Template talk:Interactive map

I think the name of this template should be changed to Template:Interactive map - thoughts? (current name kinda makes sense based on API but is kinda crappy without the context) -Chieftain Alex 18:18, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

If there will be only one interactive map template/widget then yes. But it depends if this template/widget is able to display lws4 and lws5 maps, which currently is not the case. Otherwise, I don't know, maybe use the template {{Interactive map}} but call either {{Map floors}} or {{tl|Zone map v2}} depending on the map (design should be somehow consistency?!). Right now for me it's hard to say because the current version seems more like a beta version than an actual finished template, e.g. missing maps, missing template documentation, map icons (e.g. the icons are using their completed version, fine for poi, etc.. but for adventures and co, not really needed; maybe too much reliance on the API icons?). --Tolkyria (talk) 18:46, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

Edit: The zoom of {{tl|Zone map v2}} is much smoother than from {{Map floors}}; the {{Map floors}} map icons are jumping while zooming, giving me some inconvienent feeling.

I've long thought that the {{tl|Zone map v2}} template needed renaming, if this widget ends up doing everything then an intuitive name might be a good choice.

Icon jumping might be disabled deliberately, not sure - it could also be to do with changing the CSS classes on the parent containers at every zoom increment. -Chieftain Alex 19:14, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

There will be 2 map widgets at least for as long the API doesn't provide tiles for all maps - i'm not going to bother with the screenshot maps. Also, i named it "map floors" intentionally because it's a lye meme.

€: @Tolkyria: re the icon "jumping" - it's got to do with the auto centering of the div labels, like sector and zone names. That part is still not finished and i'm not sure how to solve that in an elegant way. --Smiley™ de: user | talk 22:43, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

It's not exactly a complicated hack to add the wiki tiles in - would give you a load more functionality. -Chieftain Alex 23:28, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

I doubt that the lws4 and lws5 maps will be added, right now there 7 maps are missing - rising tendency, with every new released map it gets harder for them and therefore more unlikely. Therefore in my opinion fully relying on the API isn't feasible at the current stage and should be relaxed as much as possible (e.g. using map icons from the wiki... okay, right now the API servers seems stable, but may I recall that this spring the servers have been down quite often, resulting in maps with error image icons).

Please no offense but hence having two different map templates with different designs somehow feels unsatisfying for me; e.g. users may ask: why can I do on this map but not on the that one, etc...

No comment from my side for choosing a "lye meme" template name over an actually meaningful template name that simplifies life for wiki editors. --Tolkyria (talk) 23:40, 23 September 2019 (UTC)

Re API and tile servers: according to Lawton the API runs on the same infrastructure as the Wiki, whereas the tiles are hosted on a different instance that's globally cached - so technically the Wiki and API will go down before there's a tile outage. --Smiley™ de: user | talk 01:30, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Map templates

First, I don't care how map widgets are handled internally, but having three different map templates is unnecessarily messy and makes it hard for common wiki user to decide which one to use when. The currently used map templates are:

1. [[Template:Zone map v2]] (Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Zone map v2): currently used on ~20 pages, WvW maps, dungeon and guild halls.
2. Template:Map floors (Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Map floors): currently used on ~60 pages, open world maps.
3. Template:Map floors localTiles (Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Map floors localTiles): currently used on 8 pages, lws 4 and lws 5 maps.

So, asking again, how should a common wiki user decide which of these three template (with utterly complicated names) is the correct one?

My suggestions are:

1. Merge (or replace) these three templates, as already suggested above, into one template with the meaningful and understandable name {{Interactive map}}.
2. Retire one of the widgets, either [[Widget:Zone map v2]] or Widget:Map floors, to provide a consistent interactive map look.
   • Use Widget:Map floors, which might look fancier but right now is not compatible with dungeons or wvw maps. These problems should be adressed...
   • Else use the fully wiki compatible widget [[Widget:Zone map v2]] that works on all maps.

--Tolkyria (talk) 14:55, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

[[Widget:Zone map v2]] is Alex's "old" map widget, which is currently in use on maps not yet covered by the new one that is Widget:Map floors. The 2 different templates are the result of a workaround that's using map tiles hosted on the wiki because Anet seems unable to update their map tiles. I'm keeping this as an extra template so that it's easier to identify the maps affected by it (instead of a category). If that bothers you, i'd suggest to change {{Map floors}} so that it switches the loader and identifies the workaround maps. --Smiley™ de: user | talk 20:13, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

Well, I know the difference, but a wiki user in general don't and hence has no idea which template to choose. Actually, there should be no need to explain it, I'm suggesting simply one template Interactive map using one consistent widget, but currently this seems not to be possible with [[Template:Map floors]]. The pages that currently use [[Template:Zone map v2]] are all covered by the API, while the missing API tiles are already covered by the template [[Template:Map floors localTiles]].

