GeoTag toggle for post (Enhancement)

[ZiiX]

I REALLY like that Mastodon strips image metadata; however, it'd be great to have a separate toggle to:
Add precise geolocation to post
OR
add less-precise geo-location for the post such as at city level.

*maybe retroactively add/keep geotag to image too if possible on post

[lauramichet]

I really like the idea of city-level geolocation. It would be extremely useful for posts about meetups, posts looking for resources in a specific place, and posts about political events or activism.

[Gargron]

We need to assess how popular geolocation data would be. I don't want to invest time into a feature that barely anybody will use, even if it's possible to do. Meetups and activism could be organized using hashtags, or if it's ever implemented, OStatus groups (#139)

[thiagomgd]

@Gargron I agree about using hashtags to meetups.
About how popular it would be, i there any info on how popular it is on Twitter, for example?
I don't see it being used very often, apart from a few people who enables it, but chose their cities as the location and not the place they really are. So I guess for now, it won't be a priority.

Edit: A dumb and not-so-related comparison: polls are used way more often than location, at least for what I see on my tw's timeline

[wxcafe]

Same, I don't see location being used on twitter /at all/. Should we close this for now since there doesn't seem to be any interest to implement this?

[raucao]

Why only consider Twitter? It is heavily used on Instagram and Facebook, and I love tagging my photos with location, as well as browsing others' photos of the same places. I think the vast majority of photo posts in my timeline over there are geo-tagged these days.

However, I would suggest using a location search instead of a binary toggle, which has also proven to work well on Instagram. This way, you can choose exactly the resolution you want, and it's also much nicer to render and read named locations, such as "Central Park, New York" or "Torre pendente di Pisa".

[realityfabric]

It is heavily used on Instagram and Facebook, and I love tagging my photos with location, as well as browsing others' photos of the same places.

While I agree that there are cases where geolocation data can add to the user experience, I don't think that Mastodon is built for those cases. Is Mastodon going to be rolling out map overlays like Facebook does?

It's not just whether people like those features, but how they're implemented and whether it's practical for what Mastodon is.

I would suggest using a location search instead of a binary toggle, which has also proven to work well on Instagram. This way, you can choose exactly the resolution you want, and it's also much nicer to render and read named locations, such as "Central Park, New York" or "Torre pendente di Pisa".

It's just as easy to type Central Park, New York as text as it is to enter it into a geolocation form. It's slightly more difficult to type #CentralPark #NewYork or something similar. In both cases there is absolutely no back-end modification necessary, and in the latter case you can still look through the posts.

[raucao]

It's just as easy to type Central Park, New York as text as it is to enter it into a geolocation form. It's slightly more difficult to type #CentralPark #NewYork or something similar. In both cases there is absolutely no back-end modification necessary, and in the latter case you can still look through the posts.

I think that suggestion is missing the benefits of geolocation features entirely. There's a reason you have both hashtags and locations as separate data points and URLs on most services. There's no way to render a location from a simple hashtag, and it's almost impossible to suggest the most commonly used hashtag/location when it's not based on your current geo coordinates.

[realityfabric]

I know it's less convenient, but my issue boils down to not trusting that a service that has built-in collection of this data won't at some point collect it without my knowledge or consent (even if it's by accident). The inconvenience of plaintext or tags is worth it, for me, to ensure that that data is presented only if I explicitly present it.

If it were rolled out as opt-in for both instance admins and users (where admins have to manually enable geolocation in their configuration and users have to manually add their location to any post they want it added to) then it would be less of an issue (for me). And I still wouldn't use it.

As a side note, I realize that many instances log IPs and those can be used for similar purposes, but that information isn't intended to be presented with the posts ("toots").

[raucao]

1. I didn't touch convenience in my arguments at all.
2. Nobody can get your location if you don't allow it. I don't know a single OS or browser that gives an app access to location data without user permission. So this can only be implemented as opt-in in the first place. And personally, I'd prefer the Instagram version, where it's never on by default for any post, but opt-in per post. (Just a matter of config options, of course. Some people may e.g. want to use auto-on as a safety feature, when e.g. posting from a public protest/demonstration or in other cases.)
3. Logging IPs has absolutely nothing to do with this topic/feature.

