Release Notes (Website: Search filtering) - August 26, 2021

[+reybr]

There's still an issue when searching for caches with the filter "Hidden by". If the list of caches returned is bigger than what is shown on the page, the caches loaded when you click on the "Load more" button has nothing to do with the initial filter.

[+onepooja]

1 hour ago, PulmonaryHip said:

I still can't navigate anywhere from my profile page in Opera.  It just stays on that page no matter what I click on at the top search menu.  This has been since the "update".  Please down-date to the old fuctionality.

Thanks for reporting this, our team is working on resolve this and will update in the forum accordingly.

[+RyanTiffSem]

I'm not a fan of the feature that hides all the caches I've already found by default. I like seeing a lot of smileys on my screen. That's like... the entire point. 

 

I wouldn't have any issue with this update if the filter remembered my settings. If I refresh the page the filters all reset immediately. So all my smiley faces disappear. 

[+NanCycle]

On 9/7/2021 at 3:45 PM, barefootjeff said:

Typing in a date might seem trivial but it takes quite a bit of coding to get right. Firstly there's the variety of date formats in use around the world, which HQ's developers seem to have a lot of trouble with (the Adventure Lab Builder page still has a mixture of my preferred date format (dd/mm/yyyyy) and American date format (mm/dd/yyyyy)), then there's the checking and validation that has to be done as the range of allowable days depends on the month (and in the case of February, the year). Sure it can be done but it can be tedious to get right for all locales.

If they can make  easy to use date fields for PQs, why not for searches.  I guess I'll just use PQs for my searches.

Edited September 21, 2021 by NanCycle

[+barefootjeff]

8 minutes ago, NanCycle said:

If they can do it for PQs, why not for searches.  I guess I'll just use PQs for my searches.

 

The PQ filters don't allow you to type in a date, they provide drop-down lists to select month, day and year.

 

 

Maybe this would be a better way to do it on the Search page, but it's old-fashioned and doesn't look snazzy enough I suppose.

[+NanCycle]

16 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

The PQ filters don't allow you to type in a date, they provide drop-down lists to select month, day and year.

 

 

Maybe this would be a better way to do it on the Search page, but it's old-fashioned and doesn't look snazzy enough I suppose.

You are right of course.  I changed the wording in my last post.  

[+Harley&Friends]

We are still experiencing problems with the new search filters when we filter on multiple terrains and/or difficulties and one of them is a half (1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5).

 

For example, when filter is on difficulty 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 it only shows caches with difficulty 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?lat=52.37243&lng=4.89973&origin=amsterdam&g=-1&radius=4km&utr=false&d=1,1.5,2,2.5,3

 

If we change the filter to 1.5 or 2.5 only, it returns the correct results.

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?lat=52.37243&lng=4.89973&origin=amsterdam&g=-1&radius=4km&d=1.5&utr=false

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search?lat=52.37243&lng=4.89973&origin=amsterdam&g=-1&radius=4km&d=2.5&utr=false

 

Same happens with terrain and a combination of both.

 

Tested in Chrome and Edge, both have this problem.

 

 

[+Astromusiker]

Just tried it in Firefox, no problems

[+RsLEandK]

On 8/26/2021 at 2:00 PM, Geocaching HQ said:

“Caches I have not found” and “Caches I do not own” filters are applied by default for Premium members.

I don't like this update.  Just wanted you to know.  I like seeing my smileys 🤷‍♀️

[+margaretgary]

I hate this new system. Is there any way to revert back to the old way without cancelling the Premium membership.

[+LegoLegend]

I love the new filters! But there is one thing I didn't want changed: I wish the map did not hide my previously found caches by default. Our family LOVES the smilies . As silly as it may sound, a big payoff for us overtime is seeing the map gradually become covered with little smiley faces. I've also found it is a delightful surprise that hooks new cachers as they see and track their progress across the map.

 

Yes. I realize I can click into the filters and uncheck this setting each time I load the map, but we just want our smilies there by default 

[+Bl4ckH4wkGER]

If you want to get a general visual overview of the caches you have found and the map filling with smileys, you can use the browse map.

