interesting… there appears to be a dead spot in the top-left part of my Explore map (a rectangle maybe 250px tall and 500px wide, starting from the top-left corner), but only when you’re zoomed in enough that the map shows pins and not circles. if you shift some pins into that dead spot, they become unclickable. if you shift them out of the spot, they become clickable again. seems to happen in both Edge and Chrome. can anyone else confirm?
i think the Explore map is implemented as 3 layers. there’s a layer on the bottom that consists of a set of tiled map image files (.png) from Google, there’s a layer in the middle that consists of tiled marker image files (.png) from iNat, and there’s a grid structure (a UTFGrid) on top of that which is paired with the marker image tiles. that grid structure is what you actually interact with when you click. it’s tiled, too, and each grid tile, in turn, is ultimately partitioned into 4px x 4px (or maybe 8x8?) squares. so although you see a pin image, you’re effectively trying to click or interact with a 4x4 square.
sometimes your computer will get and display the pin tiles before it has fully loaded the grid (or a tile within that grid). so in that situation, although you see the pins, it will seem like you’re not able to click the pins. that should only be temporary though, unless there’s a problem with the delivery of a grid tile. (failed delivery should be an unusual case.)
although the true point of the pin should be somewhere in the 4x4 square, i think the position of that point within the square is variable. sometimes it can be in the bottom-right corner of the square or in the top-left corner of the square, etc. so that can make it appear as if you have to click in an unexpected spot, though you should never have to click too far from the expected spot (unless maybe you’ve just shifted the map or zoomed in/out and your computer is still trying to catch up).
you’ll also get a different set of tiles (map + marker + grid) at different zoom levels. so that may explain why zooming in and out fixes – or at least appears to fix – things sometimes.
i don’t think either of the above things – the timing difference between load of pins and grid, or the variability of alignment between pins and grid – is necessarily a problem. that’s just the way this kind of setup works. but the dead spot that i think i see (mentioned in an earlier post) probably can and should be fixed, if it is indeed a problem. can anyone else verify the dead spot in the upper-left corner?
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I can confirm that on the explore page there’s a dead area in the upper-left. I used to zoom in or out trying to get things to work, but it turns out dragging the marker to the lower-right consistently works, and dragging it back causes it to stop working again.
I think zooming in just happens to make the markers move a little towards the center of the page.
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i also think i see a dead zone in the map on the observation detail page on the web site. it also appears to be a rectangle that begins in the upper-left corner of the map and extends to the right just past the midpoint of the map and to down about 3/4ths or 4/5ths of the way. in other words, it covers most of the left side of that map. can anyone else (@JeremyHussell?) confirm this?
EDIT: i think this happens only when my web browser is sized (snapped) to take up either the left half or the right half of my screen (in Windows 10), but i see it in either Edge or Chrome. if my browser window is full screen or some other size, i don’t see the problem.
EDIT #2: actually, I think the key is that the size of the browser window has to have a relatively small width (possibly relative to height). (snapping the window to the right or left side of the screen decrease the [relative?] width of the window.)
I never work with a browser window that is not fully sized, or in split screen but I certainly get the problem.
yes, the split screen seems to be required for the dead spot in the observation detail page map.
(EDIT: or maybe is it’s a relatively small window width relative to window height?)
however, the dead spot in the Explore map seems to occur regardless of screen size. the key there is that you have to be zoomed in close enough for the circles to become pins (zoom level >=10).
it looks like the map on the taxon page also has a dead spot in the upper-left corner, but only when zoomed in (so that the markers become pins instead of circles), similar to the problem in the Explore map. i guess every map in the website may potentially have a problem, and whoever ultimately attempts to fix the problem should make sure all affected maps are fixed.
Split this into a separate issue. I can replicate in Chrome on my iMac, window is not full-sized. I’ll make an issue.
@tiwane – just to clarify, the maps on the Explore and Taxon pages do have a problem, but the map on the observation detail page also has a problem (which is slightly different). were you able to replicate that issue, too? i just wanted to make sure because the issue you’ve written in GitHub mentions only the Explore and Taxon maps. i haven’t checked all the other maps in the website, but someone should probably go through and check them.
We just released a fix that is working on taxon page and explore maps for me. How’s it working for you all?
@pisum I wasn’t able to replicate any bugs on observation detail pages. If you are still having an issue with it, feel free to file a bug on Github.
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looks like the fix worked. it looks good in all three places that i noted earlier. thanks.
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