My question is: Why does the [[Template:Map floors]] do not work for WvW maps (displaying wrong background), dungeons and guild halls (again, these are all covered by the API!)?

And indeed, such a mess bothers me, intentionally causing chaos by introducing a second version ([[Template:Map floors]]), that then doesn't provide the same features as the initial version ([[Template:Zone map v2]]) did. Only after Alex' effort the second version supports the new maps without API tiles (you refused to implement it several times), and still it is not compatible with all maps (again, repeating myself: WvW, dungeons, guild halls).

But if I'm the only one bothering... well, then maybe I should stop caring. --Tolkyria (talk) 21:02, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

The normal wiki user shouldn't get in touch with any of these templates at all (except maybe for personal stuff), so no reason to bother. --Smiley™ de: user | talk 21:09, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

I care too. Actually I tried to understand what was going on with maps a while back and failed, because I could not figure out how to add anything to which ever map (template). I dont understand where "The normal wiki user shouldn't get in touch with any of these templates at all" comes from - it is a wiki afterall. Everyone should be able to contibute, spam and misedits can be reverted like it always has been. —Kvothe (talk) 21:35, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

"The normal wiki user shouldn't get in touch with any of these templates at all [..]]." So you suggest that a "normal" wiki user should not be able to add any of these template to a map page.

But that's exactly the opposite of what a wiki represents, make it available for community. Of course there is no need for wiki editors to understand the code but at least to make clear what it does and how to use it (e.g. Special:Diff/1945502/1945765 is really complicated and floor_id could be called from the API? At least the old template didn't use it.). Furthermore, a template should work for all cases (there are still pages left that use [[Template:Zone map v2]] where I didn't manage to add [[Template:Map floors]], and no these pages do not correspond to "tiles not in API"), i.e. I suggest to either replace any usage of {{tl|Zone map v2}} with {{Map floors}} (or actually {{Interactive map}}) or vice versa. --Tolkyria (talk) 22:56, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

Could we have a think about which [a] generic features we need, [b] location type-specific features we need, [c] what user inputs we want/will tolerate, and [d] backend how much we're prepared to update the widgets/hardcoded data with each new map? I think there are +'s and -'s to all of the widgets, and it would help if we could agree what the requirements are so that we design the correct tools. example from my point of view:

Subject	Comment
Features (general)	Tiles that just work for end users without fuss, i.e. hybrid maps with local wiki + api tiles Fullscreen ability Ability for any user to add markers, either at page or template level. Decent enough documentation for somebody else to know how to update the widgets.
Features (type specific)	Zones: At minimum: ability to specify which floor is visible. Could have multiple maps with fixed floors on the same page for maps like Verdant Brink. OR Change floors with a dropdown would be good for HoT maps. OR Combine data for from all floors for each map and display a given floor. Events would be nice. The 1/event_details API is completely shit for pulling data from - could either hardcode the events on a subpage, or go crazy SMW annotating all the coordinates on all the events. Regions/Continents: Not required imo. Achievement pages using markers: There are some which cross different maps - would be nice to have either the ability to specify multiple map ids + show markers, or just show all maps plus markers. World map page: Bit of a nice to have, doesn't necessarily line up with the goals above.
User inputs	Ideally just {{template name}} to generate a useable map, fishing stuff from SMW/infoboxes where required.
Backend	Ability to overwrite API errors to make user input simpler. Ability to supplement API data (e.g. JP's)

Please feel free to amend the table with ideas. Chieftain Alex 00:34, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

@Tolkyria: "So you suggest that a "normal" wiki user should not be able to add any of these template to a map page." - Yes, i'm saying exactly that because unlike a gazillion of other templates the use cases of the map widget ones are very limited. Also i'm very aware of the current issues with my map widget re continent 2 (PvP) and due to real-life-issues of mine i haven't been able to fix these yet. And last but not least i think that wiki users are able to use the thing between their ears (aside of RTFM and/or asking, the latter of which neither of you or Kvothe have done).

How about you use your energy instead and come up with a bulletproof concept for storing the extra data that the widgets use in SMW to satisfy the demand by some of it being editable? I already made some suggestions re this and i know you're much better at SMW than i am.

NB: saying that you don't know or care how something works but coming up demanding to meet made up rules aint it. It's already been made clear that this is a workaround and i hate it as much as you do and i'd rather have Anet fix shit on their side.

another NB: i really don't care how the template and widget are named in the end - there are more pressing issues still.

--Smiley™ de: user | talk 08:54, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

(Reset indent) Ok so I've replaced a few more Zone map v2's.

