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It was all about the numbers after all...


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I really need to know how I can get another colored map of my finds like INATN had... I just recently finished the Michigan County Challenge and my map is not complete with it. Tried to use GSAK and it's just not as clear cut.

http://www.mygeocachingprofile.com

The problem with that site is that in my case it shows 63 counties for Colorado when there are 64, AND the latest stats I uploaded it missed a find in a county.

 

That's ok tho...... I keep track of stats on paper maps and go by them.

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With all due respect to The Cheeseheads, we programmers have all experienced other programmers code that wasn't the best. You're the first one that I've ever experience fessing up to it. With such a great program as INATN, I think all of us would agree that we would rather straighten out the spaghetti than not have any spaghetti at all.

 

It was a great site and would be a shame if it all went to naught.

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I really need to know how I can get another colored map of my finds like INATN had... I just recently finished the Michigan County Challenge and my map is not complete with it. Tried to use GSAK and it's just not as clear cut.

http://www.mygeocachingprofile.com

 

Thanks! Should have mentioned that I've used that as well. It's just not as nicely put together in the map department. If they have a single state county map feature, feel free to correct me.

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Aww... tis a shame to see INATN disappear. So far, it was the only web-based stats page that showed average log length (as well as the associated shortest and longest logs)... those being about the only things I had going for me with my stats :unsure:

 

Does anyone know of another stats page that has indications about log lengths?

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Dave,

 

I too just found out about the permanent shutdown because of vacation and school.

 

Loved the site when i was first introduced to it after GW3. Actually met you and have the card with the web address in my geocaching collectibles pile.

 

Have used it personally for my own data ever since. I loved that it also tracked CAA finds for the whole community, which no one else does!

 

As a WRC/Fizzy owner, i am really going to miss the site, because i could pull up someones profile who had stated they qualified and click on each D/T combo from the table to see which cache was in that spot for them. That helped validate that the cache was date eligible and hadn't been rating adjusted to fill a square. It is important to me, because people who find my WRC first get an 81 coin with "Florida" engraved on it free. Your site made my life easier.

 

My love of the state and county map finds would get me lost for a few hours each time we made a multi-state trip, looking at how the colors filled in the white spaces.

 

Thanks for your hard work and wish you would reconsider letting someone bring it back on line.

Tracy

tiki-4

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Just another cacher who loved to see those counties get colored. I was working on New York and Pennsylvania and am truly sorry to see the site go down. It was a wonderful site and it's closing is really a huge loss to many, many cachers. I thank you for the work you did and wish you and your family all the best in the future.

 

All that being said, I would also urge you to give (sell?) your code to someone who is willing to carry on the project. That wouldn't be me, since I have zero knowledge of PHP, but it would be a true shame to see all of your work just disappear, particularly with so many cachers anxious to see it continue. I would be more than willing to pay a yearly fee to see it continue, ala geocaching.com's premium service. It would be more than worth a reasonable cost to have access to those wonderful maps and all the other stats as well. Please reconsider your stand on releasing your code to someone who could carry on the site.

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Add me to the list of missing the site.

 

I found out because I was going there to create a new colored map of my quest to cache in all the Georgia counties, but I will have to live with my last old map from 5-25-10 until . . .

 

who knows?

 

Thanks for what it was while it lasted. I can't wait to see the next great geo-spatial cacher to create something even better . . .

 

in faith, Johann Panholtz

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Add me to the list of missing the site.

 

And me, as well.

 

Each person has to do what's best for him or her, so if it's time for CH to lay INATN aside in order to live life as he needs to, well, so be it. I do wish the code would be available, via some arrangement, so others could carry on the work.

 

I sure miss the maps feature.

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OK, if you won't give away the actual code how about pseudo-code, so we can get an idea of the logic behind the code?

 

Yeah, it would be great to have at least some place to start. It does seem though that the programmers at gc.com could come up with something similar, and I'd gladly pay an extra 10 or 15 dollars a year on my premium membership to have this back. I realize there are other premium members who don't give a hoot about the maps, so it would have to be an opt in type thing.

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I really need to know how I can get another colored map of my finds like INATN had... I just recently finished the Michigan County Challenge and my map is not complete with it. Tried to use GSAK and it's just not as clear cut.

http://www.mygeocachingprofile.com

The problem with that site is that in my case it shows 63 counties for Colorado when there are 64, AND the latest stats I uploaded it missed a find in a county.

 

That's ok tho...... I keep track of stats on paper maps and go by them.

 

The only thing I can find on mygeocachingprofile is a US map that has all the counties I've done. I want a STATE county map with the counties labeled and shaded like INATN. GSAK confuses me and I don't think it offers that anyway. Count me in on wanting INATN to carry on in one shape or another. It was perfect for less technical savvy people like myself.

