Caching Stats?

July 13, 2003

Well, my last idea got shot down pretty badly, but I'm ready to try again...

I think it might be cool to have a stats page, where you could view, say, the top 20 accounts by caches found, or caches hidden, travel bugs found, etc. It would also be nice to be able to filter the results by city, state, zip...

I know this would take a lot of processing power, but if the stats were compiled, say, every two weeks or so, it wouldn't be that bad.

Just an idea... don't flame me... please...

Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

July 13, 2003

Ok I have to admit I kinda like this idea.

Would probably be hard to maintain though.

RW Da Man!!!

CHS#1

1.4k · July 13, 2003

I'm not sure if this is what you're thinking about.

Maybe you should look at Dans stat site

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Nobody can be so amusingly arrogant as a young man who has just discovered an old idea and thinks it is his own.

Sydney J. Harris

6.4k · July 13, 2003

Gee, I hate to see you get shot down again!

TPTB here have stated many times that they don't see geocaching as competing against anyone except yourself. Stats like that seem to promote competition based on numbers.

Now, I'm NOT in it for the numbers (heck, I don't even have a clue what my actual find count is, until I get around to logging the last month or so of caching) but I do enjoy Dan's stat's page. So not everyone who wants stats is just competing for find numbers.

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

July 13, 2003

I love the idea. This is the one thing that continues to disappoint me about gc.com... the lack of stats. Some see stats as competitive, others look at it as data. Give us more data!

quote:
Originally posted by sandaals:
Well, my last idea got shot down pretty badly, but I'm ready to try again...

I think it might be cool to have a stats page, where you could view, say, the top 20 accounts by caches found, or caches hidden, travel bugs found, etc. It would also be nice to be able to filter the results by city, state, zip...

I know this would take a lot of processing power, but if the stats were compiled, say, every two weeks or so, it wouldn't be that bad.

Just an idea... don't flame me... please...

__http://www.Gee-Enginuity.com - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999__

24.7k · July 13, 2003

I like stats.

There are a lot of things to complete over.

Total finds. No 1 in your town. Best at finding remote caches. Etc.

Having moved I can't compete for No 1 in my state anymore. My area just isn't rich enough in caches to pull it off. But I can keep up wiht the joneses in my town and I can compete in finding remote caches.

The stats just add an element. Plus it lets you look at names you might of missed in the logs.

38.2k · July 14, 2003

As Harrald pointed out, a stats page is available. Why should GC.COM bother with duplicating the effort, esp. since it's against their vision for the sport.

"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day" - Dave Barry

July 14, 2003

A stats page is available, but it's very basic...could be a lot better. The reason gc.com should provide more stats is: the data is there and people want to see it! Why not let users access it? Why keep it bottled up? And why let another site present your data?

My humble suggestion would be to host a stats page on a different server and put up banner ads or some other revenue source to pay for it. That way gc.com does not get bogged down doing database stuff. And those who are interested in stats can look at it while those who are not can stay away. It's a win-win.

quote:
Originally posted by BrianSnat:
As Harrald pointed out, a stats page is available. Why should GC.COM bother with duplicating the effort, esp. since it's against their vision for the sport.

_"Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day" - Dave Barry_

July 14, 2003

I like Dan's stats page too, and wish that it would be incorporated onto the gc.com website. I like looking at the stats for the states and seeing how many caches others in my area have found. Then when I find those other cachers I can look at their profiles and find out more about them, what caches were their favorites, etc. I think the stats are for more than just competition. Come on, put them on the site.

--RuffRidr

5.3k · July 14, 2003

There are uses for Dan's stats site that I don't see mentioned much that are difficult to derive directly from geocaching.com.

For example, it's very easy to see the most recent no-finds or notes in an area to get some indication of which caches may need maintenance or that may have recently gone offline.

1.7k · July 14, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by robertlipe:
For example, it's very easy to see the most recent no-finds or notes in an area to get some indication of which caches may need maintenance or that may have recently gone offline.

I have a Perl script that extracts all of the recent logs from a GPX file and sorts them in reverse order by date. It'd be trivial to only show the ones that aren't finds.

pirate.cgi.gif

5.3k · July 14, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies - Fuzzy:

quote:
Originally posted by robertlipe:
see the most recent no-finds or notes in an area

I have a Perl script that extracts all of the recent logs from a GPX file and sorts them in reverse order by date. It'd be trivial to only show the ones that aren't finds.

