Christian Heilmann

Zoomable Map Solution – On Paper!

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 4:20 pm

I am rubbish with maps. I get car sick when I read them, I have no clue when I look at them and try to predict where I will find things and explanations from me normally sound something like “Take a left at the shop with the fruit, then walk until you see a blue skip, take a right there until you go past a betting shop….” meaning I just don’t remember street names.

I am even worse folding and unfolding maps. You can bet that sooner or later I won’t be able to fold a massive map any longer and that you hear a ripping noise when I open one. That aside, it is a real pain in London to read a map anyways as you hardly ever have enough personal space to unfold one in the first place.

A friend of mine now showed me an invention she came up some time ago, which is a foldable and zoomable map. You just pick the section you are interested in and you can unfold with two fingers to go to a detail map or just keep the overview in your hand. Together with information about the tube and different sights in London this would be a very cool gift for people visiting me and klutzes like myself. A shame you cannot buy them yet.

See a video of the map in action on youtube:

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