Every place – whether it is a city, a town or just a building – holds a lot of information to learn. Information means power and users will not waste valuable time searching for info when they can get all at one place. That’s why we have upgraded the POI info visualization on MAPCAT and so are excited to present you our newest feature: the details sidebar!

By adding Wikidata info, we have enhanced our locations with lots of whole new data from population to opening hours of restaurants – and much more!

What is the sidebar?

The sidebar is a panel on the left side of the map that holds additional data about locations on the map. It will open automatically when clicking on a POI or address point, but you can also use the white arrow to open up the sidebar.

Overview

To find out more about a specific location, you can either type in and select the right address or POI name in the search box, or right-click on the chosen area on the map and select the “What’s here?” options to have the sidebar automatically open. You can close and re-open the sidebar by clicking the arrow icon in the upper left corner of the map (right to the sidebar).

On the top of the sidebar, you will find an image that represents the chosen location. Below the image, you can find the name, the address and the coordinates of the chosen location along with two icons for routing on the right and two other buttons below for sharing and embedding. Below this section, there is additional information on the location – when available – , for example, its opening hours, accessibility and website (venues or buildings), or population number (populated areas like countries, cities, etc.).

Routing in the sidebar

With either one of the icons to the right of the name and address of a certain location, you can start planning your route: selecting the upper “pin” icon will make the chosen location the starting point of your routing, and the bottom “flag” icon marks it as the destination.

Another way for routing is to start your workflow directly from the sidebar. I.e. first open the sidebar with the white arrow, then type in the address. This way, it will be set as your starting point. Should you wish to see the POI info as well, please click on the marker on the map. Then type in the wished destination in the second search field and start routing.

You can add more destinations (5 altogether) to a route plan, by typing in the new search field. Also, you have the possibility to reorder the destinations using the double arrow next to the addresses. If you delete the route plan, the sidebar will automatically close down.

Please mind that if you close the sidebar (clicking on the arrow), the info will disappear but your routing settings (e.g. your selected destination or starting point) will remain on the top of the sidebar.

Share your findings

Below this section, there are the Share and Embed buttons. If you’d like to generate a shareable link to the current map view in your browser, click on the Share button and copy the link from the popup window that appears. By clicking the Embed button, you will be able to generate a short line of code that you can embed on any website of yours.

Please note the difference: when looking at a single POI, sharing and embedding will only share the position of that point, while at routing, the whole route info will be shared or embedded.

Miscellaneous data

The last section on the sidebar shows various information on the selected location. Please note that currently the sidebar feature is in beta version, and expect varying amounts of information! We are working tirelessly to enhance this feature with more and more knowledge.

If you encounter any problems while using the sidebar, please consider leaving us feedback, it would immensely help our work!

Thank you!