statistic map shades

[+gcstraggler]

When viewing statistics - the map tab. Do maps (ie a given state) change their shading based on a

specific number - or is it based on a percentage of total caches?

For example - for a cacher with 2,000 caches - with 1,875 in their home state - with the remaining 125

caches spread between 15 other states - but with no single one of those other states having more than

15 finds.

The other 15 states all have the current shade. So would the cacher need to get 187+ caches in one of

the other states to get its shade to change (a percentage of their home state) - or would it change when the

number of caches found in the state gets to 25? to 50?

[jri]

When viewing statistics - the map tab. Do maps (ie a given state) change their shading based on a

specific number - or is it based on a percentage of total caches?

For example - for a cacher with 2,000 caches - with 1,875 in their home state - with the remaining 125

caches spread between 15 other states - but with no single one of those other states having more than

15 finds.

The other 15 states all have the current shade. So would the cacher need to get 187+ caches in one of

the other states to get its shade to change (a percentage of their home state) - or would it change when the

number of caches found in the state gets to 25? to 50?

 

I don't know how this is worked out, but I have to say it irks me too. I've got 1200+ finds in the UK, and around 150 spread across the rest of the world, so I don't see very much variation in shade on the map, even when I have found 10 times more caches in some countries than others. I presume that it will be similar for the vast majority of cachers: lots of finds in the area the live, and relatively few in neighbouring states/countries.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

When viewing statistics - the map tab. Do maps (ie a given state) change their shading based on a

specific number - or is it based on a percentage of total caches?

For example - for a cacher with 2,000 caches - with 1,875 in their home state - with the remaining 125

caches spread between 15 other states - but with no single one of those other states having more than

15 finds.

The other 15 states all have the current shade. So would the cacher need to get 187+ caches in one of

the other states to get its shade to change (a percentage of their home state) - or would it change when the

number of caches found in the state gets to 25? to 50?

 

I don't know how this is worked out, but I have to say it irks me too. I've got 1200+ finds in the UK, and around 150 spread across the rest of the world, so I don't see very much variation in shade on the map, even when I have found 10 times more caches in some countries than others. I presume that it will be similar for the vast majority of cachers: lots of finds in the area the live, and relatively few in neighbouring states/countries.

 

I don't know sort of algorithm they're using either but looking at your statistics page it is obvious that you've found the most caches in the UK, even without looking at the the number totals on the right or hovering over a country to display the total finds. Looking at the US map you your maps it's easy to see that you've found the most caches in Maryland, but it's also easy to see a subtle shading difference on two adjacent states where you find 2 caches in one state and only 1 cache in the other. That would imply to me that the shading algorithm is using a percentage of caches found on the map rather than a hardcoded threshold. If you look at the "Caches Found" legend in the bottom left of each map you can see that it only uses six shades.

 

What's more annoying to me is the level of detail on the map in Asia. I've found caches in both Malaysia and Singapore, but Singapore is so small that I haven't been able to get a "hover" popup on the country. The base map for Asia appears to be the same base map as the "All Countries" world map. I would image identifying that one has founds a cache in Lichtenstein, Monaco, and Andorra would have the same issue. I can definitely see Luxembourg on my stats map for Europe, probably because I've found caches in all the surrounding countries.

 

 

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

It looks like each grade of shading represents (highest number of caches per state/country)/6 caches. So if you have a disproportionate number of caches, say in Rhode Island, compared to the other states, you will likely only see the darkest and lightest shades.

[+CanadianRockies]

It looks like each grade of shading represents (highest number of caches per state/country)/6 caches.

This formula probably is a little closer: ( ( maximum_finds + 1 ) - minimum_finds ) / 6, rounding down to the nearest integer at each level.

[+gcstraggler]

Thanks for the replies. Somewhat suspected it was more a variable based on total finds or greatest #

of finds for a given state or country.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Thanks for the replies. Somewhat suspected it was more a variable based on total finds or greatest #

of finds for a given state or country.

 

It also looks like for each map it only considers caches that are represented in the regions on the map. For the world map, if you've found the significant majority of caches in one country, that country will be very dark and there will be little or no variation on other countries. For the U.S. state map, where there isn't as much disparity between number of finds for each state, you can even distinguish states with only 1 find and states in which you've found 2 caches. Even though the Asia map shows a world map, it only seems to be looking at caches found in one of the Asian countries.