DUOLABS
Work

Fuel-station locator map service

We built a locator service that lets drivers find a nearby fuel station on a map in their web browser. Map technology made for the same company's web map service was carried over to the fuel-station brand's customer-facing service. Anyone could open it, so if the map loaded slowly or responded sluggishly, drivers would simply look for a station some other way. We handled plotting stations nationwide, the flow for finding a nearby one, the map controls, and lighter loading.

Launch
2008
Client
A Korean oil refiner
Type
Maps & Geospatial
01 / 04

A locator that finds the nearest station right on the map

The fuel-station locator lets drivers see stations nationwide on a map in their web browser and pick a nearby one. We placed nationwide station location data on the map and designed the flow that takes a driver from the map to the nearest station. The starting point of the service was letting people choose by looking at their surroundings on a map instead of reading a list of addresses.

A locator that finds the nearest station right on the map
02 / 04

Map controls to drag, zoom, and tap to choose

A web map service needs a few basic interactions: panning, zooming in and out, and selecting a location. We implemented them to respond immediately inside the browser. Drivers drag the map around their area, zoom in for a closer look, and tap a station's location to choose it.

Map controls to drag, zoom, and tap to choose
03 / 04

Map loading trimmed so the first screen appears fast

For a map service, how fast it opens and how it responds to input decide whether people use it. We trimmed how much map data is loaded and how station data is displayed to suit the environments and network conditions real users connect from. Moving to a live service, performance was retuned with stability and loading speed as the yardsticks.

Map loading trimmed so the first screen appears fast
04 / 04

Map technology built once, reused in another service

The map in the fuel-station locator was not built from scratch. Map technology made for the same company's web map service was adapted and applied to the brand's customer-facing service. This project built up experience in reusing shared technology in a service from another domain, and the same map technology later went on to a bus information map for new towns.

Map technology built once, reused in another service

Highlights

01

A web map plotting fuel stations nationwide

02

A flow for finding the nearest station, with map controls

03

Earlier web map technology reused in a live service

Insights

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