Limiting the amount of Caches shown at one time in map view

[beatbreaker]

Ok so i think lots of us have experienced this one and it may have lots to do with HOW i use the site but i'd like to know if there's an easy fix.

 

I like to browse caches by looking at the map through the site I just find it easier than a search that comes up with a bunch of results. The problem is that when i do this, if i'm going over a geocache rich area (just less than 500 caches) it will grind the computer to a halt just about.

 

I want to be able to limit the amount of caches i can see at one time to around 200 or maybe 150, i don't care if this makes me have to zoom in more to get them to start showing up.

 

 

I've tested this on Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu, and ArchLinux. I've tried on Firefox and internet explorer on various different internet connections and still get the same results.

[+MYater]

Ok so i think lots of us have experienced this one and it may have lots to do with HOW i use the site but i'd like to know if there's an easy fix.

 

I like to browse caches by looking at the map through the site I just find it easier than a search that comes up with a bunch of results. The problem is that when i do this, if i'm going over a geocache rich area (just less than 500 caches) it will grind the computer to a halt just about.

 

I want to be able to limit the amount of caches i can see at one time to around 200 or maybe 150, i don't care if this makes me have to zoom in more to get them to start showing up.

 

 

I've tested this on Windows XP, Vista, Ubuntu, and ArchLinux. I've tried on Firefox and internet explorer on various different internet connections and still get the same results.

You've lost me, you want to have fewer caches show up in the Map view and are willing to zoom in to do it?

 

That is the way Map view currently works. It only looks for caches in the area defined by the edges of the map at the zoom level you have selected. If you zoom out the number of caches displayed will increase, and vice versa of zooming in. I have noticed that when I zoom out and scroll the map to a high density area that I slow down the display of the caches by about 2-3 seconds because I am on a dial up connection at home, but never anything when I am on a broadband connecton with the laptop on the go.

 

I have never experienced anything as extreme as what you are saying, and no computer I have every played on GC with has ever acted in the same fasion that you are experiencing.

 

I would imagine that there are primary problems with your machine which are causing the problem with the map view; settings, spyware, virus, temp internet file folder capacity. Try clearing out temp internet files and cookies, and if that doesn't solve it try a virus/spyware scan. You said you tried in a miriad of browsers, so it leads me back to your machine somehow.

 

I am not sure that a total shutdown on 500 caches would go well with the majority of cachers though. A filter to select how many caches you want to display in your own personal settings wouldn't hurt, but then I want filters for everything, smilies, frownies, notes... Everything. But that is another subject.

[beatbreaker]

It doesn't crash the computer, but it has crashed the browser a few times. most oftern it'll just render it useless for a minute or two.

 

About the zooming - well you're right BUT i first have to pass through those 500 whilst zooming in to get to a point where i'm only looking at 100 or something. Usually whilst doing that zooming it'll start grabbing and jolting about, 2 minutes later i can see where i should be zooming in on again.

 

is there an area where people can make requests for those search filters?

[+MYater]

It doesn't crash the computer, but it has crashed the browser a few times. most oftern it'll just render it useless for a minute or two.

 

About the zooming - well you're right BUT i first have to pass through those 500 whilst zooming in to get to a point where i'm only looking at 100 or something. Usually whilst doing that zooming it'll start grabbing and jolting about, 2 minutes later i can see where i should be zooming in on again.

 

is there an area where people can make requests for those search filters?

This is the area for all those and these types of filters, but until it is a higher priority on GC/GS's list, we got what we got, but we can always ask to let GC know that we still want it, just remember to be polite or the responce is usualy not going to be as good.

 

MYater

[+MYater]

It doesn't crash the computer, but it has crashed the browser a few times. most oftern it'll just render it useless for a minute or two.

 

About the zooming - well you're right BUT i first have to pass through those 500 whilst zooming in to get to a point where i'm only looking at 100 or something. Usually whilst doing that zooming it'll start grabbing and jolting about, 2 minutes later i can see where i should be zooming in on again.

 

is there an area where people can make requests for those search filters?

I still would imagine that you have a cookie/temp internet file problem though. I have never experienced that level of dificulty in map view...

Edited August 17, 2009 by MYater

[+Hynr]

I do see this issue on my computer at various times. It is especially problematic when the website is slow.

 

When I note this sort of sluggishness, I zoom out serveral levels before panning so that at least I don't have the script wasting effort showing caches I am not interested in seeing. This approach might be a work-around for you until something better comes along.

