knowschad Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 OK, I know that Groundspeak uses the Google API for its "Hide & Seek A Cache" searches, so this isn't a bug report. Its just an odd result. This morning, I searched for "roseville, mn". I was surprised to get two caches returned, both in Mongolia! Next, I tried all upper-case, "ROSEVILLE, MN". Same results. I notified a friend who tried it and saw the same results! Two hides, both in Mongolia! Finally, I tried using proper case: "Roseville, MN", and that worked. Experimenting, I then tried "ROSEVILLE, mn", and that also worked! Is the sunspot activity particularly high today, or what? Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Don't be such a lazy typist and quit using acronyms - spell out the state name in your search!!! Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Don't be such a lazy typist and quit using acronyms - spell out the state name in your search!!! That gave me an idea. Try TFTC in the search box! Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I like TNLNSL. Seems like it just isn't going to say "no" to a search term. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Just TNLN takes you to New Jersey, but I guess that's no surprise. Quote Link to comment
+jellis Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I get them same thing when I look for cities in California and find that Canada have similar city names. So when I see the map is not California I have to spell it out more like Calif. Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 OK, I know that Groundspeak uses the Google API for its "Hide & Seek A Cache" searches, so this isn't a bug report. Its just an odd result. This morning, I searched for "roseville, mn". I was surprised to get two caches returned, both in Mongolia! Next, I tried all upper-case, "ROSEVILLE, MN". Same results. I notified a friend who tried it and saw the same results! Two hides, both in Mongolia! Finally, I tried using proper case: "Roseville, MN", and that worked. Experimenting, I then tried "ROSEVILLE, mn", and that also worked! Is the sunspot activity particularly high today, or what? I suspect this is because GS is just sending the string to the Google API to be geocoded and it parses "MN" or "mn" as the two letter ISO code for Mongolia (which it is) rather than the two letter state abbreviation for Minnesota. Since there is not way to specify that the two letters are a state abbreviation rather than a two letter country code, the API probably found a close match for a city name in Mongolia, and assumed MN meant Mongolia. There are quite a few two letter country codes that are the same as US State abbreviations. Here's another one to try. Type in "burrel, al" and you'll get a list of caches located near a town named Burrel in Albania. Change the spelling to "burril, al" and it'll return a list of caches in Alabama. I imagine one could get all kinds of wierd results "ca" (Canada or California?). I've actually done some work in this area for an application where I'm trying to disambiguate location names. One of the best solutions is to use an "auto-suggest" select list (using Ajax) so that the end user can pick the right location from a list of potential candidates. For example, with some test code I developed if I type "Rome" into a search box it'll list "Rome, Italy"..."Rome, New York"..."Rome, Indiana", etc (there are a lot of places named Rome). When I select one from the list it will use a unique numeric ID to query a service to get the "official name", lat/long coordinates, etc. Quote Link to comment
+The A-Team Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 OK, I know that Groundspeak uses the Google API for its "Hide & Seek A Cache" searches... According to this post by Raine, they've had to move away from the Google geocoder. It was around then that a lot of people started to experience strange results like yours. It seems whatever geocoder they went with just isn't as good at figuring out what you want as Google was. Google is great that way. Try Googling "gocaing", and see what it thinks you meant. That must be one heck of an algorithm they're using. Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 OK, I know that Groundspeak uses the Google API for its "Hide & Seek A Cache" searches... According to this post by Raine, they've had to move away from the Google geocoder. It was around then that a lot of people started to experience strange results like yours. It seems whatever geocoder they went with just isn't as good at figuring out what you want as Google was. Google is great that way. Try Googling "gocaing", and see what it thinks you meant. That must be one heck of an algorithm they're using. I've used the similar yahoo api and have seen strange results from time to time - might be what Geocaching uses as well. Quote Link to comment
+Michaelcycle Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Just TNLN takes you to New Jersey, but I guess that's no surprise. Certainly no more surprising than your "mn" Mongolia results Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 (edited) I get them same thing when I look for cities in California and find that Canada have similar city names. So when I see the map is not California I have to spell it out more like Calif. Just how many Ontario's are there? I know, I know...... it's the Ca or CA that works (poorly). Edited April 16, 2012 by Gitchee-Gummee Quote Link to comment
+J the Goat Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I get them same thing when I look for cities in California and find that Canada have similar city names. So when I see the map is not California I have to spell it out more like Calif. Just how many Ontario's are there? I know, I know...... it's the Ca or CA that works (poorly). In the past, my searches for "cloverdale, ca" have turned up results in cloverdale canada. It's happened other times too, but that's the one I can think of offhand. That's a bit of a drive for the afternoon Quote Link to comment
+Don_J Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 (edited) roseville, mn, usa Gives the expected results. As I live in California, I have learned that if Canada has a matching city, CA will bring me there. Edited April 17, 2012 by Don_J Quote Link to comment
+Harry Dolphin Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 If I type in NL. I get Netherlands. If I type in St John's NL. I get Newfoundland and Labrador. (Yes. Need to color in my map! Newfoundland should be interesting...) Quote Link to comment
+NYPaddleCacher Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 roseville, mn, usa Gives the expected results. As I live in California, I have learned that if Canada has a mathing city, CA will bring me there. The extra comma is probably as significant as the "usa". It would indicate that the string would consist of a city, state/province, country. In fact, if you type "roseville, mn," it will show Roseville, Minnesota. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 Just TNLN takes you to New Jersey, but I guess that's no surprise. Certainly no more surprising than your "mn" Mongolia results Touche. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 17, 2012 Author Share Posted April 17, 2012 roseville, mn, usa Gives the expected results. As I live in California, I have learned that if Canada has a mathing city, CA will bring me there. The extra comma is probably as significant as the "usa". It would indicate that the string would consist of a city, state/province, country. In fact, if you type "roseville, mn," it will show Roseville, Minnesota. Funny aside here: There used to be a very active cacher in Roseville. Everybody loved his creative hides, so much so that geocachers referred to it as "Posenville". Apparently that reference was used quite a bit online as well, because one day on a whim, I Googled "Posenville, MN", and Google came back with the suggestion, "Do you mean Roseville, MN?" Quote Link to comment
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