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Catherine Reeves (M.S. '92) at Harley-Davidson
Penn State alumna Catherine Reeves
at Harley-Davidson's recent 100th anniversary
Posted January 20, 2004
Harley-Davidson recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, and PSU alumna Catherine Reeves (M.S. '92) worked to build an online tool to help the hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts plan their ride to the party in Milwaukee. For over five years, Catherine has been helping Harley-Davidson create internal and external Web sites that utilize the unique nature of the Internet. In the process, she continues to educate those around her about the basics of geography, illustrated by the world map on the harley-davidson.com home page. "I just couldn't let them use a Mercator projection," she remarked.
Applying Cartographic Principles
As an undergrad, she discovered cartography to be a perfect blend between her background in history, math, and design. At Penn State, she worked with Deryck Holdsworth on her master's thesis, "Constraining the Urban Sky: A Multi-Perspective Investigation of Skyway Networks and Their Impacts on Downtown". "I didn't want to get away from the historical context, so I use cartography as a way to analyze and visualize, as a perspective for looking at the world."
Her investigation of transportation networks has led to the creation of an online "Ride Planner" for Harley-Davidson. "It's like MapQuest, but for motorcycle riders. They're more interested in which roads to take. So it's more about the ride itself, and not so much about the destination," said Catherine. The tool lets riders pick stops, and set waypoints to select which roads to travel along their route.
Bridging the Gap in Internet Design
As a graduate student, Catherine worked in the Deasy Geographics Laboratory-now the Peter R. Gould Center for Geographic Education and Outreach-where she developed their first Web site. She also participated in the development of courseware for Gaia: Introduction to Earth Systems Science and a visulaization tool (SLCviewer) for Eric Barron in the Earth Systems Science Center. Eric is now Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
She continued into the Ph.D. program for several years, working on a dissertation about the diffusion of punk rock music with Roger Downs. A job offer from National Geographic led her away from Penn State. "At National Geographic, I worked on the Web site, initially as the Cartographic producer, but my job evolved into a new role as the site information architect. One of my key jobs was to be a liaison between the editorial staff, designers, and developers who often seemed to speak different languages," said Catherine.
Then, like many people in the mid-90s, she became caught up in the Internet boom and bust. Amidst buyouts and collapses, a client-Harley Davidson- brought her on as an independent consultant to continue working on the redesign of their website. "They had 14-18 different sites, and each division had its own site, which diluted their brand presence. So they wanted to create one integrated site to ensure the brand is presented effectively online," she said.
Harley-Davidson on the Web
After launching the U.S. redesign of harley-davidson.com, she led the project to create localized versions of the site for their international subsidiaries. "Harley-Davidsons are sold all over the world," she said, "So it's important that they communicate a consistent message." However, in addition to language differences, the content varies based on which products and services are available in each country. Since Harley-Davidson is such an American icon, the basic site design has few local modifications. "One exception is that in Europe they don't want us to use any images of stereotypical older bikers with beards since they are trying to reach a younger, hip demographic."
Marketing motorcycles is a long way from academic cartography. "My experience working in the Deasy Lab taught me to listen to clients and put what I learn to good use," said Catherine. She also worked with David DiBiase and Alan MacEachren at Penn State to conduct cartographic research. Now, she is applying these principles to her work at Harley-Davidson. "The internet is a medium still in its infancy. Having a methodology for approaching information and user experience design has been invaluable."
For more information about Catherine's work at Harley-Davidson, visit the Web site:
www.harley-davidson.com
rideplanner.harley-davidson.com
For some early examples of online content modules, visit National Geographic's Web site:
www.nationalgeographic.com/2000/projections
www.nationalgeographic.com/stars/chart/