4 ms·

Show HN: I made a little tool to practice country positions on the world map

45 points by blackbrokkoli 3y ago

Hi HN, I built a little tool to help me get better at remembering country locations on the map: https://learn-worldmap.netlify.app/ https://learn-worldmap.netlify.app/ It's made from plain HTML/CSS/JS, and not intended to make any money or anything. Just thought that maybe someone else may enjoy it. Also of course happy about any feedback! Cheerz.

neontomo 3y ago
Had a random bug where it kept telling me the right answer before I clicked. The countries showed up as red outlines and I just picked them off. Otherwise, love games like this.
frfl 3y ago
The UI could use some work, it's functional, but some polish would improve the overall appearance and user experience. It's a nice game, not to take anything away from that, but looks like it was made in the 90s/00s rather than this decade :) Perhaps take a look at various Map websites, Google, MapQuest, Bing, OpenStreetMaps, a fullscreen interface where you can zoom and pan easily would be more user friendly
- MrBodangles 3y ago
  The simplistic design of the UI is great. It just needs a better UX (especially mobile).
  - blackbrokkoli 3y ago
    Neumorphism is funny - people either love it or hate it. No in-between. Thank you both for the input, definitely agree on the mobile UX.
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  A fullscreen interface is an interesting idea, thank you! I bit my teeth on how to make this fun on mobile and small screens especially (and then gave up)...copying something like gMaps more closely may just be the move.
Alifatisk 3y ago
Love that it repeats questions I got wrong on randomly until I get it right.
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Glad you like it! Implementing a sort of in-session Spaced Repetition was actually one of the main foci of the project :)
nerdbert 3y ago
Caribbean is too annoying. I know exactly where an island is but can't figure out which of three nearly overlapping circles is the right one.
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Hard agree, I wish they would move the islands a bit further apart! No, you are absolutely right of course...I'm still figuring out how to get that working nicely...if you have any specific ideas for the UX of clicking the small islands feel free to share.
thorcodingson 3y ago
Just when I thought Neumorphism is dead.
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Not sure if some random guy on HN using it for side projects counts as keeping it alive, but I'm giving my best.
tagawa 3y ago
Nice! I enjoyed playing it. One bit of feedback – the "Include Tiny Countries" toggle seems to have the same appearance in both states, so I'm not sure which is on and which is off.
- tagawa 3y ago
  Also, a bit more contrast between sea and land would be nice. Around the Mediterranean especially, I find it really hard to tell which is which.
  - blackbrokkoli 3y ago
    Thanks for both your comments, very valuable! I'll put it on the TODO.
z3ugma 3y ago
I’m having a frustrating and difficult time using this on mobile.
Azleur 3y ago
It looks fun, but it's unplayable on my phone screen. The CSS needs work to accommodate different screen sizes.
gulabjamun 3y ago
Very nice. But a few issues. 1. The incorrect messages disappears too quickly. And it appears slightly off the screen (I am on a MBP 15"). It should persist. 2. There is no zoom for Europe. I tried using Mediterranean. So when asked to show Estonia, I can't even get to the NW European states without scrolling. Which means that the incorrect message will never be seen. Similarly, asked for Guernsey had to zoom in but it selected Jersey. No amount of zooming will let me select from the two. It becomes grainy.
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Thank you for your feedback! You should be able to pan the map as well, so you may get to Estonia after all ;) Definitely forgot that not everyone has large laptop screens though, absolutely fair.
calculated 3y ago
Would love to see a mobile app for this or at least a mobile optimised web page as this looks like something I’d play when commuting. Very cool idea regardless. Cheers!
cwmoore 3y ago
There's something going on in the Middle East. Whenever I click on Israel, it responds Palestinian Territories. Also, might want to turn off tiny countries by default. I don't know my island nations well enough. Otherwise very cool.
- hegzploit 3y ago
  I think that's correct behavior there.
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Uh-oh, unintended political statement. Will look into it, thank you!
cookiengineer 3y ago
I like this a lot! Feedback: The scrolling isn't integrated well, and everything East of Puerto Rico is impossible to click correctly. I got Saint-Martin as a location and could not click it right, even when scrolling in as much as possible (due to the zoom level not changing the distance of world movement when dragging, it's the same x/y speed). Also I have the feeling that I am in an endless loop of selecting Montenegro, Azerbaijan, Chad, Ukraine and Malaysia correctly. They appear a lot of times and are not filtered out from the list of remaining countries when being selected correctly. Screenshots showing the hovering issues due to overlapping countries: https://imgur.com/a/8PteW27 https://imgur.com/a/8PteW27
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Thank you for the detailed feedback. I will look into this!
pcdoodle 3y ago
Nice dood! I was way off on some of these xD Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. I'd say keep up polishing what you got from a desktop perspective before considering making mobile friendly.
RugnirViking 3y ago
I like it but the constant repetition is really grating. I know its probably some fancy duolingo style idea about proven science but its really grating to have to confirm that yes I know where canada is every second click - only one in maybe twenty or thirty is interesting or difficult and having to spend ages to get to that point is annoying. Especially before I saw the option to turn off tiny islands so I just pressed on greenland every time it wanted monserrat because its not worth trying with the overlapping circles in carribean.
tremarley 3y ago
It's not great on mobile. It would be great if we could pinch and zoom. I don't know if we are meant to have countries repeat. The Caribbean countries overlap
schemathings 3y ago
If this is meant for learning it would be nice to name the wrong country you clicked, e.g. Sorry that is Angola. Maybe a way to toggle that behaviour. Cool regardless.
lcuff 3y ago
Overall, good on you. Because I know very few countries in Oceania, it's very frustrating. Wake Island, eek!. If there were a 'show me' button that appears after a wrong answer, that would be a good addition. The result message (error/correct) disappears too quickly Maybe need to control it with at 'got it' button? I'd like to zoom even closer on the Balkan peninsula.
KomoD 3y ago
I'd like being able to toggle certain parts of the world, also the "include tiny countries" toggle is not clear if it's on or off in my opinion And for some reason I keep getting the same 3-4 countries?
Steering 3y ago
I like it a lot. How can i skip and come back to a location later?
tarwin 3y ago
Nice. Already learned that I kinda fail at this. But learning. Only comment I have is it is super hard with small islands. Not exactly sure of the solution. Maybe show a red circle around the actual location if you click the wrong one? So you can learn. I'm stuck on St Martin.

