Google Maps for cycle routes is still clunky. I’ve often had the voice-based directions stop halfway through a journey, requiring me to reset the route.
So I decided to give Beeline a try this weekend. Beeline is a hardware and app-based navigation tool for cyclists. Instead of giving the cyclist an explicit route to follow, the Beeline app provides a large arrow indicating a general direction of travel to get to a destination.
And the principle is simple: if you’re not in a rush, and as long as you are following the arrow, you’ll get to wherever you’re headed.
Unfortunately, Beeline disappointed.
Their underlying technology isn’t impressive. They use the Google Maps Platform (which isn’t a bad thing, as even companies like Uber use it for all their mapping), but it seems like their main “innovation” is simply removing the map and replacing it with an arrow. I found this unconvincing.
I was sent down wrong streets and into hairy situations. In one particular moment, I was prompted with little notice to cross a 4-lane street and then turn at an intersection with 6 different entry and exit points. If you’ve cycled in London before, you don’t need this additional stress.
The GPS wasn’t working. For some reason, Beeline always thought I was facing north, so I received multiple prompts to “turn around” and go the opposite way to my destination. I tried multiple times to reset the route to no avail. This was frustrating.
I expected Beeline to work “out of the box”. And when it didn’t, and especially when I started to feel unsafe, it lost its opportunity to impress me.
I got me thinking about how we expect technology to work immediately. And how those expectations have increased even compared to ten years ago, when we were willing to put up with a buggy product if it was new and innovative.
Creating an experience with “first time magic” is a thing, and I wonder what impact that will have on future entrepreneurs and designers launching the first versions of their products into the world. Will they continue to launch quickly with a passable Minimum Viable Product, or will success require a great first time experience?