Pedestrians often try to find their way about using their smartphones. The computer scientist Peter Kiefer and the geomatics expert Martin Raubal are at work together trying to make things easier for them. They work at the GeoGazeLab at ETH Zurich and are trying to refine smartphone maps so that pedestrians will find their way perfectly in any new environment. To this end they are developing special systems that involve attaching an eye-tracking module to one’s head. These modules comprise different cameras that are variously focussed on the eyes of the user and on the user’s field of vision. By means of eye tracking, Kiefer and Raubal can determine which landmarks pedestrians use to orient themselves. Their findings are interesting. “People ignore some elements on the map completely”, says Raubal. In order not to confuse people, he suggests that these elements – railway tracks, for example – should be left off such maps altogether.