Jump to content

can't "scroll" maps


geojeffie

Recommended Posts

I have exactly the same problem on IE 6. I have waited for endless hours in the evening to go caching. :):):)

 

There is a solution, though. If anyone has Google Earth, it has a feature where you can load the geocaching website onto the map, so you see the caches on it. B)

 

Google Earth doesn't give the exact position of caches, but it doesn't have any of the problems Google Maps does. That's good enough for me. :)

Edited by candyman0000
Link to comment

I posted really early on this topic. Normally i use I.E. and XP. The maps don't work with this combination. I might add after reading the last posts that I also use Norton. I also have Firefox loaded. When I need a map I bring up Firefox and use that successfully. My computer seems to be able to switch to the the other browser just fine. I would use Firefox if it wern't for the extensive list of Favorites I have on I.E. already. If I could only export them easily...

In Firefox, you can Import your Favorites from I.E. :( Look under File/Import.

Thanks Miragee= I followed your directions and was able to import my "favorites" into Firefox. No more need for I.E. or switching back and forth to use the maps.

Link to comment

Google earth didn't work for me ...maybe I was doing something wrong.

 

Instead a bit the bullet and went for firefox.

 

So far it is easy quicker and simple to use but most of all the maps work so now we can go geocaching again as the map problem stopped us caching for a good month because I just hated the problems and the parsing so much.

 

So thanks for the tip

Link to comment

Why did you feel the need to remove a easy to use map system?? I've struggled to try to use the new system with not much success.

You've turned a simple task, into too much trouble.I want to be out caching, not restarting my computer over and over again. I have to go to Missouri this weekend, and with the problems I'm encountering,with google maps, will not be able to do very much caching.Thanks

The response fron GC.com hasn't been very encouraging ,because they believe only less then 1 precent of cachers are having a problem.Thanks for the customer service..

At this point in time, I see no reason to renew my paid membership.

Why is it that everyone needs to try to fix things that are not broken???

Link to comment

Why did you feel the need to remove a easy to use map system?? I've struggled to try to use the new system with not much success.

You've turned a simple task, into too much trouble.I want to be out caching, not restarting my computer over and over again. I have to go to Missouri this weekend, and with the problems I'm encountering,with google maps, will not be able to do very much caching.Thanks

The response fron GC.com hasn't been very encouraging ,because they believe only less then 1 precent of cachers are having a problem.Thanks for the customer service..

At this point in time, I see no reason to renew my paid membership.

Why is it that everyone needs to try to fix things that are not broken???

I agree with you. And I think more than "1 percent" are having problems. What real, functional improvement do these maps have over the old ones? How do these maps improve the geocaching experience?

Link to comment

I too am having the same problems: scrolling the map often freezes with "Parsing Geocaches..." notice, blue frame not snapped to new location, and "Error on Page" notice in IE's Status Bar (lower left). If I grab the map outside the blue frame, scrolling is highly accelerated and almost uncontrollable. Etc.

 

I am running:

Dell laptop @ 1.6/3.02 GHz , with Nvidia GEforce Go5200

XP Pro /w SP2 and current, IE7

 

I spent 30 minutes testing to see if I could find some clues the Groundspeak folks might use. Here are my results:

 

Deleting IE's temp files had no effect.

 

Not moving the mouse after releasing the mouse button does seem to help. Likewise, not scrolling very far at a time (less than half a frame) also seems to help. Scrolling slowly (not really slow, just smooth movement instead of quick jerks) also helps. Not letting go of the mouse button until after the (jerky) map has caught up to the cursor also helps. Being really patient for a frame that has over (say) 100 caches also helps. Using these techniques, my scrolling succeeds maybe 75%.

 

I'm running Norton Internet Security 2006 (which includes antivirus, firewall, intrusion, spyware, and phishing protections). This and Microsoft Defender are the only real-time security packages I run. I turned each of these protections off, one at a time, opened a new map, and tried to get a scroll to freeze. With the Auto Protect feature turned off (and only that feature), I could never get scrolling to freeze up, no matter how viciously I violated the above techniques. With Auto Protect turned on along with each of the other protection features turned off (one at a time), I always eventually got a freeze, although it might take me five or so tries. It's not consistent.

