Issue 491 in onebusaway: iPhone: Map control should show OneBusAway service area before loading route data

[onebu...@googlecode.com]

Status: New
Owner: ----

New issue 491 by roloc...@gmail.com: iPhone: Map control should show
OneBusAway service area before loading route data
http://code.google.com/p/onebusaway/issues/detail?id=491

In the iOS OneBusAway client, selecting "map" on a route view screen
currently defaults to showing the entire world until the route data is done
downloading, at which point the map is repositioned and zoomed to show the
route. Since OneBusAway's service area is pretty much known, the map
control should be initialized centered on that service area.

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Get info on a route in the iOS OneBusAway client, preferably over a slow
(3G) connection
2. Tap "View as Map"

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
Expected: Map is centered on and zoomed to the central Puget Sound region
while waiting for the route data to load
Actual: Map shows the entire world, then zooms to the route area once the
route data finishes loading

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
1.1.4 on iOS 4.3.5

Please provide any additional information below.

[onebu...@googlecode.com]

Comment #1 on issue 491 by cookieg...@gmail.com: iPhone: Map control should

show OneBusAway service area before loading route data
http://code.google.com/p/onebusaway/issues/detail?id=491

The service area is not magically "known". OneBusAway as a modular
project, and new transit agencies could be added at any time. In fact, OBA
started with just one and now has nine. These agencies have coverage from
as far south as Tumwater and as far north as Sidney, BC. So if we have a
bounding box that fits all of those, you basically get a map like this:
http://www.onebusaway.org/where/standard/agencies.action which is a view of
the state of Washington and then some. This means you're downloading tiles
that won't be useful later on and is essentially what you're doing now.

[onebu...@googlecode.com]

Comment #2 on issue 491 by cookieg...@gmail.com: iPhone: Map control should

show OneBusAway service area before loading route data
http://code.google.com/p/onebusaway/issues/detail?id=491

The service area is not magically "known". OneBusAway is a modular

[onebu...@googlecode.com]

Comment #3 on issue 491 by roloc...@gmail.com: iPhone: Map control should

show OneBusAway service area before loading route data
http://code.google.com/p/onebusaway/issues/detail?id=491

Still, from a user experience perspective, wouldn't it be less jarring to
zoom in on the route from a map of western Washington than from a map of
Africa and the Indian Ocean?

[onebu...@googlecode.com]

Comment #4 on issue 491 by cookieg...@gmail.com: iPhone: Map control should

show OneBusAway service area before loading route data
http://code.google.com/p/onebusaway/issues/detail?id=491

To me, it doesn't really make a difference. I don't use any iProducts so I
don't know what the use cases are on the OBA client on the iPlatform, but
if it were me, I wouldn't re-center the map at all while loading.

And, not sure if you know, but the area the map centers on is 0° latitude
and 0° longitude. It's a good "default" since we don't know where the
route is going to pop over to. There's an area in France where they're
actually using OBA. It's not hosted at onebusaway.org, but it is using the
OBA software, and wouldn't it be jarring to them to see a map of WA and
then have it jump to France?

[onebu...@googlecode.com]

Comment #5 on issue 491 by roloc...@gmail.com: iPhone: Map control should

show OneBusAway service area before loading route data
http://code.google.com/p/onebusaway/issues/detail?id=491

Okay, I didn't realize that the OBA app is used in service areas outside of
Washington. Knowing that, I'll concede that it'd be bad practice to
hardcode the initial zoom region.

However, here are two more data points that make me think the current
behavior should be improved:
- The OBA app downloads a list of transit agencies, which can be
associated with coordinates (see More -> Agencies -> Show on Map in the
iPhone app). The OBA service area could be determined from these
coordinates.
- Or, better: search for a route in the iPhone app. While the app is
waiting to download the route information, the map view displays the
previous region you were looking elsewhere in the app. Why not do the same
thing when opening a route map from the route info screen?

[onebu...@googlecode.com]

Updates:
Status: Accepted
Labels: Module-iPhone Type-Enhancement

Comment #6 on issue 491 by bdfer...@onebusaway.org: iPhone: Map control

should show OneBusAway service area before loading route data
http://code.google.com/p/onebusaway/issues/detail?id=491

> Or, better: search for a route in the iPhone app. While the app is

> waiting to download the route information, the map view displays the
> previous region you were looking elsewhere in the app. Why not do the
> same thing when opening a route map from the route info screen?

I agree that's doable. That said, I don't have the spare time to implement
this. If someone else wants to step up, I'd accept a patch.