As Strava has been working to expand the Fatmap engine to web, I want to make this post to point out the things it does decently, mostly misses the mark on, and really needs to do better at. I use Firefox on a Windows machine to inform my experience. I’m using an activity from a friend as examples and the opinions may not apply to other sports since cycling is my main type.
Activity Overview:
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Map window should still be resizable.
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You cannot scroll to zoom while hovering over a photo (scrolls the whole page). Ideally the photo is exactly where you want to zoom into.
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Geolocated photos should be toggleable.
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Playback of flyover should also have a playhead on the elevation graph.
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Flyover should hide the user photos or at least not obscure the line. Perhaps a pointy teardrop shape and staggered z-axis elevation to lift them from the plane?
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“Create Route” button should still say “save route” instead, unclear as-is
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Mousing over the line should reflect the location on the elevation profile, as before.
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Viewing in fullscreen should allow rotation
Activity Analysis:
- Same as above BUT the photos should be off by default since the user is probably looking closely at the route in this mode.
- Flyover should be able to play the user-selected area.
Saved Routes:
- A mini map and elevation profile should hover over the list of segments as you scroll. It’s tough to see but as you mouse over segments they highlight on the elevation and map but once you scroll a bit, they aren’t visible anymore. I’ve selected one which is just visible in my example.
General:
- Scroll to zoom feels very sloppy and loose. Could be my mouse but the previous felt just right.
- Allow the closest zoom level - 5m. Presently it zooms to 5 then snaps back to 10m
- Map tiles or 3D relief unload and reload when panning and zooming, slowing performance. 3D should be toggleable.
- The new/updated map tiles have more topographic lines, which is good, but the colors and shading make maps appear rather flat on web and in the app.
These are just my observations and wishes after getting the feature a few days ago, particularly in comparison to the last version which I was fond of. I may update the post if I discover other rough spots and encourage others to post their feedback as well. I hope my feedback could be useful especially once this engine comes to the main map and route planner.