The search filters, search results, and search map tend to be used most frequently to identify items you have not found yet. Hence the adjustment to optimize that experience and save players clicks of excluding found caches (that tend to cause noise if you are trying to find caches you have not found yet).

[+2quigs]

I liked when you could just click on the map and everything would be there by default.  No need to filter.  But now to get everything to show on the map you have to filter what items you want to show on the map.  Seems backward to me.  

[+dprovan]

3 hours ago, Bl4ckH4wkGER said:

The search filters, search results, and search map tend to be used most frequently to identify items you have not found yet.

You're calling it "the search map", but it's the map that comes up in most situations, so for me, at least, I'm most frequently using it to browse, and I'm guessing that's true for most people. This is essentially the same point that's been made ever since all the links were switched to the search map: from the beginning, the search map has been optimized for searching, but most people ended up looking at it because they wanted to browse.

[+thebruce0]

16 hours ago, 2quigs said:

I liked when you could just click on the map and everything would be there by default.  No need to filter.  But now to get everything to show on the map you have to filter what items you want to show on the map.  Seems backward to me.  

As per the comment right above yours, you can use the browse map - that has not gone away. And there's a big button at the top of the map to take you there. No filters, just basic toggles.

 

And if you want to go there first (as often I do) just bookmark the map. Keep a folder of bookmarks in your browser for all the pages you use most on geocaching.com. Much easier than navigating the menu system.

Edited October 9, 2021 by thebruce0

[+____dmourati]

Please read this feedback as direct and kind. That is my intent.

 

The new search map functionality violates the Principle of Least Astonishment. In other words, you changed the basic functionality in a way that surprises the user. I'm sure if you read these comments you will realize this is true. What's worse is that there is no way I've found to override the default search filter.

 

My suggestion is to change the default to no filtering at all. Thereafter, you can allow each user to save their preferred search.

[+keksbande]

As of sometime in the last two or three days something was again changed with the filtering which is clearly inconsistent and wrong:
 

If I use the search filter on the start page (https://www.geocaching.com/play/search ) I will get a filter overlay which shows a filter for "Find Date". Entering anything in this filter does not change anything about the search result and seems to be totally useless.
 

If I use the search filter from the map view, instead the old filter with "Placed Date" shows up. Fortunately this works as expected and gives the results you need for example for finding out about new caches.

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by keksbande

[Frau Potter]

Thanks for reporting that the "Find date" filter is showing up on the search filters and the "Placed date" on the map filters. I have notified the engineering team working on this and they will be correcting this soon. Sorry for the confusion.

[+Max and 99]

4 hours ago, keksbande said:

As of sometime in the last two or three days something was again changed with the filtering which is clearly inconsistent and wrong:

 

[+2quigs]

On 10/9/2021 at 12:13 PM, thebruce0 said:

As per the comment right above yours, you can use the browse map - that has not gone away. And there's a big button at the top of the map to take you there. No filters, just basic toggles.

 

And if you want to go there first (as often I do) just bookmark the map. Keep a folder of bookmarks in your browser for all the pages you use most on geocaching.com. Much easier than navigating the menu system.

Thank you for that info.  I tried it and it's exactly what I was looking for.

[+ChriBli]

I seldom search for caches (except when listing own or other's found or hidden caches, which I don't really consider to be searching), but sometimes I want to find a cache by name. For instance when I clean out waypoints from my GPSr and want to check if I have found the corresponding cache already. What I used to do was to go to "Advanced Search" from my profile page and do a keyword search. I decided to try how this works now.

