It was all about the numbers after all...

[+PinkDolphin]

I too will miss the site, I loved it. INATN was awesome. Thanks for all the hard work.

 

I have logic weave stats but no clue how to post them to my profile, if anyone knows please let me know.

[+TinSparrow]

I loved the site too, and it's incredible how much I miss it now that it's gone. The color coded county maps were perhaps my favorite feature. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this.

[+lv2wj]

We too will really miss the maps and the county lists - don't know of another stats program that lists the counties cached in. Guess we'll have to watch the maps more closely if we want to keep up on this personal statistic. If anyone knows of another program that does the counties, please let us know.

 

Thanks for the past work, Best wishes in your future endeavors.

[+hunterKat]

We too will really miss the maps and the county lists - don't know of another stats program that lists the counties cached in. Guess we'll have to watch the maps more closely if we want to keep up on this personal statistic. If anyone knows of another program that does the counties, please let us know.

 

Thanks for the past work, Best wishes in your future endeavors.

 

GSAK and the FindStatsGen macro can give you colored counties for as many individual states as you want (using the default color scheme, or customizing your own), and when viewed on your public profile page, there are buttons to list the counties below each state map either alphabetically, or in high-count order. However, I haven't yet found anything that provides a full country map (USA) showing the individual county outlines and color fill. But that's better than nothing!

 

Adding my thanks for a really cool program - I miss it, too. Just last month I was on a one-day mission to "turn a state purple", as my caching buddy put it. It was fun to come home, run the PQ, and see the changes in my maps and D/T table.

 

I'm glad to have been able to use INATN and see what's possible!

[+Lledier]

I'll definately miss it. I was looking forward to counties and states changing colors...Thanks for all the work you put into it over the years.

[+Blastwizard]

...as in the number of hours in a day I have for stuff. Unfortunately, not very many of those hours go towards website development.

 

I was laid off from my job in 2005, and eventually got a temp job at a local company. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot to do, but with virtually unfettered internet access and plenty of extra time, I decided to hone my PHP skills and developed a way that would let me take in a GPX file and verify what pages were completed for the Wisconsin DeLorme Challenge cache. after that was up and running, someone made a post in the Groundspeak forums about stats and the game not being about the numbers, and as a joke, registered itsnotaboutthenumbers.com and posted a link proving the point.

 

Soon after, I had the idea to reuse my DeLorme code to take the GPX file I read and derive some simple stats. The I added more stats. And more stats. The site got the blessing from Groundspeak. More people started using INATN. The servers went down. The site was moved to a dedicated server host, funded by Groundspeak. Things were good.

 

Then I got my old job back, and between that and a third child, I didn't have time to develop the site any further, but I did what I could to keep it going. Eventually, new cache types were added. Attributes were added to the GPX format. I patched things up here and there, but someone always managed to come up with a strange case that resisted all attempts to make it work.

 

I finally made a difficult decision: With no time to give INATN the attention it deserves, and new (and better) stat solutions out there, I've decided to close down the site. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped support this effort over the past several years, especially the wonderful folks at Groundspeak and everybody who either donated via Paypal or clicked on one of the links. It's been fun working on this and seeing the varied reactions from stat-hounds and stat-haters alike.

 

Thanks again, and see you on the trail!

 

-Dave Krug (aka The Cheeseheads)

Thanks for the great work, INATN will be sadly missed but all good things have an end

I liked the mapping, specially for the UK counties, definitely one of the best tools around.

As other users suggested, maybe you could release the code with GPL or Creative Common Licence. Alternatively, we could suggest Groundspeak to buy the code from you.

 

All the best

[+Mogwai Liz]

Sorry to see the site go. I am not a numbers person, but loved trying to get the UK counties to change from one colour to another.

 

Thanks for all the time you spent on this.

[+fegan]

Thanks for all your hard work! Sorry to see the site/stats go.

 

I used it from time to time, but mostly use GSAK and FSG for my stats. I've use the MyGeocachingProfile and CacheStats off and on...and most recently looked at GCStatistic (because I recently switched to Mac and it's one of the few non-web solutions that supports Mac).

 

I use GSAK on my Mac through VMware Fusion and Windows and think I'll stick with that option...for now.

 

Farewell!

[+FireRef]

Thanks for everything - i used it a few times, and it was a very worthwhile project!

[+NevadaWolf]

Me too! Me too!!

 

I loved INATN, using it for maps and the clickable D/T grid for my Fizzy Challenge.

