Is there any automatic detection of accidental node moves?

Duja · November 3, 2025, 1:57pm

This was discussed elsewhere and yes, there is an open issue with iD:

Only move a point if already selected

opened 05:49PM - 31 Jan 25 UTC

usability

### Description Mappers frequently complain that iD users accidentally, sometim…es unknowingly move points by dragging them around when they actually intended to pan the map. We only have this problem with standalone nodes, not vertices of lines or areas, because you can only move a vertex if it or the parent way is already selected. What if we mitigate the problem of accidental point dragging by only moving the point if it’s already selected? Otherwise, initiating a drag would merely select the point, but the user would need to release and drag again in order to move the point. Selecting the point would result in visual change, so that the user would understand that their drag hasn’t been totally ignored (which would be disorienting). As a concession to users who need to move lots of things around without having to click twice as often, we could also move the point if the user presses and holds the point for like a second before dragging. This would be consistent with the standard dragging gesture on multitouch mobile devices. In case they happen to press and hold by accident while distracted, pressing the Escape key could cancel the move operation (#4817). This approach would do nothing for a user mapping in a dense minefield of points who still wants to pan around using a mouse button, but at least they can attempt to pan with the confidence that they won’t inadvertently damage the map. ### Screenshots _No response_

For what it’s worth, I prefer the solution proposed in that iD issue report (reduce the possibility of accidental moves by requiring selection before move) rather than some kind of post-hoc validation.