Better angle field editor for direction tag

[RudyTheDev]

Perhaps a circle you can click next to the field that sets the angle in that direction for you, then adjust further with the arrows as needed. Something like this (although probably on the other side now that I see it):

[bhousel]

I guess - people can just look on the map though. We show the cone at z18+:

[RudyTheDev]

The cone is awesome and the only reason I even started adding angles/directions for stuff. I guess the issue is you cannot edit it quickly enough or with the mouse/finger (unless it's in increments of 1). You cannot use rotate tool/mode on points. So it's trial and error manually typing it first and then adjusting.

[quincylvania]

How about instead of adding another control to the field we just let people drag the cone to rotate it?

[jidanni]

Here I was wishing I could just grab the tip of that teardrop representing the traffic mirror, and rotate it just right... and click confirm on it. (Currently in fact it indicates 180°.)

[danieldegroot2]

For the current arrow buttons

• Specify they increase/decrease by 5 degrees in their tooltip; or
• Change degrees increased/decreased to 1 and change tooltip accordingly. This is much more intuitive.

A 'step' button/dropdown could be added for a higher increase/decrease, i.e. steps of 1, 2, 5, 10.

Perhaps a circle you can click next to the field that sets the angle in that direction for you, then adjust further with the arrows as needed.

Dials as the one above are intuitive, but can be finicky to use. They could still be implemented. Instead of a dial, this could be used:

• a slider could be used (already supported, can also support multiple values and value ranges).
• a radio button selector as below. Could also be activated using a hotkey "Rotate by Increments" ("Shift").
• For areas, use this or a similar interface too (allowing to specify rotation as text value etc.).

And, instead of

drag the cone to rotate it

or

grab the tip of that teardrop [...] and rotate it

Make a right click ("Rotate") and hotkey ("R") option, so people don't accidentally rotate the object. For multiple values, tell users to use the slider. Already used by buildings.

• In order to get the required point for specifying the direction, allow clicking on the background, dragging of a 'node' or following a line. Ignore selecting other objects while doing this.
• Add a visual indicator for when a larger distance, or multiple aligned objects, are being used to determine direction (selected object may be out of view).
• For areas, allow to select a node as pivot ("Rotate" option if area and node are both (Shift) selected would be replaced by "Pivot"). ( Improvements to rotation #8146 )

Additionally, option(s) may need to support

• multiple values.
• value ranges ( range of directions on viewpoints #5754 ).
  Note, the current text input may not be able to automaticly reflect individual changes in multiple values and value ranges.

Option(s) may need to only support values 0 - 360 ( #8206 ). An iD Validator warning could be returned for values

• which are also used.
• lower than 0; negative values. There are few or no use cases for this afaik.
• equal to or higher than 360 (and -360). There are no use cases for this afaik.
• any other invalid values.
• (on any object which usually does not have a direction.)

Something similar could be done for incline (several keys), orientation (several keys), roof:angle and related keys (alternative for #6991 ).

This may or may not also concern the rotation of ways, as accurate rotation is usually either not needed or bad -for segments with different angles-. For ways,

• allow to more easily extend an existing way in the direction it is facing. ( [Feature Request] Extend Line #8672 )
• optionally add angle (or: azimuth) under the measurement panel. ( Add azimuth to Measurement tool #7459 )

For the 'fixed direction' field used on ie. traffic signs,

• allow to flip direction with hotkey (applies also on standalone nodes which have the full 360 degrees). ( Show what stop sign directions will be earlier #9802 )
• create button(s) to switch through forward/backward/both, which saves the user to look at what way a line is facing. ( Direction = forward or reverse, have the blue button that inverts the tag #11662 )
• optionally, allow the user to click on one side of the node/screen (somewhat similar to this workflow with dragging).

For traffic signs seperate from ways, allow using the last option above but for an arbitrary way. (similar to a 'parallel way' operation.)

Sidenote This comment does not take into account orthogonal angles to adjacent or seperate ways. ( #9733 / #1957 )

References

• In MapComplete, there is a circular interface with map background in the inspector, which seems to only allow rotating a cone of a set view range to define an (single) angle.
• while in CycleStreets there's a feature called 'rubber banding'.
• EveryDoor let's you click on a 'direction' button which puts you into a rotate mode where you can rotate to select direction (independently of the object's direction). A long, black arrow is shown on the map while doing so.

---

See also

• Suggested Quest: Guidepost streetcomplete/StreetComplete#2514 (comment) (directions for guideposts)
• Related Show scale (i.e. real-life distances) on the map streetcomplete/StreetComplete#5765 (comment) (directions for and distance between objects);
  May help to correct POI positions, especially with insufficient imagery.
• Add direction=-Quest Helium314/SCEE#813 (angle)
• Idea for a direction=-Quest UI Helium314/SCEE#549 (N/W/S/E)

[Dimitar5555]

I've seen a different interface for such selectors which consist of multiple radio buttons which are placed around an image. I'm not sure if it would fit in iD's design though. It can be reworked to be a box of the element in the sidebar (like it's done for turn restrictions) with the current imagery as background.

[danieldegroot2]

Moved into post above

[danieldegroot2]

Moved into post above

[tyrasd]

#9733 has additional ideas about how to improve the direction field