Wiki Loves Monuments mobile application/Feedback

Please put comments, suggestions, issues on this page. You can report bugs on this page or on bugzilla

Country data/monument issues
We have some guidance for how to address monument data issues.

Names of subdivisions
After choosing "Chile" in the campaign menu, it offers the 15 regions (subdivisions). At least, in the Chilean one, the names of the subdivisions are wrong in Spanish. Can they be edited, and if it is possible, where? --B1mbo (talk) 23:33, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Take a look at the data issues page for info on this Arthur Richards (talk) 21:22, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Some Catalan monuments are missing
Some Catalan monuments are missing, only BIC ones are displayed. I suspect this is due to using only the Spanish Wikipedia lists, which have less monuments than the Catalan lists in Catalonia (Catalan lists include lower protection monuments). --Joancreus (talk) 14:00, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Take a look at the data issues page for info on this Arthur Richards (talk) 21:22, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Only usable in 'contest' countries???
I'm in Australia and I can not seem to make it do anything useful..... is this by design? Regards, Ariconte (talk) 00:12, 11 September 2012 (UTC)
 * See the conversation at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Ariconte#WLM for expansion of this question. Regards, Ariconte (talk) 11:44, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

Incompatible
I visited the Play store today, but I can not install it: This app is incompatible with your Samsung GT-S5570. Why is that? I have Android 2.3.4, wifi, a camera and GPS, what else is needed. Michiel1972 (talk) 18:00, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Same here. The app store says that he app is incompatible with my device (Huawei Sonic U8650 with Android 2.3.6) but I have installed the apk of the previous beta releases without problems! Why can't I install this now? -- CristianCantoro (talk) 21:19, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Same here, with Samsung GT-S6102, Android 2.3.6 --151.71.252.217 14:49, 1 September 2012 (UTC)


 * These problems should be fixed now. Please let us know if not. --Philinje (talk) 16:48, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

Hide existing photos
When in the field, you are often only interested in the monuments without an image. You can pretty well see where they are, as they have a grey pin... but especially when 70% or more in the area has already pictures, they get hidden in the grouped blue pins (or circles with a number) ...

It would be nice to have an option/button to hide all monuments that have already an image so you can easily spot the ones you need to visit around your place.

- E. de R.

Navigation
Some discussion has been moved to Older issues, below.

The WLM and the i-Icon in the top of the app are distorted, they are higher than in reality. I use Sony Xperia X10i with Android 2.3.3 --Emha (talk) 16:40, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
 * This problem is still existing, even in the actual app from the Google Playstore. --Emha (talk) 07:49, 30 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Can you provide a screenshot? -- brion (talk) 21:09, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Uploading
I've had the problem today where about 5 or 6 of my photos did not upload through the mobile app. Rselby1 (talk) 01:31, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Translation bugs

 * ''You can [//translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special%3ATranslate&taction=proofread&group=out-wlm-mobile&limit=1000&task=reviewall review and fix them yourself] on translatewiki.net (how to start); see also translatewiki:Translating talk:WLMMobile

Registration
Enable the possibility to register a Commons account staying within the application. -- CristianCantoro (talk) 08:51, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * There have been various efforts at an account creation API, but this is not likely to be available soon. --Philinje (talk) 16:50, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

Show password option
From "Settings screen" where users can login an option to show the password while inserting it could be useful (especially if you have a long/complicated password, which is good), many Android applications which require some sort of password insertion have that. -- CristianCantoro (talk) 10:15, 29 August 2012 (UTC)


 * That'd be nice. --brion (talk) 21:16, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Dedicated password to login from the app
Maybe I'm a little bit paranoid, but I would feel more comfortable if the app use some different authentication token other then the password I use to log in on all Wikimedia wikis (since I use unified login, I think a standard solution is to provide user with a dedicated and randomly generated code which can be read login in from the website to type instead of the actual password. -- CristianCantoro (talk) 10:15, 29 August 2012 (UTC)


 * That'd be cool -- I'm thinking of Google's 2-factor auth system and single-user password generation -- but will require new fun infrastructure that we're not going to be able to build out just now. --brion (talk) 21:16, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Offline mode
It would be nice, for the people that does not have internet connection all the time, to see a list of monuments or a area in the map and save this points in offline mode, so you can go and make photos without internet connection. That's the way the app c:geo for geocaching works. Thank you. -- ivan_bea (talk) 13:26, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

= Older issues =

target group criticism
The bulk of last year's photos were taken by community members who used their semi-pro or even pro gear and who uploaded images by the hundreds. If they do so again this year, they won't use the mobile app. Why should they, having all their equipment in place? The unique opportunity that comes with the WLM app is that it is potentially very attractive to external users, people who are not (yet) familiar with the ways of the Wikimedia projects. Having said that and bearing newbies in mind, you'd expect that taking a photo is the first and easiest thing you can do with a photo contest app. In our case, it's one of the last and most hidden features. Before you can even take your first picture you need to choose a campaign, browse lists, select a monument and then find the small icon that eventually starts the camera mode. Newbie: "Hey, all I wanted to do was take a picture and submit it to this contest website! Ah, forget it...". Delete app.