 

Or please if anyone knows of any map like I described above, let me know - thanks!!

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I want a STATE county map with the counties labeled and shaded like INATN. GSAK confuses me and I don't think it offers that anyway.

 

Or please if anyone knows of any map like I described above, let me know - thanks!!

 

GSAK does offer a map like you described. Look at my profile for an example.

 

All you need is to import your "My Finds" query into GSAK, and run the FindStatGen macro. I'll admit it can be confusing the first time, but it's really easy once you have it all set up.

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I want a STATE county map with the counties labeled and shaded like INATN. GSAK confuses me and I don't think it offers that anyway.

 

Or please if anyone knows of any map like I described above, let me know - thanks!!

 

GSAK does offer a map like you described. Look at my profile for an example.

 

All you need is to import your "My Finds" query into GSAK, and run the FindStatGen macro. I'll admit it can be confusing the first time, but it's really easy once you have it all set up.

 

The maps in GSAK are nowhere near the scale of what INATN had, but I might have to give that a shot too.

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In GSAK, the macro you want is MapCounties.gsk as it will give you colored maps like itsnotaboutthenumbers. You can also choose your colors and choose your break points ... see my profile for an example ... and I like that even better than INATN.

 

The real deals with INATN were the links to your finds for each county and the full USA with counties colored by find-count. The Macro folks haven't made one of those but I'm hoping it is in the offing.

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In GSAK, the macro you want is MapCounties.gsk as it will give you colored maps like itsnotaboutthenumbers. You can also choose your colors and choose your break points ... see my profile for an example ... and I like that even better than INATN.

 

The real deals with INATN were the links to your finds for each county and the full USA with counties colored by find-count. The Macro folks haven't made one of those but I'm hoping it is in the offing.

 

I did check your profile, and those maps aren't too bad, although quite small compared to INATN. Have you tried going into the HTTP code and increasing the sizing to see if it looks OK that way? With INATN gone, I may have to finally upgrade my GSAK. Still living with V 6.6.5 and I don't think that version will do the maps. I presume if I do upgrade that the macro you mention is listed under the macros in GSAK, or is it something I would have to obtain somewhere else?

 

Your profile also mentions you were the first to log certain benchmarks. Is there a location on gc.com to log those? Or is that something you do somewhere else on the web?

 

Thanks for the info on both counts, though!

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Big bummer that INATN is gone. I've only been caching on business trips lately (not very often). I logged in to see how many more caches to turn San Bernadino County, CA a different color (this county is bigger than lots of east-coast states, so it's a big chunk of the national map) only to discover the loss.

 

I completely agree with the reasoning behind shutting it down. Family and paying the bills are both more important than anything related to geocaching, so kudos for getting your priorities together and having the guts to shut down the site in the face of angst.

 

But speaking of angst, refusing to release the code because you claim it's bad programming is bogus. I personally wouldn't know PHP from PCP, but there are geocaching coders out there who could figure it out without breaking a sweat.

 

Saying you won't release it because it's proprietary (it's mine and you can't touch it), or you want to keep it tight because you might come back in the unknown future, or you stole the code from somewhere else and don't want to get discovered would all be legitimate excuses that I'd believe. But refusing to help thousands of geocachers because you think you're a bad programmer? That's just not true, or else you need a big shot of self-confidence.

 

But even if you just want to keep the code private because it's yours and you're not sharing, I really do thank you for sharing a portion of your skills with us for the time you did. And I'm truly happy for you that your life is too full and content to not have enough time to maintain this site.

Edited by J-Way
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;) I am saddened to see the site go away, but understand that even routine maintenance will take away from the time that cam be more importantly used to play with Friends, Family, and of course, GEOCACHE! Remember, Though it Was about the numbers and the statistics that they bring, When you find another Geocache, you are REALLY taking part in a 24/7/365 ADVENTURE in the OUTDOORS. So, Lets all get off the board, and find some more Caches!

 

The Steaks

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I posted earlier that I was very sorry to see INATN go down, and I still am. It was simple and easy to use and did a great job. However, I have found an excellent replacement for anyone interested - GSAK. There are dozens of macros available, but the one I've found that is simply awesome is FindStatGen. This macro has so many options that it is simply amazing. I'm just learning how to use it but the US Counties map is the one I really missed from INATN and this macro does a fine job, although I do need to find out yet how to change the colors. The other macro I find incredibly useful is MapCounties, which is a number of counties found by any state you choose. Also, you need to have the most recent version of GSAK in order to use it, but since I was more than willing to pay for INATN, upgrading to the newest GSAK was a no brainer.

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