 

I chose a waypoint called "Kanelbullen 2013". There are a few caches with "Kanelbullen" in the name, as can be seen from this Project-gc search (not case sensitive, which is a good thing):

 

So I click "Advanced Search", and that takes me to the general search page. The input box tells me I can search for "City, state, coordinates, GC code...", so I assume I can search for keyword as well. I start writing "Kanelbullen" and it looks like this:

 

For some reason it lists a random couple out of the seven or eight caches that should match my search. I soon realize that the last one on the list does not refer to the cache "Kanelbullen", it just reflects exactly what I have written in the search box so far, whether or not there is a cache that matches that search. If I continue writing the full name I am searching for, "Kanelbullen 2013", I get this:

 

If I click one of the two top ones on the list, I get a list of caches within a 16 km radius around the corresponding cache. If I click the third one, or just hit the search button, I get this:

 

Now this is a list of caches, presumably within a radius of 16 km, centered around 600 km from the cache I was searching for. It is consistent, it happens every time. There is no place on the map nor any cache on the list called "Kanelbullen" or anything remotely similar. I do not understand why this happens or where it gets that strange location in the southern part of Sweden from.

 

I'm on Win10, Firefox 86.0.1, in case that helps.

[+pulmonaryhip]

When I have a search list and click on a cache, why does it revert to the top of the list when I return to the list?  It should either leave me at the cache I left, or at the bottom of the list if the cache was beyond the first 25 or 50 that get shown initially.  Please fix since it is annoying to always have to refind my place.

[+dprovan]

20 hours ago, ChriBli said:

So I click "Advanced Search", and that takes me to the general search page. The input box tells me I can search for "City, state, coordinates, GC code...", so I assume I can search for keyword as well.

Nope. You have to go into the filters where you'll find a place to enter "Geocache name contains". This seems like the right approach to me, leaving the main search focused on locations. In fact, I think the only problem with what you experienced is that, for some reason, it's trying to match cache names so you can use a cache name as a location. As you discovered, that search result isn't taking you to the cache, just centering the search where that cache is. When I run into that feature, I never find it useful, and I often find it confusing or inconvenient, so I wouldn't want it to be expanded into the more complete search you were expecting.

[+ChriBli]

2 hours ago, dprovan said:

Nope. You have to go into the filters where you'll find a place to enter "Geocache name contains". This seems like the right approach to me, leaving the main search focused on locations. In fact, I think the only problem with what you experienced is that, for some reason, it's trying to match cache names so you can use a cache name as a location. As you discovered, that search result isn't taking you to the cache, just centering the search where that cache is. When I run into that feature, I never find it useful, and I often find it confusing or inconvenient, so I wouldn't want it to be expanded into the more complete search you were expecting.

Not sure what I was expecting, but I was not expecting it to do a random selection of caches matching the search, or to think up an utterly unrelated position that probably just happened to be in the right country. And the text in the search box clearly mentions GC code as something to search for, so it is not entirely focused on locations.

[+JustAbide]

Quote

Caches I have not found” and “Caches I do not own” filters are applied by default for Premium members.

 

This is very counter intuitive. How do I disable this functionality? I want my play map to show all caches by default.

 

As a side-note, who's idea was it to change to this? This violates basic UX design principles. The default should always be "show all", and the have the options to filter from there. What was the rationale behind this change? 

 

[+thebruce0]

10 minutes ago, JustAbide said:

basic UX design principles

I wouldn't go that far.

The more relevant question is what would people expect when clicking the link to search - not that every search page should begin with zero filters applied.  What's the expectation of the link? Some would say if their intent is to find geocaches, then showing owned or found geocaches is extraneous and shouldn't be in the default. Others would expect to see all geocaches available on the map.  But I wouldn't say default such parameters is 'violating basic UX design principles'.

 

Better would be to remember what the user's preference for that initial view map link is (or allow the user to define it), rather than constantly reverting to an assumed default.  Or the very least, allow the user to bookmark their preferred initial view (where in the Browse Map that setting is not remembered nor bookmarkable as url parameters)

 

ETA: I'm getting browse/search maps confuddled  .  The Browse Map doesn't remember toggle settings. The Advanced Search/Map filters do default, but you can bookmark the preferred search filters. Nonetheless, going to the initial, bare, default search page would (for UX design) be better if it remembered initial filter settings or allowed the user to change them.