45 points by blackbrokkoli 3y ago

neontomo 3y ago

Had a random bug where it kept telling me the right answer before I clicked. The countries showed up as red outlines and I just picked them off. Otherwise, love games like this.

frfl 3y ago

The UI could use some work, it's functional, but some polish would improve the overall appearance and user experience. It's a nice game, not to take anything away from that, but looks like it was made in the 90s/00s rather than this decade :) Perhaps take a look at various Map websites, Google, MapQuest, Bing, OpenStreetMaps, a fullscreen interface where you can zoom and pan easily would be more user friendly

MrBodangles 3y ago
The simplistic design of the UI is great. It just needs a better UX (especially mobile).
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Neumorphism is funny - people either love it or hate it. No in-between. Thank you both for the input, definitely agree on the mobile UX.
blackbrokkoli 3y ago
A fullscreen interface is an interesting idea, thank you! I bit my teeth on how to make this fun on mobile and small screens especially (and then gave up)...copying something like gMaps more closely may just be the move.

Alifatisk 3y ago

Love that it repeats questions I got wrong on randomly until I get it right.

blackbrokkoli 3y ago
Glad you like it! Implementing a sort of in-session Spaced Repetition was actually one of the main foci of the project :)

nerdbert 3y ago

Caribbean is too annoying. I know exactly where an island is but can't figure out which of three nearly overlapping circles is the right one.

blackbrokkoli 3y ago
Hard agree, I wish they would move the islands a bit further apart! No, you are absolutely right of course...I'm still figuring out how to get that working nicely...if you have any specific ideas for the UX of clicking the small islands feel free to share.

thorcodingson 3y ago

Just when I thought Neumorphism is dead.

blackbrokkoli 3y ago
Not sure if some random guy on HN using it for side projects counts as keeping it alive, but I'm giving my best.

tagawa 3y ago

Nice! I enjoyed playing it. One bit of feedback – the "Include Tiny Countries" toggle seems to have the same appearance in both states, so I'm not sure which is on and which is off.

tagawa 3y ago
Also, a bit more contrast between sea and land would be nice. Around the Mediterranean especially, I find it really hard to tell which is which.
- blackbrokkoli 3y ago
  Thanks for both your comments, very valuable! I'll put it on the TODO.

z3ugma 3y ago

I’m having a frustrating and difficult time using this on mobile.

