My location as starting point

[nilesbarnes]

User needs to be able to set current location as starting point on mobile.

[clhenrick]

Agree @nilesbarnes that this would be extremely useful, however implementing it will take some thought.

One issue here is how does someone choose setting their current location as the start location vs. setting their start location via a place name search on mobile.

A couple potential methods to achieve this might be:

1. If a user has the location control enabled, it automatically sets their start location. They would then only need to search for an end location.

2. A separate UI button or element prompts them with "use your current location as the start" or similar.

With option 1 we would need to indicate that their current location is being used as the start location some how. With option 2, a "cancel" or "no thanks" button would be needed so that the UI doesn't persist when they are using the location control.

It also makes the app logic a little more complicated as we would only enable this feature when a user hasn't already searched for a route, and right now the app isn't storing the current location in application state.

So while it's a great idea and would be very useful, it is a new feature that will take some additional time to implement.

[nilesbarnes]

@clhenrick A combo of the options is what I was thinking. A user turns on location tracking on mobile and the "search a starting point" allows them to 1. enter a location or 2. use their current location as the start point.

[danrademacher]

As noted in an earlier email conversation about making the markers draggable, the text search fields are the only way to set start and end locations in this version of the application.

Setting start automatically when they enable Locate Me implies that they are looking for a route, but things get complicated quickly -- if they have a route selected, do we check for that and not re-set the start point in that case? If they have selected start but not end, does Locate Me fill in the end point but leave start alone?

Google Maps displays your current location by default without asking you to choose a start location, and then allows you to select current location for start or end. But as before, they can route you from any arbitrary point — and also of course they have many world’s more resources to make that happen seamlessly and quickly.

Overall, I think we all agree that "Current Location" as start or end is a desirable feature, but I can't see how we can fit it into the current round of work. Niles, let's include this in project check in call we discussed this morning

[nilesbarnes]

@danrademacher Do you have times on Friday that work well? I am open after 12pm eastern.