1. [[Template:Zone map v2]] (Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Zone map v2): currently used on ~6 pages, All on continents/2: WvW maps, PvP maps.
2. Template:Map floors (Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Map floors): currently used on ~81 pages, open world maps, dungeons (with manual floor settings), guild halls. Used on lws 4 and lws 5 maps with the local_tiles parameter.
3. Template:Map floors localTiles (Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Map floors localTiles): currently used on 0 pages

Since we can track parameter usage with Form:Parameter check I will be merging have now merged the localTiles into the regular template. -Chieftain Alex 20:21, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

I'm now going to rename the template to Interactive map. -Chieftain Alex 20:32, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Template has now been renamed. It is however, still broken for WvW maps. -Chieftain Alex 20:51, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Btw, if you want a view of which parameters are being used, see

{{Parameter check|Interactive map|zoom:floor_id:custom_floor:region_id:tile_adjust:center_coords:extra_layers:local_tiles:init_layers:custom_rect:include_maps:continent_id:events:1:lang:map_controls:max_zoom}}

-Chieftain Alex 21:18, 8 February 2020 (UTC)

Wrong redirects

List of wrong redirects on the map template.

• Lornar's Pass - Durmand Priory insted of Durmand Priory (location)

When Im gonna find more of these, Im gonna write them here if that is alright ;) --DiegoDeLaHouska (talk) 15:13, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Should just be a case of updating GW2W_SECTOR_NAMES on Widget:Map_floors/data (and [[Widget:World map/data.js]] in my equivalent widget) so that's fine. -Chieftain Alex 18:37, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Bitter Harvest (area) and Dominion of Winds (area). --Tolkyria (talk) 19:54, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Okay, took me a while to find out the ids; by the way, for Durmand Priory 31 should be the level and not the id:

110: 'Dominion of Winds (area)', // disambiguation
947: 'Durmand Priory (location)', // disambiguation
1297: 'Bitter Harvest (area)', // disambiguation

--Tolkyria (talk) 20:12, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

long day. -Chieftain Alex 21:20, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

"Should just be a case of updating [...]" and having permissions to do so. So really only feasible for admins to do since the subpages have to be protected in order for the wiki to serve the js raw and not go 403 Forbidden instead. Nightsky (talk) 22:18, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

Ive found some of these in the past inside CoE dungeon I belive and said that to Chief because I didnt had permissions to change anything (and because I would probably break it somehow as I know myself). There could be many more but we find them only with time :3 --DiegoDeLaHouska (talk) 23:06, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

This would be a bunch easier if we had ever annotated our area infobox with the sector ids. Not that the sector id is useful for anything apart from data comparison but still. -Chieftain Alex 06:52, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Should be the top items in sandbox6 with the comments.

Also vaguely considering whether we should rename "Property:Has area id".. or whether it should really be a mix of continents/regions/zones. -Chieftain Alex 21:44, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Renaming shouldn't be a problem since Has area id is only used in this template/widget, so go for it, because we are already using it for zones, regions, continents, cities, dungeons, ... However, the property Has game id for PoI, vista and waypoints is used in several other templates, and has also an actual ingame usage, so not sure how much you want to unify these minor location types with the bigger ones: area, zone, region, ... --Tolkyria (talk) 22:22, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Neat. I never figured out how to check where it's used - how do you do that? -Chieftain Alex 22:39, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

Actually, I learnt it from your talk page: User talk:Chieftain Alex/Archive 10#.7B.7BProperty:Has game context.7D.7D: {{#ask:[[Query string::~*Has area id*]]| ?Query string}}. However, I think there's no way to find out if it is used in a property printout (e.g. ?Has game id#). Thus, I performed a wiki search just to be sure. Well, okay, this method isn't 100% bullet proof, as you can see here (performed today!). --Tolkyria (talk) 23:09, 19 May 2021 (UTC)

(Reset indent) I had the time to run a bot today and populate the sector id into the area(/instanced zone/instanced city) pages. I've then updated the two data subpages. Let me know if there's something I missed.

Probably a discussion for somewhere else but the more I look at how maps are laid out in the API, the more I get irked by the way we document instances - particularly documenting instance AND zone/map content on the same page. see this mess - instances ingame with loading screens have their non-unique sector id (v2/continents, often shared across different maps) as well as their own unique map id (v2/maps) - e.g. same id 187 for Salma District as part of Divinity's Reach (map #18) and for Salma District as part of its own instanced map (map #248). -Chieftain Alex 19:27, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

On the one hand we sometimes add too many different things onto one page, on the other hand the argument that we sometimes spread the information too much comes up occasionally. Locations are definitely one of these topics where we overload too much or don't differentiate enough.

