Sort searches by distance?

[+kabsi]

Hi there,

 

I really like the web interface of GC. Best thing is putting google maps to a good use.

 

But one thing always puzzles me. Have a look at the search page:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/

 

I wonder why the results of "advanced search" or "keyword search" or "search by username" are not sorted by distance to the cacher's home coordinates?

 

I think, as it stands now the results to above mentioned queries are rendered useless as most of the caches are much to far away from my home.

 

Is there any way to sort search results by distance?

[+trainlove]

I've been told that only searches that are 'location based' show distances.

In most cases the location is ones 'home location' but it could also be a zip code.

Those other searches could be done while not logged in so ones home location does not exist.

 

But in my opinion, ALL caches are locations so ALL search pages should give you an indication of how far away ALL those caches are. At least as long as one is logged in and has a defined home location.

 

As I have mentioned in a post of my own, I would love to, at a glance, get a mental image of all the puzzle caches that cachers I know, when I click on their profile and look at their puzzle finds all I see without having to click on each cache is if any of those caches are caches I've visited by the big checkmark. A distance and direction would be great in this case and all similar cases.

[+kabsi]

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

 

Let me give another example why sorting search results is cruical:

 

In Germany nightcaches are quite popular. GC lacks appropriate attributes to mark a cache as nightcache. To work around this problem and to be able to search for caches of this type, they contain the words "nightcache" or "Nachtcache" in the title. So one can use the following search queries to find a nightcache:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.asp...&submit4=Go

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.asp...&submit4=Go

 

Problem: You are only interested in caches that are closest to your location. Strangely enough the results are ordered alphabetically. This sort order makes no sense in my opinion. So you end up with a list of nightcaches but it's still awkward to find a nightcache near you.

[+Tharagleb]

I would like a keyword search that at least could be *limited* by distance. Actually adding "keyword" to the PQ page would allow me to set up a PQ that I could use to search for caches (using PQ preview) by part of the name, and limiting the distance search.

 

As an example I just did a cache called "Grave Cache", if I was trying to find it by name there are 580 caches with "Grave" in them.

[+kweejee]

Amazing. I just got on the forums to bring up this same issue. It seems like it would be a copy/paste job with the code to add the sorting and distance showing since those are already in other searches. Hopefully it's in the version 2 of the site they're working on.

[+trainlove]

That's a great idea for improving the searching capability. I have thought of this many times also and some others that I either can't remember or are not as good as this idea.

 

Now for someting similar, when you can search out to x distance, that implies from 0 to x, how about having a min AND max limit for searching. Not as useful but I'm sure some people would like it.

[+Miragee]

I would like a keyword search that at least could be *limited* by distance. Actually adding "keyword" to the PQ page would allow me to set up a PQ that I could use to search for caches (using PQ preview) by part of the name, and limiting the distance search.

 

As an example I just did a cache called "Grave Cache", if I was trying to find it by name there are 580 caches with "Grave" in them.

Do you know the approximate area where the cache is located? You could do a PQ around those coordinates. Then after you get the PQ and load it into the program you use for your offline database, do the name search there. I know it is more steps, but I do all my searching from within my GSAK database. I never do any searching online anymore, if the cache is "local" (some 2000+ caches) to me.

 

Once I have the cache name in front of me in GSAK, I double-click the cache name to see the cache page online.

[+Tharagleb]

I would like a keyword search that at least could be *limited* by distance. Actually adding "keyword" to the PQ page would allow me to set up a PQ that I could use to search for caches (using PQ preview) by part of the name, and limiting the distance search.

 

As an example I just did a cache called "Grave Cache", if I was trying to find it by name there are 580 caches with "Grave" in them.

Do you know the approximate area where the cache is located? You could do a PQ around those coordinates. Then after you get the PQ and load it into the program you use for your offline database, do the name search there. I know it is more steps, but I do all my searching from within my GSAK database. I never do any searching online anymore, if the cache is "local" (some 2000+ caches) to me.

 

Once I have the cache name in front of me in GSAK, I double-click the cache name to see the cache page online.

 

This is a good idea. The only problem is I don't have GSAK loaded onto all the computers I use (2 at work, 3 at home.)

[+Markwell]

I agree it would definitely be nice to have all searches sorted by proximity to a location. If it's a location based search - sort by proximity to the center of the search.

 

BUT if it's some OTHER search (user, keyword, etc.) have the sort order be based on the home coordinates (or zip code coordinates) of the account doing the search. IF there's no home coords or home zip OR the searcher is not logged in, then default back to the alphabetical sort order.

 

The only one I wouldn't mess with is the "state" or "country" search from the advanced page, as that's currently the only way to get the most recent caches on a quick list if you're not a premium member.

 

The only problem is I don't have GSAK loaded onto all the computers I use (2 at work, 3 at home.)

 

To extend on the work-around, you don't NEED GSAK to read the GPX file. It's possible to open the GPX file in notepad (or some other text reader) and do a search in THAT program. You could get the GPX file of the area that you KNOW the cache is in and do a search in the text of the file to find the cache your looking for. GSAK just makes the data look nice.

[+kabsi]

Once I have the cache name in front of me in GSAK, I double-click the cache name to see the cache page online.

I know that your bandwith is very limited.

 

But keep in mind that more and more people have a broadband connection to the internet.

 

After all this is what allows for web 2.0!

 

I agree it would definitely be nice to have all searches sorted by proximity to a location. If it's a location based search - sort by proximity to the center of the search.

And even better, let the user select the sort order.

 

There's already something like this on GC for trackable items:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/track/search.aspx

 

This search offers you to select from the following sort orders:

 

 

Mind you: if you select "Sort by distance" to get the travel bugs closest to you, you are mistaken again! The distance is the distance the travel bug has moved so far. In my opinion, this renders this search useless as it is not possible to find travel bugs close to your home coordinates.

Edited July 6, 2007 by kabsi

[+kabsi]

Don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that the web frontend of GC is bad. Quite opposite, it's very good. GC does a great job in providing the geocaching community with the biggest cache database ever and an interactive access to caches near you using Google maps.

 

But for all search queries it lacks to answer the most important question for all location based services: "how far" / "how close"? Let me substantiate my point with some examples:

• Bookmark lists: There are a lot of public bookmark lists that collect caches according to a topic, e.g. "favourite caches" or "night caches". Theses list are sorted alphabetically. Why does GC think that geocachers need the caches listed in alphabetical order? All we want to know is which caches from a bookmark list are close to home so we can visit them.
  
• Travel Bugs: I wanted to find one of the many "Unite for Diabetes" travelbugs. The list returns "Unite for Diabets" TB from all over the world. This does not make sense. It should rather list only those TBs near me.
  
• I already mentioned that keyword search does not work properly because it returns caches from all over the world in a seemingly random order.
  
• Searching by username returns the caches sorted according to "placed date". This is nice if you want to finde the newest cache hides from a specific user. But what if you just started and look for the cache nearest to you?
  

Summary:

GC.com is a kind of location-based service. As such its data data must be seen in the context of the users's location. I'd like the web frontend to support that fact.

 

Please correct me gently if I am wrong.

 

Cheers

Daniel

[+kabsi]

Today I received the Groundspeak Weekly Notification. I am most interested in section III. Upcoming Events. Pity again, this list is not sorted by distance. Quite contrary to section IV. Recently Published Geocaches which lists the caches sorted by distance to my home location. So it is possible to sort by distance, it's just not done when one would expect it.