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Geocaching.com site update Feb 14th, 2012


OpinioNate

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I just have to say that the ability to correct coordinates for a mystery cache that was included in a previous update is one of the best things GC.com has ever added. It makes finding mystery caches soooo much more convenient and less confusing. Thank you for that!!!

 

However, the new maps just are not functional enough to be all that useful right now. I rarely see the whole map anymore, and it is very slow to load or respond to a pan. Typically about 50% of the map is blank gray space. I understand the reasons for the change, but it essentially means that a siginificant feature of the web site is no longer available (for me, at least). I hope Groundspeak will continue to re-evaluate the mapping and find a better compromise.

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Just to try something new here:

 

Thank you guys at GS for offering an awesome service and a great site! I personally don't miss Google Maps, as OSM is much faster (not kidding, here in Beijing OSM is lightening fast, while Google Maps was a pain in the a**)! Sure, the quality of the maps is not always the same, but if Google choses to charge for a previously free service, there's no use in complaining. Already in the short time that I use the website, I have seen some improvements and I am sure you guys are doing your best to further improve it in the future. The PM is absolutely worth the money and I'll continue to be a PM in the future!

 

For all you other guys: If you get a free service (from Google) and they choose to charge for that, there's no need in blaming GS. If you guys would spend the time you are using to spam this board to improve the OSM maps, there would be hardly any reason to complain about. Sure the bad areal maps are the downside, but there are other solutions like GSAK, iCaching that still use Google Earth. Get used to the new situation!

 

+1

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Just to try something new here:

 

Thank you guys at GS for offering an awesome service and a great site! I personally don't miss Google Maps, as OSM is much faster (not kidding, here in Beijing OSM is lightening fast, while Google Maps was a pain in the a**)! Sure, the quality of the maps is not always the same, but if Google choses to charge for a previously free service, there's no use in complaining. Already in the short time that I use the website, I have seen some improvements and I am sure you guys are doing your best to further improve it in the future. The PM is absolutely worth the money and I'll continue to be a PM in the future!

 

For all you other guys: If you get a free service (from Google) and they choose to charge for that, there's no need in blaming GS. If you guys would spend the time you are using to spam this board to improve the OSM maps, there would be hardly any reason to complain about. Sure the bad areal maps are the downside, but there are other solutions like GSAK, iCaching that still use Google Earth. Get used to the new situation!

 

The problems using Google in China are well documented, but most of us are seeing a severe downgrading of service.

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Groundspeak has received a lot of feedback from the geocaching community regarding the recent changes to our maps, including recent improvements to our Pocket Query/Map integration. We understand that the change in maps was not ideal for many customers who were used to seeing Google maps on geocaching.com.

 

Please understand that we are committed to delivering exceptional functionality, including high quality maps. We are continuing to analyze available options for mapping while also actively working with MapQuest to improve the current functionality and service.

 

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I'm not trying to tow the party line here, but the maps change was not billed as an "upgrade".

 

Obviously it was not an "upgrade". Thus the quotation marks.

 

I understand the reasons the maps were changed, but the solution they chose was not the only one available.

 

Well, if you knew it was not an upgrade it was pointless to use the word at all, with or without question marks.

 

Sure, it was not the ONLY solution, but given their situation, it may well have been the BEST solution FOR NOW. Only those in the meeting(s) would know what went into the decision.

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I'm not trying to tow the party line here, but the maps change was not billed as an "upgrade".

 

Obviously it was not an "upgrade". Thus the quotation marks.

 

I understand the reasons the maps were changed, but the solution they chose was not the only one available.

And what solution would suggest that does not involve opening our collective wallets?

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Groundspeak has received a lot of feedback from the geocaching community regarding the recent changes to our maps, including recent improvements to our Pocket Query/Map integration. We understand that the change in maps was not ideal for many customers who were used to seeing Google maps on geocaching.com.

 

Please understand that we are committed to delivering exceptional functionality, including high quality maps. We are continuing to analyze available options for mapping while also actively working with MapQuest to improve the current functionality and service.

 

Sandy, you're much better at this than Jeremy. :D

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I'm not trying to tow the party line here, but the maps change was not billed as an "upgrade".