 

Norton Internet Security 2006's Auto Protect is clearly implicated (at least on my machine). It would be interesting to know if many of the others reporting this problem are also using a Norton security product (Notron provides the same bits of software in a variety of different packages). If not, have they ever had a Norton or Symantec security product on their machine (perhaps not completely removed). I'm sure the good Groundspeak folks would like to hear from everyone on this.

 

Be cool, and try to help.

 

dbir

Link to comment

In a vacuum no one can hear you scream.....

 

Just wanted to put in my 2 cents on this issue. Wish we could still get the old maps. They really made it much easier to plan a cache trip. We cache with paper (NO PDA) and when preparing for a recent Delorme trip the new map made the whole planning thing take nearly 5 times as long to get only the basic information (D/T, clues, DNF's) with the super slow new-fangled mapping. I had to stay away from high concentration areas due to the time it took to load the maps. If you scrolled even a smidge it took forever again. This new system reminds me of dial-up, it takes THAT long. It took me a week to gather info for 300 caches where before it took an evening.

 

I'm on a G5 Mac, tried using Safari, IE, and Firefox. All suck, only one common denominator.

 

It's devolution.

 

I know no one cares so long as I hand over my membership $$$ but just wanted to put my opinion out there.

Link to comment

I too am having the same problems: scrolling the map often freezes with "Parsing Geocaches..." notice, blue frame not snapped to new location, and "Error on Page" notice in IE's Status Bar (lower left). If I grab the map outside the blue frame, scrolling is highly accelerated and almost uncontrollable. Etc.

 

I am running:

Dell laptop @ 1.6/3.02 GHz , with Nvidia GEforce Go5200

XP Pro /w SP2 and current, IE7

 

I spent 30 minutes testing to see if I could find some clues the Groundspeak folks might use. Here are my results:

 

Deleting IE's temp files had no effect.

 

Not moving the mouse after releasing the mouse button does seem to help. Likewise, not scrolling very far at a time (less than half a frame) also seems to help. Scrolling slowly (not really slow, just smooth movement instead of quick jerks) also helps. Not letting go of the mouse button until after the (jerky) map has caught up to the cursor also helps. Being really patient for a frame that has over (say) 100 caches also helps. Using these techniques, my scrolling succeeds maybe 75%.

 

I'm running Norton Internet Security 2006 (which includes antivirus, firewall, intrusion, spyware, and phishing protections). This and Microsoft Defender are the only real-time security packages I run. I turned each of these protections off, one at a time, opened a new map, and tried to get a scroll to freeze. With the Auto Protect feature turned off (and only that feature), I could never get scrolling to freeze up, no matter how viciously I violated the above techniques. With Auto Protect turned on along with each of the other protection features turned off (one at a time), I always eventually got a freeze, although it might take me five or so tries. It's not consistent.

 

Norton Internet Security 2006's Auto Protect is clearly implicated (at least on my machine). It would be interesting to know if many of the others reporting this problem are also using a Norton security product (Notron provides the same bits of software in a variety of different packages). If not, have they ever had a Norton or Symantec security product on their machine (perhaps not completely removed). I'm sure the good Groundspeak folks would like to hear from everyone on this.

 

Be cool, and try to help.

 

dbir

 

Great job of documenting the issue. Your symptoms match mine exactly. Even across three different hardware/network connection configurations.

Link to comment

I started a new topic on this issue "Google maps and Norton Internet Security" since I found my solution rather specific and possibly not a general one. I have found that the problem is the Auto-Protect feature in earlier versions of Norton Internet Security (pre 2008) combined with Internet Explorer. IE 7 and NIS 2008 now works OK for me as does Firefox. See a longer explation in the topic mentioned above.

Edited by Sakletarna
Link to comment

:rolleyes: My first post and it's an unhappy one! I've been having map problems too. Some of the same when I'm on my woek computer that everyone herer is having... but also when I print a map the markers don't show up. It's like they are on a different level and a map with no waypoints prints. ...The problem at home is also wierd. I can't get the map to print except on the secont page of my printout. The first page just hhase a blank box where the map should be. What gives???

