Picture Routing?

[JackWolfgang]

Something I have been thinking about for my church is picture routing. Writing directions and putting some appropriate pictures with the text. For example, the back of my business card currently lists the following directions for getting to our church:

FCC-Cairo is located at the corner of Robert Willis Road and Keith Lane.

Proceed North out of Cairo on GA State Road 188 (Burger King at the light on U.S. 84). Robert Willis Road is just over 2 miles north of U.S. 84, and there is a blue and white sign on the left side of the road. Turn left onto Robert Willis Road. Turn onto Keith Lane (the street just before the church), and please park beside the church.
So what I am thinking, is the first picture is of the Burger King sign (or pull back further and get more of the intersection). Or even better, the first picture is of the "Junction Georgia 188" sign. Then a picture of the sign at the end of Robert Willis Road. Then a picture of the intersection of Keith Lane and Robert Willis Road. Finally pictures of the church building and the church sign. So what I am thinking looks something like this:

[Map done as Image. Not ripped off from mapping site.]

[Picture of Junction GA 188 sign] Proceed North out of Cairo on GA State Road 188 (Burger King at the light on U.S. 84).

[Picture of Blue and White Sign] Robert Willis Road is just over 2 miles north of U.S. 84, and there is a blue and white sign on the left side of the road.

Turn left onto Robert Willis Road.

[Picture of Keith Lane turn off] Turn onto Keith Lane (the street just before the church), and please park beside the church.

[Pictures of Church and Church Signs]

[Link to Mapping Site to Offer Driving Directions]
[Credit for Driving Directions]

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Jack,

This would work for your church, because it appears there's only two ways to get to your church, from the south (from Cairo) and from the north. Although I note you didn't provide directions from the north.

How would this work in a metropolitan area where people could be coming to a church from many different directions? Seems like you'd have to provide three photos for every possible intersection in the area around the church -- one photo from each direction a person could be coming from as he or she approached the intersection.

Another question: would video be better? (Couldn't be printed, however. You would want to print the photos to take in the car with you.)

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[crowsfan85]

Yeah, I think David hit it right on the head. Video directions are the way to go.

This reminds me, we did something similar when we moved into our new building. Maybe I should slow it down a bit and put a link to it in the "New to the church" section.

Video directions to our church: about 2 minutes in
http://media.therocksandiego.org:8080/ramgen/rocktv/2004-11-14-rocktv.rm?usehostname

Actually, what would be even better is to incorporate it into a "virtual church visit" section where people could "experience" a typical Sunday service in say 5 minutes.

1. Quick video directions.
2. Walk from the parking lot to church.
3. Be greeted by ushers.
4. Find seat and worship.
5. Pray.
6. Hear the pastor's message.
7. Visit the coffee shop.
8. Etc, etc.

[JackWolfgang]

This would work for your church, because it appears there's only two ways to get to your church, from the south (from Cairo) and from the north. Although I note you didn't provide directions from the north.

How would this work in a metropolitan area where people could be coming to a church from many different directions? Seems like you'd have to provide three photos for every possible intersection in the area around the church -- one photo from each direction a person could be coming from as he or she approached the intersection.

Another question: would video be better? (Couldn't be printed, however. You would want to print the photos to take in the car with you.)


The reason I don't mention north is 50% of our target audience is in Cairo. The other 50% is in Grady County (of which Cairo is the county seat). It was also easier to pick a landmark that people would be familar with (U.S. 84 divides our county in about half along an east-west line) than to try to pick a non-existant landmark to the north. If I were going to add to these directions, I would add directions from Thomasville, since that is a more likely direction for people to come from.

Furthermore, the directions I copied are from the back of my business card, and we know how little you can get there.

You make a good point about the metro area. I think you would have to apply the find a well-known landmark rule again, and allow people to derive their directions from that.

