Online search

freischneider · August 17, 2023, 08:20:35

Quote from: Andrew Heard on August 17, 2023, 00:49:58Regards the latest 4.18.2 online search results & sharing from Google Maps. For me, it's the same experience as reported in previous beta @ https://forum.locusmap.eu/index.php?topic=8436.msg72716#msg72716. Although the release notes mention search improvement, I didn't notice any change.

I still have poor results here as well. Maybe it's because Google Maps doesn't append usable data when sharing. Coordinates would be important here. Maybe Google only gives the name. But also with this should come good results.

michaelbechtold · August 17, 2023, 11:15:34

@Jan: I gave 2 hiking target examples from BC, Canada many weeks back.

Jan Čapek · August 17, 2023, 17:45:25

Again that Google Maps sharing.

Wait please for next release of the app, I believe it will have major impact on your experience in this. Marek and Menion are doing their magic tricks there now.

Lets just hope Google don't change the things on their side soon again..

On other hand, all reports of bad experience while using our new online search are welcomed as we are able to separate/sort them into technical aspects which we are planning to focus on. This give us better ability to determine whether our expected implementations will make significant change for you or not. Thanks.

Andrew Heard · August 18, 2023, 00:48:14

Quote from: freischneider on August 17, 2023, 08:20:35I still have poor results here as well. Maybe it's because Google Maps doesn't append usable data when sharing. Coordinates would be important here. Maybe Google only gives the name. But also with this should come good results.

@freischneider - but the app that @0709 mentioned https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.donutpond.sharecoordinates a few weeks ago for sharing between GM & LM works perfect, so it is definitely not a Google Maps issue (IMHO). My Android version is old (V8) & @joeloc mentions issues with current Android. The developer says up to Android 10.

freischneider · August 25, 2023, 17:36:01

Sharing from G-Maps works perfectly with the new version. I tried it with different types of maps poi.
Thanks

Andrew Heard · August 26, 2023, 01:18:26

4.18.2.2 - yes sharing GMaps to LM4 working for me too. Excellent. Although not mentioned in release notes?

settings > Navigation > Router (LoRouter) > Profiles setup > (spanner) Active profiles > random crash while list is displayed, happened once, didn't happen for this report ;-(

Tapio · August 26, 2023, 07:55:24

Nice, but parsing of OLC still lacking ("HGVV+465, Lünen" not working).

I think this is the root cause for this: Autobahn parking fails to share to Locus, Locus finds another parking in the town. Umlaut issue?
👉 https://maps.app.goo.gl/FXxfijJBTn62PGDV7

T-mo · August 26, 2023, 13:44:54

Seems like the filter-chain is not yet optimised.

I used some city names for simple search tests.
Was going for 'Gütersloh' and looked for the search-as-you-type-results.
'Güters' (while typing) is tricky as 'Güter' is a german word for cargo and goods, and street is 'Straße' in german, also starting with s - so you will get a lot of 'Güterstraße' of different towns, not that uncommon.
At least no city 'Gütersloh' as top-posititioned suggestion.
Google does different, quite experienced with searches, they classify search requests by types and top-position towns or other popular interests.
Similar to 'Dor' when going for Dortmund or Dorsten.

Maybe you prefer some close-range-experience, nevertheless I sometimes found myself in a situation to quickly look for some locations due to very different reasons. Currently I go with Google maps.

IMHO some category- and some priority-evaluation makes sense as part of the filter-chain (sorting of available results).

freischneider · January 31, 2024, 21:19:06

I like the online search more and more. Especially for LoPois. I search for the category "Parking lot" or "Water point" etc. They are all displayed and highlighted on the map. If I zoom out further, they are updated immediately.
Unfortunately, this is missing when you go to search offline locations (LoPois). Then only a list of POIs is displayed.
Please make the offline area the same as the online area.

Another idea. If there is an online connection, always search online. As soon as there is no longer a connection, automatically switch the search to offline. Now I always have to go to the menu in the search and change it.

Jan Čapek · February 13, 2024, 09:13:56

Hi freischneider, thanks for the ideas. Yes, both are planned, we only had to put bigger search upgrades on hold due to other dev priorities, so hopefully we will get back to it in the mid of this year. So sorry it takes so long to continue on this.

T-mo · March 11, 2024, 21:18:50

I know OSM is quite heterogenous, but it's still too easy to let the online search fail..results while fueling my private jet

(correctly it's McDonald's without blank, white space, and with 's, so it's originally due to the underlying OSM-database. But still fun as being a very popular example about how to handle popular typos, misspellings, multiple entries)

T-mo · March 12, 2024, 23:05:55

I searched for
hotel
Bier
Museum
and get results at 8th position very far away, 1000s of km, france, congo, kenya..
With 'bier' 1st suggestion might be a category like pub, food&drink, Trinkhalle..something with some very basic logic.
#filterchain

Andrew Heard · March 13, 2024, 05:34:49

@T-mo - I've mentioned this (stupid far away search results) a few times, but fell on deaf ears. Has never made sense to me either ;-(

druki · March 17, 2024, 13:47:34

Quote from: T-mo on March 12, 2024, 23:05:55I searched for
hotel
Bier
Museum
and get results at 8th position very far away, 1000s of km, france, congo, kenya..
With 'bier' 1st suggestion might be a category like pub, food&drink, Trinkhalle..something with some very basic logic.
#filterchain

In my eyes the mixup of different searches in one new "online search" is maybe good for "getting any result", but it is hard as a user to understand that there are "different context of the results" (is it a category? or a POI found somewhere in the Locus World? or is it a result of a dedicated location search of a framework/Internetservice?). This mixup of context is for me one reason why it is so difficult as a user to explain how the current new online search can be improved (most users that complain probably just want it "better" - they don't want to think about context - but the new online search feels "be forced to provide only small junks of context information as a global result"). To make it short: I have trouble finding good results! I started using workarounds for having good results™ like...

1. using Locus Offline POI database navigation in categories with nearby list and map display (good for finding OSM maintained data like museum, toilet, pub - hey, distances to map center works here correctly! - you only have to learn your favourite categories),
2. switching to Wikipedia search in Locus (good for finding sightseeing locations, correct distances),
3. using offline address search in Locus (good for finding addresses in OSM data - exact spelling necessary, choosing north/south of a country is a try&error method),
4. search in google maps and open the location in Locus (good for finding the best results - handling is not the easiest solution because of the media break)

Ideas: If results should include a mixup of different sources, there could be a ranking algorithm that matches "the real needs of the users". If this is not possible or additionally, it could be more easy to switch fast between the usecases like category search, name of POI search, address search (one that is working like a charm), sightseeing search by Wiki etc.). Single search usecases by those sources as usable symbols for the toolbars would be loveley.

michaelbechtold · March 17, 2024, 20:39:48

For Android there is still the option to have Google results via API, free of charge (as per Menion, last year's discussion).

But it is a decision by the Asammm search folks to not integrate that. It would be easy to merge those results or keep this Google search as an additional option in your list, druki.

The earlier argument that Android and iOS should have same features is not valid anyways and a pretty bad excuse. Because the feature set for iOS will be smaller, for many years to come.

A solid search feature incl. Google search API is simply a question of will, not effort or anything else, I think.