Uploaded photos via API are extremely downscaled

[+jonny-blue]

I normaly use CacheSense for Geocaching (since several years) for logs and photo uploads.

But since some weeks (month ?) the quality of the arrived pictures on gc.com is very very bad 

I now tried out some things with the same picture:

- upload with CacheSense (via API) = very bad quality

- upload a photo with Locus (via API) = same "bad" result

- upload with GeocachingApp from ground speak = perfect quality picture 

- upload via mobile browser = perfect quality

That seems as if the photos uploaded with a "Not-Groundspeak_App" (via API) results in extrem bad quality.

 

Anyone any idea? solution?

 

[+kunarion]

Can you provide more details on what you're trying to do?  I don't have "CacheSense", but I tried it with Locus Maps Pro and The Official Geocaching App and I don't see any difference at all.

But my test was about "upload" since that's what the OP is about, using a small image (resized using a phone App before upload).  I didn't test how large files, when uploaded, may be automatically resized by an App and/or the image servers.

 

Edited April 29, 2018 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

I tried another test, and it's a little different this time.

What I did was upload the full-sized photo using the App directly.  My photo resolution is 4032x3024 pixels, which the site will resize automatically.  If sent from the Geocaching App, the image size is 2048x1536.  If sent from Locus Maps Pro, the photo size is 1008x756.

It's hard to compare these, since one is twice the size.  But when I re-sized the 2048x1536 photo to 1008x756 in Photoshop, there is a difference between the two photos that are now both 1008x756.  Not a huge difference, but noticeable side-by-side.

Over the past maybe 2 years, images were re-sized by the server to 1024x768.  This seems to change without notice.  Now I guess it's 2048x1536.  The smaller 1008x756 from the non-Official-Geocaching App is surprising.

But it wasn't actually an issue for me.  I either re-size one or two photos in the field before upload (often 800x600 lately), or I resize a bunch on a PC later.  I have no intention of sending the bandwidth of full-size images from my phone.  Looks like a file re-sized to 2048x1536 before upload will look great when uploaded by any means.

Edited April 30, 2018 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

Here I tried to upload comparison photos within the size limits of this Forum. These photos become slightly shrunk to fit the forum page, so you have to click each one to see it full-size.

The top image is one sent from the Official Geocaching App.  The bottom one is from Locus Pro.  You can see a difference easily by looking at the two thorns at the bottom of the photo, and comparing both photos.  The lower photo is slightly fuzzier.  It's not a huge difference.  But the OP is about the difference, so here are photos to compare.  It could be that there's a way to upload these that causes a very noticeable issue.

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by kunarion

[+Isonzo Karst]

Hey, ku - thanks for doing the legwork on this. For years the site actually stated a limit of 620 (?) pixels for images, and most of my images from those days have GEO at the end of the image title, an indication to myself that I'd resized and saved.

Lately i've been resizing to 2000 pixels, sheer guess work on my part, and apparently magically, near right ;-) 

[+jonny-blue]

Thanks for the reply ... 

I now tried it once again with a 4032x2268 picture.

- Upload to a cachenote, download with browser: All pictures has the size 640x360 but the quality is different.

 

 

Cachesense: 

LocusPro: 

 

GC-App: 

Edited May 2, 2018 by jonny-blue