 

Thank you so much for all the work you did and giving us such a valuable resource.

[+mrcanoehead224]

Wow, I've never seen so many positive responses on this forum. An obvious sign people will miss it. Congratulations to you on choosing time with family and other more important priorities.

Thanks for the site, it was a fun and easy way to slice and dice stats. I'm not in this for numbers, but I've always found statistics to be interesting.

I feel the same way, I love the stats and it was a great presentation of them.

[+abcdmCachers]

Dave,

As author of CacheStats I'm totally amazed at what you've accomplished with the site. Good luck and hope to meet you on the trail or at an event someday. (Actually we've probably already met - the first event we ever attended was your mother of all breakfasts event).

 

Doug

 

P.S. I'm a little late learning about this news since I don't usually follow this forum closely. I only learned about this because I DO follow the web site forum. Have to follow that one to keep up on those pesky format changes that you mention!

[+abcdmCachers]

I have logic weave stats but no clue how to post them to my profile, if anyone knows please let me know.

Looks like you have it figured out, but for anyone else reading this thread, the instructions are on the CacheStats website but they're easy to miss. Look on the right side of the page in the More Information section. Instructions have been updated recently with screenshots showing the new way to retrieve the My Finds PQ.

[+Top rope ian]

Hi.

 

Thanks for all your hard work. I know what it like when it comes to this sort of thing.

 

All the best in your new season of software development and life.

 

I'll have to find another stats solution that was as easy to use as your product.

 

TRI

[+deborahthezebra]

I am devastated this site has gone thanks for all your hard work, but please, please could someone pick this up and get it running again?

 

Alison

[+lusophile]

Dave-

 

Many many thanks for all your work on INATN. I've only used it for 8 or 9 months, but it was the best. If anyone knows of a good replacement, please let me know.

 

Lusophile (aka SteveWashburne@hotmail.com)

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I am devastated this site has gone thanks for all your hard work, but please, please could someone pick this up and get it running again?

 

Alison

 

I suggested that Groundspeak acquire the software and integrate into the official site earlier in the thread. I also started a new thread on the Groundspeak Web Site forum as an enhancement suggestion to the existing site. So far, none of the lackeys have commented.

 

I understand that the INATN site was written in PHP and while I have been doing a lot of PHP coding as of late and could conceivably support it I don't have any place that I could currently host it and even if I did set up a domain and get a hosting service I'm not sure that I'd really want to take on another project.

[+reversec]

Going to miss the site and the stats. Good luck in your future endeavors.

 

Thanks to those who added alternative sites to check out. For your convenience, I added the references below.

 

http://www.mygeocachingprofile.com/

http://www.logicweave.com/cachestats.html

http://www.macdefender.org/products/GCStatistic/

http://counties.visitedmap.com/

 

Please post which is your favorite alternative to our beloved itsnotaboutthenumbers!

[+run26.2]

Thanks

Edited June 29, 2010 by run26.2

[+bpratt]

Sorry to see it go but hope you have a great life.

[+LanSearch]

Oh No! Say it isn't so! Have only been using it since Christmas, but had grown to love it. Thanks for all your hard work, it is certainly appreciated and will be remembered! All the best to you and your family!

[+mwellman]

THANKS DAVE ! ! !

 

Just wanted to let you know that INATN was used internationally.

 

We liked watching our maps change and the clickable Difficulty/Terrain so that we could pick and chose which 1/1 we wanted to use for our local Fizzy Challenge.

 

Enjoy the time with your children!

 

The mwellmans from Edmonton, Alberta

[+vds]

... I finally made a difficult decision: With no time to give INATN the attention it deserves, and new (and better) stat solutions out there, I've decided to close down the site....

 

Let me add my name to the folks saying 'thanks a bunch' and wishing you well. Definitely will miss the site especially the maps (nobody I've found does those better).

 

FWIW, if you decide to release your code please consider using a license that keeps your efforts available for others to use at the source code level. (personally I'd suggest GPL v2 or a BSD license).

 

I'd sure like to learn how you did those county maps with the overlaid county names. Way cool.

[+brodiebunch]

Thanks for the site and the hard work involved.

 

Does anyone know of another geocaching ratings site with county maps and number tallies for them?

 

Thats not GSAK

[+ngrrfan]

Thanks for the site and the hard work involved.

 

Does anyone know of another geocaching ratings site with county maps and number tallies for them?

