Geolocate the user

[jimsafley]

See #5 for previous discussion about this.

Currently this is the way we handle geolocating the user:

• Upon first map load, we ask the user to share her location (this does not apply on subsequent loads);
• If the user agrees, we determine whether the coordinates fall within the Mall or surrounding area;
  • If so, the map pans and zooms to the detected location and places a user location marker on the map;
  • If not, the map centers on the Mall.
• The map continuously watches for location changes and updates the location marker accordingly.

One question I have is what behavior the user will expect once the map determines that her coordinates lie outside the Mall and surrounding area. Should we alert her that she's out of bounds and that we're centering the map on the Mall? Or should we just fail silently? My concern is that when we ask permission to locate a user, many would expect to be located explicitly on the map.

This isn't the easiest behavior to test unless you're on the Mall, so I hope to get some on-location testing done soon.

[zerocrates]

I would think you should have some little notice explaining that you're outside the Mall so there won't be locating/tracking, so the user can at least see that the geolocation "Allow" they clicked did something.

Does the "watch" updating of the location just update the marker, or does it also recenter the map? Re-centering seems like something you'd want to be able to toggle, or have automatically disabled if you manually move the map (but then you'd still want to be able to easily jump the center back to your current location).

I'm thinking of what Google Maps Navigation does: the map center follows you by default, but if you pan around yourself, it stops following, and a button appears. Clicking that button snaps the view back to your current location and restarts the following.

[jimsafley]

Right now I have it so the map pans/zooms only on the first load. Subsequent loads update the location marker but do not recenter the map. We plan on including a "locate me" button that will recenter. So, yes, we're doing things much like Google Maps.

[sheilabrennan]

Earlier today, I was showing someone that map while I was in MD. I was asked if it could use my current location, I said Ok, and it centered me on the Mall. I was glad it did that, rather than not showing me anything because I was too far away--which has happened to me with apps if I'm not on-site. That bugs me.

I like that is quietly failed because I got to browse the historical layers without needing to be there.

Also, now at home, I chose not to share my location and I was centered on the Mall, and that is also good and expected.