-Krazytrain

Link to comment

I haven't cached in 2 months due in part to these new messed up maps. Why couldn't they leave the old maps??? Yes I can create a pocket query, but I liked being able to see the map and cache listing on one page. I am using XP, IE 6.0, Norton 360 Internet Security and I am a premium member. Not sure if I will be a premium member much longer though. The map jumps all over the place when I try to scroll and I have been looking at the 'Requesting Geocaches' message for 4 hours now (sometimes it works, rarely). I agree with the sentiment that 'Even Microsoft doesn't release software this buggy. Of course if they did I would think they would have fixed it by now.

 

:unsure:

 

thesandman

Edited by thesandman
Link to comment

PLEASE add me to the list of paid members who want the OLD maps back. I too for several months really have not been able to use the maps, i have read through all these relpies, tried the auto-protect, etc... and even tonight i am getting the 'never-ending': Parsing geocaches with the little arrows chasing each other endlessly! some how i feel i should not have to switch over my entire PC system to view a map, that as of a few months ago was great! NOTE: not sure if somewhere else in this forum but also some a few months i have not been able to click on any of the local geocoins on the geocoin page to bring up the GC info. i click and nothing at all for the GC page & basic info that use to come up when clicked. ANY INFO ON THIS??

Link to comment

Unfortunately, I also am one of the "1%" who apparently have problems with using the 'Map It' feature. As the previous post mentioned, I try to scoll and the word "parsing" appears. Nothing else happens. It has been like this for several months. I have tried the solutions suggested with respect to IE7 which I use. I am having the same problem on two different computer. The first unit is a Dell laptop running XP and has Computer Associates antivirus. The second unit is a Toshiba laptop running Vista and Norton antivirus.

 

If the good folks at gc.com cannot recreate the problem, I might be willing to send them one of my computers so they can view it themselves! They would have to send it back. :(

Link to comment

Unfortunately, I also am one of the "1%" who apparently have problems with using the 'Map It' feature. As the previous post mentioned, I try to scoll and the word "parsing" appears. Nothing else happens. It has been like this for several months. I have tried the solutions suggested with respect to IE7 which I use. I am having the same problem on two different computer. The first unit is a Dell laptop running XP and has Computer Associates antivirus. The second unit is a Toshiba laptop running Vista and Norton antivirus.

 

If the good folks at gc.com cannot recreate the problem, I might be willing to send them one of my computers so they can view it themselves! They would have to send it back. :laughing:

 

Great idea!! Let us know when they request the machine, ok? :(:(:D

Link to comment

I have not experienced any problems with the map feature. I utilize windows XP SP2 on my HP laptop and use Avant Browser, very similar to IE but not the issues with it, or I run Safari from Apple, also no problems.

 

I also have an apple desktop that runs Safari with no problems.

 

Hope this helps...

Link to comment

Even if it did work correctly I liked the old maps better. I just don't see why they can not keep the old maps as an option. They have other maps available! I don't see why I should have to spend my time and money for new software just to get these maps to work on my system.

 

Guess I just won't be caching as much as I used to anymore...

 

sandman

Link to comment

I'm one of the 1% too, which I think is probably more, but people aren't complaining because they don't know to, or where to. I had a hard time finding this post.

Windows XP SP2, IE6, Norton Internet Security.

I really don't want to have to load Firefox and take up more memory just for geocaching. This has slowed my hunting down.

I liked the old maps too.

Link to comment

I'm one of the 1% too, which I think is probably more, but people aren't complaining because they don't know to, or where to. I had a hard time finding this post.

Windows XP SP2, IE6, Norton Internet Security.

I really don't want to have to load Firefox and take up more memory just for geocaching. This has slowed my hunting down.

I liked the old maps too.

It took me 3 months to find this thread so you are right on that one. According to geocaching.com's front page their have been X number of logs written by 50,000 + account holders in the last 7 days. I am not one of those 50,000 people... But even if every other geocacher has done at least one cache in the last seven days that is over 500 people using the 1% theory, which btw I don't agree with either...

Link to comment

@Kdzndgz and thesandman . . .

 

Both of you are Premium Members, so you can get Pocket Queries. Do you have mapping software on your computers? If not, you can open PQ .gpx files in Google Earth.