 

I think that perhaps it might be a nice feature to have a check box which we could un-check so as not to show any caches. (I.e shortcut to unchecking all checkboxes and re-checking them). Additionally the script would then also NOT make a request if all boxes are unchecked (currently it still sends a request).

[+dakboy]

The problem isn't so much the website itself but the Google Maps API it's using. It's extremely JavaScript-intensive and on browsers that are sluggish running JavaScript (really, anything other than Firefox 3.5, Safari 4 and Google Chrome) will really struggle with it.

 

IME, Google Chrome is really the fastest browser for using the maps on gc.com.

 

Reduce the number of caches you're bringing back, or use a better-performing web browser.

[+Arrow42]

I'm using FF 3.5.2 and my entire browser freezes for 10 seconds every time it refreshes when I'm at the level of 500 caches.

 

Thankfully it doesn't crash... just freezes for a short time.

 

I've noticed this on every computer I've used. My home computer has 4 gigs of ram and a duel core 3.1 ghz AMD processor.

 

It might be that 500 objects (with all related data) is going to be a problem for java-script type environment no matter what happens.

[beatbreaker]

I think that perhaps it might be a nice feature to have a check box which we could un-check so as not to show any caches. (I.e shortcut to unchecking all checkboxes and re-checking them). Additionally the script would then also NOT make a request if all boxes are unchecked (currently it still sends a request).

 

That's probably a better and simpler idea than my one of specifying how many caches to show. It's as simple as computers can be - on or off. I know doing something like that in google earth is as simple as a tick box.

 

IME, Google Chrome is really the fastest browser for using the maps on gc.com.

 

Reduce the number of caches you're bringing back, or use a better-performing web browser.

 

I'd love to be using google chrome but i'm on Linux and it hasn't been released yet. I'm on Firefox 3.5

 

how can i reduce the number of caches i'm bringing back?

[+Arrow42]

how can i reduce the number of caches i'm bringing back?

 

You can zoom all the way in (almost guaranteeing only one or two caches and zoom out to the desired number.

 

Yeah, I know, not an ideal solution, but this is how I do it sometimes.

[beatbreaker]

Has there been any movement on this one? People with any more ideas or opinions?

[+gse1986]

The reason for the slowness is how the caches are displayed (which I don't believe can be changed).

 

 

Basically you call up google maps as you would when visiting maps.google.com. Once all this is loaded the caches get called via java script. The computer sends the limits for the map you're looking at and the server returns the caches there if there is less than 500. If there's more then it returns nothing. The filters premium members can apply simply filter the results received (ie any filtering is performed client side rather than server side).

 

 

Because of this if the site (or possibly the server which deals with the map information - i don't know if this is a seperate server to the rest of the site) is under some stress, for example in peak times or if you're on a relatively slow connection you may find yourself waiting for a bit longer to get the results. I believe it's how the java works in browsers that it waits until it is completed before anything else can happen, different to when you're loading a few web pages in different tabs etc.

 

 

It could possibly be something that GS implement that filtering is performed server side or maybe allowing a user to limit the number of caches to 100/200/500 etc caches from the centre?

 

 

Obviously this solution then moves the stress to the server rather than the client.

 

 

I usually use Chrome and haven't had that sort of problem - well, maybe waiting 5 seconds or so for results to come down. I know chrome has a different VM that is built into the browser, not sure if this may improve things for you?

 

 

[+Team Noodles]

not an ideal solution, but one I use sometimes when the site is slow.

 

Untick all cache types, zoom to your range and tick one cache type at a time.

 

ie, tick multi's, check out the area, untick, tick regulars etc..

 

I noticed for me (being in the UK) that during my daytimes I don't have to use this method at all, but when the US wakes up/gets active it's sometimes needed, especially in cache dense spots.

 

hope this helps a bit

Edited August 28, 2009 by Ryuchan

[+hamcamper]

I would prefer that I could select that no caches appear until I request them. That way I wouldn't have to wait every time I change the map view for the map to populate with caches. One could get to the view desired very quickly then request the caches which always seem to take forever to show up.

[beatbreaker]

I would prefer that I could select that no caches appear until I request them. That way I wouldn't have to wait every time I change the map view for the map to populate with caches. One could get to the view desired very quickly then request the caches which always seem to take forever to show up.

 

I think this is probably one of the better solutions and quite a few people have thought that something like this is both easy and suitable.