Let's talk about map functionality on mobile phones

Jonathan Sheehy

I use Logos almost exclusively on a mobile phone. Unfortunately, its maps functionality is essentially useless on mobile phones.

(Note: The Atlas function is absolutely not made for mobile phones. A large portion of the screen is constantly covered by menus! And I don't want to leave the app for a web browser every time I want to see a map, in any case: I have a number of atlases in my library with good maps in them -- right there in Logos.)

I was genuinely surprised when I first discovered how bad the map functionality is in Logos on a phone. I thought I must have missed something, so I experimented, went searching forums, etc. But no, it seems I was right: Usable map functionality for mobile phones is just not there. (But somebody please correct me if I'm missing something!)

I have several atlases in my library with excellent maps in them. Surely Factbook place entries could simply search my atlas resources for relevant maps? That would be 1) excellent and useful, and 2) what I naturally expected when I started looking up places in Factbook.

BTW, Olive Tree have got this right in their app.

So if I want to look up maps from my atlases for a place I've come across in my Logos reading, I currently need to use a very rough-and-ready workaround: I've created a 'collection' (using the desktop app) that contains all my atlases. Then on mobile, when I want to see a map, I can open a search, set it to search the Atlas collection I made (that's several taps right there), and then tell it to search for the place I'm looking for. That will get me started, but even then, what I'm getting are book search results, not necessarily direct map results. And that's a heap of taps required every time I want to quickly look up my maps of a place I came across while reading (i.e. it's not quick, it's laborious). I expected Factbook would look after this for me in a couple of taps. (To be honest, that's because I also use Olive Tree, where the Resource Guide does just that.)

How do other mobile phone users deal with maps? Or, like me, have you mostly just made do without them in Logos Mobile, even though you own atlases?

I've made a suggestion in the feedback section. If anyone else would like to see usable map functionality brought to phones, you can vote for it here.

P.S. I know this sounds like a bit of a whinge. It's true, I have found the lack of map functionality surprising and disappointing. But I also think Logos Mobile is an excellent app, and I enjoy using it. Thank you to the whole team.

Myke Harbuck

I get what you're saying and have thought the same, but I also realize that we're probably in the minority here. I can't imagine there are a bunch of Logos users wanting to explore atlases and maps on mobile devices (perhaps on the tablet, but not on the phone). For this reason, I would imagine that improved maps / atlas functionality on mobile is not very high up on the priority list for the developers.

DMB

Jonathan Sheehy said:

I use Logos almost exclusively on a mobile phone. Unfortunately, its maps functionality is essentially useless on mobile phones.

I agree with your point.  But I suspect it has more to do with Faithlife compartmental tendenz.

The server-delivered mapping (FL mapping #4) had the advantage of supporting multiple platforms (eg desktop, mobile, web), user-tailoring (so far, zippo), and future featurization (so far, zippo).

But mobile missed the call. Hot on the trail of UI screw-ups.

 

xnman

Jonathan Sheehy said:

P.S. I know this sounds like a bit of a whinge. It's true, I have found the lack of map functionality surprising and disappointing. But I also think Logos Mobile is an excellent app, and I enjoy using it. Thank you to the whole team.

I don't use Logos Mobile for maps anymore. It just don't work. You use of the word "laborious" is correct. I call it a "make work" in that in Logos if I want to look up a map... "Logos makes me work too hard for it"!

I'm hoping Logos will listen... but.. Logos Mobile is not on their tasks for the near future... I'm a thinking. 

Jonathan Sheehy

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1288399#Comment_1288399

Myke Harbuck said:

… we're probably in the minority here. I can't imagine there are a bunch of Logos users wanting to explore atlases and maps on mobile devices (perhaps on the tablet, but not on the phone).

I'll explain my perspective a little more, with two key points:

1. The world has changed. People use mobile. For everything. In a big way. I am a representative of this group, as it relates to Bible study. I'm a fairly serious Bible study app user (Bibles, commentaries, lexicons, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, etc. etc.—I love to use them all, regularly). But I do it all on mobile (phone, not tablet!)—not sitting at a computer. In 2024, I think there are many more like me. And there are many more on their way.
2. My complaint about maps relates to basic Bible study. Never mind power map users. I'm talking about reading a place name in a verse and wondering, "Now remind me, where is that?", and getting a quick answer from Factbook in a few taps. Almost unbelievably, Logos, on a mobile phone, can't help me here. (By contrast, Olive Tree does it in a couple of taps.) Location is a basic part of figuring out the context of a passage. And place names show up all the time in the Bible. Logos has done such a great job of making these all so easily available in Factbook cards (great job, Logos!). But the one thing that is critical with regard to places—and yet is so obviously missing—is access to quick maps for any given place. Not fancy 3D maps covering the entire biblical world through all of biblical history—just basic JPGs in Factbook would be ideal. (By the way, putting such map images under 'Media' has it's own problem: I don't like being sent out of the app by the Media tool, because once again, that tool doesn't really cater to mobile phone users. And I don't like being sent out of the app.) And I have a ton of such maps in resources I've already purchased. Resources that exist to help with places, such as atlases. But Factbook on mobile doesn't even try and access these most relevant resources. Incredibly, it doesn't even list my atlases under the Factbook's Books from Your Library section when I look up a place name in the Factbook (it just shows 'no results')!

So no, I don't think Logos can leave the maps situation as it is for mobile phone users—limiting meaningful map usage to people on larger tablet screens (though as I said, I actually don't want to leave the app when quickly checking a location, which is Logos' current answer) or desktop.