A Broad Analysis of Map Routing Applications
Andreea-Cristina Rădăcină, Mihai-Bogdan Geamănu, Alexandru-Ionuţ Mustaţă, Cătălin Negru · 2023
The map routing applications are a must-have for daily navigation. With recent advancements in technology, these solutions have eased the life of pedestrians, cyclists, and car drivers, offering traffic information, real-time updates, and estimated time of arrival. Having access to the user’s location through GPS, the navigation applications run algorithms that deliver the best alternatives for transportation, along with other information. This paper aims to examine the most used navigation applications side by side to determine the main differences between them and evaluate the quality of the user experience. A qualitative comparison was made throughout three platforms-mobile, desktop, and auto infotainment, analyzing the estimated time and distance for the optimal route, as well as for the alternative routes. Lastly, the user experience with each of the platforms was described. The second part of the paper focuses on the users’ opinions expressed through a survey posted on popular social media platforms, which received 115 responses. It exposes the most preferred navigation applications, reasons for the choice made, the preferred platform, the overall experience with the application, and other facts. The study proves that map routing applications offer different solutions and provide unique experiences which can be caused due to lack of features or inconsistencies.