UX (user experience) and usability improvements (please create separate issues instead of appending)

[biodranik]

Please share your ideas on how to make the life of others easier.

• Make a single tap and a long tap on the map discoverable by users #1105
• Make Add Stop in routing discoverable by users
• Render the name of the track on the map
• Render bookmark names on the map but in a smart way, to avoid cluttering
• Clearly differentiate underground subway stations from their entrances on the map and in the search results
• Clarify what is "default sorting" for bookmarks
• Increase the size of the number (of the exit to take) in the roundabout in navigation mode or redesign roundabouts
• Add "Add bookmark" ("Save") button when typing coordinates in the search window, to create bookmarks from coordinates faster, without opening a map and pressing "Save" there.
• Fit more useful info on the screen (see UX (user experience) and usability improvements (please create separate issues instead of appending) #1060 (comment))
• Redesign Save button for bookmarks on Android. It is not obvious, and users lose already typed data by accidentally pressing Back instead of Save.
• Download elevations/hill-shading separately from the maps data for faster map updates.
• Better handling of the default set for newly added bookmarks, see this comment
• While building a route, allow to select roads with a single tap for faster alternate routes.

[Raphael0]

I'll start with a few:

• Being able to drag and drop the starting point, stops and end point of a route with a long tap to quickly adapt the route
• Being able to rearrange the order of bookmark lists
• Confirmation dialog when deleting a bookmark list (not needed for single bookmarks, but on iOS a simple swipe to the left will delete a list containing hundreds of bookmarks with no confirmation dialog)

Thank you for all the amazing work!

[pluja]

• Ability to change the color of an imported KML route path (Orange color is confusing with some roads).

[bkqtnte10]

• Increase the size of the number (of the exit to take) in the roundabout in navigation mode.

[omentic]

• Make the "Map Layers" button more useful - add bus / tram routes or other public transportation overlays as options
  • (many cities, especially in America, don't have subways)
• Fetch limited maps on-demand while downloading or not downloaded
• Being able to select arbitrary locations to route to (ex. the middle of a road)

[biodranik]

Regarding "After clicking the route button, you still have to select "route from" and "route to" for the start and end place.": do you have any ideas on how to make it better?

[omentic]

I think that Organic Maps could assume that the user is looking for a destination after pressing the route button, and act as if the user had tapped and then pressed the "route to" button. So the user flow would go: tap route button ==> Organic Maps pops up the "Add a destination" prompt ==> tap destination ==> Organic Maps pops up the "Add a starting point" (or use location) prompt ==> tap starting point or location icon ==> route.

[biodranik]

I am not sure that it's the best user experience. Probably that button should be removed or replaced.

[Raphael0]

Just for perspective, in 4 years of Maps.me/OrganicMaps I have never used the generic "route to" button. I always plan a route after choosing a place on the map

[ghost]

I don't understand why you can't just input this into the map EX: "3217 W Yuma St, Phoenix, AZ 85009, United States" to navigate to but it always wants to route to EX: "Yuma St, Phoenix, AZ"
This goes for home address to like I don't want to be routed to the street I want to get routed to the exact address

Device Info:
iPhone 11
iOS: 14.7
App Version: 2021.08.09.1

[biodranik]

Thanks, @jgg2O, but it's not UX, it's a bug in our search which doesn't recognize W as West. We'll fix that, I mentioned it in #1120

[biodranik]

Reduce height of controls to fit more useful information on the screen:

[bnitkin]

Would it be possible to render elevation isolines in feet or meters, depending on the Measurement units selection? It's a little odd to see elevations in meters while distances are miles.

Even re-labelling the same lines in feet would be nice (i.e. 1700m = 5580').

Thanks! I just downloaded the app yesterday. Having an offline map with topolines and navigation is great.

[biodranik]

@bnitkin See #1067

[zyphlar]

Regarding the navigation flow, I agree that I am not used to deciding on a route before I found the destination, which means that I often search for a POI, and then wish that the option to route to that destination or even route to a location that I've long pressed on, existed. Instead I have to back out, click the route button, search for the same thing I just searched for, and then specify that my starting point is gps, which is a very unexpected way of doing things. Sometimes the option to route to a search result exists, but not always, which adds to the confusion.

[biodranik]

@zyphlar do you have an Android 11 device? There is bug #1065 now when the bottom panel disappears after the search. It should be fixed soon.

