A new service in the US allows users to send snail-mail letters and documents in envelopes with Google Maps extracts printed on the surface, with the origin and destination addresses appearing as they would on the site.
Designed by Rahul Mahtani and Yofred Moik from the Syracuse University Industrial Design program, the pair have designed a proposal to add a “send envelope” button to the Gmail interface beside the email “send” button.
The interface would see the message printed, and placed in an envelope with the Google Maps locations of both addresses appearing on the surface, as it would look on the site.
While the envelope system negates the “green” benefits of using email over paper, the proposal has been highlighted by some analysts as ambitious, if not impractical.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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