OpenStreetMap

osm.org on Smartphone

Posted by Aury88 on 18 March 2016 in English. Last updated on 20 March 2016.

There is something strange in the osm.org behavior on my smartphone …when I try to add a note on the map I’m catapulted far away from where I centered the map. for example: Here is where I want to add a note So I press the Note icon and BANG!!!: My new position is here

With zoom 15 I’m a kilometer away from the first position…depending on the zoom the distance change in proportion, but always the second position is in an area outside the first viewed area, so you need to move the note indicator in a randomic way to search the initial position (and this can take some time)

I do not know if it is a smartphone browser problem or of our beloved site, but in the current state using the site for the insertion of notes on the map is extremely difficult from a smartphone.

Now that the majority of the network connections are made from a mobile device, and seen that the inclusion of a note is an activity that a (casual-)user could easily decide to do in real-time (when he notices a discrepancy with reality while around with smartphone), I think this could be a serious disadvantage for our map…Am I wrong?

I know there are specific and useful apps to modify the map or add a note, but a casual user would never install any of those just for an occasional addition.

So am I doing something wrong with my smartphone, is a my smartphone fault or do you note the same behavior?

The OSM site is fantastic and the work done by the developers is wonderful and awesome, but a site more suitable for the smartphones can be even more functional and useful for the project, so I really hope this is only a my smartphone problem ;-)

An hug

Discussion

Comment from Piskvor on 18 March 2016 at 11:18

Interesting. Maybe try asking that at https://help.openstreetmap.org/ - more people read that site than OSM blogs :)

Comment from Aury88 on 19 March 2016 at 07:00

@Piskvor: probably, but I fear that is not the right place either…it’s probably better to fill a bugreport to the developer page or something like the osm.org github page if they exist :-/

Comment from Aury88 on 19 March 2016 at 07:19

@Piskvor: I found the github page (that was not so easy, we really need a “Report a problem” link xD ) there is already a issues filled by erjiang

Cheers

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