Title: Suggestion: Improved Compass / Goniometer for Map Orientation
Hello Mapy.com team, Im Sonia from Italy.
I would like to suggest a small but, I believe, very useful improvement to the Android app, especially for people who use Mapy.com while cycling, hiking or exploring an area offline.
The app already has a small compass showing the main geographical directions (N, E, S, W). I find this very useful, but its current position in the corner of the screen and its small size make it difficult to use as a practical orientation tool while outdoors.
My suggestion would be to make this compass available as an optional, larger and more visible overlay directly on the map, ideally centred on the user's current GPS position.
It could work something like a simple digital goniometer / compass rose, showing:
N – NE – E – SE – S – SW – W – NW
There would be no need to display all 360 degrees. The eight main and intermediate directions would already be sufficient and would keep the graphic clean and easy to read.
For example, while cycling, I might see a church tower, a town, a mountain or another landmark on the map. With this overlay, I could immediately understand that the landmark is, for example, north-east of my current position, and I could then look in that physical direction to try to identify it in the landscape.
I think this could be particularly useful when using Mapy.com offline, because it would provide an immediate visual orientation reference without requiring an Internet connection.
Perhaps the existing compass could be expanded rather than creating a completely new feature. For example:
the compass could become larger when this mode is activated;
it could be displayed around the user's current GPS position;
it could optionally be movable by the user;
it could retain the current behaviour where the user can choose between keeping North fixed or having the map rotate according to the direction of movement/device orientation;
the overlay could be semi-transparent so that it does not obscure the map.
I already use a simple version of this idea on the web version of Mapy.com on my Linux computer. I created a small goniometer myself using Stylus, which adds the main and intermediate compass directions directly to the Mapy.com map.
I use it during bicycle trips and have found it very useful: when I see a landmark on the map, such as a church tower, a town or a mountain, the goniometer makes it immediately clear in which geographical direction that landmark lies relative to my current position.
This is actually what made me think that a similar, integrated feature could be very useful in the Mapy.com Android app, especially when using the maps offline.
It would not need to be a sophisticated navigation instrument. A simple, clearly visible N / NE / E / SE / S / SW / W / NW reference centred around the user's position would already make the map much more useful for visual orientation in the real landscape.
Thank you for considering this suggestion, and also for the excellent work you are doing with Mapy.com.
Best regards Sonia
