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Display coordinate uncertainty on maps
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Description

Feature summary : Wikibase supports uncertainty in coordinates but there is no way to for end users to visualize these. We should visually represent the uncertainty of the coordinate on the map.

I propose either zooming the map different amounts for different uncertainties. Or better we should draw a region representing the zone of uncertainty.

Use case(s) :

  • If a user sees a coordinate on an item they can verify that the latitude and longitude are in the right place by looking at the map but unless they have some idea of how big an arcsecond is they will not know if the precision is correct.
  • When comparing two coordinates with different precisions and locations a user will not know which one better captures (say) the location of a city.

Benefits (why should this be implemented?):

  • Users will be able to better distinguish coordinates of different precision. I think many users don't have an understanding of how big 1 arcsecond is.
  • If you look at https://test.wikidata.org/wiki/Q224136 you will see three coordinates with vastly different precisions (so representing vastly different kinds of coordinates) but they look identical. This presents a misleading view of the data.

Event Timeline

I don't quite get what you mean by uncertainty or zone of uncertainty. If one sets precision, say, "to an arcminute", then this is to simply omit seconds and its fractional part from display as these are not necessarily meaningful for large object/area, not that coordinates are uncertain.

It may be viable to make default zoom dependent precision indeed, though. So that higher precision would correspond to lower zoom value.

So zooming would be an ok solution.

I guess my zone of uncertainty solution relies somewhat on the interpretation of a coordinate with some precision. So the wikibase UI shows precision using ± fraction of a degree. So I'm saying that if a coordinate is ±1° we would draw a region (it's not actually an ellipse) that covers all the possible coordinates in that range. So for 52°N, 0°E ± 1° it would cover the box 51°N, 1°W to 53°N, 1°E. Note that the size of the box even for a given uncertainty would vary a lot over the surface of the earth but this is why it's so important to let people visualize the uncertainties on the globe.