That's one solution, but it's still not as real-time as Dan's stuff. Even with a daily PQ, you can't control when it fires. If you decide to go caching Sunday morning, you can't easily get the logs for the Saturday finders in a time-effective manner. Yes, you can do tricks like have a PQ in the bank that isn't set to fire so it goes on the run queue quickly, but you can't get them essentially realtime bookmarkable glory

It's not a huge thing. I'm just pointing out that sites like this do have use even for those that aren't playing the leaderboard game.

(And I really like the way the lyrics on your 'Pirates' tribute keep changing.)

1.7k · July 14, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by robertlipe:
(And I really like the way the lyrics on your 'Pirates' tribute keep changing.)

Thanks. It was a fun bit of code. Suggestions for new lines are always welcome, of course, as long as they have the right theme and meter.

pirate.cgi.gif

July 14, 2003

I thought Dan's stats site wasn't being maintained any longer. It's always been slightly inaccurate. GC.com possesses exact find counts for everybody; it would be fun to see accurate, real time stats. I don't see geocaching as competitive -- we'll certainly never catch those with a thousand finds -- but I still find it interesting to see what others have done. I'd be curious to know what the average number of finds is, stuff like that. How many hundreds of people have more than us? I love statistics. I'm not obsessed enough to even attempt to try to correct our listing on the stats site, though. For one thing, I can never get enough pages to load properly...

July 19, 2003

My intention is not to promote competition among geocachers. I just think it might be neat to see the greatest number of finds logged by a user, etc. I've always been curious to see how many really serious geocachers there are in California, or San Jose specifically.

Dan's site is pretty neat, but it's a little slow and I thought it would be cool to have something like this integrated into the Geocaching website, with the pretty GC.com UI. It would also be a little more efficient, having direct access to the databases.

So once again, I'm not trying to promote competition between geocachers (as it seems there are many people against that sort of thing), I just think a lot of cachers are curious to know just how serious people can get about Geocaching.

Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

July 19, 2003

Well...I wasn't going to mention this topic, due to the recent flaming...but you guys make it easier. Statistics are important, it is what is done with them that can be useful or not.

Perhaps everyone has a favourite statistic that they look for...?

I like:

FINDS/TIME

(which someone had in their profile)

FINDS/(TIME)(TIME) is also interesting.

I would make a poll on what is your favourite statistic, but I am staying away from polls for a while. Polls are good though, they can get you some accurate or inaccurate statistics.

I would like to see statistics at geocaching.com!

...and the statistics drove them crazy...

...so they went from cache to cache...

...never to return to the numbers that be...

...and still they were followed by the...

...very things that drove them far away...

Just kidding...it could happen?

(By all means please finish the story...)

______________________________________________ Kanto

July 19, 2003

I think the problem we have here is that many people think that the point of having stats is to try to beat everyone else. Look at me! At 19 finds, I'm in no position to try to compete with anyone! I'm just in it for the fun.

Please, admins, at least consider the idea!

Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

July 21, 2003

I second this motion. I'm interested in seeing who is doing what in my area, what caches are visited most frequently, how many caches did JoeCacher get over the weekend, etc. It's all in the data.

For an interesting gc site that has awesome stats, check out the UK web site:

http://stats.guk2.com/cachers/view_cacherstats.php?c=69782

Is this awesome or what? I wish gc.com had it.

quote:
Originally posted by sandaals:
I think the problem we have here is that many people think that the point of having stats is to try to beat everyone else. Look at me! At 19 finds, I'm in no position to try to compete with anyone! I'm just in it for the fun.

Please, admins, at least consider the idea!

__http://www.Gee-Enginuity.com - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999__

July 21, 2003

I'd say that site you linked is a GOOD site 9 (the map thing though is GREAT)...but an AWESOME stats site would allow your choice of statistics that you are interested in...and how you would have them displayed.

______________________________________________ Kanto

July 21, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by hammack:
A stats page _is_ available, but it's very basic...could be a lot better. The reason gc.com should provide more stats is: the data is there and people want to see it! Why not let users access it? Why keep it bottled up? And why let _another_ site present _your_ data?

<SNIP>

Available is a very appropriate word here. I notice on Dan's Stat Page that it is available for someone to step up and take over.

"Unfortunately, I no longer have time to make manual changes such as deleting logs or making username changes - I just don't have the time. If you're interested in taking over this stats site, and know Java, Perl and MySQL - email me.."

Perhaps someone with great ideas about how a stats site should operate could step up and do it, instead of expecting other to do what they want.

I don't think this is Burger King. ("hold the pickels, hold the lettuce.....")

Dave_W6DPS

My two cents worth, refunds available on request. (US funds only)

July 21, 2003

The difficulty with Dan's site, I believe, is that much of the corrections must be done manually because he does not have direct access to the GC.com database. If Groundspeak were to implement such a program, it would have direct access to all necessary data and could update automatically, much more efficiently than an external site could.

