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Missing alt text and ARIA labels on map markers in interactive maps #11813

@ashutosh-engineer

Description

@ashutosh-engineer

Problem

While using the interactive map feature in Public Lab’s website (https://publiclab.org/map), I noticed that the map markers currently do not have any alt text or aria-labels associated with them.

This makes the application inaccessible to screen readers or visually impaired users.


Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open https://publiclab.org/map
  2. Use a screen reader (like NVDA, JAWS, or VoiceOver) or inspect the DOM manually
  3. Try to navigate through map markers
  4. Notice that there are no descriptive labels on the marker elements

Expected Behavior

Each marker element should include:

  • An aria-label with a short description (e.g., "Event marker: Oil Spill in Gulf")
  • Or at least an alt attribute if an <img> or equivalent is used

Suggested Fix

  • Locate the component responsible for rendering markers (likely in the Leaflet.js or custom JS code)
  • Add accessibility attributes to all interactive elements:
    <div role="button" aria-label="Map marker: Title of the event">...</div>

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    fto-candidateissues which are meant to be solved by first timers but aren't well-formatted yet

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