 

Obviously it was not an "upgrade". Thus the quotation marks.

 

I understand the reasons the maps were changed, but the solution they chose was not the only one available.

And what solution would suggest that does not involve opening our collective wallets?

They promised Charter Members the price of a membership would never exceed at $30.00, but they didn't make that same promise to everyone. They made a decision to switch map providers rather than pay Google's new licensing fees, which probably means their polling about the necessary increase in the price of a premium membership told them that an such increase would be wildly unpopular.

 

You know what else is wildly unpopular? Springing changes of this magnitude on their users without a word of warning. If there was any doubt that the GS fanboys and fangirls will defend every move GS makes, it should be put to rest now.

 

As I said elsewhere, I think the change to open maps will be positive in the longer term. Five or six years ago, I sent some corrections to Google for some nearby trails that show up on every map but the USGS Topo Quads as roads. About a year later Google contacted me and said they were not set up to handle changes of that nature, but they'd file my information away for when they were. The day after GS switched maps, I downloaded the Merkaartor app and made the changes myself. I even corrected the name of a local park while I was at it. Those changes were visible on the GS maps the next day when I looked. Now, I just need to learn how to use the sinkhole tool so I can add a little surprise for my firewood stealing neighbor.

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...You know what else is wildly unpopular? Springing changes of this magnitude on their users without a word of warning.

 

I've only been at this for about a year and a half, and that has been Groundspeak's M.O. the whole time. I gather it has been Groundspeak's M.O. since the beginning.

 

I have come to accept that there is nothing to do but accept this and work around whatever goofy decisions they make as best I can.

  • New features will be broken, annoying, or at best poorly implemented.
  • A great new feature will be added about once every three months, and will actually work properly three to six months later.
  • Development time will be spent on things few people have asked for, while ignoring persistent bugs.
  • They will not seek the opinions of active geocachers before changing things.
  • No warning will be given before massive changes.

 

If there was any doubt that the GS fanboys and fangirls will defend every move GS makes, it should be put to rest now...

I really wonder what the fanboys/girls think they are gaining or accomplishing.

Edited by JJnTJ
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If there was any doubt that the GS fanboys and fangirls will defend every move GS makes, it should be put to rest now...

I really wonder what the fanboys/girls think they are gaining or accomplishing.

Nothing, it's just blind worship.

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14 posts more and this release will be as "arousing" as the Geocaching.com site update May 4th 2011 (beta maps, fixed width, etc)

 

Fortunately, the current release has not changed my MO in geocaching. I only wish the satellite view would allow zooming in a bit closer and that the tiles would load faster.

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I wholly understand the decision to drop Google Maps. What I don't understand (and this prolly isn't GS's fault) is how ANY map maker worth his salt could possibly fail to include a scale bar his map/API. It just wobbles the mind.

Well, as a GM-script (here) demonstrates, it would be possible to add the scale by GS. They must know the scale, how else could they place the cache symbols?

 

Also, it seems that the zoom control (+ and -) are not coming from the map providers. So GS could place a zoom control that you can directly click on a specific zoom level (as in Google Maps).

Edited by stebu
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Just to try something new here:

 

Thank you guys at GS for offering an awesome service and a great site! I personally don't miss Google Maps, as OSM is much faster (not kidding, here in Beijing OSM is lightening fast, while Google Maps was a pain in the a**)! Sure, the quality of the maps is not always the same, but if Google choses to charge for a previously free service, there's no use in complaining. Already in the short time that I use the website, I have seen some improvements and I am sure you guys are doing your best to further improve it in the future. The PM is absolutely worth the money and I'll continue to be a PM in the future!

 

For all you other guys: If you get a free service (from Google) and they choose to charge for that, there's no need in blaming GS. If you guys would spend the time you are using to spam this board to improve the OSM maps, there would be hardly any reason to complain about. Sure the bad areal maps are the downside, but there are other solutions like GSAK, iCaching that still use Google Earth. Get used to the new situation!

 

+1 from me too.

 

I also don't mind OSM, those are the maps I use in my GPSr. I actually prefer it over Google Maps. I've noticed a few new sub-division and roads in my area so I created an account on OSM, made the changes with the online editor and in less than an hour, the changes were replicated on the Geocaching.com site. Now I just found a new hobby... I can geocache and contribute to the OSM community by improving the maps.

