How to show a user a nearby clickable item with no specific location on a map. [on hold]
I'm building a local news app, where the user can look at a map and see stories and points of interest near their location.
I'm using circular markers to show the specific location of stories, colour coded based on their general type.
There is also a scrollable section at the bottom of the map with a tile per story.
Users navigate/select stories by either tapping on pins or by scrolling through the tiles.
My problem is with stories that have no known specific location or perhaps have a location that can't be shown for legal reasons. For example, if there is a fire spreading in an area but I've no exact co-ordinates. Or if there is a series of muggings in an area, I want to highlight the story is relevant to the area but don't want to have some shop owner complaining that I'm saying people are getting mugged outside their shop.
It might be a case of "if they have no specific location, should they be on a map?" but then there are cases where a story is relevant to a user in an area, but it just can't be tied down to a specific location.
How would you suggest communicating to the user that a story is in their area but it is not in a specific location, taking into account that they can click on pins to select news items that have a specific location?