圖用戶體驗設計主管 Elizabeth Laraki。