UK Regions

[+milvus-milvus]

I never could figure out why we have UK regions that don't correspond to counties...

 

But now Groundspeak seem to have adopted the regions as part of our postal address! I've just renewed my premium membership, and my address is now given as "Towcester, East Midlands" - there is no option to choose a county! That can't be right...

[+Gushoneybun]

I never could figure out why we have UK regions that don't correspond to counties...

 

But now Groundspeak seem to have adopted the regions as part of our postal address! I've just renewed my premium membership, and my address is now given as "Towcester, East Midlands" - there is no option to choose a county! That can't be right...

 

 

I have seen new caches launched within the wrong regions I did email a few to the relevant reviewers but felt like I was picking holes so have stopped. There was talk sometime back of rejigging them to follow county boundaries but that has all gone quiet. My nearest unfound is in the wrong region and was placed by someone passing through, they seem to live judging by their finds about 120miles from this cache!

[+sTeamTraen]

This was probably something that should have been thought about when the UK regions were being defined - everyone was concentrating on the consequences for looking for caches and I guess that nobody noticed that the same regions are used in the profile for your home address.

 

However, in mitigation, it's not as if Groundspeak or the Royal Mail needs the county name. Groundspeak isn't going to send you a nice paper receipt for your subscription (and if they did, it would probably be to the address specified in your Paypal or credit card billing details), and the Royal Mail hasn't needed your county name since 1995 (see here).

 

And at least your Groundspeak UK region actually corresponds with your official English local government region, as shown here.

[+Just Roger]

If you want counties, did you realise that a recent (pre 7.5)) update of GSAK included counties so you can add a column to GSAK and have it automatically updated every time you load a PQ.

 

From 7.5 Extra Notes:-

 

County - Not all countries have counties. However, this column has been added to allow for the county name to be stored here. Also see the GetCounty() function

 

 

All the ones I have checked are pretty accurate but one or two that were right on county Boundaries - Like "The 4 Shires Stone" GC1BCFQ - did need doing manually.

Edited January 5, 2009 by Just Roger

[+keehotee]

..... and the Royal Mail hasn't needed your county name since 1995 (see here).

 

 

Unless you live in a little backwoods village like Exeter, where the (brand new) main post office has no facility to read postcodes !! (And the postmen seem to sort mail by initial letter of the street only)

[+Maple Leaf]

...snip .....

 

And at least your Groundspeak UK region actually corresponds with your official English local government region, as shown here.

 

... if only it did

 

The South West Mega event is actually in the South according to Groundspeak regions - even though the rest of the world know that Somerset & Bristol is in the 'South West'.

[+NickandAliandEliza]

If you want counties, did you realise that a recent (pre 7.5)) update of GSAK included counties so you can add a column to GSAK and have it automatically updated every time you load a PQ.

 

From 7.5 Extra Notes:-

 

County - Not all countries have counties. However, this column has been added to allow for the county name to be stored here. Also see the GetCounty() function

 

How do you do this?

[+sTeamTraen]

The South West Mega event is actually in the South according to Groundspeak regions - even though the rest of the world know that Somerset & Bristol is in the 'South West'.

You're not the first person I've heard complain about that. You'd have to talk to whoever drew up the maps.

 

Incidentally, Groundspeak - at the server level - has no idea where the region boundaries are. That is, there are no polygon files, and no software looks to see where the various WPs are. The reference data is a map (I'm not sure who has the master copy, but it was drawn up in the UK) and if you could convince enough people in the UK community to change that map, it would just require people in Somerset to change the region listed for their cache (which I'm sure most of them would be relieved to do!).

 

Something for the GAGB perhaps?

[+Cornell Finch]

Funnily enough, I wondered about this. My location is neither South West or South East (Portsmouth) yet I am in the same region as Bristol...

[+Just Roger]

If you want counties, did you realise that a recent (pre 7.5)) update of GSAK included counties so you can add a column to GSAK and have it automatically updated every time you load a PQ.

 

From 7.5 Extra Notes:-

 

County - Not all countries have counties. However, this column has been added to allow for the county name to be stored here. Also see the GetCounty() function

 

How do you do this?

 

I've had this going for some time so I hope I can remember to do it.

 

1. In GSAK go to View - Add columns. and tick Counties 3 from the bottom of the list. (Be careful to distinguish between Counties and Countries)

 

2. Go to File -Load GPS. If you have saved settings for loading PQ's select it. Then put "yb" (without the quotation marks) in the Update counties box near the bottom just above the delete button. I think y means yes update and b means only if there is nothing in that field already.