[zyphlar]

Yes ok that would help greatly, I didn't think to expect a panel to be there

[vbertola]

Some simple but useful bookmark features, from a heavy Maps.me user that just switched (thanks for the effort!) and has about 50 bookmark lists with 5-300 POIs each:

• Add/customize bookmark colors: on Android, in the color selection dialog, there are two empty slots that could provide two additional colors; there are two grey shades that are almost impossible to tell apart, so one is wasted; it would be good if I could simply customize a color (at system level, for all bookmarks at once), e.g. by keeping pressed over a color and entering a custom color hex code;

• Mass copy/move/delete POIs: from within the list of POIs of a single bookmark list, select any number of POIs (e.g. keeping pressed over a POI selects it and changes to selection mode, then pressing over more POIs adds them to the selection) and copy or move them to a new list or to an existing one, or delete them at once (possibly after a confirmation dialog).

• Mass backup: have an option somewhere to create a tar/zip/whatever of all bookmark lists (optionally, selecting only some of them) that can then be shared externally.

More generally speaking, it would be good to switch to an open, standard format for bookmark files - even better if it were a text format so that files could even be edited by hand.

[pluja]

Being able to select to what bookmark list I want to save a certain bookmark. It defaults to the last list I added something.

[biodranik]

Being able to select to what bookmark list I want to save a certain bookmark. It defaults to the last list I added something.

How would you implement that? How it will look like for users? Any examples or ideas?

[biodranik]

When a user hides the last used set of bookmarks, the same set is displayed again when adding a new bookmark. Because a new bookmark is added into the last used set. And if it was hidden, it becomes visible (to show a newly added bookmark).

A better UX would be to choose another set instead, which is visible on the map (probably the one which was either the last used one or was the last unhidden one by the user). If all sets are hidden, then probably a new set should be created.

[vbertola]

In the meantime, would it be possible to do just one simple thing that would already make life much easier, i.e. sort the list of bookmark set names in the dialogue when you are adding or modifying a bookmark and choosing a different bookmark set than the last used one? Either sort them by last change date (useful when you are adding POIs to more than one set at the same time) or by alphabetical order (possibly the best choice and also a 1-line change or so). I'm sorry I don't know the code to do a pull request myself.

[biodranik]

In the meantime, would it be possible to do just one simple thing that would already make life much easier, i.e. sort the list of bookmark set names in the dialogue when you are adding or modifying a bookmark and choosing a different bookmark set than the last used one? Either sort them by last change date (useful when you are adding POIs to more than one set at the same time) or by alphabetical order (possibly the best choice and also a 1-line change or so). I'm sorry I don't know the code to do a pull request myself.

#1066 is about sorting by name. There is also #1004. The "Default" sorting was initially implemented to show the last modified bookmarks at the top but was changed later for some reason. We'll do it properly.

[Donkey-Doug]

Regarding "After clicking the route button, you still have to select "route from" and "route to" for the start and end place.": do you have any ideas on how to make it better?

I think google maps nailed it. Just have a search button. After a place has been found/selected, show options on what to do next. Currently there are too many options shown to the user. Keep it simple. I suggest only a search button. Three tabs after pressing search are visible: history, places and bookmarks.

[biodranik]

I think google maps nailed it. Just have a search button. After a place has been found/selected, show options on what to do next. Currently there are too many options shown to the user. Keep it simple. I suggest only a search button. Three tabs after pressing search are visible: history, places and bookmarks.

Bookmarks is a very popular feature of OM. It should be accessible in one click.

[pluja]

Being able to select to what bookmark list I want to save a certain bookmark. It defaults to the last list I added something.

How would you implement that? How it will look like for users? Any examples or ideas?

I would simply keep the function as is for a single click on bookmark icon.

But I would add that for a long press on the icon, a menu is opened with all bookmark lists. There you can select where you want to add it.

Something like this would be shown on a long click:

As you see, If I long press the bookmark icon for a certain place, I should see all my bookmark lists and be able to select where I want to add it. Otherwise, if I click it once (normal action) it would add it to the last used bookmark list. How do you see this idea @biodranik ?

PS. Also, I would love to be able to see my bookmarks as a result when I search on the search bar. Right now, I can't search and get a bookmark as a result. For exapmle, if I save my Work place in bookmarks, and then I search for "Work" on the searchbar I can't see my bookmark.

[Donkey-Doug]

Being able to select to what bookmark list I want to save a certain bookmark. It defaults to the last list I added something.

How would you implement that? How it will look like for users? Any examples or ideas?

I would simply keep the function as is for a single click on bookmark. But I would add that for a long click, screen is opened with your bookmarks list where you can select where to add it.