However, I must say that writing this post has reminded me of the problems with online mapping services. First, I tried MSN Maps (http://maps.msn.com), and I couldn't figure out how to link the map. Then I tried [url="http://www.multimap.com"], and they had incorrect data for my area (they indicated our address too far south on Robert Willis Road, and they indicated a non-existant name change for Robert Willis Road about half way up). Another example I remember was getting directions from our Campus Ministry in Tallahassee to places. Mapping sites would consistently take us down one-way streets the wrong way.

I really do think that it is best for someone to create a map in Photoshop (or whatever imaging suite you use) and write good directions instead of trying to get the map from somewhere online. If you feel you can't do that, spend the money to find a local cartographer that can do the job for you.

[JackWolfgang]

Another question: would video be better? (Couldn't be printed, however. You would want to print the photos to take in the car with you.)

That's my big issue with video, not to mention, do you want potentially lost people to be watching a video (on a laptop) when they should be focused on driving and getting to church safely?

[David Gillaspey]

Jack makes a good point about printing the video -- not really possible. Still photos would work better, because they could be printed and taken with a person in the car.

But the video that Nick posted, which I viewed, wins points for being very cool.

Here's a challenge: What about cars with GPS guidance systems onboard? What would a church need to supply (in terms of data) to make this work?

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[David Gillaspey]

However, I must say that writing this post has reminded me of the problems with online mapping services.
Hi Jack,

Wouldn't MapQuest work? I've been able to launch a browser and get a MapQuest map from an address stored in my database program of choice, Filemaker. All it takes is a URL plus query string with the address, city, state, zip, and magnification variables (among others) filled in. This could be hardcoded in a link on a church website. I think this is often done, in fact.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[JackWolfgang]

Example Map Quest Routing (http://www.mapquest.com/directions/main.adp?go=1&do=nw&1gi=0&un=m&1da=-1.000000&1rc=L1AAA&1n=LEON+COUNTY&cl=EN&ct=NA&1si=navt&rsres=1&1y=US&1a=524+W+COLLEGE+AVE&1c=TALLAHASSEE&1s=FL&1z=32301-1410&2y=US&2a=2600+BLAIRSTONE+RD&2c=TALLAHASSEE&2s=FL&2z=32399-6542) (524 West College Avenue; Tallahassee, FL to 2600 Blairstone Road; Tallahassee)

I know Tallahassee, so I know the problems with this routing.

Why make them turn onto Macomb and then Park? College connects through to Monroe Street.
Why not take Park Avenue to Blair Stone Road? Yes, Apalachee Parkway is a major road with a higher speed limit and traffic capacity, but why make the person make more turns than they need to?


I forget which site it was, but one of them tried to take me east down the one way portion of Pensacola Street in Tallahassee. The interesting thing is, on the one way sections, Pensacola Street is one way towards Pensacola (west); and St. Augustine Road is one way towards St. Augustine (east).

BTW, this was the first routing I tried.

[David Gillaspey]

Thanks, Jack. Interesting example.

Actually, I only had in mind the map, not the driving directions. I never use MapQuest driving directions myself, since I'm perfectly capable of reading a map for myself. Lots of people rely on MapQuest driving directions, though.

As for the errors you mention, I can only assume the directions are generated from algorthms that are not perfect.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[pmburrow]

I think that all three complement each other.

I like the idea about using pictures. That would help someone like me, because even though I like to have a map, I like recognizing landmarks too. I also like the idea of watching a movie. This is a neat idea. However, it needs to have a narrator telling viewer the directions as well. Now you have the person not only seeing the directions but also seeing them traveled, and at the same time hearing the directions. What you are doing is getting the directions across by using another sense, the viewer?s hearing.

The only down side, as it has already been pointed out, is that you can?t take the movie with you. However, that is where the pictures will come in. They will reinforce the movie that the viewer has already seen.

If I were only going to do two of these, I would go with the movie and a map, because even without the pictures, they are going to recall the movie.

Phillip

www.discoveryumc.org (http://www.discoveryumc.org/)