dimkasmir
-
Posts
984 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by dimkasmir
-
-
I think the most important thing will be usability: If the user needs to do to many steps and wait before his collection is in some kind of application he/she will drop out. Not every coin collector is a techy or developer :-)
Quoted this from the more general thread, because the following is too tech-y and mainly related to the project here.
I just signed up to geocoin trader and tried to enter a rare coin (that I neither own nor keep) that is listed at Groundspeak with a generic icon and one of the many "Personal Geocoin" titles. I provided the Groundspeak-id that belongs to it, but the geocointrader-system didn't accept the number. So I unchecked the "trackable"-box, left a note in the comment field and clicked "next" again. I got no error message, but the same screen - over and over (maybe because it didn't update my other inputs?). Then I did something else, and went back to that page after a while (now empty again - it didn't store the information). I typed into the comment-field, that I don't know, whether my input was delivered, and clicked "Next" again. What I didn't expect: this time I got a status report, that it made its way to approval. I don't know what information arrived there and cannot check nor update...
Now I'm curious...
I know your site is on a good way, but there are issues, that have to be fixed, before I am able to enter data. Ok, it was not a mainstream entry... but the system should be able to handle this somehow, or people might lose interest (see quote). I hope you understand this as constructive help (what I intended it to be).
I'm sorry that you were having this issue. I am not sure why that happened. If something like this ever occurs again, just shoot me an email through the contact page on the site or through my profile, and I will do my best to troubleshoot. And, as scificollector mentioned, all coins must be approved before they are publicly viewable in the gallery. That is why you got the message when your submission went through.
-
Maybe something like the keywords used on pathtags.com?
Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. Another possibility in addition to or instead of this would be to make the "Additional Info" field indexed, so that it would be included in searches.
-
Some input from here...
I spent a while thinking about how to do a database myself (and posted a year ago about it as well somewhere around here).
My motivation was not to maintain my poor "collection" of about 20 items. When I found the first geocoin in 2006, I thought to myself: "Don't even start to collect - you'll get poor" (and I think it was the right thought). My interest was rather to collect information about the beautiful stuff that was produced - I started to get more serious just before the Geocoinfest in Cologne(2011) and - part of - because of it.
I found a lot of those databases/data collecting pages in the internet - but nothing seemed to be complete, some were partly inaccurate, or (sadly) not maintained anymore.
One day I heard a girl at an event say "I like to collect coins with butterflies" - so I thought: how do you find out, what coins do have butterflies? Is there a way? Civil War, Colorado State - name any interest...
Then I came across the issue of the icons. There are icons that feature several editions of the same coin (that's the case with most of them). There are a lot of icons that feature different coins of a series of coins (like the Moun10Bike icon). Some contain even several coins that don't even have hardly anything in common (like the first Personal Geocoin icon). Sometimes different editions of the same coin have different icons (like Compass Rose 2006). Conclusion: Don't sort by icons - there are non-trackables anyway.
To make a long story short: This project featured here so far comes pretty close to what I imagined.
Anyway - I'd like to introduce the results of my poor programming skills to you - maybe there are some ideas you like enough to integrate into this project.
I just created a plain entry spot here
If you like to see what the categorization could look like with pictures I populated some images for this random page use this image link
If you see a "next" link in the top right corner, you can use it to browse through my history of stuff put in.
Some information about my way of collecting information:
In fact I do walk along the icon list by Groundspeak (you may know that the icon-gif-files are numbered, having an offset of about 135), because that way I think I get the most possible amount of coins that are listed there and kind of in order. Last week I reached icon number 600, which was introduced in fall 2006. Whenever I come across some later icons that make sense to put in, I did. If I find some non-trackable items, I put them in, too.
Therefore I think my database is almost complete if you look for Groundspeak-trackables before fall 2006.
To see all so far collected (and tagged) coins from 2006 that say "2006" on them (there are some that don't), click here.
And this page shows only one edition for each coin (e.g. not all metals)! (this is a strong suggestion for your project!)
Still, today there are 5600 icons and more than 6 years ahead of me, if I really wanted to continue...
So far I found 750 different coin layouts (molds, dies, concepts, you name what I mean) that came in about 1550 different editions (versions, metals,...).
About 500 of them are currently tagged - because of a restructuring of my tagging concept, I didn't complete the necessary "do it again routine".
I thought about asking for help with it, but the main problem seems to be to keep people helping... plus I don't have the time to learn to program an implementation for it.
Another question: Most people just want to maintain their collections. Is this kind of data pool really needed?
Be aware that my information might be wrong (there are even some editions that I marked "hoax?", because I am not convinced they exist...).
Some names I changed slightly to avoid confusion or to unify the names of a series that wasn't intented to be a series from day one...