The last time one tried to clean up the location structure it didn't end well at all. Sure the other wiki editors are much less biased against you and you execute your edits properly, but still I think it would be helpful to document your intended changes before. Well, actually it depends how big this gets, if you just want to adjust some bottom end area pages I guess there's not much to document. But if you want to clean up the whole picture starting from contients or regions (e.g. although region pages within the Mists exists, due this editor mentioned above, they aren't implemented in the related zone pages below; mechanical regions vs geographical regions) then documenting it for example with an unordered tree list on a more fitting talk page should definitely help.

Regarding Template:Search by id: we can stack only a limited number of ORs, it seems like 7 ORs combining 8 queries, so we won't be able to add all these new API loaction ids. --Tolkyria (talk) 21:19, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

Was mostly just a rant from me lol. No sweeping manual changes incoming.

Only bit I was genuinely contemplating was looking at the Instance pages + what type we've applied (so maybe 20 pages).

By location structure I guess you're talking about how we document the lists for npcs/objects/etc? :/

I don't think anyone apart from me will care really about the name of the ids property - that seemed like an easy change and somewhat more logical than the previous (was too annoying to figure out which equivalent-to-v2/map type applied imo).

For search by id I'm thinking a different layout entirely would work - probably 8+ separate #ask statements with headers. -Chieftain Alex 21:43, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

Sector name overrides are not honored

Changing the format of the GW2W_SECTOR_NAMES data from 110: 'Dominion of Winds (area)', // wiki disambig/suffix to 110: {name: 'Dominion of Winds (area)'}, // wiki disambig/suffix in Widget:Map floors/data should do.
Alternatively changing the line that has sector = GW2MapUtil.extend(sector, GW2W_SECTOR_NAMES[sectorId]); to sector.name = GW2W_SECTOR_NAMES[sectorId]; in Widget:Map floors/script should do too; though the former option is probably preferable to this one. Nightsky (talk) 03:24, 19 July 2021 (UTC)

For example see "Dominion of Winds" on the map for Caledon Forest which still links to Dominion of Winds even though Dominion of Winds (area) is specified in GW2W_SECTOR_NAMES. The map on the map article links to the later area while still displaying "Dominion of Winds" in the popup with the chat code; which i'm not sure this map widget will do too as i didn't look if it does so or not but it should then at least link to the area directly. I've noticed this while using the maps while figuring out where Retreats to Eye of the North are so i don't have to type the area names and would have already applied the first fix if the pages weren't admin only protected so that the wiki serves them raw as i already described in the section above. Nightsky (talk) 04:19, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

(I wasn't intentionally ignoring you, it had just got lost in RC on a busy edit day.)

Bit weird that there's two name storage formats going on in the data subpage. I prefer the second option of dropping GW2MapUtil.extend notation. I've also cloned this into the babel script (I forget if we need this still or not). -Chieftain Alex 06:19, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

Done (option 2). I would like to remove the bracketed suffix from the map sector text (recall it is generated by divIcon and the html parameter). Any idea how I can do that, without breaking the href link? -Chieftain Alex 06:42, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

(I figured something like that was the case. You're also obviously not obligated to check every change in rc 24/7.)

Well the storage formats are in accordance with their usage; if there's only a name needed only it is specified, if it's possible to specify multiple propperties GW2MapUtil.extend is used leaving open to specify overrides for more than only the name property easily. The babel script is for IE support i think, or more generally everything not supporting Ecma Script 6. (See also the test in Widget:Map floors/loader and Widget:Map floors/loaderLocalTiles for which script to load.) That being said while mw won't actively add new features we could probably keep it around and do the small changes there too if it's not all to dificult to maintain or do since it already exists i guess?

If i understand you correctly, and i'm not sure if i'm loking at the href link you are looking at or not but; doing that should be as simple as changing iconParams.html = p.name; to iconParams.html = p.name.replace(/\s*\(.*?\)/, "");. And while you could probably make what you already did into a method and then call that in both places instead; you may want to considder keeping the api name and wiki name separatelly and then using each where applicable instead. And you may also want to include something to only remove braces if the name's been overriden to match a wiki name or also has a api/wiki name so as not to remove the braces from home instance areas (or pois like e.g. Abandoned Caverns (Access Prohibited) or Zone Blue (Under Construction)) as well, which have braces in their names in the API (and thus probably also in game, though i've never checked the compass in one of the home instances to see what it says for the area so not sure (but i know about the pois having the braces in game)). Nightsky (talk) 16:42, 22 July 2021 (UTC)

(what else do they pay me for?)

Oof I'd forgotten about the ingame named POI locations with brackets. Since it seems to work for areas for the moment, I'll leave it as it is, can consider removing in the future. Appreciate the help with the suggested edit (quite how I didn't notice this before, idk) + reminder when i missed the original. -Chieftain Alex 18:34, 22 July 2021 (UTC)