Hide A Geocache page issues

[+duncanhoyle]

Yesterday was the first time I've used the new Hide A Geocache page and I noticed a few issues that could be improved.

 

Each time I create a cache I have to select the country and state even though with the current rules for cache placement I am only likely to ever place one in my home country. For some people living close to a border this could potentially change between caches but the vast majority of people they will publish caches in the same country and likely the same state every time. Can the submission page just default to either the country and state based on my home coordinates or just reuse the settings from the last cache which I submitted.

 

The second issue, which is probably more important - in the UK I can only see satellite imagery on the cache submission map is I zoom out to approx 30 miles. I know that satellite imagery shouldn't be used to place caches as they are not always accurate or recent but they are useful to confirm approximate location.

[Moun10Bike]

If you enter your country and state/province here, it will be auto-filled in the cache submission form when you submit a cache.

 

The detail of aerial imagery depends on the area in question and there we are limited to what the map provider has available.

[+duncanhoyle]

Thanks for the reply. I now have the country and region auto completing.

 

The map is a little strange. I usually have the maps on the site set to Leaflet and use a 3rd party plugin to provide me with a range of other maps including Bing Satellite Imagery. Unfortunately the plugin doesn't affect the cache submission page. If I disable the plugin but continue to use Leaflet maps the usual map screen showing all caches in an area includes Mapquest Aerial and this behaves the same as the cache submission page - not showing satellite imagery until zoomed out to approx 30 miles.

The main map also has an option for Esmi Worldimagery. This appears to work correctly and shows imagery at all zoom levels.

Is it possible to make the map on the cache submission page function in the same way as the main map?

 

Another issue which I've just noticed - if I create a new trad cache the map doesn't allow me to change the zoom level but it does on all the other cache types.

 

If you enter your country and state/province here, it will be auto-filled in the cache submission form when you submit a cache.

 

The detail of aerial imagery depends on the area in question and there we are limited to what the map provider has available.

[Moun10Bike]

The map on the submission form is not supposed to be a replacement for good GPS coordinates or for the main map. That is why it intentionally does not have all of the functionality of the main map. Use it as a way to assess that you have entered your coordinates correctly rather than as a way to obtain or tweak your coordinates.

[+duncanhoyle]

The map on the submission form is not supposed to be a replacement for good GPS coordinates or for the main map. That is why it intentionally does not have all of the functionality of the main map. Use it as a way to assess that you have entered your coordinates correctly rather than as a way to obtain or tweak your coordinates.

 

I realise that the submission map isn't a replacement for good coordinates but it certainly helps if I can confirm their approximate correctness when I enter them on the submission page.

 

If I have coordinates for a location where there are no roads and no features on the google road map (as I often do) then it is currently not possible to assess that I have entered the coordinates correctly. As an example, may I suggest that you try to create a traditional cache at 55°19.509'N, 2°30.208'W, which is close to a cache which I already own.

There are several issues here - the Google street map provides no information about that location as there are no streets there.

I cannot see any satellite imagery for that location as the service which you use provides no imagery for the UK at that zoom level.

I cannot change the zoom level on the map to allow me to view satellite imagery.

 

If I create any other cache type at that location then the first 2 issues remain. If I now zoom out 3 times I see satellite imagery but it is useless at this zoom level.

 

Currently the map on the submission page is useless in the UK for the sort of areas where I cache.

 

I thought that I would be able to assess my coordinates using the map on the cache page but I have found that without my usual Firefox add-ons that map is also not useful - it doesn't give me a satellite option. Without my Firefox plugin the only option I now have is to copy coordinates into google maps and view satellite data there.

 

 

I just tried creating test caches in France and Germany and found that the lack of satellite imagery issue occurs there as well, although a quick test shows that satellite imagery is available at all zoom levels in the US.

Edited August 14, 2014 by duncanhoyle