 

I know lots of people have different ways they cache, and if you really need the maps, I apologize for interjecting my comment in here. However, since I have such a slow dialup connection, I never use the maps you are complaining about. I just use the data from PQs ("Regular" and "Caches Along A Route"), the filtering capacity of GSAK, the Mapsource maps on my computer, and/or Google Earth to see where caches are located. I can do that much more quickly than waiting for the maps to load on a 24K dialup connection . . . :laughing:

Link to comment
Both of you are Premium Members, so you can get Pocket Queries. Do you have mapping software on your computers? If not, you can open PQ .gpx files in Google Earth.

 

I know lots of people have different ways they cache, and if you really need the maps, I apologize for interjecting my comment in here. However, since I have such a slow dialup connection, I never use the maps you are complaining about. I just use the data from PQs ("Regular" and "Caches Along A Route"), the filtering capacity of GSAK, the Mapsource maps on my computer, and/or Google Earth to see where caches are located. I can do that much more quickly than waiting for the maps to load on a 24K dialup connection . . . :rolleyes:

Should not have to jump through all those hoops to do something that should work correctly in the first place.

 

GC.com took something very useful that functioned just fine, and they ruined it.

Link to comment
Both of you are Premium Members, so you can get Pocket Queries. Do you have mapping software on your computers? If not, you can open PQ .gpx files in Google Earth.

 

I know lots of people have different ways they cache, and if you really need the maps, I apologize for interjecting my comment in here. However, since I have such a slow dialup connection, I never use the maps you are complaining about. I just use the data from PQs ("Regular" and "Caches Along A Route"), the filtering capacity of GSAK, the Mapsource maps on my computer, and/or Google Earth to see where caches are located. I can do that much more quickly than waiting for the maps to load on a 24K dialup connection . . . :rolleyes:

Should not have to jump through all those hoops to do something that should work correctly in the first place.

 

GC.com took something very useful that functioned just fine, and they ruined it.

 

"Should not have to jump through all those hoops to do something that should work correctly in the first place. "

 

Right on. ;)

Link to comment
Both of you are Premium Members, so you can get Pocket Queries. Do you have mapping software on your computers? If not, you can open PQ .gpx files in Google Earth.

 

I know lots of people have different ways they cache, and if you really need the maps, I apologize for interjecting my comment in here. However, since I have such a slow dialup connection, I never use the maps you are complaining about. I just use the data from PQs ("Regular" and "Caches Along A Route"), the filtering capacity of GSAK, the Mapsource maps on my computer, and/or Google Earth to see where caches are located. I can do that much more quickly than waiting for the maps to load on a 24K dialup connection . . . :rolleyes:

Should not have to jump through all those hoops to do something that should work correctly in the first place.

 

GC.com took something very useful that functioned just fine, and they ruined it.

Well . . . since I need the PQs anyway for my local area, or an area I am planning to visit, the data is already on my computer, in GSAK. There are no extra "hoops" to jump through. I Export to Mapsource for the caches I am interested in, and there they are, instantaneously, on my monitor.

 

If I want to see those in Google Earth, I just choose View/View in Google Earth.

 

Seems easy compared to fighting with something that doesn't work . . . ;)

Link to comment

I have been using Firefox rather than IE. This did fix the map problem. I recently had to load new printer software. I wanted to turn off Norton as I was having problems getting the new software to load. Couldn't figure out how to disable it. I'm not very computer literate. That was the final straw as Norton was causing some other problems.. I got rid of Norton and installed a new anti virus program. Guess what? The Maps on IE work perfectly now. I'm all settled into Firefox now so I'm probably not going to change back.

 

Mary

Link to comment

I've just bought a new computer (Acer, Vista, IE7, Norton Internet Security) and have the same problems everyone else is describing. My old machine was a Gateway with XP SP2, IE6 and NO Norton; I was using AVG Free Antivirus software and other adware/spyware software and had no problems with the new maps. I have installed Firefox and have no map problems with that browser. It would seem, after reading through a lot of the logs in here, that Norton may be the culprit in this issue. I have yet to do a complete uninstall to check this out but plan to do it once I get all the software lined up that I was using before. I have to agree with the majority here: with so much input on this matter, I find it hard to believe that Groundspeak can't reproduce this problem.

Link to comment

I also experience problems with the maps. Where it wont stop parsing. I use Norton 360. When I turn the firewall off the caches load making the maps useable again. If i zoom out too far though they dont load. I dont want to always turn off the firewall, but i dont know what to alter to allow the maps to work. Any suggestions?