 

The first time you use it it has to download all the county data so it takes a bit of time but after that is speeds up terrifically.

 

I might have forgotten something so if it doesn't work check the GSAK help file or the GSAK forums to find out what I missed.

[+NickandAliandEliza]

If you want counties, did you realise that a recent (pre 7.5)) update of GSAK included counties so you can add a column to GSAK and have it automatically updated every time you load a PQ.

 

From 7.5 Extra Notes:-

 

County - Not all countries have counties. However, this column has been added to allow for the county name to be stored here. Also see the GetCounty() function

 

How do you do this?

 

I've had this going for some time so I hope I can remember to do it.

 

1. In GSAK go to View - Add columns. and tick Counties 3 from the bottom of the list. (Be careful to distinguish between Counties and Countries)

 

2. Go to File -Load GPS. If you have saved settings for loading PQ's select it. Then put "yb" (without the quotation marks) in the Update counties box near the bottom just above the delete button. I think y means yes update and b means only if there is nothing in that field already.

 

The first time you use it it has to download all the county data so it takes a bit of time but after that is speeds up terrifically.

 

I might have forgotten something so if it doesn't work check the GSAK help file or the GSAK forums to find out what I missed.

 

Counties isn't in my list............

[+Jonovich]

Counties isn't in my list............

 

Is "State" in your list?

 

J

[+Simply B]

Counties isn't in my list............

 

You need to be running GSAK Beta version 7.5 to see the new database structure including the County field.

 

If you don't want to use 7.5 yet, there are workarounds if you're on at least 7.2.3. Basically you can put the county data somewhere else instead, such as in UserData. See the macro help for GetCounty().

 

Note that the county shape files are approximate only, as Just Roger pointed out, and are for the 1995 boundaries as shown on this OS web page (scroll down to the bottom for the 1995 versions):

 

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/...un/outlinemaps/

 

As luck would have it, they do seem to map fairly neatly onto the current UK "states", so the same shapes can now also be used in GSAK to fill in your State column using GetState(). This topic on the GSAK forum discusses what's been done:

 

http://gsak.net/board/index.php?showtopic=10191

[+Alibags]

Incidentally, Groundspeak - at the server level - has no idea where the region boundaries are. That is, there are no polygon files, and no software looks to see where the various WPs are. The reference data is a map (I'm not sure who has the master copy, but it was drawn up in the UK) and if you could convince enough people in the UK community to change that map, it would just require people in Somerset to change the region listed for their cache (which I'm sure most of them would be relieved to do!).

 

Wa-hay! Does this mean that I am magically transpose myself back into the South East region and out of Eastern England?

[+sssss]

The South West Mega event is actually in the South according to Groundspeak regions - even though the rest of the world know that Somerset & Bristol is in the 'South West'.

You're not the first person I've heard complain about that. You'd have to talk to whoever drew up the maps.

 

 

probably the same people that think hertfordshire cachers are part of the east anglian cachers

[+drdick&vick]

Geocache Log has a column for users to manually add the county/state which it then uses for generating it's county stats. Believe me people this program is well worth having a look at. GSAK is goor but so is Geocache Log and it doesnt need extra Micros.

[+sTeamTraen]

Wa-hay! Does this mean that I am magically transpose myself back into the South East region and out of Eastern England?

Really, all that's required is for the community to agree on the new map. If the region names don't change then nobody has to poke anyone at Groundspeak with a stick. There'd be a transition period during which caches near you would be X% "UK", Y% "Eastern England", and Z% "South East", and of course a few people would moan about "why can't they get this right first time", but if someone wants to step up and organise it, I would have thought it could be made to work.

 

Actually I find the whole thing quite positive. One of the best things about Britain is the lack of orthogonality. In my bit of France, things don't quite fit with the rest of the country, and that's a problem, not a cause for celebration.

[+Mad H@ter]

The South West Mega event is actually in the South according to Groundspeak regions - even though the rest of the world know that Somerset & Bristol is in the 'South West'.

WHAT, Bristol is in the South West, we only agreed to move there because it's in the South .

 

Sorry but it's all off now, we're not being labeled as cider swilling yokels from the West Country .

[+NickandAliandEliza]

Counties isn't in my list............

 

Is "State" in your list?

