Idea:
The Bookmark widget is great for allowing different themes to be viewed on one source map. However, I would like to allow the user to choose their extent and view different themes within that extent, rather than the map zooming to the pre-set bookmark extent every time.
Workflow context:
Dataset: species data containing 7 themes; Natural Resource Region (NRR), Population Units (there are 5 within the NRR), Landcape Units (there are many within each Population Unit).
Workflow: I want the user to be able to...
- View data at the NRR level, which works fine with current bookmark settings
- Select a Population Unit to zoom to, and view different themes at that extent without returning to NRR extent - does not work with current bookmark settings
- Select a Landscape Unit from a list, which will then open a new page with specific stats related to that Landscape Unit. I also want the user to be able to view different themes at the Landscape Unit extent without returning to the NRR extent - does not work with current bookmark settings
Why Bookmarks vs. Layer List:
I understand that the layer list would technically allow different themes to be viewed by turning layers/groups on and off, but in conducting user testing for this app, my users find this confusing given that the layers will cover each other - ie. it is not intuitive to them that layers higher in the list cover layers lower on the list. As this app is designed to serve the public eventually, I want to make it as user-friendly as possible. Having bookmarks would be much more user-friendly if the "zoom to extent" component could be toggled off.
Other efforts to work around:
Using a List to allow the user to zoom back to the Population Unit / Landcape Unit in question: since much of my app uses Selections to generate stats specific to a given Unit, this is not viable, because the list will unselect something that is already selected if it is clicked again.
Map Actions: I've tried setting map actions so that the maps will zoom to a certain extent, but the bookmarks override these actions
'Zoom to selection' option on Map Widget: the users do not notice or know to look for this option in user testing / I can't move it to a more noticeable place on the screen or really alter it to make it pop
My other option seems to be just making 7 different maps, which is probably what I'll do in the meantime.