I really think this app should work the other way around, making camera mode the starting point. Or at least make it accessible from every screen. While the rationale behind starting from selected monuments is completely valid, not having a snapshot button available in the first possbible place might scare off most users. --Michael Jahn WMDE (talk) 16:01, 2 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Michael, these are great comments and in many ways I agree with you. We don't have time for major changes this year, but there is definitely a need to re-think some of the design. One thing we have lost since the early discussions this year is making the upload button more accessible and ubiquitous. Also, it might be a basic error to focus on uploads vs. photo taking in general. The bias comes from the genesis of this idea in Upload Wizard, which assumes photos were taken separately from the upload process. --Philinje (talk) 20:49, 8 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Another thought relevant to this discussion is that we are considering a simple way to make it clear that users can upload from mobile and later replace files on the desktop. In other words, the mobile upload becomes a marker for reference, and then a high-quality version can be uploaded later on Commons. I would be eager to hear if anyone supports this idea. --Philinje (talk) 17:59, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

If you just want to take a bunch of photos without fixing them to particular places yet, you can do that in the regular Camera app and select them from your gallery at your leisure. However, you'll have to remember which thing is which. :)

IMO the searching by campaign is difficult to use, but the map navigation seems to work nicely for me and it's very easy to select the thing right next to me, then take or attach a photo. --brion (talk) 21:14, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Back arrow
It's not intuitively identifiable that the stylized arrow at the top is to be used to navigate back. It may be misinterpreted as graphic item of the respective headlines. Took me a second to find out where to navigate back. --Michael Jahn WMDE (talk) 11:11, 2 August 2012 (UTC)


 * We have added space between the back arrow and the headline. --Pchang (talk) 16:44, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Search
Image I want to look at all monuments in Gent. I select Belgium (Flanders), and I press on the "search button". I can add my city "Gent" but there is no search button. Pressing Enter does not initiate the search. MADe (talk) 21:33, 12 August 2012 (UTC)


 * There was a problem with the search function not working which has been fixed. However, using search during country browsing is limited to the region level you are in, meaning you should drill-down to the lowest level before searching for a city. Ideally, it will appear anyway in the list, but not all regions go down to city level. --Philinje (talk) 18:01, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

List of uploads lacks Commons links
The list of uploads does not contain links to the files on Commons for completed uploads. From what I've seen, you can get the link by clicking "share" right after upload, but there's no way to get back to a file on Commons through the app after that.--Ragesoss (talk) 19:23, 28 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Good suggestion. We added a feature that provides links from the filename in Completed Uploads to the file page on Commons. --Philinje (talk) 18:02, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Main screen
What's the "map marker" symbol in the top half of the main screen for? I tried to tap it no effect. If it's only decorative, would be better an image or some link to useful informations? -- CristianCantoro (talk) 19:49, 19 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Well, it is decorative. We do have an information link in the corner, which now includes instructions for using the app. --Philinje (talk) 18:03, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Loading image static
I doesn't seem much like a bug. But the loading image that shows appears static. At least, it should be active to show that its working. By remaining static, it often creates the impression the app isn't responding or its 'frozen'. I'm running the app from my Windows Machine using an android PC emulator.

So far, everything works perfect. I don't have supersonic internet speed though, but its working perfect. --Nkansahrexford (talk) 01:59, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

formatting of description wikitext
There is a lot of white space in the wikitext that gets uploaded along with the photo, and (aside from being ugly) this breaks the formatting of the section headers. See.


 * Sorry, not seeing what you mean exactly. Do you mean the file name? --Philinje (talk) 20:50, 8 August 2012 (UTC)
 * No, the "Summary" section header. There is whitespace before the "==Summary==" code, which breaks the formatting.--Sageross (talk) 19:17, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
 * This should be fixed. --Pchang (talk) 18:40, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Uploading

 * One of the uploads made it 3/4 of the way and then stopped. I got the error screen after a minute but not error message was present 216.38.130.165 22:06, 27 August 2012 (UTC)


 * This is likely due to a network connectivity problem. There is not much that can be done, except to save for later and try the upload when the data connection is more reliable. --Pchang (talk) 18:39, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Talking to satellites
Hitting "Use my current location" despite having turned on wi-fi (and being connected), 3G/HSPDA and GPS of my phone (Huawei Sonic, with Android 2.3.4) has no effect besides showing the "Talking to the satellites" screen. Since it is not showing the GPS icon I think it is not even using the GPS. -- CristianCantoro (talk) 10:23, 3 August 2012 (UTC)
 * For me it is just the same ... (Android 4.0.3; Sense 3.6) --Theredmonkey (talk) 23:46, 3 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Same here @Galaxy Nexus 4.1.1. --AleXXw (talk) 23:28, 9 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Now the map loads, and it is showing the nearest monuments from my position, still, there is no sign of use of the GPS integrated in the phone (no icon blinking, to say). -- CristianCantoro (talk) 22:04, 13 August 2012 (UTC)
 * me too Victuallers (talk) 14:53, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
 * This should be improved now: https://github.com/wikimedia/WLMMobile/pull/224 Jdlrobson (talk)

