For usability geeks - and fans of sustainability

We've come across a few interesting usability issues. I've already mentioned the GPS, but here's a picture of the "driving" display. The E71 is the road we were on. The lower line of icons are labels for the buttons below. The large arrow indicates we are to go straight for 201 km. The 130 is the speed limit and 16:34 is our ETA.




Romania is not on the Euro. Here are examples of 2 Romanian bills. Note the different colors. One bill is also slightly larger than the other and each has a clear cut-out in a different shape so that the bills can be distinguished by touch. No wonder Europeans have trouble with our money. (The cut out in the 50 is to the right of the eagle and the same shape. The cut-out on the 10 is to the left and is the same shape as an image on the reverse of the bill.)





In many European hotels, the room key controls the lights. You put your key in a slot by the door in order to activate the light switches. When you remove your key on your way out, all the lights are turned off. Good way to save energy. Here in Baia Mare, the outlets are always on, but that was not the case in Salzburg.

















Also in the hotel in Salzburg - note the two buttons to flush the toilet. Big flush or little flush. Your choice.

Here's a room key example. We have a card and are looking for the slot. Nope. This system is called "Wave" and you just wave the card at the dot on the door plate. No more trying to figure out which end of the card to insert. Assuming you figure out what to do with the card.












Two things today. We have discovered 2 hotels that use motion detectors for the lights in the hallways - the one in Salzburg and the one in Sighet. As soon as you open your door, the lights come on, but they're off if no one is in the hall. Remember both of these hotels had key access to the light switches as well.

And today I should have had Kath and her iPhone to take a picture of the WC system at this restaurant/rest stop we stopped at. Lots of posters about these clean restrooms - and that they will cost you 100 HUF (Hungarian Forints - about 40 cents). Access to the WC is controlled by a turnstile. You put in your coin and it spits out a ticket - which can be redeemed for food or anything else in the restaurant upstairs. WC area has sliding doors - which I think are controlled by the turnstile - just in case you try to duck under. I didn't spend a lot of time testing the system. There were also signs showing how you could take some TP, and some disinfectant? in each stall to clean the seat. So now I am paying for the privilege of cleaning the restroom? Not sure about this.
UPDATE: We found another one of these Sanair stops - this one cost 70 cents, but only gave a voucher for 50 cents. So someone has figured out how to make money from this.

WCs at the Munich airport don't have two buttons for flushing, but if you press the button again, it stops the water. So in principle, you can control the amount of water used, but I think the 2 buttons are clearer and work better. Sorry about all this focus on the WC, but they are different in Europe and I think we could learn something about water conservation in public restrooms, (besides the auto-faucets). I think the auto-flush usually uses more water.

The ticket counter agents for Air Canada in Munich have a "swiper" for passports, but it doesn't work for non-Canadian passports, and sometimes, not even for Canadian ones. So they have to type in all the info by hand. Can you say long lines?