 

Thats not GSAK

Not one that is as accurate as INATN

[+MTFireFlyer]

I'm going to miss having the maps and the stats on my profile page. You mentioned there are new and better options out there. What are they and how do I find them? Is there anyone out there interested with the know how to perhaps take on the "Its Not About the Numbers" and would you let them? Thanks for all you did.

[+Tortoiseshell]

I'm gutted - the UK counties map had become one of the main parts of caching for me. I'm just glad I managed to turn one county red just before the end, and kept a copy of the image on file!

 

UK Geocachers has a UK county map system, but you have to imput the data manually, and the colour coding system is (in my opnion) inferior to that of INATN. No reds and purples :-(

 

Thanks for the memories, Cheeseheads, and good luck!

[+sugar214]

I had a dream about how much we're going to miss calculating the county by county stats. Please bring the site back up so at least we can grab the state maps!

[+Team MEMILA]

I'm going to miss the county maps the most. I like the INATN implementation much better than what I've seen elsewhere.

 

I've been searching some fruitlessly to find a database of coordinates defining state county boundaries. With that information replicate the county mapping functionality is attainable.

[+KoosKoos]

I'm going to miss the county maps the most. I like the INATN implementation much better than what I've seen elsewhere.

 

I've been searching some fruitlessly to find a database of coordinates defining state county boundaries. With that information replicate the county mapping functionality is attainable.

 

Knock yourself out:

 

TIGER data

[ertyu]

Sad to see it go, it was a valuable resource.

[+keatingclan]

Wow, bad news. INATN was the best geocaching resource out there. I made county finds one of my main caching goals.

 

Your work will be missed. Good luck with "real" life.

[+Red_Devil35]

I am very bummed that INATN is no more.

[+mbooda]

I'm going to miss the county maps the most.

 

Seconded

[+arbogast]

thanks , thank you and thank you. that was the MOST fun page ever. I hope geocaching.com/Groundspeak hires someone just to take over the project. seeing the maps and the stats was always so much fun and motivating.

you did an awesome job.

[+thecigarmann]

Your program was great. I used it from time to time and will hate to see you discontinue the web site. Good fortune to you and your family.

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Well I don't really have anything new to add, but I'll say it anyway...

 

...very sorry to see INATN go away. Sure there are other stat generators (the GSAK-based one that lignumaqua has been building up over the years has a lot of nice features) but one thing that I haven't seen anywhere else are the county maps. I had just done a road trip and knocked off three more Arizona counties (and a NM one) and I was looking forward to seeing at the map of Arizona almost completely filled out. Sadly, I will never have that pleasure (unless of course someone steps up and fills the "county void").

 

So, while I understand that it's not something you can carry forward, I hope you will understand that you provided something that the rest of us really appreciated. It will be missed.

 

So long and thanks for all the fish!

[jholly]

 

...very sorry to see INATN go away. Sure there are other stat generators (the GSAK-based one that lignumaqua has been building up over the years has a lot of nice features) but one thing that I haven't seen anywhere else are the county maps

 

FindStatGen does county maps and delorme squares.

[+Tortoiseshell]

I've now converted to GSAK statistics. I've dedicated my new county map in loving memory of INATN!

[+Panther&Pine]

Say some one had server space, would you be willing to let the code remain up?

I *might* have server space, granted I don't have a php programer per se but I do have some one would love to work on learning php.

[+smstext]

many thanks for the site, its been great to show my daughter all the areas we have been to on a map and then the amount of caches done by colours.

 

+1 for Groundspeak to take it over from me to (+2 from minitext and mrs text too)

[+alanfreed]

I don't have much of anything new to offer... just another voice in the crowd saying thanks for a job well done! I really enjoyed the site while it lasted. Best wishes with the family!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Say some one had server space, would you be willing to let the code remain up?

I *might* have server space, granted I don't have a php programer per se but I do have some one would love to work on learning php.

 

Although I'm primarily a java programmer over the last couple of years I've been spending a lot more time writing code in PHP. I've developed GIS applications that created thematic maps (using a homegrown java solutions) not unlike the the state and county maps that INATN had and I the place where I work maintains a large GIS data repository (cugir.mannlib.cornell.edu) that contains Tiger county shapefiles.

 

Someone over in the new Feedback app alledged that Groundspeak contributed to the funding (she used the phrase "paid for") of the INATN site for the server hosting and/or domain name. I have no idea if that's true but that would certainly help. I'd be even more inclined to help maintain the INATN code if Groundspeak paid me to do so.

