: How would you represent distance graphically? Ok, So this might be somewhat "subjective" but I am looking for some ideas. I want to represent distance as a bar graph (kind of) that gets "fuller"

@Correia448

Your context isn't clear but is important. Conceptually, is distance really what you want to represent? Or is it actually about representing how close a user is to the state they're seeking to be in, where "distance" just happens to be the metric for that?

Consider that what you are actually trying to represent is how close a user is to achieving a desirable state. The desirable state should be given the strongest impression on the screen.

In other words, in the context of your application, if users seek to be closer to other users, then you would not want a bar (or anything) that gets stronger with greater distance, as this impression is the exact opposite of the users' goal.

This goes for colors as well; in a red -> green scheme you would typically want green to correspond with the target state, and red the opposite, so if users were seeking to be closer then you would want green to be a smaller distance.

With that in mind, either the bars or the wedge will do, but in either case you will want the bars / wedge to be green and full (and the wedge larger) on the desired state side (e.g. lower distance if users seek to be closer).

Along those lines, accessibility aside (this is just an illustrative example), if all you are really attempting to do is give an impression of how close a user is to their desired state rather than give accurate information about distance, an indicator could be as simple as a static square that fades from red through e.g. yellow then to green at the target state (be it closer or farther), perhaps gaining a label, border, or animation when the target state is [nearly] reached.

The design options in the other answers here are all great, but from a UX perspective be sure to think about how you are using those designs and what you are attempting to do: If you are attempting to encourage users to reach a target state, you do not want, for example, your bars to get shorter and disappear at that state. That is anti-motivation.

Anecdotally (I have no evidence at hand) I would also suspect that it is easier for a user to pick out the largest bar in a group at a glance as opposed to the smallest. I would then imagine that if you have multiple indicators on your screen and your application wants to let users quickly find the "best" (closest or farthest depending on context), having the stronger indicator represent the more desirable states would help in this regard.

Personally I prefer a wedge, with the larger side on the right, turning green as it fills, and with closer being the larger side (assuming closer is the goal), as this is reminiscent to me of the now familiar and ubiquitous cell phone signal meter (4 bars is exciting, 1 is not).

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@Carla748

If you want to show the distance between two persons, it is probably most intuitive to show a distance between two persons. In the rough mockup below there is still some sort of bar, but it is pointing backward. Distance is shown by position (by moving the person to the right) and size (shrinking the person).



When you want more of a barlike indicator, you could colour part of triangle as below. And you could add labels to the lines.



Perhaps the 'reference' person on the left could be dropped.

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@Dunderdale640

You ask how to represent distance graphically, but all the answers seem to rely on text within the image (the words "far" and "close" etc). Therefore I suggest you just write "3 miles apart" or "200m to go" and use any sort of 'progress meter' background which fills up horizontally.

Giving the numerical distance isn't necessarily useful in terms of a person reading the actual numbers, but the numbers and measurement unit do make it completely clear at a glance what you are measuring, and if there is a change occuring.

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@Merenda852

I think you should make the bar all one colour, then use a significant marker like an arrow or a different coloured bar going vertically overlaid to show relative distance from the start on the left and the end on the right. (Edit: I believe the official term is a slider bar)

Here's an example from a game where character icons are used as the marker and more than one marker is present:


And here's a more realistic example:


Edit: (A bit of justification for my suggestion)

The original versions as presented in the question look too much like progress bars which are expected to represent progress, not distance. If something that looks like a progress bar (even if it's labelled) starts going backwards, some users are going to be confused because it looks too unnatural and is counter-intuitive to what people expect.

By having a single coloured bar with some form of marker the marker then becomes the focus and it feels more natural that it should be able to move either way along the bar. The addition of notches to this also give the sense that some form of measurement is going on (in this case distance).

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@Rivera951

Years ago I had an Amiga game called F19 Stealth Fighter. The HUD on this had something very similar to what you describe. For bombs that you dropped, rather than fired, you were shown a line with two 'posts' at each end getting closer together the nearer you got to a target.

Here's a simple modern representation:

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@Shelley591

I want to represent distance as a bar graph (kind of) that gets "fuller" the closer the people are.


That's the opposite of what a bar graph shows, though. The higher the value, the larger the bar. Wanting to do just the opposite is likely going to add confusion or visual dissonance to the actual data.

To make the point a bit more direct, replace 'far/near' with 'big/small'. This just wouldn't make any sense:

---
--- | |
--- | | | |
--- | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
big --- --- --- --- small


As such, I think you need to drop the idea of 'flipping' the scale with the labels. If you're trying to communicate a greater distance, let the large bar indicate that. It's the most intuitive correlation.

But maybe the solution isn't a bar graph at all. It sounds like you're trying to implement some sort of 'locator signal' metaphor. The closer you are, the stronger the signal. I think that's a good idea, but consider a visual other than a bar graph for that. Maybe a 'blip' (or dot) of some sort.

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@Shanna688

Updated example using a wedge design. For clarity, sample distances were added to the graph, and the text was removed.



Example with Start and Finish text



Since small size is a factor for handheld, here are two 100px by 100px space saving options.







Brainstorming based on Latest Requirements

Here's a space saving idea for mobile that places the app in a dropdown. With the larger size of a dropdown, the map can contain more information like user labels, and a distance grid.

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@Alves566

Using the image Talkingrock created:



I think what would make the most sense, to me, would be for it to be swapped like so:



Starts at Far Apart and lights up as you approach together. I think the change of text from "Far Close" to something more like "Far Apart" "Together" or "Met" or something indicating its two people arriving at a single destination will help communicate the idea further.

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@Turnbaugh909

I think the distance items work better and are far more intuitive, but I'd reverse things a a bit. Great distance should be long and red, short distance should be short and green. What you've posted seems to read the opposite of this. I'd expect long bars to be "far away" and be red.

Without knowing your overall layout, another possibility maybe to use a circle with dots....

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