 

I just wish that we could select which map overlay we want by default on the Geocaching.com map.

 

The only problem I personally have with the new maps is that at work, we use an older version of internet explorer and for some reason, I can't change the map overlay... it won't let me select anything other than mapquest.

Edited by snoozejade
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Groundspeak has received a lot of feedback from the geocaching community regarding the recent changes to our maps, including recent improvements to our Pocket Query/Map integration. We understand that the change in maps was not ideal for many customers who were used to seeing Google maps on geocaching.com.

 

Please understand that we are committed to delivering exceptional functionality, including high quality maps. We are continuing to analyze available options for mapping while also actively working with MapQuest to improve the current functionality and service.

 

Sandy, you're much better at this than Jeremy. :D

 

+1 more :)

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14 posts more and this release will be as "arousing" as the Geocaching.com site update May 4th 2011 (beta maps, fixed width, etc)

 

Fortunately, the current release has not changed my MO in geocaching. I only wish the satellite view would allow zooming in a bit closer and that the tiles would load faster.

 

fixed to equal my experience since the change. I usually get about 5 panels before the freeze, unless I zoom out to the view from about 20000 feet

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I just have to add my voice to the "new Map is Crap" throng. The lack of satellite imagery in my area (only 400 miles from the GC HQ) pretty much renders the maps useless to me.

 

I do hereby echo the call to make google maps available to premium members only. I don't know how many premium memberships there are out there, but judging from the number of premium vs basic cachers I've seen active from my area, I'd have to think the number is somewhere north of 100,000 which would give GC annual revenues of at least $3 million USD not including site advertising, merchandising, etc. I don't see a hell of a lot of costs in your operation either (being personally savy in such things).

 

I also think it is distinctly harsh to suddenly dump 2,000,000 map views per day on an open source provider who is providing a basically free service with practically no income beyond donations. How much of a donation did GC make to OSM, if any, when you decided to dump 2 million map views per day on them? It actually seems that OSM are "traffic shaping" in that the maps that come through GC.com are a **LOT** slower than maps direct from the OSM site. Can't blame them one bit!

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I don't see a hell of a lot of costs in your operation either (being personally savy in such things).

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I don't think you're nearly as savvy as you might think.

 

For starters, I bet the salary for all these Lackeys adds up pretty quick.

 

icon_lackeys.png

 

Then we'd have to add in rent, utilities, hosting, bandwidth, and the list would go on and on.

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I don't see a hell of a lot of costs in your operation either (being personally savy in such things).

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I don't think you're nearly as savvy as you might think.

 

For starters, I bet the salary for all these Lackeys adds up pretty quick.

 

icon_lackeys.png

 

Then we'd have to add in rent, utilities, hosting, bandwidth, and the list would go on and on.

 

you got to be kidding, there's no way there are that many paid lackeys, surely that must include the reviewers...or is just plain a simple a joke lol

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I don't see a hell of a lot of costs in your operation either (being personally savy in such things).

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I don't think you're nearly as savvy as you might think.

 

For starters, I bet the salary for all these Lackeys adds up pretty quick.

 

icon_lackeys.png

 

Then we'd have to add in rent, utilities, hosting, bandwidth, and the list would go on and on.

 

you got to be kidding, there's no way there are that many paid lackeys, surely that must include the reviewers...or is just plain a simple a joke lol

Yeah, there is. I have met and know a number of them personally. I don't see any reviewer icons in that group.

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I just have to add my voice to the "new Map is Crap" throng. The lack of satellite imagery in my area (only 400 miles from the GC HQ) pretty much renders the maps useless to me.

 

I do hereby echo the call to make google maps available to premium members only. I don't know how many premium memberships there are out there, but judging from the number of premium vs basic cachers I've seen active from my area, I'd have to think the number is somewhere north of 100,000 which would give GC annual revenues of at least $3 million USD not including site advertising, merchandising, etc. I don't see a hell of a lot of costs in your operation either (being personally savy in such things).

