Wayfarer Feature Request
tehstone-ING
Posts: 1,157 Ambassador
The past week has seen several threads with a variety of takes on the recent update to the Wayfarer website including the bugs it introduced, the certain 3rd party tool it broke, and the general lack of user friendliness. In the comments of one such thread, another user pointed out that Niantic may not be as aware of the features we desire as we think they are. Many of these features have been added in the Wayfarer+ plugin and a lot of reviewers have come to rely on those features to improve the reviewing and nomination management experience. I fully understand that some of the features added by Wayfarer+ are frowned upon by Niantic and lead to reviewers acting in ways that are considered abuse, such features are not included here. That said, some features lie in a grey area and these are noted. Additionally, there are features that can't or haven't been added to this plugin that would further improve the experience. So here, in one list are all of these features.
- translation tools (note that while this currently just adds a link to a google translate page, this could easily be handled automatically within the web page based on the user's chosen language setting)
- nomination stats (total, approved, denied, dupe, withdrawn, in voting, in queue, upgraded)
- nominations map
- keyboard reviewing - number keys select each rating in order at the very least, though keys to submit review, choose rejection reasons from the dialog, and navigate the "what is it?" dialog would also be great
- upgrade progress % on icon - very basic add
- default sort and filter for nominations - 99% of the time i visit my nominations page i immediately filter to just "in voting and in queue", having some way to make this or any other filter the default would be so nice
- better dark mode
- review history - doesn't need to have the full set of info currently available in the W+ review history but some basics such as title and primary photo plus location would be very nice for reporting abuse after the fact.
- condensed view/compact card view - the elements on the page don't need to be so large
- additional maps - particularly useful for reviewers outside the US who use maps more suited to their area than google's
- full featured map on nominations view/default street view on nominations page - this map has now been converted to a preview image in the same way as the duplicates map and it is very unfriendly. being able to see what streetview image reviewers will see is key in determining if new imagery should be added to google
- report abuse button that redirects to form
- pop up notification when nominations are upgraded, go into voting, reach a decision - this could even include a time/date stamp to better help us track our nominations
Grey area items:
- 20min timer - though this is often used for other purposes, it is very useful for making sure reviews don't time out
- gps coordinates displayed for nominations - this has some downsides but is helpful for tracking nominations in a spreadsheet as many of us do
- open in intel link on review page - a shortcut to view info Niantic may not want us checking while reviewing but there are certainly valid reasons for doing so and it just cuts out several steps that can be done manually.
@NianticGiffard @NianticKN-ING @NianticTintino @NianticPooja
Comments
Features not currently in Wayfarer:
Thank you for compiling this list!
Thanks for compiling these @tehstone-ING. Many of these enhancements made me more confident I was making high-quality decisions on wayspots. I wish/hope Niantic wants quality decisions and realizes how much these things can help us.
I likes the agreements percentage, dunno if you listed that, but Its one I liked
I would like to see
This would help to avoid circular reviewing, since the most upvotes photo in Ingress might not actually be representative of the current object in the real world (the older the portal, the more votes it will accumulate over the course of it's life, and make it more difficult to make a new photo the "cover" photo, and what we need to see in Wayfarer).
Love this. Thank you.
I personally never used the keyboard commands that WF+ had... But that is a basic accessibility feature, The W3C WAI outlines it https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility "Some people cannot use a mouse" "An accessible website does not rely on the mouse; it makes all functionality available from a keyboard."
Thanks for calling this out, I didn't go into any detail about why this is so crucial but this is a key part of it. I have regular RSI issues and being able to review with keyboard helps to avoid some of those issues in addition to being convenient.
This might be a big issue as it might conflict with the American with Disabilities Act.
Of all of these, I find the lack of a translation link the most frustrating. We have been encouraged to review in other parts of the world with local languages many are not familiar with. I definitely enjoy reviewing in different countries and different places to see what non-tourist areas are like in other countries. I have my bonus location currently set in a different country, and having some translation feature/link would make reviewing much more enjoyable, rather than having to copy text, go to a different tab, paste in the text, then go back to Wayfarer.
I never thought about how Title III applies to websites, but wow yeah, that's a good point.
If Niantic wants us to review differently when a nomination is 40m from single family residence / private property - they need to show us a 40m ring around the nomination.
The showcased examples should be exciting! A big reason for reviewing is to see interesting things. Currently the showcase is always the most boring things (and often invalid waypoints). Maybe trusted reviewers could nominate iconic waypoints? Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, etc.
I'd love a map of my nominations! And nomination stats! What's my acceptance percentage over all time? What do I have over the past year?
Yeah, I learned about accessibility in web design when I learned basic HTML and CSS in high school... In 2010 over a decade ago. Which I never pursued and never learned more so completely useless knowledge now. 😂
But come on, a third party plugin had to add that basic function?
But most of the things hit on in this post is what I'm looking for and like from WF+, nomination stats and map, translation tool, better maps in reviews, edit submission tracking too.
