The official University of Utah Twitter account welcomed students today by plugging a new map feature on their website, sidewalk routing.

The University’s @theU blog says that the feature will “draw the most efficient pedestrian path to [your] selected destination.” It even factors in construction detours, and can give you step by step instructions.

Sounds good, but how does it actually perform?

I started to go outside to give the new feature a chance, but it wouldn’t even load on my phone. At the moment, it only seems to work on desktop. So unless you want to carry your open laptop around with you to look at the map, the only way to use the new feature, according to @theU, is to “print the route for analog use.”

If you can’t see a live map of campus, updating your location as you move, right on your phone, then it’s kind of obsolete. I have foggy memories of my parents printing out driving directions from the internet, you know, before there were GPS-equipped smartphones. But now that there ARE GPS-equipped smartphones, students aren’t going to be willing to print out an “analog” map to find their way to class.

Another potential problem with the feature is its step-by-step instructions. They include steps like, “Go NW for .25 miles” or “Pass Life Sciences Building.” The problem is that if a student needs help finding a building on campus, either because they’re directionally challenged or new to campus, these instructions aren’t going to help very much.

If you gave these instructions to a bran new Freshman, do you think they would find their destination?

If a new student needs help finding a building, they’d be better off downloading Pokemon GO. They can use it on mobile, it shows their current position, and almost every building on campus has a Pokestop that shows the name of the building.

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