[uzantome]

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Description

geo: URIs (RFC 5870) were not linkified, and worse, the stock phone
number linkifier matched the coordinates, so "geo:52.5,13.4" rendered
as a tappable phone number.

This PR adds support for geo: to the new Linkifier added in Commit 5655fcf.

geo: is a platform-neutral scheme and leaves the choice of map app to the user.
It can be opened locally without disclosing the location to any web service.
It is also supported by Google Maps.
This PR doesn't change what Signal's own location-sharing sends (Google Maps links); it only makes received
geo: URIs behave.

This addresses

• Linkify geo-schemed uris #4206
• Location links starting with geo: not working. #9189
• https://community.signalusers.org/t/support-geo-links/68132/10
• https://community.signalusers.org/t/display-location-as-textual-coordinates/12851

Tested

• added some unit tests
• tested it in the emulator (see screenshots) with useNewLinkifier set to true

geo URIs get linkified:

tapping a detected geo URI shows the maps-app chooser:

long-press copies the URI:

geo:0,0?q=Eiffel+Tower opens in Google Maps with the query:

geo URI opened with CoMaps:

[greyson-signal]

Hi there, I really appreciate the effort, but for now I don't think we're going to add this. I think it adds additional complexity to the linkifier, and I don't think there's currently demand for support for these types of links (nor does support seem to be present in any other messaging app I've tested). If something changes on that front, we can come back to it. Thanks!

[joe-123]

Non-Maps-Apps that support it: Threema, Element (Mobile), FairEMail, Firefox, iMessage, ...
Whatsapp and Telegram do not support it currently, that's true.

For Maps apps: They should all be able to open geo: links. And most Google Maps alternatives are also able to share geo: ... links.
See here: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Geo_URI_scheme

I think it's a very important feature because by not supporting it you are pushing people towards Google Maps.

[Katzenminze]

Why was this closed? I was annoyed with the inclusion of Google Maps in signal for a while

[ArrayPirate]

Hi. Please merge this PR. Would be a great feature!

[realeatham]

Closing this because "other apps don't have this feature" is silly, supporting more features than competitors is great, especially when it's a small code change like this

[zyphlar]

"Nobody else supports this open standard" is sorta like playing a game of Chicken with free open source. It's tautologically true until someone makes the first move. Unfortunately as you've said, as of today a perfectly fine and open standard is practically unusable, forcing vendor (and spying corporate) lock-in.

[realeatham]

Also to note, it's not that the standard is unsupported, all mobile map apps, FOSS and proprietary, support it. There is just a lack of IM support currently.