Search for Beyoncé and the lawsuit over her website in 2019
I've had a thought though its probably not part of wayfarer to an extent. While reviewing (did aa few this morning as I'm trying to get to an upgrade), I came across q few location edits for things that neither place was correct, because it was clear that the original point was more than 20 meters from where it actually was (don't think it was malicious or anything, cause when I got a few in quick succession, I checked the last one on iitc and neither move would have changed its place in a cell, nor was the place it was in a different cell or or close to another portal). So I couldn't actually pick wither to be correct, though I picked the closest. So my request is basically, increase the 10 meter edits, make it 20, see how well that goes for a while and if there's still not much in the way of abuse, up it again to 30m (i also have a personal preference for this, I have made a location edit, but the edit I wanted to make was like 12 meters to get it to the correct place, but couldn't go exactly to it, partly for correction, but also to guarantee that when it's moved to the correct location, I can add another portal that was within 20m of the wrong position but won't be when the moved portal is in the correct position)
The above post made me think that maybe more options are needed on locations edits. There's a checkbox for "can't find an appropriate location" but it feels like that doesn't really tell the whole story. We could have options like "I don't know", "neither location is correct", "both are acceptable". But then maybe that might lead to people spamming "I don't know" just to get back to the new waypoint nominations, instead of doing edits.
There needs to be legitimate supporting info for edits. Because when its 2 spots, inside a building or an area that doesn't have streetview/good satellite imagery, these edits just stay in review purgatory and eventually impatience or multiple people editing racks up tons of edit points on the map and it becomes physically impossible to ever reach a consensus on an edit.
Agree that the current location edits system needs a lot of help. I'm sure we've all seen edits where there are 5+ dots all close together. How is that ever going to reach a consensus?
A list of 20 suggestions, after a significant amount of time was spent on this redesign has the appearance of being extremely demanding. Especially, when there are ambiguous things like "better dark mode".
You should have explained things better in some cases. For example, you could have explained that keyboard functions help people with limited vision or nerve conditions with neurolopothy or tremor toggle the drop downs better.
If you wanted functions modified, then organizing them in priority or category would have been a good idea.
A lot of that sounds like the kind of information that would bias the decision they want you to make. The idea seems to be for you to make a decision without any bias towards (or against) the status quo.
Some of this has been asked for for years now and the rest is known among the community as useful features so the purpose here was to compile it for Niantic. If they want us to review, they should provide a nice user experience for reviewing.
A large portion of the photo edits I review are for churches that have changed names and it's unclear which is the newer one. Then some time later I'll review a title edit for that same waypoint and again there's no good way to know which is current. There are other valid reasons for wanting this info but this is one example.
One way to improve Dark Mode is to not use a dark font on a dark background in the duplicate check pop-ups. I always need to highlight the title of the potential duplicate to read it, or click again to bring it up in a dedicated tab. Either way, additional arm movements.
Would it have hurt to put things into ADA compliant issues, really necessary, and nice to have? It's unrealistic to have this many features incorporated in a short period of time.
I know you think the community wants this but the community includes more than your discord. Between this and the list of ten bugs reports in another thread, all that's happening is that they're hoping the reviewing continues and the complaints go away. The sheer volume things is distracting. I want one fixed. I want them to stabilize the website to not have the idiotic flashing between reviews being loaded. This is getting buried under a lot of feature requests.
Why not be the poster you wish others to be?
I am seeing posts from the same username saying the new system has no problems, NIA hasn’t acknowledged the bugs so they are working as intended, plus a bunch of complaints about the format and content of other people’s lists.
Think it can be done better? DO it better.
Most of the items on this list are things that I have read numerous comments asking for on these forums, on reddit, on a couple of TG chats, and other discord servers. They are by no means the wishes of a limited group. Why are you so focused on nay saying here? These features would benefit most reviewers and all you can do is derail the conversation.
I understand. I won't further derail your features requests. I've mailed my request for the potentially seizure causing issues with the new website to be looked at to corporate headquarters in the US post.
I have no problem with prioritizing issues and improvements that lessen physical pain or danger for a subset of reviewers over admittedly nice quality-of-life popular suggestions.
I know you're also able to file ADA greivences online if that matters to you.
I'd really like it if they brought back streetview on our own nominations. Sometimes the pin drops in a silly place. I would always check before something went into voting to see if my sphere was live, and edit my supporting statement accordingly eg "Please check xxxx for sphere" or "pin dropped 5m out, please correct it" now I just have to wait and see. Why take that away?
I agree with you, streetview and map view should be back on nominations page, it was really helpfull feature.
There is a thread about it in "Report a bug" section: https://community.wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/discussion/22143/unable-to-see-google-street-view-on-wayfarer-nominations-pages#latest
If you didn't visit it yet (or anyone else who's reading this post), please upvote it too and leave a comment, maybe we will get some more attentiont about it from Niantic that way :)