rippr/docs/feedback/FB-06-always-interactive-map-recenter.md

FB-06 — Map is always pannable and zoomable, with a recenter control

Depends on — · Size M · Status Not started

Goal

The rider must be able to pan and zoom the map at all times. Today the map locks all interaction while idle. Add a recenter button. The button must bring the camera back to the rider's live position.

Context

Direct user feedback (docs/FEEDBACK.md):

Map page, both when recording is enabled and disabled, you cannot zoom and move around the map, it's be nice to still be able to move around and see the surrounding area, and then tap a "center" icon to recenter on the user.

User dot on the map should always glow and occilate in size like it does when recording.

lib/src/ui/components/ride_map.dart, _RideMapState.build() (~line 270):

interactionOptions: hasPoints
    ? const InteractionOptions(
        flags: InteractiveFlag.pinchZoom | InteractiveFlag.drag,
      )
    : const InteractionOptions(flags: InteractiveFlag.none),

hasPoints is widget.points.isNotEmpty. The shared background map is idle (no recorded points) any time no trip is recording. In that state InteractiveFlag.none blocks every pan and zoom gesture. This is the exact cause of "when recording is disabled you cannot zoom and move around the map."

During an active recording, hasPoints is true and pan/zoom are already allowed. The existing chase-camera logic already cancels auto-follow on a real gesture — see didUpdateWidget (~line 142) and onPositionChanged (~line 270):

onPositionChanged: !widget.follow
    ? null
    : (position, hasGesture) {
        if (hasGesture && _following) {
          setState(() => _following = false);
        }
      },

Once _following is set to false, nothing ever sets it back to true again — there is no way today to resume following the rider's live position after one manual pan. That is the missing "recenter" affordance the feedback names directly.

_following is a late bool field set once, at State creation (late bool _following = widget.follow;, ~line 128) — it never re-reads widget.follow on a later rebuild. A recenter action must set this field back to true directly (inside _RideMapState, since it owns the field) — there is no way to do this from outside the widget today, and there should not be; this stays internal.

lib/src/ui/components/pulsing_location_marker.dart already animates continuously (AnimationController.repeat() in didChangeDependencies, unless the platform's reduced-motion setting is on) and is the same widget instance used for both the idle (ambient) marker and the recording marker — see ride_map.dart ~line 307:

if (widget.showLocationMarker && (hasPoints || widget.ambientPosition != null))
  MarkerLayer(
    markers: [
      Marker(
        key: const Key('location-marker'),
        point: hasPoints ? ... : widget.ambientPosition!,
        width: 40,
        height: 40,
        child: const PulsingLocationMarker(),
      ),
    ],
  ),

The code already pulses the marker in both states. This ticket's job for the marker is to confirm, on a real device, that the pulse is actually visible in both states — not to assume the report is wrong. If the pulse is confirmed working, say so plainly in the Outcome section and make no code change for it.

Design

• Always allow pan and zoom. Remove the hasPoints gate on interactionOptions. Use const InteractionOptions(flags: InteractiveFlag.pinchZoom | InteractiveFlag.drag) unconditionally.
• Add a recenter button inside RideMap. Show it only when widget.follow is true and _following is false — the exact state where the rider panned away from an actively-followed camera. Place it as a small circular icon button, bottom-right of the map, above the tile layer, using Icons.my_location and the app's existing GlassPanel/theme conventions (check lib/src/ui/components/glass_panel.dart for the existing floating-control pattern this app already uses, e.g. FloatingPill, and match it rather than inventing new chrome). Give it key: const Key('recenter-button'). On tap:
  1. Set _following = true.
  2. Move the camera to the latest known position: widget.points.last if widget.points.isNotEmpty, else widget.ambientPosition if it is not null. If neither is available, do nothing (no position to recenter on yet).
  3. Keep the current zoom level — do not force a specific zoom on recenter, since the rider may have deliberately zoomed in or out and recenter should not undo that.
• Do not show the recenter button when there is no follow mode at all (e.g. a finished-ride static map in Trip Detail, where follow is always false) — the gate above (widget.follow && !_following) already excludes this case correctly.
• Marker verification. Run the app on the Android emulator. Watch the location marker in the idle state and in the recording state. Confirm the pulse ring expands and fades in both states. Write the result in the Outcome section. Fix the code only if the pulse is genuinely missing in one of the two states — do not change the animation if it is already working.

Implementation

1. Remove the hasPoints conditional on interactionOptions in ride_map.dart. Use the pinch/drag flags unconditionally.
2. Add a recenter button widget inside _RideMapState.build(), gated on widget.follow && !_following.
3. Wire the button's onPressed to set _following = true and move the camera to the latest point or ambient position, keeping the current zoom.
4. Run the app on the Android emulator. Confirm the marker pulses in both the idle and the recording state. Record the result in the ticket's Outcome section.

Acceptance criteria

• The map can be panned and zoomed while idle (no active recording).
• The map can be panned and zoomed while recording.
• Panning the map while follow is active shows a recenter button.
• Tapping the recenter button returns the camera to the rider's latest known position and resumes following new position updates.
• The recenter button does not appear on a static, non-following map (e.g. Trip Detail's finished-ride view).
• The location marker's pulse animation is confirmed visible on-device in both the idle and the recording state, or fixed if it is not.
• flutter analyze clean, flutter test green, test count only goes up.

Tests

• Widget test: RideMap with hasPoints: false (no recorded points) allows a pan gesture to change the camera position — assert the map's InteractionOptions.flags include InteractiveFlag.drag/pinchZoom regardless of points/ambientPosition.
• Widget test: after a manual pan cancels following (_following set to false via the existing onPositionChanged gesture path — see the pattern already used in test/ride_map_test.dart's "a manual pan cancels ambient following" test), the recenter button (find.byKey(const Key('recenter-button'))) appears.
• Widget test: before any manual pan (or when follow is false), the recenter button does not appear.
• Widget test: tapping the recenter button moves the camera back to the latest point (or ambient position) and the button disappears again (following resumed).

Risks

• None significant. This is additive (a new optional control) and a removed restriction (interaction gating), not a data-model or persistence change.

Out of scope

Any change to the Route Planner's own map (FB-07 covers its remaining issue). Any change to PulsingLocationMarker's own animation code, unless the on-device check in this ticket finds it is genuinely not visible in one of the two states.