Still I think most people would rather use a category tree than a name search - just to be sure they get what they look for... This is why I don't have a name search.
Feedback appreciated :-D
Edit for link enabeling
Thank you for your post! I have been traveling, which is why I did not have the chance to reply, but you definitely mention many interesting things. I think your category idea is a very good one. Perhaps it could be simplified/modified to a tagging system? People would be able to tag coins and then get a list of all tags or search by tag. What do you think?
-
If you go to a coins specific page and click on the "Seeking" tab. It will show you all the people who are looking for that particular coin. From there you can click on the name of the person to see what they have for traders. You can contact other users from the main page under the users tab.
Sure, but I woud like that the system itself suggested trades. Not many users now, but if we get this thing flying...
I think this website would be a boon to a lot of collectors out there but currently it is very slow to update. If the designer needs some admins to help him approve editions to get this project rolling, I would happily volunteer. The biggest current detriment to the project is the length of time it takes to get an edition approved (imho).
I would also volunteer, as long as somebody else reviewed my submissions. =)
/Fredrik
I have actually been spending a lot of time recently working on the features that you are talking about. They are pretty complex due to the algorithmic aspect, but I hope to soon release them so that trades will be "auto"-arranged.
I would definitely really appreciate it if people could volunteer to help approve coins. Please email me through my profile if you are interested, and I will give you admin privileges and explain how the approval system works. Thank you!
-
GeocoinTrader.net is a site that I recently released that is a crowd sourced database of geocoins. It's definitely a growing project, but definitely check it out and make an account.
-
Sorry for the delays in approving. This is a really busy week for me. Approvals will generally be much quicker. Thank you to all those who have been submitting!
-
Sorry guys, I know I'm a little behind on approving. All the newly added coins will be moderated no later than tomorrow. I might make it so that the submitter can edit a coin even before it's been approved in the future.
Mamoreb, your idea about a cointest sounds awesome! Thank you for offering to do this! I can update the website so that it records who submits each coin this weekend, and I will get in touch with you then to work out the details.
-
First of all, thanks for doing this. I like the idea of it.
Is there a way to delete a coin that I've added to my list? Example...I added the CacheHawk - AB, but I actually own the AC, so I'd like to delete that from my keeper list.
I have to say, I'm confused about the "Edition" listing. To my mind, all coins have a name (the official name being the one you get from gc.com BEFORE activating it). That name is the only name for the coin. Each coin may have many versions and finishes, but they should all be kept under a separate subheading.
I hope I'm making sense...
IMO, You must put a zero in the box Keeping.
In Edition put the finish.
How I've been treating Edition is that if there is no official edition name, then I enter the finish. If there is an official edition name (many vendors do this these days), then I enter the Edition Name and I put the finish in brackets so that it is clear)
The other way Editions are/can be treated is that they're called Standard or Regular Edition, Limited Edition, Extra Limited Edition, Artist Edition, OR in the case of the Multi-Event and Multi Participate coins it could be Space Coast Edition, or Canterbury Edition, etc - in which case I use that.
I am guilty of cross using these 2 ways of doing it.
This is exactly what I had in mind with the editions. Hopefully it's not too confusing and will be a good way of organizing coins in the long run.
-
Nice start. I'll be interested to see how this progresses. Although I was only in there for a few minutes, (unless I missed it) how about adding other materials that geocoins are sometimes made of . . . solid silver, glass, coal, pottery, slate . . . I'm sure there are others. I hesitate to mention wood (I might have one real geocoin of wood, but I'm not sure) because that opens the door a bit where wooden nickels are concerned.
Thanks for taking a look! Currently, one of the finish is "Other" and one of the features is "Non-metal." Do you think these non-standard materials should be options for finish? Or should there be a separate field altogether?
-
How are our feelings towards different travel tags (the printed aluminum kind) Do we want them on the site?
They are geocaching.com trackable and I guess people are collecting them, so IMO they should be (even though I hate the things)
Agreed.
I have now added "Custom Prefix" and "Comments" fields for editions. There is also an "Includes Pathtag" feature.
We already have 165 coins listed on the site, which is not bad at all, so THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed!
However, for this project to be truly successful we need as many users as we can get. So if you're reading this right now and are unsure, please just make an account and check it out - maybe you'll like and will want to contribute a coin or two or set up a trading list
-
Today I finally had time to get into your application, I really liked.
I saw some details that might be interesting to add or implement:
- The type of finish, it would be possible to add it if it not exists?. For example, many of the early coins were made in Brass (other than bronze), or Pewter.
Currently only I can add additional finishes. I'll maybe add an option for users to submit them as well. Pewter and Brass have been added.
- You can add a field to comments, for each coin/version added?
- It's possible to add a field for the prefix of the coin? Sometimes it is significative.
