BUG - PQ along a route not working correctly

[+funkymunkyzone]

I've been creating some PQs along routes, and have noticed that upon uploading my route, the website is simplifying my route and removing a whole lot of points, thus changing where the route goes and missing the areas that I'm trying to cover.  Important to note, my routes are not complex, typically around 50 to 100 points, well below the maximum 500, and only quite short, well below the 500 mile limit.

What it's doing to my latest route that I have uploaded (removing a considerable number of the points) has completely prevented me from getting the query that I want.  This is very frustrating.

[+StefandD]

Routes depend on the map they were created and a whole lot of user settings. Transferring a route to other devices often result in recalculation of the route. If maps and user settings are different, you get another route. Therefore routes are in definition not the right format for this kind of use.

 

It's better to convert your route to a track. Tracks are independent of maps and settings and will always be the same on every device/computer they're on.

[+funkymunkyzone]

Clarification - when I say a PQ along a route I am using the terminology on the Groundspeak website.  I actually manually draw a route on Google Earth and save as a .kml so it has a very specific number of points and straight lines in between.  (I'm not talking about an auto-route where I have entered a start and end location and let whatever mapping service work out the route between.)

Unfortunately when I upload my kml to the GS website, my route gets mutilated and many of the points removed, thus utterly changing the shape of the route and therefore the ground covered by it.

Edited July 23, 2017 by funkymunkyzone

[+Hynr]

I believe this has been the way it has worked for several years now. Most of the time the simplification works OK. When it does not, then you need to create the trajectory so that it has fewer nodes than its own simplification would generate. I forgot what that number of nodes is; certainly less than 100. You might try the following:

1. go to the route at geocaching.com which does not have the key details that you need,
2. save the route to a gpx file on your computer;
3. open that up with Google Earth and edit the relevant detail in, but for each node you add, remove one that is not as necessary.
4. Save that as kml and upload it to a new geocaching.com route.

My experience with this approach is that you can get pretty close to what you want.

[+funkymunkyzone]

Thanks Hynr.  That's potentially a work around.

I still maintain this is a bug however as I'm creating the path in Google Earth, saving it as kml, uploading to geocaching.com and running the pq.  I think it would be ridiculous if the standard way of getting it to work would be to then go through further iterations of saving off geocaching.com, reloading in Google Earth, editing, saving as kml again, re-uploading to geocaching.com.... etc etc etc

The website says that a route can have up to 500 points, so I don't know why it needs to be arbitrarily simplified down to (what appears to be a limit of) 50 points.

I'm hoping that someone from Groundspeak will comment...

 

 

[+goetzebaecker]

I have some problems, too. Because of this I created a PQ for testing.

It could have 1000 Caches but only 577 are in it. And they are all at the beginning from the route.

You can see it at the screenshots.

greetings from Germany

Steffen

[+HHL]

I've just downloaded the route via GS's Api with a 5 kms corridor and got 2616 caches (all types, sizes and all D/T combos).

Hans

NB: As said in the Green Hell: please provide the edit url of your PQ.

Edited July 28, 2017 by HHL

[+goetzebaecker]

https://www.geocaching.com/pocket/urquery.aspx?guid=d51db6c7-6698-498a-9b94-cbd550df9f02

 

This is the link, I 'lol reply in the green he'll. 

Greetings Steffen 

[+HHL]

You've unfortunately reduced the PQ to a Placed Date during which ended in June 2012. Hence the result below 1000 caches.

Hans