Debian 11 (Bullseye) / Linux version 5.9.0-4-amd64 - Gnome-Maps won't start.
 

On invoking Maps from the gdm3 GUI, the rotating circle icon runs for about 10 seconds, disappears and then nothing happens. I started tail -f /var/log/syslog > myfile on the CLI and invoked MAPS from GUI and this is what I got, though I can't make head or tail of it:

Sep 7 10:23:08 debian org.gnome.Maps[3533]: JS ERROR: TypeError: source is undefined#012_createTileSource@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/mapSource.js:91:9#012_createCachedSource@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/mapSource.js:106:39#012createAerialSource@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/mapSource.js:138:12#012setMapType@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/mapView.js:409:54#012_init@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/mapView.js:155:14#012_init@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/mainWindow.js:99:25#012_createWindow@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/application.js:281:28#012vfunc_activate@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/application.js:300:14#012main@resource:///org/gnome/Maps/js/main.js:57:24#012run@resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/script/package.js:222:19#012start@resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/script/package.js:206:8#012@/usr/share/gnome-maps/org.gnome.Maps:2:17

WTF! An older laptop running Buster (Debian 10) runs MAPS OK from gdm3. I also downloaded MAPS to my RasPi as a for instance and that also works fine. No need to drop everything, this is not a big issue, but it would be nice to have it working. Any suggestions / hints much appreciated.
Cheers.

Has it worked before on that machine?
Is it connected to the internet? AFAIK, gnome-maps won't work offline.
It says "source is undefined" - I suspect this means the map source. Can you check dconf or gsettings, what it contains as map source for gnome-maps?

Thanks for quick response, Ondoho. Replies as follows:
Yes, Maps was running on the offending machine until about 3 months ago.
Internet is always on and connected.

Sources: Which files are these? I ran tree | grep dconf and this came up with shedloads of hits and there were also quite a few for tree | grep gsettings

Cheers

EuanT

OK, scratch all that.
What you do in a case like that - esp. since you were able to get some troubleshooting info yourself - is: you do not rely on some random halfwits on a Linux forum, but you search your error message (preferably sanitized, sth like this) instead.
This suggests that a recent version had this actual bug, but it has been fixed already.
What version is gnome-maps on your system?

Reply to Ondoho

Thanks again for responding.

Maps version is 3.38.2-1 (latest, I believe). Yes, I had noticed a bug fix from a few years ago, but couldn't decide whether this was my problem or something else.

Well, I did a bit of digging after replying to you. I located what I think is the relevant file (~/.config/dconf/user) which is clearly not intended for use by rookies. I did search it with grep using map as a keyword but it just returned binary file matches. However, I do have another user a/c on this machine, which I use occasionally for testing home-made scripts etc. and Maps runs fine on this account, so there can't be much wrong. The ~/.config/dconf/user on my test account looks nothing like the other one. Further searching on the internet suggested my user file may be corrupt and need to be edited using the dconf-tool (I can't recall the exact name just now), which may require a large scotch before attempting it. I have made a copy of my dconf/user file, so I can play with the editor without causing a FUBAR. A possible alternative seems to be to reset the user file to defaults. Before doing that, I would like to understand the implications, e.g. would I have to reinstall all my applications or is it just trivial desktop settings that would be involved? I need to have another look at the gnome-admin site.

One thing I noticed from my running tree is that this user file has been deleted several times and presumably rewritten. Is this normal system behaviour?

Thanks again for your interest.

Cheers

Had you clicked on my search link you would have seen the bug appeared June 2021.

Good to know.
One of the search results from my link above is this reddit thread which suggests the following command:
Try it.

Another suggestion is to just kill the process in question. Try it.

There's also a link to a Linux Mint thread, that apparently still suggests more things.
Try them.

gnome-Maps sorted!
 

Many thanks Ondoho.

Running gsettings reset org.gnome.Maps map-type did the business. gnome-maps sorted.

Cheers