 

I also think it is distinctly harsh to suddenly dump 2,000,000 map views per day on an open source provider who is providing a basically free service with practically no income beyond donations. How much of a donation did GC make to OSM, if any, when you decided to dump 2 million map views per day on them? It actually seems that OSM are "traffic shaping" in that the maps that come through GC.com are a **LOT** slower than maps direct from the OSM site. Can't blame them one bit!

 

Your assuming that all premium members would line up to pay the extra money. I personally think that is a very bad assumption. I don't care to pay more for my premium membership just so you can get google maps. They are still available on a per cache basis.

 

Although they are OSM maps, the servers are Mapquest. Says so right there on the bottom of the map. Again your making the assumption that GS did not talk to Mapquest first. I'm making the assumption they did. There are also plans for GS to provide there own tile server.

Edited by jholly
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Yeah, there is. I have met and know a number of them personally. I don't see any reviewer icons in that group.

 

i can't even begin to imagine why there have to be that many employees, the site says 40 but that picture has 64 including the frog :anibad:lol

 

and what exactly does a reviewer icon look like?

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Yeah, there is. I have met and know a number of them personally. I don't see any reviewer icons in that group.

 

i can't even begin to imagine why there have to be that many employees, the site says 40 but that picture has 64 including the frog :anibad:lol

 

and what exactly does a reviewer icon look like?

If they use one, a lot like a lackey icon. Some don't post so I don't know what it looks like, but some do.

 

Not only do you have the developers, but the folks that handle the store, and other functions of a business,i.e., accounting, PR - although some would argue that is a very small department :lol:, and, of course, someone to prepare the lavish lunches and folks to keep the series 9 autos clean and serviced. :blink:

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They are a private company, in business to make money. We don't know their profits and budgets, and it's not our place to speculate. I don't agree with all the decisions the company makes, but until someone posts a picture of the CEO getting out of his Ferrari, I'm not going to make or support any claims that they're getting rich off my subscription. I do however reserve the right to the expect my money's worth.

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Has anyone else seen a sharp decline in the number of published caches since the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre? It seems to me that we have here. I’m just wondering if others are seeing the same thing.

 

Still plenty of roadside micros, but no real caches in my watch area.

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Has anyone else seen a sharp decline in the number of published caches since the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre? It seems to me that we have here. I’m just wondering if others are seeing the same thing.

 

Still plenty of roadside micros, but no real caches in my watch area.

 

Everyone is gearing up for February 29th. In my area I know of at least 32 caches that will be published that day... including a 29 cache series.

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They are a private company, in business to make money. We don't know their profits and budgets,

Exactly!

if they were public, they'd be held accountable to stockholders and there most likely would be some lackeys cut so they could "beat the street"

oh wait! couldn't have that. just lower the value of a membership.

whats next? dropping the number of PQ's per day to save a few pennies on bandwidth per day? :shocked:

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Your assuming that all premium members would line up to pay the extra money. I personally think that is a very bad assumption. I don't care to pay more for my premium membership just so you can get google maps. They are still available on a per cache basis.

 

Me too, I wouldn't want my subscription to go up just to bring back Google maps because I didn't use them that much and they can be easily put back by anyone using firefox or chrome using the scripts that are readily available thanks to the efforts of a few coding cachers.

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Its all gone tits up...

 

Slow.

 

Frustrating.

 

And totally unfathomable.

 

Why do I need to down load 548 items...

 

548-items-in-the-end.jpg

 

to result in this page that I required...

 

and take 4 minutes to do it?

 

main-window.jpg

 

Get rid - ask me my opinion - I might pay up rather than put up with this.

 

You've really put a spanner in the works of what was a really good activity.

Edited by pompey4x4
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I tried Highlighting the cache co-ords on the cache page,right clicked it and I was able to open up the location with Bing map. The location was pushpinned and I got a great arial view and sat views with fairly good zoom in...I check it against my caches and the locations came up very close....Try that....

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Groundspeak has received a lot of feedback from the geocaching community regarding the recent changes to our maps, including recent improvements to our Pocket Query/Map integration. We understand that the change in maps was not ideal for many customers who were used to seeing Google maps on geocaching.com.

 

Please understand that we are committed to delivering exceptional functionality, including high quality maps. We are continuing to analyze available options for mapping while also actively working with MapQuest to improve the current functionality and service.