 

J

 

Yes - just added it to the columns and it looks like it's worked. In saying that most of them seem to come out as nil. Is there anyway of naming the column 'Counties'?

 

As yet I don't fancy the Beta version as I'm not at all bright with the macro / bug / 'why the hell is it doing that' side of things.

 

Thanks a lot.

Edited January 5, 2009 by Nick & Ali

[+Bear and Ragged]

Counties isn't in my list............

 

Is "State" in your list?

 

J

 

Yes - just added it to the columns and it looks like it's worked. In saying that most of them seem to come out as nil. Is there anyway of naming the column 'Counties'?

 

As yet I don't fancy the Beta version as I'm not at all bright with the macro / bug / 'why the hell is it doing that' side of things.

 

Thanks a lot.

 

It's User Data2 column on my GSAK...

 

It works, so I'm not changing it!

[+Von-Horst]

probably the same people that think hertfordshire cachers are part of the east anglian cachers

 

Seems only fair given that the Hertfordshire Regiment is now part of the Royal Anglian Regiment!

[+The Hornet]

Really, all that's required is for the community to agree on the new map.

All??!! The original map was being put together when I was still a Reviewer and I remember only too well the "discussions" we had at the time. Take it from me, we will NEVER get a consensus. I'm sure Deci has enough to do without going through all that again.

[+Alibags]

Sorry but it's all off now, we're not being labeled as cider swilling yokels from the West Country .

 

No, you are cider swilling yokels for the Southern Counties and proud of it!

[+sTeamTraen]

All??!! The original map was being put together when I was still a Reviewer and I remember only too well the "discussions" we had at the time. Take it from me, we will NEVER get a consensus. I'm sure Deci has enough to do without going through all that again.

Yes, I should probably have put the word "all" in multiple quote marks, or perhaps followed it with a .

 

But my main point was that if enough people voted for something relatively uncontroversial, say moving cider swilling yokels Somerset to the South West, that it can be done without involving Groundspeak, or indeed the UK reviewers for that matter. The reviewers (as the most handy people to be the intermediaries with GSP) needed to be involved when the list of region names was drawn up, but the boundaries are arbitrary from the site's point of view. So if someone wants to save Somerset's virtue (who wants to say they live in the South of England? :phear:), they just have to convince the wider community. Hence my thought that maybe the GAGB could have it as a project (partly because I presume that their forum software allows polls).

Edited January 7, 2009 by sTeamTraen

[+Amberel]

But my main point was that if enough people voted for something relatively uncontroversial, say moving cider swilling yokels Somerset to the South West, that it can be done without involving Groundspeak, or indeed the UK reviewers for that matter.

But presumably someone is in charge of it; if it's not Groudspeak or the UK reviewers, who is it?

 

I feel the present regions are too large to be of any real use. Does the present system allow for more regions to be added, e.g. to use counties, or must the regions remain the same but just with their boundaries moved?

 

Rgds, Andy

Edited January 7, 2009 by Amberel

[+Mad H@ter]

who wants to say they live in the South of England?

Me

[Alan White]

The problem with the regions isn't so much that a few of the regions aren't quite intuitive but rather that they're not being populated or, where they are, they're set to the wrong value.

 

I filtered GSAK for [my own polygon of] the county formerly known as Berkshire. All caches in Berkshire should be in Southern England.

 

There are 851 active caches in Berkshire. Of those only 219 (26%) have been updated to set the region.

 

Of those that have been updated only 95 (11% of the total) are correctly in Southern England.

121 (14% of the total) are set to South East England.

2 are set to London (1 of those is correct as the published coords are in London)

1 is set to South West England.

 

Based on this small sample and unusual area* my conclusions are:

- Six months after implementation the low number of caches which actually have the region set mean that it will be a long time - probably many years by natural progression - before a sufficient number of caches have the region set at all.

- When a sufficient number of caches have the region set most of them will be set incorrectly

- A majority of caches in Berkshire are set to South East England. This means either that cache owners don't know which region the cache should be in or they're acting on sTeamTraen's suggestion that popular pressure should force a boundary change .

 

* The shape of Berkshire makes it difficult to place it as a unit into the current regions. East Berkshire residents, given a choice of South East England or Southern England would probably say they're in South East England. West Berkshire residents, particularly those in the wilds beyond Newbury would probably disagree.

[+sTeamTraen]

But presumably someone is in charge of it; if it's not Groudspeak or the UK reviewers, who is it?

