Notices

Yeah, sure. For plain map view, its under

Preferences/Map view/Snap position to road

and while you navigate

Preferences/Navigation/Snap position to road

While map view is set to none by default, the navigation is probably enabled. They both depend on having OSM Scout Server on device

I can report:

Is set to "none" ("nichts"),

is activated.

Is there any plan for simplifying the navigation UI flow? Right now it seems to be: tap menu button > tap Nearby Venues > set radius to 10 miles or so > tap Type > enter the destination > guess at which of the results is the one you want and tap it > tap Tap to review maneuvers or begin navigating > tap Begin

That's 8 interactions, it's super unintuitive, and I can never figure out why some addresses need to be entered in Search and others in Nearby Venues. Contrast to Google Maps, HERE Maps, or Saera, all of which have the same flow: Type the destination > select from the list of destinations, which actually contains the full address > hit "navigate".

I want to like Pure Maps, but it's just so frustrating that such a common task (navigation) is buried so far in obscure options.

Sorry, I can't understand your critiics.
Navigation with Pure Maps is no rocket science:
Tapping on Navigation symbol. Type in destination.Choose from offered destinations. Swype to left: Route is shown. For starting routing you have to make two further taps: What's so difficult???

I have to agree the navigation usability could be better. When the route is shown, there really is no indication you have to tap the upper bar to actually start navigation. At the bottom, there is a hamburger menu, but that brings you back to the destination and navigation options.
The bottom bar also has a close button. But what other than hiding the bar (which I cannot get back other than restarting the navigation procedure), what does it suppose to do?

When you do tap the top bar, you can begin, reroute, clear, etc. There's also a page navigation button marked "Navigation", which then shows the maneuvers. That button should be marked "Maneuvers", not "Navigation"

Another gripe I have: above a certain threshold, the remaining distance is rounded up to 10km resolution, e.g. it says "220km" instead of "218km". Yeah I don't need "218.621km"-precision, but I'd prefer 1km as maximum rounding resolution.

Also, I'd like to be able to rotate the map, by hand and/or compass, especially in view and follow mode. It sometimes just is easier to align the map with the situation at hand.

Thank you for constructive critique!

There are several issues that would have to be addressed to improve it. Some of them are technical which I have to figure out how to resolve, some of them are UX, which we can discuss together and find the best solution.

Before I get into the issues, here is a technical background on bottom and top panels: https://github.com/rinigus/pure-maps...ment-495933007 . As you could see, I had to explain differences between top and bottom panels already and it looks to be confusing. Hence, need to make it clear to the users is there.

@taixzo - there are two issues, as far as I can see. One of them is a difference between Nearby and Search, second is the amount of tapping.

Re Nearby vs Search and how to address that, I'll have to write regarding it later. Maybe I can do it after work, but not sure whether I will make it. Feel free to ping me regarding it if I forger, please do. One relevant issue is https://github.com/rinigus/pure-maps/issues/101 , but more is needed.

As for tapping, we have already a dedicated navigation button and there is no need to go through main menu. I'll be happy to hear suggestions on improving UX. We could use bottom panel for more interactions, but that brings me to the next question.

Should we make route similar to search results in respect of dropping it? Namely, if we make action buttons on the bottom panel, closing the panel will dismiss the route as well. I will have to add then "Nearby search" as an action button next to start, pause, clear to allow to search along the route, but I don't see anything else that would suffer. Also, closing application will drop the route as well then.

Other issues to be filed:

- precision of remaining distance up to 1 km/mile

I'll be able to deal with filing issues tonight. Feel free to file them before or anything else that I missed.

Have to work now, cannot reply as detailed as I hoped to.

UX wise i can see where Pure Maps "comes from".
It was not planned to be a simple nav-suite but has an emphasis on pre-planning and offline usage.

Why not more obviously split in two modes when we already have two buttons?

- Search button usage indicates the user wants to foremost "look around", pre-plan and decide between many offered search results. So keep everything like it is.

- Navigate Button usage indicates the user has one fixed destination in mind, does want to get there quickly and commonly using the same settings than during the last routing.

1st decision: New target or recurring target?
The current page serves that purpose well, From/To fields are nice and the shown destinations(self set POI/Bookmarks/Shortlist) help to choose places you really are familiar and just want to go back to, like home, work, your kids shool or such.

What is missing and even more important imo is a chronologic order of all past successful navigation targets/destinations in case you forgot to bookmark or have a recurring target only for few times eg.

To the functions of the buttons/fields:

The "To" field" points to a search, good. It is working awesome already if you know how to fill the adress. (For me city or postcode + street + number works 99%)
To streamline that search i would suggest to not lead to the nav-settings page at all when hitting a search result but directly go to the next screen where the route is shown. Personally i never changed anything on the settings when using the "navigate" ux path. I just want to see my route fast.

Same behaviour for the self set Bookmarks please. Hit one from first navigation page and be presented with a route directly using the settings from previous route.

Now that i see the route, maybe i was already driving all along and just hit the shortest ux path possible as of now (Nav-button form the map, hit one known Bookmark/Destination->here i am) it would be super convenient to have a remorse timer now for 5-10secs that "leads" to the final navigation page automagically.

Summing up, i suggest to more obviously separate the search and the navigate button/ux path functionality wise. Keep the search as it is and streamline the navigation path.
Imo mostly by skipping the settings page and add remorse to the rout-page to make the top black bar that starts navigation more obvious.

