One of the topics I presented (albeit very briefly) was navigating a 2D slippy map with a flight joystick, and then with a (inexpensive) USB gamepad (by leveraging the gamepad API, implementing a proof of concept).
I think this sparked some interest. However, my own biases mean that I lack experience in the fields of accessibility and user ergonomics, so I feel the need to ask:
Is gamepad/thumbstick navigation something that should be pursued further?
I’m vaguely aware of spatial/directional navigation by using caret mode and cursor keys - but thumbsticks allow for more angles of movement, and some of the accessibility talks mentioned directional interfaces.
Can we rip off concepts from videogames? Are the map interfaces in videogames have any kind of de facto standard (for zooming / selecting POIs)?