Atlas Obscura

[medoug]

This is a good article about the fairly new website:

 

Article on AtlasObscura.com

 

This is what Waymarking "could have been". Instead of telling people where every McDonald's and Walmart are in the world, this site promises to list only locations that will interest people (much like the old virtual geocaches were).

 

So far I think they only have about 270 locations listed, but this could grow substantially with user input. The few locations they do have seem to be quite interesting. You could spend days just reading about and looking at the photos of these interesting places. Actually being able to visit these curiousities would be the ultimate adventure. Can you imagine the stories you'd be able to tell the grandkids, or your co-workers at the watercooler about the places you've been! I'm sure many of the future user input listing won't be as spectacular, but there's enough weird things in this world to keep things interesting.

 

medoug.

[+tozainamboku]

Many of the categories already have corresponding Waymarking categories. Others would make good Waymarking categories. The site does not show latitude/longitude and I'm not quite certain how they are displaying the location on the map (probably geocoding the address) I tried entering lat/lon in the search and it didn't work. Seems it wants a place name.

 

Waymarking was setup to be tied to GPS use so it wants a latitude/longitude for each waymark. And ultimately you can load the waymarks into your GPS and search for them. This site has you enter driving directions and an address, so it clearly isn't GPS oriented. It does collect some cool places if you are interested in that sort of stuff.

 

And that is the point. The guys who created this site have selected the categories they find interesting. Perhaps they are open to others suggesting new categories but I didn't see a way to do this. Anyone can submit a location that fits into one or more of the categories. These are reviewed by the site before being listed.

 

In Waymarking, anyone can form a group and sponsor a new category. New categories are reviewed; both by a peer review in the Waymarking forums and a final review by Groundspeak. This of course means not every category will be interesting to everyone. But for each category there is a group that has expressed interest, even those who want to know the latitude and longitude of McDonalds Restaurants. Ignore the categories you don't like. Find the ones you do like.

[Dinoprophet]

Mr T is right. There's no reason any of the categories on that site can't be a category on Waymarking.com. Most of them exist there in some form already. Things are categorized differently, but they're all there. There's no "Ruins" category, but there is "New World Evidence", "In Search of the Celts", "Ancient Roman Civilization", etc.

 

Virtuals could never be categorized as ruins, tombs, mazes, or ghost towns. Waymarks can, and that's the number one reason I prefer Waymarking to virtuals.

[medoug]

Yes, I understand that the site isn't GPS oriented. I also agree that everyone has their own idea of what is interesting. What I was just trying to say is that the Atlas Obscura site seems to contain places that "most" people would find interesting and does not include places that "most" people do not find interesting. I'm hoping the Atlas Obscura website will have an emphasis on quality more than quantity. Based on most of the entries there so far, I'd say they're suceeding. It'll be interesting to watch how their database (and categories) grows.

 

medoug.

[Keystone]

If you do not find certain Waymarking categories to be interesting, exclude them from your filters. Tell the website to only return waymarks in the categories you like. The site has powerful search and filter tools if you take the time to learn about them.

 

With McDonalds and WalMarts permanently filtered out from your view of Waymarking.com, how is it any different, apart from giving you downloadable coordinates?

[+BruceS]

If you do not find certain Waymarking categories to be interesting, exclude them from your filters. Tell the website to only return waymarks in the categories you like. The site has powerful search and filter tools if you take the time to learn about them.

 

With McDonalds and WalMarts permanently filtered out from your view of Waymarking.com, how is it any different, apart from giving you downloadable coordinates?

 

Even if the OP does not filter McDonalds and Walmarts from Waymarks in his area he has to go 50 miles before he finds either. McDonalds waymarks make up about 1.5% of all waymarks and Walmart only .2%.