Something like this would be shown on a long click:

Also, I would love to be able to see my bookmarks as a result on the search bar. Right now, I can't search and get a bookmark as a result.

Exactly as I recommended: #1409

[biodranik]

The only problem is that a long tap is not discoverable by users.

P.S. bookmarks search of course should be implemented. Is there already an issue for that?

[10maurycy10]

I think a menu for changing rendering priority and disabling/enabling rendering would be very nice. For example if you are driving, you dont want to see POIs, just roads

[adrium]

First of all, awesome app, thanks! ❤️

I think #1373 would be great to have.

[phu9Suop]

Search preferences : Prefer identical spelling over distance.
I feel stupid , when I key in a Place - off the visual map - and the app offers me everything but not the identical named item.
I tap Laxenb , the text completion offers Laxenburg , I confirm and the app gives me Luxemburg.
Laxenburg is not to be seen anywhere in the results. In this case both targets are several 100 kms away.

[jwmh]

“Add UI Settings - Choice: “Route From MyLoc Always, or Sometimes (ask), or Never”” #5398

[dandud100]

Regarding Tracks: Display the end point of an gpx track as a flag and add the name of it on top of the marker.

[bveldkamp]

Being able to select to what bookmark list I want to save a certain bookmark. It defaults to the last list I added something.

How would you implement that? How it will look like for users? Any examples or ideas?

Maybe like how YouTube does this. It saves bookmarks to the last used list, but then shows a pop-up for a few seconds, "Bookmark saved to [name], click to change". Tapping the pop-up will give the option to move the Bookmark to a different list.

[dpriskorn]

"Render the name of the track on the map"
what's meant by track? Highway=track?

[RedAuburn]

"Render the name of the track on the map" what's meant by track? Highway=track?

it means imported GPX/KML tracks :)

[stibinator]

When you search for a location the results are displayed without enough detail. For example if I search for High St, there are half a dozen results, but they don't display what suburb each one is in. Same for searches for say, stores or venues, when there are multiple results you have to open each one to find which it is.

[stibinator]

In a related issue, there's no way back to the results once you have clicked on one of them, going back takes you back to the main map screen, so you have to repeat the search.

[pastk]

I think its good to create separate issues for ideas voiced here, because ideas just got lost in this super long thread..

[dpriskorn]

@biodranik are you currently using GitHub peoject?
If not, I highly recommend it.
It has nice kanban functionality so you can easily overview the issues
Also you can group by tags, priority, milestone, etc.

[biodranik]

GitHub Projects require linking to existing issues anyway for convenient functionality. If we focus on sorting around existing 1800+ issues, you won't get Organic Maps updates in the next two or free months :) Any ideas and help on organizing them here are greatly appreciated.

[dpriskorn]

I have been in the same situation with fewer issues so I understand what you mean.
What about using milestones as a start?

[rtsisyk]

@biodranik this epic is too broad. It should be fine to keep more specific domain-scoped "epics" that points to even more specific tickets.

[biodranik]

Agree. Any volunteers to carefully help with that?

[nelsonaelam]

With all the awesome new data in the December 23rd update for the outdoors view (thank you!!!), I think a key/legend would be very helpful. When I pull up similar data in OpenStreetMap there seems to be a key.

[biodranik]

Try to tap or long-tap on unknown objects.

[nelsonaelam]

Thanks! That works sometimes in areas with other infrastructure, but in a forest area with a lot of different types of trails/tunnels/etc, I just get Forest/Grassland/Shelter and nothing for the trails there. An example of this is at 59.447472, 17.903183.

If the long press option worked as described, I still think a key with a list of the different trail/road types and the colors associated would be helpful. On openstreetmap, there is an "i" icon on the right hand side of the screen that has this information in the form of a map key.

[pastk]

Thanks! That works sometimes in areas with other infrastructure, but in a forest area with a lot of different types of trails/tunnels/etc, I just get Forest/Grassland/Shelter and nothing for the trails there. An example of this is at 59.447472, 17.903183.

This specific example is a contour line / altitude isoline and its deliberately not selectable and its assumed that people who have enabled contour lines know what it is.

Other lines (e.g. different trail types, rivers, fences, etc.) and area fills are long-tappable / selectable.

[d1820]

The ability on an import to select the icon color. When you import different files they all get assigned the same one. Then you have to go one by one to change them. With 1000s of waypoints no way im gonna do that. The color is super important especially when looking at multiple lists on the map. Gaia GPS lets you assign at the folder level or select all in a folder and change for all. This goes well with the multi edit suggestion above.

[biodranik]

@d1820 there is already #5637