Country browsing
Serbia

I see that you fixed the names of the cities in Serbia when I click on "Browse by campaign", so, I don't see the question marks anymore (good job!). But, the problem is that only the first 7 characters of a city name are shown. My other suggestion would be that you leave all the names in latin alphabet, because any foreigners that would want to use the app while travelling through Serbia could have troubles with the cyrillic alphabet.
 * Thanks for the feedback. This was addressed on the WLM mailing list http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikilovesmonuments/2012-August/003925.html Arthur Richards (talk) 20:50, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Great job so far! --Bebauautu (talk) 14:02, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

File naming
The file names are of the form "File:Monument Name (taken on 27Aug2012 20hrs33mins43secs).jpg". Despite the name, that timestamp is whatever time the photo is uploaded, not necessarily when it was taken&mdash;even if EXIF data includes the actual datestamp for when the image was made. For example, File:Cathedral_of_Learning_(taken_on_27Aug2012_20hrs34mins37secs).jpg. I suggest changing "taken on" to "uploaded on".--Ragesoss (talk) 00:50, 28 August 2012 (UTC)


 * The filename format has been changed to simple numerical date and time, which is intended mostly as a way of creating a unique filename. --Philinje (talk) 17:50, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Monuments from Argentina
Monuments from Argentina don't load even though they are already in the database. --B1mbo (talk) 23:33, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
 * This was likely because at the time the Argentina campaign was not enabled. In the latest version of the app (the official release), I am seeing Argentinian monuments. If you continue to see this problem, please let us know - and let us know what language you are using to browse monuments Arthur Richards (talk) 18:40, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Problem with the Italian Website, september 1st 2012
This afternoon I tried to have access to the website www.wikilovesmonuments.it The site does not open; a blank page appears with the text " Errore nello stabilire una connessione al database." (Error in connecting to the database)
 * Sorry, this is related to the hosting of the wikilovesmonuments.it site. Probably the error will go away but you can contact the WLM mailing list if not. --Pchang (talk) 16:42, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

it
Non sono un UX designer, ma volevo condividere un paio di proposte:
 * Nel menu iniziale
 * "Per iniziare scegli una campagna" credo che abbia bisogno di un po' di punteggiatura (così: "Per inziare, scegli una campagna:")
 * Guida introduttiva lo trovo un po' poco efficace (sarebbe utile se ci fosse un link a una guida), credo sia meglio "menu"
 * Sebbene "Sfoglia le campagne" sia la traduzione di "Browse by campain" direi che è un po' oscuro, non sarebbe meglio un "Scegli la nazione"?
 * Invece di "Usa la mia posizione attuale" non sarebbe meglio "Monumenti vicini alla mia posizione" oppure "Mostra su una mappa i monumenti vicini"?
 * Invece di "Carica", "Carica la foto di un monumento"?
 * Nelle "informazioni" (tasto in alto a dx)
 * il menu si intitola "a proposito di questo gioco", dovrebbe essere "A proposito di questo concorso" o meglio "A proposito di Wiki Loves Monuments" -- CristianCantoro (talk) 19:42, 19 August 2012 (UTC)
 * "Gioco" è già stato cambiato in originale e a quanto vedo anche in italiano ma il codice dovrà ancora essere aggiornato. Per il resto riesci a registrarti in TWN e correggere i messaggi direttamente? Se a tuo avviso va cambiato anche in inglese puoi premere "fai una domanda" e segnalarlo. Vedi anche i collegamenti che ho aggiunto sopra. --Nemo 23:47, 19 August 2012 (UTC)


 * This can be addressed on Translatewiki, as noted above. If you are not a translator on Translatewiki, it is easy to sign up. --Philinje (talk) 18:06, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations!
I downloaded the app for the Open Doors Days and I love it. Thanks for all the great work. I have successfully been able to upload several monuments in the field on the spot, and I love the file descriptions and meta data that get typed into the file "for free". I really think this thing is the best thing I have seen for a while on Commons. I have a few issues to report however. I am using a HTC Desire C with the Android app 1.2.2: Thanks again for a really great app! Jane023 (talk) 10:13, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
 * 1) I have been taking more than one photo per monument and when I want to add another monument, the app just stops. To upload another picture of the same monument, I have to wait a while and then go through the whole process again, starting with the "nearby" choice.
 * 2) The app just stops when I choose "take a picture". I am somehow only able to upload pictures already in my gallery.
 * 3) I noticed some flakiness about the map positioning, though it never seems to be off by more than a few miles.
 * 4) I can navigate fine to the areas around me, but looking up a place in France or the States is more difficult. I may know the State, but not the County, and for France, the proper subdivision. Any chance you could have a drill-down-able clickable map? I know the location map-wise, just not language-wise. I also noticed Germany is still only partially available, so the map could have gray areas showing that those are not available (yet).