Link to comment

Again, not a computer expert, but... If you have the problem, you are probably using IE, XP, and Norton. There also seemed to be a problem with Vista. Norton really seems to be the problem here. Norton 360 is not the only antivirus software suite out there. There seem to be a wide selection of others that do the same job. Norton just seems to come installed or is promoted when we buy new computers, so we go ahead and use it. It's available everywhere software is sold. Think about those piles of Norton boxes at Costco and other stores. Most of you using Norton are probably somewhere within your paid up year's subscription. You will eventually be reminded to renew that subcription. I'm certainly not advocating just deleting it, but when it's time to renew the subscription, do some research on what else is out there. I don't feel that the map problem is neccessarily Groundspeak's problem to fix because it only affects a few of us members that have a particuler software configuration. Just changing browsers to Firefox or Netscape can help if you must keep Norton. Take action. You can't easily change your operating system, but you might be able to change antivirus software or browser.

Link to comment

As part of yesterday's code release Raine reduced the frequency with which the map queries the database (by about 90%) so this should help with the "parsing parsing parsing" problems.

 

As for the scrolling, well, people have already pointed out that Norton is the culprit here. That software is mediating your browsing experience so any errors which result are outside of Groundspeak's purview. If you resist switching to Firefox, and must use Norton, perhaps there are some tweaks you can make to the configuration which will alleviate the symptoms.

 

EDIT: Apparently, if Norton doesn't like Javascript it will just strip it out: One More Reason to Drop Norton Like a Hot Potato

Edited by OpinioNate
Link to comment

After reading the above msg, I spent a half-hour trying to get the map to hang up again (still using IE7 & NIS 2007 as per my previous msg). I cannot get it to fail any more. The scrolling always completes successfully, no mater how sloppy or forceful I've been. I even zoomed out to the 1-mile scale, and scrolled around a busy area with over 300 caches on the map. Scrolling was jerky, and fetching the caches took almost a minute, but it always succeeded.

 

Everyone who has been having this problem should now try again. If you have the problem, it would be nice if you mention the browser and security package (including year number) you are using.

 

It appears to me that the good folks at Groundspeak have succeeded in circumventing a bug in earlier versions of Norton security products (that's just my opinion). Thank you, GS!

 

-dbir

Link to comment

I added a reply a few days ago & here are several updates for me:

1. after reading last few replies, i just tried again with IE and same old thing: never ending paring going on, yes Norton was on, but as stated earlier, i tried the same with my Norton disabled with out any + change. 2. After reading some other replies I have downloaded Mozila Firefox and when attempting the maps it works great! in fact, overall seems like the mozilla works quicker & better than IE, so overall i am using mozilla for my browser for now. That is my update with ongoing aspect of this fun game we play! cache on my brothers!!

Link to comment

Thanks for the update. The maps are now working better, but still not as they once were. :) I can use them for a few clicks/scrolls around the map but I soon get an error message. :D Im using IE7 and Norton 360 on an XP and a Vista machine. It seems to be better on Vista than XP. I know it has been suggested that we use different browsers, but I am perfectly happy with IE so dont really want to have to resort to this. As to changing from Norton, I dont understand how people can afford to swap and change so quickly. I have paid for my version and want to get the full monies worth - also this is the only area I have had an issue so am otherwise very happy with it.

 

Thanks for your continued work.

Link to comment

WRT the geocaching.com google maps. Why when you "zoom to address", does the system immediately begin a search for every cache type in the view? Why not give the user a chance to first position the view on the area in which they are interested and then let them request a refresh? This would also apply to a simple zoom in/out or when panning wih the hand grab pointer. Perhaps the user doesn't need/want to see every single cache type either, why not first let them click on each type that they want to see, then refresh?

Edited by Team Cotati
Link to comment

I see that they have not yet fixed this problem. "Can't duplicate the occurance" my a**.

 

I too have the same problems everyone has described; ie..parsing problem and scrolling being erratic.

 

I'm running a HP Pavilion a6130n

AMD Athlon 64 x 2

32 bit Vista

Norton 360

Internet Explorer

 

Now for some odd reason, I downloaded Firefox and that fixed everything (not actually, it's still f-up on IE). I hate Firefox, but I guess I'll do whatever it takes to geocache.

