When you report a problem on FixMyStreet, we ask you to click on a map to pinpoint its location. For example, if you want to tell the council a tree has fallen over, or there is a hole in the road, you can click exactly where it is. This is an easy way to provide the most accurate information in the report that we then send to the council.

If you’re a programmer then you probably think that it’s obvious to use a map for such problem reporting. We agree: maps are ideal for this, and it’s a shame that so many councils still aren’t doing it this way.

However, even though it’s very useful to have an accurate location for a problem, with FixMyStreet there are several reasons (below, we list just four) why someone might not be able to simply “click on the map”. In these cases, the map is no longer helpful — it’s a barrier. So we have to ask: is an accurate location so important that we should refuse to accept reports without one?

It turns out, for FixMyStreet, we don’t really need that accuracy. Sure, it’s best if we have it, and over 95% of reports do contain pinpoint locations, because most people do click on the map. But if we don’t have that location data, then we can still make a fair guess from the postcode or area name that the user has already provided (that’s how we knew which map to display, after all). So we allow the user to submit the report without clicking on the map.

Consequently, every time someone reports a problem without using the map, it means they’ve not given up, or clicked on the wrong place just to submit the form. In fact, they’ve reported a problem because we removed what would otherwise have been a barrier.

So, here are some reasons why we didn’t make clicking on the map mandatory in FixMyStreet:

• Map-reading isn’t a skill everybody is comfortable with
  When you’re building and testing FixMyStreet, you tend to imagine people will be reporting problems in places they know well. It’s easy to find somewhere on a map you are familiar with. But FixMyStreet users could just as easily be reporting a problem they passed on their way to work, on holiday, or at a party. So if they can’t read maps well it might be difficult or frustrating to locate a unfamiliar road junction or building.
• Navigating a map requires more challenging user skills
  FixMyStreet is easy to use, deliberately — in fact you can report a problem just using your keyboard. Zooming and panning a map element is much harder than any other part of the process. Remember that if you’re building a website like this yourself you are already comfortable with using complex controls that lots of people — FixMyStreet-using people — are not. This is true even before considering other limitations such as small-screen devices or visual disabilities.
• The map might not be helpful
  We rely on third-party maps. Most of the time, they are excellent. But what if the map is out of date? What if the problem is on a new road which hasn’t been added yet? What if the user remembers that the pothole was outside a distinctive shop or remarkable tree, only to find such landmarks aren’t on the map?
• The problem might not have a location
  Potholes are easy: they have a fixed position on the road. What about smells or flooding? These problems sometimes simply don’t seem to have an obvious pinpoint location.

In summary: we think clicking on a map is the best way to ask for a location from FixMyStreet users. But if we forced everybody to do it, some problems would never be reported, and some people would never become FixMyStreet users.