Use Case: Bookmark/export a location

[AmeliaBR]

This issue is for discussion of the use case “Bookmark a location”, its examples & list of required capabilities.

This is a placeholder. There will likely be a couple related user-focused use cases for exporting or extracting map data. I'm not sure how much we want to combine them versus call them out individually. Examples:

• bookmark a view/location so you can come back to it the next time you visit the webpage
• export a location (e.g., marker point) for use in another mapping app (e.g., to get directions)
• save an image of the current map view
• print the current map view

[prushforth]

A map document could define a fragment identifier syntax for locations, in the same way that HTML documents supports id fragments. But because a map on a web page a) doesn't have to be the only map and b) there can be many layers on the maps, what would a fragment mean/do? I have made these pages capture a fragment recording the #zoom,longitude,latitude structured fragment (anonymous fields in a structure being very fraught due to coordinate order semantics)

[Malvoz]

There is a TAG design review request for a "scroll to text"-fragment:

we have been exploring the idea of having a delimiter such as ## to indicate the start of the targetText directive in the URL fragment

If adopted, it could perhaps help this case. ^^

[Malvoz]

Although may be considered related to:

• export a location (e.g., marker point) for use in another mapping app (e.g., to get directions)

Another use case could be a user wanting to share e.g. a location with another user, in which the related web specification Web Share API seems a good fit. Explainer: https://github.com/WICG/web-share/blob/master/docs/explainer.md

[AmeliaBR]

@Malvoz That's a good reference. Web share is also relevant for sharing data with a mapping application on the user's device, or with a web app — the share target doesn't have to be a messaging app. So part of this use case could be addressed by proposing an extension to the Web Share API that defines an optional location data object. Then a native map widget could build on that same sharing interface.

[prushforth]

A map document, which has a URL and a media type is also a general expression of location. So sharing a map document is as simple as sharing its URL.