Groundspeak is in charge of the list of "states": their names, how many they are, and the underlying codes in the database (try http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?state_id=216). But they don't have a political affairs department, and up to now there's never been any question where "state" boundaries begin and end, because there's been a government somewhere drawing up the boundaries.

 

I think the UK is the first case where the boundaries don't correspond to any obvious real-world political situation. So there is no precedent and no procedure. The reviewers of the time were involved because they are the obvious people for Groundspeak to talk to, but they only provided Groundspeak with a list of "state" names. (Well, I presume they provided a map as a courtesy, but nobody at Groundspeak took that and started plotting borders.).

 

So I guess that today, either the current UK reviewers are in charge of the map, or nobody is. And I don't think it's top of the list for any of the reviewers. It's not something that necessarily requires very much attention (unless large bits of the country are about to fall into the sea, or someone's going to dredge the Dogger Bank and attach it to... Eastern England? Yorkshire and Humberside?).

 

Anyway, all I'm saying is, if somebody wanted to pick up the ball and run with it, it might be an interesting little project, and if it were someone with a degree of legitimacy in the community (hence why I'm thinking of the GAGB), the chances of success might be higher.

[+Alibags]

I think the main problem with these regions is that they are artificial : none of us use them in the real world, and so they are of limited use on gc.com, despite the best intentions. I will update my caches when I have cause to edit them for other reasons, and apart from that and setting new caches, will continue to largely ignore the regions.

 

(Oh, and I Googled - Hertfordshire is not now nor has it ever been in East Anglia!)

[+Amberel]

Groundspeak is in charge of the list of "states": their names, how many they are, and the underlying codes in the database ... But they don't have a political affairs department, and up to now there's never been any question where "state" boundaries begin and end, because there's been a government somewhere drawing up the boundaries.

 

I think the UK is the first case where the boundaries don't correspond to any obvious real-world political situation.

Thanks, I understand now.

 

I'm afraid I haven't found them to be any use at all. The problem is that the areas are too big, the counties don't fit neatly into them and the boundaries are non-intuitive. The size and the names are now under Groundspeak's control and I guess we have what we have. I think minor tiddling with the system by moving the odd county from one nominal area to another is unlikely to fix the underlying problem. But at least we're no worse off than before we had them .

 

Rgds, Andy

[+careygang]

Is it really if any consequence or relevance?

 

The total area of the UK is around 94,500 Sq miles, which is divided into 14 regions (states).

 

The USA is just a little bit bigger and divided into 48 Continental states.

 

I'm in Nevada, which is 110,500 Sq miles, far greater than the UK without any further division.

Somewhere smaller, like Rhode Island is only 1,500 sq miles but gets the same search status as Nevada.

 

Incidentally, Nevada has 5,830 caches, while Rhode Island has just 968.

 

Wyoming, at around 98,000 sq miles, is probably the nearest to UK in area, and has just 2677 caches. So, yes, the UK has a massive edge in cache density with its 36,478 caches and having a further degree of division has some advantages, but I don't see any value in worrying about it...

[+Guanajuato]

...The problem is that the areas are too big, the counties don't fit neatly into them and the boundaries are non-intuitive. ...

Here's a link to the regions we're all discussing. Note how the region boundaries DO follow county boundary lines (approximately anyway!).

 

If you can remember the discussions when Groundspeak finally asked for a list, the reviewers eventually decided they would never please everyone, so went with what they felt was appropriate. The only real oddity in my eyes is that the whole of the south-west 'boot' isn't in the south-west region - i.e. Somerset & Dorset should be in SW (and probably Avon/Bristol too)

 

Because of the history of boundary changes over the last 30-odd years, everyone has their own opinion of what the 'right' ones are - For example, there's quite a few places that were in Yorkshire historically and are now in Lancashire or Cumbria, and vice-versa. York isn't even in YORKshire any more, it being it's own unitary authority. Every now & then someone writes to our local paper bemoaning how 'Cumbria' can't possibly be considered a real place and proudly boast about addressing everything as Westmorland, Cumberland or Lancashire (over the water).

I guess I'm in the position of there being no argument of which region I'm in - North West or North West really! Though I think caches in Mudchester should be listed under Midlands!

[+Jonovich]

I'm afraid I haven't found them to be any use at all. The problem is that the areas are too big, the counties don't fit neatly into them and the boundaries are non-intuitive

 

They are quite handy for statistics purposes - breaking down your finds across the whole of the UK is kinda neat... Actual counties themselves would be better, but what is in place currently is good enough to give a good picture (using Findstatgen on GSAK). Using the GetCounty function on GSAK will also populate all those nil values now, so it doesn't matter that much if the cache owners update their caches state field or not.