By the way, does anyone have any idea where Dan's site got its data? He seems to have almost everybody on there.

-Greg

Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

July 22, 2003

I assumed that the data came directly from gc.com through some special relationship. I can post a find and then go to Dan's site and see the update. His site must be linked directly to the gc.com DB.

quote:
By the way, does anyone have any idea where Dan's site got its data? He seems to have almost everybody on there.

-Greg

__http://www.Gee-Enginuity.com - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999__

July 23, 2003

I would have assumed that, except that my find count still shows as 15 on his site!

So if he does have access to the database, his site only updates every once in a while. A program running on a GC.com server could have direct local access to the database, and could generate the stats quickly and often. (like at least twice a week)

-Greg

Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

July 23, 2003

I know that what I am about to suggest will probably draw the ire of 'open source' people, but I still offer this as a possibility.

Perhaps a stats page could be added as a premium feature for those that pay their dues. It could increase the numbers of those that pay for what they are using.

Personally I enjoy the stats, and like a little friendly competition. I also know that I will never be among the top cachers, but it is cool to know who those folks are.

Thanks for the Adventure.

Gary and Mary

2.7k · July 23, 2003

I like numbers! Yeah, a detailed stats page would be great...world, state rankings, etc. I know we have Miller's page, but that one isn't accurate enough. I'm pernamently off by 30 or so caches off due to inability to transfer caches from old username and archived/members only ones.

I like what Jeremy has done so far with the stats tab in our personal data sections. I'd like to see grand totals on those pages though.

July 23, 2003

quote:
Posted by Gary and Mary:
Personally I enjoy the stats, and like a little friendly competition. I also know that I will never be among the top cachers, but it is cool to know who those folks are.

ITA with this. Why do people keep saying that numbers mean competition? It's not all about competing, it's about having quick access to interesting data. Interesting to know who the most active cachers are. Interesting to know who is approaching "milestone" caches.

quote:
Posted by evergreenhiker: I like what Jeremy has done so far with the stats tab in our personal data sections. I'd like to see grand totals on those pages though

And if grand totals were on the first page (User Profile) then you could click the other tab (User Stats) for a more detailed breakdown.

-J-

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geocaching-HamptonRoadsVA/join

"You have brains in your head; You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You're on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...."

Dr. Seuss

9.1k · July 23, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by sandaals:
I would have assumed that, except that my find count still shows as 15 on his site!

So if he does have access to the database, his site only updates every once in a while. A program running on a GC.com server could have direct local access to the database, and could generate the stats quickly and often. (like at least twice a week)

-Greg

I believe this is incorrect. Dan's Stats site actually updates every 15 minutes... it queries the "200 most recent logs" page linked off the main page, and that page updates every 15 minutes. The problem is, during a busy time like weekends, there will be too many logs entered in a 15 minute period and some of the logs won't be captured onto Dan's site. When that happens, you need to update your finds manually. Compare your list of finds on GC.com to your list of finds on Dan's site, and use the "Missing Logs" feature on his site to enter the cache ID numbers for the finds you are missing.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Next time, instead of getting married, I think I'll just find a woman I don't like and buy her a house.

1.7k · July 23, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by The Leprechauns:
The problem is, during a busy time like weekends, there will be too many logs entered in a 15 minute period and some of the logs won't be captured onto Dan's site.

So the moral of the story is, log your finds at off-peak times if the numbers mean that much to you.

pirate.cgi.gif

July 24, 2003

What do you guys think about starting a poll?

Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

July 25, 2003

Originally posted by sandaals:
What do you guys think about starting a poll?

Just announce it if you put it up - We'll vote to put the old totals back up.

2.5k · July 25, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by The Just announce it if you put it up - We'll vote to put the old totals back up.

I doubt the polls would do any good, the percentage of people in the forums compared to the total number of geocachers is very small. A random sampling would probably more accurately reflect the mood of the community.

October 9, 2003

You got it!

quote:
Originally posted by sandaals:
Well, my last idea got shot down pretty badly, but I'm ready to try again...

I think it might be cool to have a stats page, where you could view, say, the top 20 accounts by caches found, or caches hidden, travel bugs found, etc. It would also be nice to be able to filter the results by city, state, zip...

I know this would take a lot of processing power, but if the stats were compiled, say, every two weeks or so, it wouldn't be that bad.

Just an idea... don't flame me... please...

__http://www.Gee-Enginuity.com - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999__

Caching Stats?

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