Deep link to current view of map

[fancyham]

Overview

Enable Person A to share the map that they're seeing to Person B

Details

Goal: Make it easier to share a link to a specific location on the map

Why: On Google Maps (on the web), as one pans around and zooms, the URL itself updates automatically.

This allows people to easily share what they’re looking at with someone else. The URL, when opened, takes the recipient directly to the view that the sender was looking at. This URL can also be bookmarked.

Could we do something similar for Food Oasis?

This may also be useful for centering embedded maps — allowing an organization to choose a center and display a specific location upon loading.

Embedded maps may be harder to share as the URL is not exposed to the user, so in that case, perhaps a ’share’ button?

Example URL from Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Panorama+City,+Los+Angeles,+CA/@34.229513,-118.4658597,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x80c2912cd03ee619:0x72095a64529a613c!8m2!3d34.2215391!4d-118.4487995!16zL20vMDI4NXA5?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Solution:

• Change search results page's URL from https://foodoasis.la/organizations to something like https://foodoasis.la/organizations?search_address=panorama+city,+ca&zoom=3&gps="34.229513,-118.4658597"
  • This link should update as the map is panned around such that forwarding a link takes recipient to the same screen user is currently looking at.

Alternative solution, if the above really isn't possible or desirable:

• Add a 'Share button/link' in the embedded widget view that displays the deep-link URL (perhaps similar to the ’share’ button on YouTube). This 'share' button/link could also appear at the top of the list of search results. (near where "604 results" appears now)

Action Items

• [ ] Investigate how hard it would be to update the URL field for search results screen with a deep-link to the current view, and adding a share link
• [ ] Discuss alternatives, if necessary
• [ ] Implement beta
• [ ] Test it -- ask users if this works well for them or is adding problems
• [ ] Make public

Resources/Instructions

• See maps.google.com and copy the URL
• See youtube.com and click the ‘share’ button and see how the deep link appears