 

J

[+the pooks]

I enjoy following this debate about the UK regions. I know it has been discussed at length and is not that important, but it is still interesting to debate - one does not have to restrict debate to important things.

 

My first thought was (back when it was initially determined) - why not counties? everyone is familiar with them and their names, as they get used often (in the postal system for instance). I suppose one can get used to the GC regions though.

[+Pieman]

I'm afraid I haven't found them to be any use at all. The problem is that the areas are too big, the counties don't fit neatly into them and the boundaries are non-intuitive

 

They are quite handy for statistics purposes - breaking down your finds across the whole of the UK is kinda neat... Actual counties themselves would be better, but what is in place currently is good enough to give a good picture (using Findstatgen on GSAK). Using the GetCounty function on GSAK will also populate all those nil values now, so it doesn't matter that much if the cache owners update their caches state field or not.

 

J

I seem to remember someone was going to do the work to add a map of UK counties to Findstatgen so that you can see your finds by county. As GSAK now has workable definitions of county boundries I guess the map will come along before too long.

[+Jonovich]

I seem to remember someone was going to do the work to add a map of UK counties to Findstatgen so that you can see your finds by county. As GSAK now has workable definitions of county boundries I guess the map will come along before too long.

 

Initially it was implemented as a counties map in GSAK via Findstatgen mapping, but when the implemented solution from GS used these larger areas, it was amended to match up.

 

J

[+mongoose39uk]

Still cannot see the point of them, chocolate fire-guard comes to mind.

[+Pieman]

I seem to remember someone was going to do the work to add a map of UK counties to Findstatgen so that you can see your finds by county. As GSAK now has workable definitions of county boundries I guess the map will come along before too long.

 

Initially it was implemented as a counties map in GSAK via Findstatgen mapping, but when the implemented solution from GS used these larger areas, it was amended to match up.

 

J

That's a real shame. I thought from the original posts that the regions were a stopgap solution not that they replaced the ideal solution!

[+qichina]

 

probably the same people that think hertfordshire cachers are part of the east anglian cachers

 

Exactly. Perhaps it's the general decline of edookayshunal standards in the UK - there are a few webbed-footed ones who insist that Bedfordshire is also part of East Anglia!

[+Happy Humphrey]

If you're using GSAK, there's a neat macro here that will fill in the State and County fields for you. I've run it and it seems to work.

[+keehotee]

I never saw the point in them either - but if we were forced to use them TV regions would have seemed the obvious way to go .....

 

Edited January 12, 2009 by keehotee

[+Guanajuato]

I never saw the point in them either - but if we were forced to use them TV regions would have seemed the obvious way to go .....

Ahh, but by that one, the most north-westerly point in England (St Bees) is, apparently, in the North-east!

There are problems with every idea...

However, the regions are (somewhat arbitrarily) defined and a map is publicly available, so it shouldn't be all that difficult to work out which region you're in, whether you agree with the name or not. I could understand mistakes around borders etc.

 

BandMandAandA posted a list of what counties are in which region on the GSAK forum:

East Midlands: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire

Eastern England: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk (Note - No-one mentioned East Anglia! )

London: Greater London

North Wales: Clwyd, Gwynedd

Northeast England: Cleveland, Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear

Northwest England: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside

South East England: East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex

South Wales: Dyfed, Gwent, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan

South West England: Cornwall, Devon

Southern England: Avon, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Wiltshire

Southern Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway, Lothian, Scottish Borders, Strathclyde

West Midlands: Hereford and Worcester, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands

Yorkshire and Humberside: Humberside, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire

[+keehotee]

I never saw the point in them either - but if we were forced to use them TV regions would have seemed the obvious way to go .....

Ahh, but by that one, the most north-westerly point in England (St Bees) is, apparently, in the North-east!

I thought St Bees was in Cumbria - as in the TV region North East and Cumbria.....

There are problems with every idea...

However, the regions are (somewhat arbitrarily) defined and a map is publicly available, so it shouldn't be all that difficult to work out which region you're in, whether you agree with the name or not. I could understand mistakes around borders etc.