I'll have this working probably later today.
- It would be desirable to avoid erroneous data. For example, different data for the same coin/version (minting, year, ...)
Because in some cases different editions have different years, etc. I decided to include these fields under edition rather than Geocoin. Until I implement a "copy data" feature, I'm afraid the only option is to enter the same data multiple times, once for each edition, despite it often being redundant.
It would also be desirable an option for the coins not trackables in geocaching, to add the site, as is the case of some of the early coins, before autumn 2005.
I think for now this would best go in the "comments" field, which will be added soon.
- Can stop the continuous movement of the photos?
Done.
- It's possible put 1.3/5" or 1.5/8" instead 1.6" or 1.625" for diameter?
I think if I start allowing fractional inputs like this, it may become confusing (i.e. "1.1/2" vs. "3/2" vs. "1 1/2" etc.). So I think, at least for now, I'll only allow standard decimal input.
On my 15" screen I can't see the menu on the right (profile, out, ...), can be configured to fit the size of each screen automatically?
I'll look into this ASAP.
Thank you for the feedback, and I'm glad you like the application!
-
I woud like to see "Functional" as a feature. It woud also be nice with a text field where you coud write something about the coin, like "This coin has a working compass" or "This was made to the x geocaching event" or such.
/Fredrik
"Functional" has been added.
-
Site is back up, and the Gallery can now be sorted by Date Added and Name.
-
I get a "server error" when trying to add a edition to a coin I just added. The images are 500x500 jpg:s. I have tried in the last ten minutes or so, IP 2.248.170.102, "Celtic Tree of Life"
Nice site by the way =)
/Fredrik
Sorry about that. I'm investigating the problem right now.
Edit:
The issue has now been fixed. Thanks!
-
Thanks!
Would it be possible to introduce a gallery function where the most newly added coins are shown first? Would be useful when I want to go through the newly added coins to add my keepers/seekers/traders - and at a later stage, I guess, to see the most recently produced coins.
Working on adding different sorting options right now. Stay tuned.
-
I'm trying to add a new edition to the Birka coin, but when I submit, I get a plain "server error" message.
Whoops that was a typo in the code. Should be working now.
-
You need to define the minimum and maximum image sizes required. All my coin images are 200x200 pixels. To be frank, I'm not interested in re-photographing my entire collection in order to enter them in your database.
The large icon and small icon both use the same coin id #, or the generic icon 21.gif (personal coin), so you could enter just a single field asking for the coin id#.
If a coin only had one version what are you supposed to enter under Edition Name? It is a required field, so I can't leave it blank.
I have updated the minimum size to be 200x200 and have clarified this requirement in the form. I definitely do not want to miss out on your photographs
The coin id# idea is a good one. I'll work on implementing it next.
I hope that you like the site, and let me know if you have any other suggestions!
On a side note, I have a fixed a bug that was making the gallery load slowly. Performance should be a lot better now.
I have changed the icon input to a single "Geocaching icon ID" field.
-
Here are some comments on why I liked the site I use to use (Geocoin Collection) before it disappeared, and what they could have done to make it even better (as there were a couple of features on cointracking which Geocoin Collection lacked). This was when I had thousands of coins listed on Geocoin Collection - so I was a heavy user of it. (Don't judge me... my addiction is very well under control these days)
...geocoincollection has quality control, such that coins go up with their correct name (usually) and aren't duplicated under multiple entries (usually). - this is where cointracking fails IMO - too often the coin names on cointracking were just what someone *thought* they were, and frequently they were wrong. I put some effort in to make sure I have the correct coin and edition names by entering a Tracking ID on geocaching.com and seeing what it lists the coins as. This is not always correct as I have come across several examples lately where the designer/manufacturer of the coin called it something slight different to what it was listed on geocaching.com as. I also search thru vendor emails, the forums and other places to get it as right as I can.
OK, it does occasionally happen that the name of the coin isn't quite right, or that the finish is list incorrectly or twice, but the guys at geocoincollection are very quick to fix these when they are pointed out to them. They are very responsive to adding new coins (you report it to them in the forums and they add it first opportunity they get (daily?).
Again - quality control is crucial - especially if you decide to turn this into a paid listing site
That all said, I do like how cointracking has more options to classify coins under (incoming, outgoing, keeping, available, seeking, pending). And there are a few more fields to add information to against coins, but these seem to be somewhat confusing as I see people use these fields in very different ways - which shows that their purpose is not quite clear. (Just what really is an Edition - and why do some people classify the same coin as being an Edition coin and others don't! Does Numbered mean trackable? Some people use it to record the number is it is numbered, some use it to record the Tracking prefix, some just answer yes/no) So here are some of the things that I did like on cointracking that geocoin collection didn't have, but as I mention so of the fields were used differently by different people - so it would definitely pay to ensure consistency between coins.
