Kosovo Found Status

[+gypc]

I have read the posts re: Kosovo, Serbia, (North) Macedonia and, after spending time there recently, understand cultural sensitivities of official designations, names, etc.  I don't wish to discuss that. Having found caches in both Serbia and Kosovo, I note that Kosovo still shows as "un-found" on the Geocaching Statistics  Map view.  My question is, how do you obtain found status for Kosovo if finding caches in both Kosovo and Serbia don't "turn it green"?  I had the same issue in Northern Ireland as it didn't show as found until I found caches on the island of the United Kingdom (vs. Northern Ireland itself).  I would have thought it would be the same for Kosovo in that, once you find a cache(s) in Serbia, Kosovo would show as found.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

This has been mentioned before.  The Statistics/Maps page hasn't changed pretty much since it was created.  The way mapping of data works is that it uses some boundary data which essentially defines polygons which outline each region (in this case countries).  The boundary data does not include a region which defines the outline for Kosovo, thus finding a cache there won't color in that portion of the map.  I suspect that the mapping page might be somewhat of a black box that uses 3rd party software not easily modified.   The level of detail on the maps is very poor (especially for Asian countries, with use a "world" base map).   If you want to show better maps on your stats page I'd suggest using project-gc because I doubt that we'll ever see a change to the current Statisctics/Maps page.

[+funkymunkyzone]

On 8/16/2019 at 11:44 PM, NYPaddleCacher said:

The boundary data does not include a region which defines the outline for Kosovo, thus finding a cache there won't color in that portion of the map.

 

I'm not sure that is the case.  It looks to me like the boundary data *does* include a region that defines the outline of Kosovo, but the (3rd party) map software is not fed any find count data for Kosovo, so it shows as unfound as per every other country for which the find count is 0.  This being because geocaching.com does not distinguish Kosovo finds from SCG - they are counted only as SCG finds.

 

My map and statistics are the same - I have SCG 5, but should be SCG 1 and Kosovo 4.  Further, if I mouse hover over the Kosovo region, it highlights just as every other country highlights, it just does not have a find count, just like every other country I have no finds in.

 

So it's not a mapping issue, it is just that the list of countries that geocaching.com uses to classify geocaches does not include Kosovo.

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by funkymunkyzone

[+mmmPIZZA]

I personally find it a bit unfair that Kosovo is not recognised within the Geocaching Statistics. As someone who loves travelling, both Serbia and Kosovo are on my to-visit list at some point in the next few years. Kosovo is recognised as a country by the United States and I believe at least over 100 UN members. Western Sahara, Taiwan and Palestine are all states with limited or less recognition by other nations. Plus Kosovo has it's own boarder on the map that is currently impossible to fill.

 

Put it this way, if places like Sark can get their own 'country' status within Groundspeak, surely Kosovo could as well?

[+dejan021]

Kosovo is an autonomous province within the Republic of Serbia.  It is under the provisional administration of the United Nations.  17 February 2008, Kosovo tried to unilaterally declare its independence from Serbia.  It has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 95 UN member states.  So it's a question of frozen conflict that is occasionally brought up to date.  As it happens these days.

[+Salamander59]

Is there and official answer from grounddpeek for this topic?

Edited October 6, 2023 by Salamander59
urgent question

[Keystone]

@Salamander59, if you will only believe an official explanation from a Lackey, please see Moun10Bike's posts here in 2013, and here in 2022.  If you do a forum search on the term "Kosovo," you will find several other discussions with helpful posts from other community members.