 

BandMandAandA posted a list of what counties are in which region on the GSAK forum:

East Midlands: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire

Eastern England: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk (Note - No-one mentioned East Anglia! )

London: Greater London

North Wales: Clwyd, Gwynedd

Northeast England: Cleveland, Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear

Northwest England: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside

South East England: East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex

South Wales: Dyfed, Gwent, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan

South West England: Cornwall, Devon

Southern England: Avon, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Wiltshire

Southern Scotland: Dumfries and Galloway, Lothian, Scottish Borders, Strathclyde

West Midlands: Hereford and Worcester, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands

Yorkshire and Humberside: Humberside, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire

 

The problem isn't in knowing which region Groundspeak have put people in - I think everybody probably knows which region they're in - but with where people believe they should be.

That is why you'll find most people in Somerset and Avon labelling their caches as South West, rather than South. (as there's no official Groundspeak West Country)

[+Simply B]

BTW, before anyone else beats me to it, I did later add this wee bit of land to the above list:

Northern Scotland: Central, Fife, Grampian, Highland, Orkney Islands, Shetland, Tayside, Western Isles

The sole point of the list is to define which state GSAK will give to a cache, based on which county it gives it. The GetState() function already gives you options to either only update those that the cache setter has not filled in, or overwrite them all with where GSAK thinks they are, which should suit most needs.

Edited January 12, 2009 by BandMandAandA

[+mongoose39uk]

BTW, before anyone else beats me to it, I did later add this wee bit of land to the above list:

Northern Scotland: Central, Fife, Grampian, Highland, Orkney Islands, Shetland, Tayside, Western Isles

The sole point of the list is to define which state GSAK will give to a cache, based on which county it gives it. The GetState() function already gives you options to either only update those that the cache setter has not filled in, or overwrite them all with where GSAK thinks they are, which should suit most needs.

 

But why would you need to?

 

Are you not going to do a cache because it is .1 of a mile away in another region?

[+Simply B]

But why would you need to?

Are you not going to do a cache because it is .1 of a mile away in another region?

Of course not (although Tubbs and Edward might not agree).

It's just data that's useful in some circumstances, like many other columns in GSAK. For me I guess it appeals mainly to the numbers nerd side of caching - how many have I found in county x, how many counties have I done, etc.

I don't pay it any heed when planning local caching trips. One time it does help is when looking through what I get back in a PQ along a route for a long trip - it helped me to visualise the options for where to take my caching breaks.

[+keehotee]

 

It's just data that's useful in some circumstances, like many other columns in GSAK. For me I guess it appeals mainly to the numbers nerd side of caching - how many have I found in county x, how many counties have I done, etc.

 

 

I thought the GSAK county column was independent of Grounspeak's regions - and predated them???

[+Happy Humphrey]

I thought the GSAK county column was independent of Grounspeak's regions - and predated them???

When you run the GSAK macro, both region and county are filled in with the correct details. I think that the county is independent, at least.

[+Simply B]

The state column is filled in from the UK region in the cache listing when you load a GPX file. You can also now fill it in using the GetState() command in a macro. This is useful (or not, according to taste) for filling in all those blanks where the cache listing doesn't have a region selected.

 

The county column is filled in when you run the GetCounty() command in a macro. Or you can have it filled in after loading a GPX file, by putting a y in the 'County update' field in the Load GPX dialog box.

 

I suspect that the confusion comes because we have UK county polygon files for GSAK but not UK state polygon files. What my list enabled clyde to do was to fill in the state column using the county polygons. For example, GSAK can now set the state to Northwest England for any cache that it thinks is in Cheshire, Cumbria, Gtr Manchester, Lancashire or Merseyside.

[+purple_pineapple]

The state column is filled in from the UK region in the cache listing when you load a GPX file. You can also now fill it in using the GetState() command in a macro. This is useful (or not, according to taste) for filling in all those blanks where the cache listing doesn't have a region selected.

 

The county column is filled in when you run the GetCounty() command in a macro. Or you can have it filled in after loading a GPX file, by putting a y in the 'County update' field in the Load GPX dialog box.

 

I suspect that the confusion comes because we have UK county polygon files for GSAK but not UK state polygon files. What my list enabled clyde to do was to fill in the state column using the county polygons. For example, GSAK can now set the state to Northwest England for any cache that it thinks is in Cheshire, Cumbria, Gtr Manchester, Lancashire or Merseyside.

 

An excellent summary there thanks! Confirmed what I thought I knew...

 

The only thing I'm hoping for now is Mike to display a county map rather than 'region' map in FSG!