 

It's funny, just a few weeks ago the maps worked without the parsing problem, but I had the erratic scrolling. It seems like the two problems combined within the last couple of weeks.

Link to comment

I see that they have not yet fixed this problem. "Can't duplicate the occurance" my a**.

 

I too have the same problems everyone has described; ie..parsing problem and scrolling being erratic.

 

I'm running a HP Pavilion a6130n

AMD Athlon 64 x 2

32 bit Vista

Norton 360

Internet Explorer

 

Now for some odd reason, I downloaded Firefox and that fixed everything (not actually, it's still f-up on IE). I hate Firefox, but I guess I'll do whatever it takes to geocache.

 

It's funny, just a few weeks ago the maps worked without the parsing problem, but I had the erratic scrolling. It seems like the two problems combined within the last couple of weeks.

 

Pardoning your poor tact for the moment (with the understanding that you are frustrated), it has been documented a few posts up that Norton is likely the culprit.

Link to comment

Further changes have been made to Geocaching.com Google Maps this afternoon. We have implemented a type of "clustering" which combines groups of caches into bundles of 10 or more. The result is that for each 10 caches the map only needs to draw the image once instead of 10 times. The savings in processing begins to increase dramatically when you're looking at a map with hundreds of caches shown. This should speed you guys up a bit.

 

Play around with it and let me know what you guys think.

Link to comment

Further changes have been made to Geocaching.com Google Maps this afternoon. We have implemented a type of "clustering" which combines groups of caches into bundles of 10 or more. The result is that for each 10 caches the map only needs to draw the image once instead of 10 times. The savings in processing begins to increase dramatically when you're looking at a map with hundreds of caches shown. This should speed you guys up a bit.

 

Play around with it and let me know what you guys think.

 

I think it looks very interesting, and kudos to the programmer(s) that implemented it! I'm sure it'll take a while for us to decide if it we are gonna love it or hate it (most likely both, depending on what we're using the maps for)

 

HOWEVER... if I hide my finds/hides, can you make that affect the clustering? Obviously, if I hide my finds, I'm looking for caches that I haven't found. It does me no good in that instance to see a blue shaded area showing 10 caches, all of which I've found. Make sense?

Link to comment

i dont really like this new feature, i can look at the map of my area and usually always pick out a new cache because i am so familar with it, this will make that much more difficult.

two-i cant get out as often as i would like so i make sure that i choose and area that has multiple caches, and with this feature its harder to tell whether the 10 in this area are all done or not

 

sorry but i liked the old maps, what was wrong with them? (i mean the ones we had yesterday)

Link to comment

1st thought: What the h*** did they do now? This sucks!

2nd thought: Why would you even want it to do that?

3rd thought: Where's the button to turn it off?

4th thought: Why zoom to that area when I click on the 10+?

5th thought: When I have hide my finds checked why does it count them in the 10+?

6th thought: Why can't we get requested features instead of useless junk?

7th thought: Can we please have it back to the way it was yesterday? Or at least have the option? Please?

 

xshooter

Link to comment

The 'zones' *could* be useful in certain situations and are a good idea in theory. For example, when I need to view more than 500 caches, or if i am interested in only part of the map.

 

It might be nice if i clicked on a 'zone', then it drew in all the caches from that zone.

 

I don't really like the *current* implementation though. They trigger too soon on a low number of rendered caches.

I'd prefer them to be optional if they stay as is.

Link to comment

The zones solve the issue with zooming out and not seeing anything because you've exceeded the 500 cache limit. Here is my area zoomed out:

95ac318a-0318-4956-abf9-d43b1ec05692.jpg

 

It's cool how you can click on a zone to see the caches in that zone. However, when I zoom in to an area that has well under 500 caches I still get these zones, this view only has ~100 but it still shows zones. So I don't really like that. I think the zones should go away when the view shows less than 200 or so. Maybe you could give us an option to hide zones under 200.

 

73c480cc-1b02-404e-a72d-d946654ecefb.jpg

Link to comment

I can't claim credit for noticing it, but this is easily reproducible. If zoomed out a decent amount in a cache-dense area, all the clusters are at the bottom of the map and the middle/top are empty.

 

Also, if you twitch the map a little bit (just enough to trigger a refresh), all the clusters jump around.

Edited by alexrudd
Link to comment
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...