1223075 - [Meta] Improving the maps/navigation situation on Firefox OS (particularly pedestrian/public transport)

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox OS Graveyard :: Gaia::Feedback, defect)

Description

[Ed Morley [:emorley]]

Something that is *really* important for me in the phone I use, is the ability to use it to get around my city (London), and to do so using a combination of walking and public transport.

Currently the situation on Firefox OS is pretty dire, and this is a significant blocker to me ever using a Firefox OS phone. 

Two examples:
* A family member came to visit London, and I was showing them around. We gave up sightseeing early because the phone was just so awful at trying to get us from one attraction/place of interest to the next.
* I was almost late for my own birthday celebration meal (at a restaurant I had not been to before), since the experience with Google maps in a browser was so bad.

Additional context:

In London, a significant proportion of people do not own a car (average speed on the road is 5 mph due to congestion), so traditional turn-by-turn car navigation solutions are of little use. The vast majority of people regularly use the excellent public transit system that exists in London. In addition, there are so many restaurants/places of interest, that having your phone be able to search for them and quickly route you to them (eg to meet with friends at a previous unvisited restaurant) is essential.

At a minimum, we need:
* Directions for combinations of walking + public transport (including tube, bus, standard train etc).
* The ability to look up places of interest by name, and also by "things near me" (with ratings showing, eg for restaurants) etc.
* The ability to use the compass to tell you which way you are facing, since often when leaving say a underground station there are multiple exits, so once you get to street level, you need a clue as to which way to start walking.
* Directions that take into account the public transport timetables & delays.
* Additional information such as bus stop numbers or names - both for finding stops at the start of the journey, and also knowing when you've arrived at your stop and should get off the bus.

On an Android phone I would use either the native Google Maps, or Citymapper app. (The Citymapper app even notifies me when it's time for me to get off the bus; it's pretty awesome).

However on Firefox OS:
* There is no native Google maps or Citymapper app
* Google maps in the web browser isn't very usable (slow, no caching, no compass, UX sucks)
* The "Maps Online" app (TomTom maps) doesn't support walking very well (no compass) or public transport at all

This is the meta bug to keep track of the various issues; more bugs to follow.

Comment 1

[Ed Morley [:emorley]]

(I have some more bugs to file, will hopefully have time to do so over the next few days)