 

Thanks Sandy! It was good meeting you in Wichita, KS.

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You do not need to copy and paste the cords. Just click on Google maps in the list on the left side of the web page. It is the third in the list.

 

Actually this map is better than the GC.Com versions that were abandoned since the pointer shows the exact spot rather than covering the exact area.

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You do not need to copy and paste the cords. Just click on Google maps in the list on the left side of the web page. It is the third in the list.

 

Actually this map is better than the GC.Com versions that were abandoned since the pointer shows the exact spot rather than covering the exact area.

That's not what they're referring to. On every single cache page, just above the logs, there's a bunch of links under the heading "For online maps...". See below:

j78bol.jpg

There's both Google (3rd link) and Bing (6th link), and each will open in a new window with the coordinates pre-entered. No copy-and-pasting required.

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If been following this thread from its beginning and it amazes me the length some people will go to so that their negativity can be put on display.

 

Im not sure how the rest of the caching community plans their cache outings. But I for one dont need to use the google maps on Groundspeak to see what I need.

 

I, being a premium member have the ability to download a pocket query to another program and manipulate the entire contents of that query into Google maps and then look for routes I will take.

 

If non-premium members dont want to pay for a premium membership, then they should have to deal with what they paid for.

 

I'd like to know what percentage of caches found on the average weekend are the type where a detailed map is needed to find them. Sure there are those cachers who require details to know how to get to certain caches. However to me there seems to be alot of caches placed along side of streets, in parks or in the middle of cities. Do we really need google maps to view those types of caches.

 

Bottom line, you get what you pay for or what you decide to pay for. What portion of the geocaching experience would $30 a year be. No matter what epuipment you use to enjoy the hobby, the GS premium membership would be a very small cost in comparision. AND as a benifit IF more people decided to pony up the $30, who knows, then maybe GS could afford to use Google maps.

 

As far as those who think that the GS employees are getting fat from the monies that Groundspeak generates, are you kidding me? I've never seen their headquarters or met any of them, but I would tend to believe that the long hours and the amoung of personnel required to keep the site up and running isnt making ANYONE rich.

 

Lackeys, you guys do a fantastic job!! It would be a shame if the naysayers brought this hobby down. Keep up the good work.

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Its all gone tits up...

 

Slow.

 

Frustrating.

 

And totally unfathomable.

 

Why do I need to down load 548 items...

 

548-items-in-the-end.jpg

 

to result in this page that I required...

 

and take 4 minutes to do it?

 

main-window.jpg

 

Get rid - ask me my opinion - I might pay up rather than put up with this.

 

You've really put a spanner in the works of what was a really good activity.

I highly recommend Google Earth. There are many ways to display Geocaches in Google Earth, using both GSAK and the official Geocaching.com KML file, and you can add other functions, such as the ability to show cache exclusion zones.

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Groundspeak has received a lot of feedback from the geocaching community regarding the recent changes to our maps, including recent improvements to our Pocket Query/Map integration. We understand that the change in maps was not ideal for many customers who were used to seeing Google maps on geocaching.com.

 

Please understand that we are committed to delivering exceptional functionality, including high quality maps. We are continuing to analyze available options for mapping while also actively working with MapQuest to improve the current functionality and service.

What a complete and total waste of time. Having tried to work with Mapquest in the past on a prior project, and experiencing the exact same problems you are experiencing (disappearing tiles at zoomed levels, tiles disappearing that were there moments ago at the same zoom level) it's pretty apparent that Mapquest has no intention of ever improving their system. My experience was 5+ years ago, and not a single improvement has been made to date.

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You do not need to copy and paste the cords. Just click on Google maps in the list on the left side of the web page. It is the third in the list.

 

Actually this map is better than the GC.Com versions that were abandoned since the pointer shows the exact spot rather than covering the exact area.

That's not what they're referring to. On every single cache page, just above the logs, there's a bunch of links under the heading "For online maps...". See below:

j78bol.jpg

There's both Google (3rd link) and Bing (6th link), and each will open in a new window with the coordinates pre-entered. No copy-and-pasting required.

 

Yes thats where I am too. Third link under "for Online Maps"... I get a red stick pin instead of a cache box icon... much better for seeing the exact spot of the hide.

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