Azleur 3y ago

It looks fun, but it's unplayable on my phone screen. The CSS needs work to accommodate different screen sizes.

gulabjamun 3y ago

Very nice. But a few issues. 1. The incorrect messages disappears too quickly. And it appears slightly off the screen (I am on a MBP 15"). It should persist. 2. There is no zoom for Europe. I tried using Mediterranean. So when asked to show Estonia, I can't even get to the NW European states without scrolling. Which means that the incorrect message will never be seen. Similarly, asked for Guernsey had to zoom in but it selected Jersey. No amount of zooming will let me select from the two. It becomes grainy.

blackbrokkoli 3y ago
Thank you for your feedback! You should be able to pan the map as well, so you may get to Estonia after all ;) Definitely forgot that not everyone has large laptop screens though, absolutely fair.

calculated 3y ago

Would love to see a mobile app for this or at least a mobile optimised web page as this looks like something I’d play when commuting. Very cool idea regardless. Cheers!

cwmoore 3y ago

There's something going on in the Middle East. Whenever I click on Israel, it responds Palestinian Territories. Also, might want to turn off tiny countries by default. I don't know my island nations well enough. Otherwise very cool.

hegzploit 3y ago
I think that's correct behavior there.
blackbrokkoli 3y ago
Uh-oh, unintended political statement. Will look into it, thank you!

cookiengineer 3y ago

I like this a lot! Feedback: The scrolling isn't integrated well, and everything East of Puerto Rico is impossible to click correctly. I got Saint-Martin as a location and could not click it right, even when scrolling in as much as possible (due to the zoom level not changing the distance of world movement when dragging, it's the same x/y speed). Also I have the feeling that I am in an endless loop of selecting Montenegro, Azerbaijan, Chad, Ukraine and Malaysia correctly. They appear a lot of times and are not filtered out from the list of remaining countries when being selected correctly. Screenshots showing the hovering issues due to overlapping countries: https://imgur.com/a/8PteW27 https://imgur.com/a/8PteW27

blackbrokkoli 3y ago
Thank you for the detailed feedback. I will look into this!

pcdoodle 3y ago

Nice dood! I was way off on some of these xD Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. I'd say keep up polishing what you got from a desktop perspective before considering making mobile friendly.

RugnirViking 3y ago

I like it but the constant repetition is really grating. I know its probably some fancy duolingo style idea about proven science but its really grating to have to confirm that yes I know where canada is every second click - only one in maybe twenty or thirty is interesting or difficult and having to spend ages to get to that point is annoying. Especially before I saw the option to turn off tiny islands so I just pressed on greenland every time it wanted monserrat because its not worth trying with the overlapping circles in carribean.

tremarley 3y ago

It's not great on mobile. It would be great if we could pinch and zoom. I don't know if we are meant to have countries repeat. The Caribbean countries overlap

schemathings 3y ago

If this is meant for learning it would be nice to name the wrong country you clicked, e.g. Sorry that is Angola. Maybe a way to toggle that behaviour. Cool regardless.

lcuff 3y ago

Overall, good on you. Because I know very few countries in Oceania, it's very frustrating. Wake Island, eek!. If there were a 'show me' button that appears after a wrong answer, that would be a good addition. The result message (error/correct) disappears too quickly Maybe need to control it with at 'got it' button? I'd like to zoom even closer on the Balkan peninsula.

KomoD 3y ago

I'd like being able to toggle certain parts of the world, also the "include tiny countries" toggle is not clear if it's on or off in my opinion And for some reason I keep getting the same 3-4 countries?

Steering 3y ago

I like it a lot. How can i skip and come back to a location later?

tarwin 3y ago

Nice. Already learned that I kinda fail at this. But learning. Only comment I have is it is super hard with small islands. Not exactly sure of the solution. Maybe show a red circle around the actual location if you click the wrong one? So you can learn. I'm stuck on St Martin.