Even after thinking about this behaviour for a while, I still perceive implicitly leaving an ongoing navigation by closing a panel (or Pure Maps, as newly suggested here) as surprising, as discussed in issue #253:

• A user may swipe away a panel with the intention to see more of the map.
• The app might be closed accidentally or due to a technical issue.
• In these cases, the user wants to continue navigating as soon as possible, hence keeping the navigation state is needed. (I.e., starting the whole navigation anew is not helpful, but rather annoying, then.)

IMO the ongoing navigation shall only be closed, when the user explicitly intends that by tapping on an ❌, which is already offered (and working nicely) in the lower left corner of the bottom panel and, after tapping on the top panel, in the navigation setup page (as ❌ Close).

Sorry, can't reply today. But will do in near future

I looked into Google Maps and HERE. Let's get the facts straight before we discuss how we can improve Pure Maps.

I am not going to touch Nearby as navigation destination, but look into address/location search. Nearby is different in the sense that you seek for Type, not Name. It should be improved in terms of workflow, but let's get it right with the common search first.

For each of the apps, I recorded number of interactions. Observation next to the actions were not numbered, so you could compare taps/interactions separately.

For each of the apps, it is assumed that the previous routing was done with the same settings as you wish to choose this time. You route from current location, as determined by GPS. Its probably most common scenario that we need to optimize.

Pure Maps, through Search

1. Tap search button on map screen
2. Type search string
3. (assuming that you use engine with autosuggetions) Select destination
* Destination is shown on the map allowing you to inspect it
4. Tap routing sign on POI panel shown at the bottom of destination
5. Calculate route by swiping forward
* Map is shown with the route
6. Tap on the top panel, as suggested in a message in it
7. Press Begin

TOTAL:
* 7 interactions ;
* if autosuggestions didn't work - 8 interactions


Pure Maps, via Navigation

1. Tap routing icon on the map view
2. Assuming that its a new destination, Tap To - if not, select from recent list below
3. Type search string
4. (assuming that you use engine with autosuggetions) Select destination
5. Calculate route by swiping forward
* Map is shown with the route
6. Tap on the top panel, as suggested in a message in it
7. Press Begin

TOTAL:
* 7 interactions ;
* if recent destination (2,3,4 is replaced by single tap) - 5 interactions
* if autosuggestions didn't work - 8 interactions


Google Maps, via Search

1. Tap search
2. Type string
3. Tap to select result
* Destination is shown on the map allowing you to inspect it
4. Tap directions
* Route is calculated and shown for the mode that's default (used before)
5. Tap start

TOTAL:
* 5 interactions
* if recent destination is used: 4 interactions

Google Maps, via Routing

1. Tap Go
2. Tap Choose destination
3. Type string
4. Tap to select result
* Route is shown on a map
5. Tap Start

TOTAL:
* 5 interactions
* if recent destination is used: 3 interactions


HERE, via Search

1. Tap search
2. Type string
3. Tap to select result
* Destination is shown on the map allowing you to inspect it
4. Tap directions
* Routes are shown as a list
5. Select route
* Route is shown on a map
6. Tap start

TOTAL:
* 6 interactions with extra functionality in terms of route selection
* 5 interactions if we have only one route (but this is probably never)
* 5 if recent destination, but still have to select route

HERE, via Routing

1. Tap Route
2. Type destination
3. Select destination from list
* Routes are shown as a list
4. Select route
* Route shown on map
5. Tap start

TOTAL:
* 5 interactions
* 4 if recent destinations are used

HERE if pointing on map

HERE has ability to point on the map and select "Drive" from a menu that is shown while you hold down your finger

1. point to destination on a map
2. select drive by sliding a finger
3. press start

TOTAL:
* 3 interactions

So, to summarize, assuming that we have autosuggestions working in Pure Maps as in HERE and Google (if not, select an engine with autosuggestions):

New destination, Search:

Pure Maps: 7
Google Maps: 5
HERE: 6

New destination, Navigation:

Pure Maps: 7
Google Maps: 5
HERE: 5

Recent destination, Navigation:

Pure Maps: 5
Google: 3
HERE: 4

From the list above, we have extra taps due to:

* calculation of route is an action requested by user
* we don't have start button on map when route is shown


One important aspect, before we discuss how to fix it. There is a difference in functionality in navigation mode, as summarized below.

There are differences in what can be done during navigation.

Pure Maps: pretty much full functionality is available via Main Menu

Google Maps: While driving, you could access search along route (search button), maneuvers, overall route, share position, and some settings (map, units, ). Later via panel on the bottom of the screen.

HERE: access settings via tapping, select routes. no search, as far as I can see.


So, I suggest to make the following changes to improve it:

* restrict what can be done while in navigation or route is displayed. I would suggest to keep: search along route, change map, share location
* to access full functionality, navigation mode has to be dismissed
* for compensation of such dismissal, we can make a list of recent routes in Navigation page that could be used to continue navigation by tapping on them.
* this will allow me to restructure a bit and make lower panel accordingly
* add start button shown when route is displayed
* add stop and pause buttons while navigating (hidden commonly, but available via tap on a map)

Question is now whether we should also let Pure Maps calculate and show the route as soon as origin and destinations are known. If the route has to be adjusted (from car to walking, for example), user will have to get back to the routing page for adjustments.

If route calculation is automatic and start is on map, we should be on the same level with Google Maps. HERE is usually +1 for selection of a route in a list.