Hope this is useful to you
This is definitely very useful.
The quality control issue is one of my top priorities when I began this project. This is why I have the approval system set up, and I plan on maintaining as high a level of accuracy and consistency as possible.
As for the granulated coin/trade statuses that you mentioned, this will certainly be a part of the main trading system that I hope to release in a couple months. It will allow trades to be arranged and monitored entirely through the website.
I hope that GeocoinTrader will meet your standards, and maybe you'll become as heavy of a user here as on Geocoin Collection.
-
You need to define the minimum and maximum image sizes required. All my coin images are 200x200 pixels. To be frank, I'm not interested in re-photographing my entire collection in order to enter them in your database.
The large icon and small icon both use the same coin id #, or the generic icon 21.gif (personal coin), so you could enter just a single field asking for the coin id#.
If a coin only had one version what are you supposed to enter under Edition Name? It is a required field, so I can't leave it blank.
I have updated the minimum size to be 200x200 and have clarified this requirement in the form. I definitely do not want to miss out on your photographs
The coin id# idea is a good one. I'll work on implementing it next.
I hope that you like the site, and let me know if you have any other suggestions!
On a side note, I have a fixed a bug that was making the gallery load slowly. Performance should be a lot better now.
-
I wonder if multi-leveled should be another feature? Don't see it often, but it was touted as a feature of the Tranquilities and also Circle of Four.
And, with all the geocoins being put in I wonder if you should split to alphabetical pages sooner rather than later (0-9, A, B, C...)
That's a good idea that I hadn't thought of. It won't be any harder to set up in the future but I may as well do it now. How do you think it should be set up? Should there be a separate pagination for each letter? What about the facet filter categories?
-
OK, I have a geocoin I am about to add - there are a number of Standard Editions, a Limited Edition, an XLE and an artists.
Under editions should I list them as "Standard - Satin Silver", "Standard - Satin Gold", etc; or do I just list them as "Standard" without a metallic differentiator?
Either "Standard - Satin Silver" etc. or just "Satin Silver" etc.. Don't just call it "Standard" because the validation doesn't allow multiple Editions with the same Geocoin/name combo. Thanks for asking!
Thanks for that
Hey, the AE Tranquility I submitted last night hasn't shown up - should I do it again?
It's not showing up as pending. Not sure what happened there. Go ahead and submit it.
-
OK, I have a geocoin I am about to add - there are a number of Standard Editions, a Limited Edition, an XLE and an artists.
Under editions should I list them as "Standard - Satin Silver", "Standard - Satin Gold", etc; or do I just list them as "Standard" without a metallic differentiator?
Either "Standard - Satin Silver" etc. or just "Satin Silver" etc.. Don't just call it "Standard" because the validation doesn't allow multiple Editions with the same Geocoin/name combo. Thanks for asking!
-
All Geocoins that have submitted have now been approved.
I have also also added a clarification about naming conventions to the first step of the Add Geocoin wizard.
Next, I will work on:
- Adding a "Vendor" field for Geocoins
- Adding "Additional Information" fields for Geocoins and Editions
- Not forcing new Geocons to go through the approval process (see above posts)
Keep the submissions and suggestions coming!
-
Adding a "Vendor" field for Geocoins
- Adding "Additional Information" fields for Geocoins and Editions
- Not forcing new Geocons to go through the approval process (see above posts)
- Adding a "Add New Edition" link to the "Other Editions" drop down
Vendor field has been added.
-
Adding a "Vendor" field for Geocoins
- Adding "Additional Information" fields for Geocoins and Editions
-
Not forcing new Geocons to go through the approval process (see above posts)
- Adding a "Add New Edition" link to the "Other Editions" drop down
Okay, so I think we should be good in terms of adding new Geocoins. They will now be auto-approved, while editions will continue to require approval. This means you can now add multiple editions without waiting for me to approve the Geocoin first. Let me know if any problems arise.
Also, brushed finishes have been added.
-
Adding a "Vendor" field for Geocoins
- Adding "Additional Information" fields for Geocoins and Editions
-
Not forcing new Geocons to go through the approval process (see above posts)
-
Adding a "Add New Edition" link to the "Other Editions" drop down
Site is back, and there is now a link to add edition from the Other Editions dropdown
- Adding a "Vendor" field for Geocoins
-
Having some technical difficulties. Site will be up in a few minutes.
Seeking antique silver Brahean coin
in Trackables
Posted
Hey guys!
I haven't posted in quite a few years, so for those who don't know or remember, I'm the guy who designed the Brahean spinner coin way back in 2010. My one copy of the antique silver version broke, so I'm trying to find a replacement. If anyone has an extra and is willing to sell, please let me know -- I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!