Should items of Interactive map of regions also be a navigation item?

Question

I am working on a new (version) of a web app that's basically an interactive map of regions.

And here's the thing. Should the (list of) regions be included in the main navigation or not (like on the screenshot)?

Currently, when a user selects a region, either by clicking the link in the info box or by using navigation, he gets transferred to a page with a more extensive info about the specific region and its municipalities.

But I suppose, if there's no menu, we still need to add a sub menu or a list of regions to that informational page, so the user can select a region from a list without going back to the interactive map, correct?

here's a screen

Thank you for your advice

Answer 1

I believe they should because

• not everyone knows which region is where,
• it would increase accessibility,
• the additional list provides alphabetical sorting, which increases the ability to quickly find a region.

You could also consider adding "select a region from the selector above or on the map" to make clear or the Users what is going to happen.

Answer 2

Yes, provide both. Less people than you think are geographically literate and it's easier to pick from an alphabetically sorted list than on a map. Redundancy is good in this case.

Another consideration: clicking on a map typically affords receiving feedback on that feature in the form of an info window (popup) and not a re-direct to another page. Alternatively that info could be shown in an info panel on the side. You could 'double-dip' if for example the side panel showed the list of counties to select from and then toggled to the details after clicking on it.