[realityfabric]

I didn't touch convenience in my arguments at all.

Suggested tags is a convenience feature. Standardizing tags by location is a convenience feature. But that's irrelevant, don't play semantics. You know what I mean, and if you don't you should just ask.

Nobody can get your location if you don't allow it. I don't know a single OS or browser that gives an app access to location data without user permission. So this can only be implemented as opt-in in the first place.

Both Facebook and Twitter have defaulted to the previous location set on posts I've made in the past. It didn't require accessing my location, because they simply used data I had already given them and re-used it.

I'd prefer the Instagram version, where it's never on by default for any post, but opt-in per post.

I agree, if it ever happens then it should always be opt-in by default. This would prevent the problem mentioned above.

Logging IPs has absolutely nothing to do with this topic/feature.

You can determine location by IP. That makes it extremely relevant, and I mentioned it to clarify the scope of my concern.

[fvdnabee]

What is the status of this feature request? Is it considered too niche to be given any priority?

In relation to privacy concerns, making the feature opt-in (i.e. add location to this toot, like adding a picture or poll) seems to alleviate the concerns entirely.

Another issue appears to be reverse geocoding, where you translate a lat/long coordinate to a human-readable identifier. While I'm not too familiar with geocoding, I assume you'd typically rely on an external service for that. I'm unsure whether that is wanted and whether alternatives (e.g. offline database with locations and coordinates pairs) exist.

[brendanjones]

I'd definitely use this to refine the content I see. See my suggestions for following a hashtag or filtering on a hashtag in #19800, and imagine the same functions for geotags.

This would mean you could have a list that's just following content from a certain area. For example I live in the Netherlands, so I could have a list following geotag "Netherlands", and the hashtag #cycling, and it'd grab me all posts about cycling in the Netherlands. That sounds incredibly powerful to me.

If you don't want your toots geotagged because of privacy then don't tag them, it's as simple as that.

[ajturner]

I'm very interested in this geolocation feature. There are many meaningful applications and opportunities for opt-in location sharing.

Just a few quick examples:

• nearby news (what is happening in my town, neighborhood, another city on the news)
• disaster response - many examples over past decades where social media saved lives by location sharing
• trust - methods to verify a Geo-located post was from a person at actually at that location
• visualization & exploration - seeing post trends and emerging information

There was long-standing intent on improving geolocation at Twitter and others that was shelved because it didn't fit their business model and concerns over centralized location information. Fortunately Mastodon doesn't have those same limitations - and can develop best practices for safely sharing & using geolocation information.

I'd be willing to help with this development. I've been building geospatial apps for 20 years and worked with many of the companies and research organizations on these types of capabilities.

Related, Activity Stream supports location as either point Place or full polygon geometry.

[sl1txdvd]

I came here while thinking about things like games or bots using location data (opt-in only of course). Certainly special interest but for the record I'd be interested to see a location feature in mastodon.

[juliennnnn]

Hello.
Any news here? I would love to add the geolocation on my toots for all the reasons mentioned before…

[ilf]

I like the option to add location to tweets and I would love to see this in Mastodon.

The Twitter controls also seem sane:

Even after you enable Tweeting with your location, you have additional control over which Tweets (and what type of location information) is shared. With this in mind:

• Tweet location is off by default, and you will need to opt in to the service.
• You can turn Tweet location on or off at any time.
• You can delete your past location data from displaying in your Tweets in a single place (see this article for step-by-step instructions).
• Be cautious and careful about the amount of information you share online. There may be some updates where you want to share your location ("The parade is starting now" or "A truck just spilled delicious candy all over the roadway!"), and some updates where you want to keep your location private. Just like you might not want to Tweet your home address, please be cautious when Tweeting from locations that you don't want others to see.
• Remember that when you're opted into Tweet location, suggested locations may be offered to you, but you can still choose not to share your location for individual Tweets (see this article for instructions).