[+Cardinal Red]

Someone over in the new Feedback app alledged that Groundspeak contributed to the funding (she used the phrase "paid for") of the INATN site for the server hosting and/or domain name. I have no idea if that's true but that would certainly help. I'd be even more inclined to help maintain the INATN code if Groundspeak paid me to do so.

Confirmation Of Groundspeak Support

[+Panther&Pine]

Say some one had server space, would you be willing to let the code remain up?

I *might* have server space, granted I don't have a php programer per se but I do have some one would love to work on learning php.

 

Although I'm primarily a java programmer over the last couple of years I've been spending a lot more time writing code in PHP. I've developed GIS applications that created thematic maps (using a homegrown java solutions) not unlike the the state and county maps that INATN had and I the place where I work maintains a large GIS data repository (cugir.mannlib.cornell.edu) that contains Tiger county shapefiles.

 

Someone over in the new Feedback app alledged that Groundspeak contributed to the funding (she used the phrase "paid for") of the INATN site for the server hosting and/or domain name. I have no idea if that's true but that would certainly help. I'd be even more inclined to help maintain the INATN code if Groundspeak paid me to do so.

I don't see the domain as being costly and since I've already got the servers.... I've just never worked with a PHP site. However I assume the hosting requirements are the same regardless of the programing language.

Maybe it could be set up with a paypal link and see if the community will help keep it going.

[+mujonny]

 

GSAK and the FindStatsGen macro can give you colored counties for as many individual states as you want (using the default color scheme, or customizing your own), and when viewed on your public profile page, there are buttons to list the counties below each state map either alphabetically, or in high-count order. However, I haven't yet found anything that provides a full country map (USA) showing the individual county outlines and color fill. But that's better than nothing!

 

 

FYI www.mygeocachingprofile.com includes a map of the entire United States with counties cached in colored. It does not include individual states and does not have the county names, nor does it color based on finds in each county (all of them are red), but if you are interested in seeing all of the counties in the country, you can do it here. Be warned that if you have lot of finds, the file upload may take a while (5 minutes or so with my 1200+ finds).

[+mujonny]

Oh, and by the way, thanks for all the work on INATN. It was my favorite supplemental geocaching site. It will be missed.

Edited July 2, 2010 by mujonny

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Say some one had server space, would you be willing to let the code remain up?

I *might* have server space, granted I don't have a php programer per se but I do have some one would love to work on learning php.

 

Although I'm primarily a java programmer over the last couple of years I've been spending a lot more time writing code in PHP. I've developed GIS applications that created thematic maps (using a homegrown java solutions) not unlike the the state and county maps that INATN had and I the place where I work maintains a large GIS data repository (cugir.mannlib.cornell.edu) that contains Tiger county shapefiles.

 

Someone over in the new Feedback app alledged that Groundspeak contributed to the funding (she used the phrase "paid for") of the INATN site for the server hosting and/or domain name. I have no idea if that's true but that would certainly help. I'd be even more inclined to help maintain the INATN code if Groundspeak paid me to do so.

I don't see the domain as being costly and since I've already got the servers.... I've just never worked with a PHP site. However I assume the hosting requirements are the same regardless of the programing language.

Maybe it could be set up with a paypal link and see if the community will help keep it going.

 

A PHP site is going to require a web server (typically Apache) with a PHP module configured in. That allows requests for something like http://www.inatn_tng.org/index.php to execute the php code and return a response. It's relatively easy to set up and most hosting services which provide a LAMP stack are PHP site ready. BTW, I don't know if INATN used a backend database, but setting it up may also require a MySQL installation. It may all be academic as The Cheeseheads haven't responded that they'd be willing to make the code available.

[+Ericles]

I went to upload my June stats and BAM! Gone.

The others are right - yours was the best. It's why I still hit two caches in every county (to avoid that light blue color!). Back when the top-10 list by state was still small enough to not crash the servers we had quite a lot of competition in our little cacher circle. Ah, memories! Thanks for the cache (stats)!

[+walk tall]

I really enjoyed the stats it generated, especially the maps, trying to slowly move the colours on in each county, no light blue

 

One feature that I haven't seen on other sites was the ability to check caches against another cacher. This was really useful, as now and again, I go caching with another cacher and to make sure neither of us had found caches in an area, I could check using this feature

 

All the best Dave