Issue with DigiPin Portal – Circular Dependency between Search Options

[Amrish-Sharma]

Summary: There is a user experience issue on the India Post DigiPin website involving a circular dependency between the Search DigiPin and Search Location functionalities.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Navigate to the DigiPin portal.
2. Click on "Search DigiPin" – it asks for Latitude and Longitude.
3. Attempt to get Latitude/Longitude by clicking "Search Location".
4. "Search Location" in turn asks for the DigiPin to proceed.

Issue:

Users are unable to proceed with either option unless they already have the other.

This creates a circular dependency where:

"Search DigiPin" needs coordinates,

"Search Location" needs DigiPin.

[Sakyasingh1]

There’s an option to drop a marker anywhere on the map to retrieve the corresponding DIGIPIN for that specific location. Give it a try — it's a quick way to retrieve DIGIPIN for any arbitrary point!

[IbhavMalviya]

It is not a issue, there are encoding and decoding options where you can find digipin by entering the coordinates of the location (EG:- You can get your own houses digipin) or retrieve the coordinates of the location if you have the digipin (EG:- Seller trying to locate your address for shipping your product).

[Amrish-Sharma]

@IbhavMalviya so if you are clicking A and it's asking for inputs related to B and when you click on B, it's asking inputs related to A.

Not an issue?

[IbhavMalviya]

@IbhavMalviya so if you are clicking A and it's asking for inputs related to B and when you click on B, it's asking inputs related to A.

Not an issue?

May you please explain more briefly? So that we can understand your view correctly 😁

[sensingturtle]

@IbhavMalviya I think what @Amrish-Sharma is trying to say (and correct me if I’m misinterpreting) is that the words ‘Search Location’ option cause the user to expect an input field in which a regular address can be typed (eg. Flat No, Building Name, Area Name, City). This ‘regular’ address would then automatically provide the DigiPin (by getting the coordinates behind the scenes).

@Amrish-Sharma Is that what you’re expecting? If yes, I think such a feature would require tapping into one of the Google Maps APIs (or equivalent) that have all the data of these ‘regular’ addresses that a lot of the modern Indian population is quite familiar with inputting in various apps.

I think there are two possible paths forward to ‘fix’ this issue–

• Integrate with one of the Google Maps APIs to have a kind of UX that is better aligned with what most users would expect to do under a field titled ‘Search Location’.
• If tapping into the Google Maps APIs is not possible, then the input field’s title should be named to something like ‘Find Coordinates’ or ‘Convert DigiPin to Coordinates’.

Please correct me if I’ve misinterpreted anything.

[Amrish-Sharma]

Hey @sensingturtle ,

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant—thank you for expressing it so clearly. The label ‘Search Location’ naturally suggests that users can enter a standard address (like Flat No, Area, City), which would then be converted to a DigiPin in the background, much like how most apps work.

I completely agree with the two options you’ve proposed. If integrating the Google Maps API (or a similar service) isn’t possible, updating the label to something more precise, such as ‘Find Coordinates,’ would definitely help set the right expectations for users.

Thanks again for capturing the main points so well!

[sudhakar3697]

Pls try my Google Maps - DIGIPIN integration browser extension - https://github.com/sudhakar3697/google-maps-digipin-converter

Would like your feedback. Thanks in advance.