Don't lose map location when "Update Observations" button not clicked

Feature Requests
1

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been burned by the user interface in the manual location geotagger when uploaded a new observation (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/upload). (I know, I know: fool me twice, shame on me. I’m a slow learner; what can I say.) You zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom from the world all the way in to your location, find the right spot, drop a pin, adjust the precision circle – and then click the “close” x in the top right to dismiss the pop-up map pane. Gotcha! You’ve just lost all your work and have to start again because you forgot to click “Update Observations.” A better user interface would be for any pin to be saved automatically unless the user clicks “Cancel.”

I geotag manually a fair bit, whether it’s because I’m entering old obs that don’t have exif geotags or because I’m entering ones taken at home – I turn off camera geotagging there for privacy and offset the location manually (too much to go wrong otherwise). So it really is important to me for that user interface to work well.

2

Would removing the X from the pop-up solve this, so that the only way to close it would be to click cancel or update observations?

You might try using the search bar to get the map to the general area rather than zooming in. Not sure which would be faster for you, but it’s worth a shot.

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3

Thanks, Tony. Yes, if there were no was to close the pop-up without making an affirmative choice, that would totally solve the problem. Is that allowed (a popup with no x)? If so, go for it! And thanks for the map tip – I kinda got out of the habit of using map name searches because the syntax can be so fussy (is it “New Brunswick, NJ, USA” or “New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA” or "“New Brunswick, NJ”?), but I have no doubt that iNat’s is implemented in a robust and user-friendly fashion.

2 Likes