Edited October 24, 2021 by thebruce0

[Keystone]

On 10/8/2021 at 2:50 PM, Bl4ckH4wkGER said:

If you want to get a general visual overview of the caches you have found and the map filling with smileys, you can use the browse map.

The search filters, search results, and search map tend to be used most frequently to identify items you have not found yet. Hence the adjustment to optimize that experience and save players clicks of excluding found caches (that tend to cause noise if you are trying to find caches you have not found yet).

 

I am quoting this post because I have seen several posts in recent days, asking for an official explanation of the default search functionality.

[+thebruce0]

I need to correct myself - I just realized that it was because I had browser scripts enabled that the Browse Map loaded and untoggled My Finds and My Hides (it's an option). So, the Browse Map does default to showing all, when using the base website.

 

After doing this, I tried the bare Advanced Search link (/play/search) with the browser scripts disabled, and the default filters did load with Not Found By Me and Not Owned By Me options toggled.

Changing them both to "All" and searching then displays the results, and the bookmarkable URL of the search parameters as I mentioned above.

But, reloading the bare Advanced Search page re-applied the unfound/unowned filters as default.

 

 

In any case:

* the Browse Map doesn't remember toggled settings (but a browser script provides the option to change the defaults)

* the Advanced Search doesn't remember initial changed filters, but it provides a URL to bookmark your favourite "start" search parameters (and likewise also the Search Map)

 

[+pulmonaryhip]

I am not finding the new search functions to be an improvement.  I can certainly create a search with the new functions.  But when I click on a cache in the list, then return to the search page, the search page defaults to the top of the page.  It would be more helpful if it would return to the cache that I initially clicked on so I don't have to scroll down to it.  I usually use Opera.  Can this be fixed?

[+Gill & Tony]

Is this update the reason we can't get a list of caches owned by someone any more?

 

I used to be able to get a list including archived caches, but that seems to have gone.  Can I have it back, please?

[+Gill & Tony]

45 minutes ago, HHL said:

It's still there. Just not as the default.

Bookmark this: https://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?u=gill %26 tony

Swap gill %26 tony to the desired cacher's name.

Or use this CustomUrl on one of the cacher's caches in your grid:

Owner\Hidden (incl. Archived)=http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?u=%ownerName&f=1&sortdir=desc&sort=placed#Content

Example:

Thanks for that - very helpful

[+Gill & Tony]

13 hours ago, HHL said:

You might even try this very helpful dashboard:

http://www.geocachingadmin.com/

Thanks again for all the suggestions.  They all do the job.

 

However, they are all much harder than the previous method, which simply involved a couple of clicks.

 

I would still like that back, please

[+Hynz]

On 11/6/2021 at 5:57 PM, PulmonaryHip said:

But when I click on a cache in the list, then return to the search page, the search page defaults to the top of the page

Totaly agree! That's very inconvenient but only one of the *many* degradations with the new look and feel.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Hynz

[+runninbear1]

I love the search page and use it quite often. The only thing that seems to be missing is a search for attributes in their negative states. That search would be helpful.

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, HHL said:

1 hour ago, runninbear1 said:

The only thing that seems to be missing is a search for attributes in their negative states.

No, what we're really missing is the search for NOT having a positive attribute. That's pretty different from searching for negative Attributes.

Or both. There could be a section for Has Attributes and a section for Does Not Have Attributes. Both sections would let you choose both the positive (e.g., Dogs Allowed) attribute and the negative (e.g., Dogs Not Allowed) attribute.

[+barefootjeff]

2 hours ago, niraD said:

Or both. There could be a section for Has Attributes and a section for Does Not Have Attributes. Both sections would let you choose both the positive (e.g., Dogs Allowed) attribute and the negative (e.g., Dogs Not Allowed) attribute.

 

Yes, there's definitely a need for both. A cache with the "takes less than an hour" attribute is quite a different experience to one with the "takes more than an hour" attribute, yet we can search for the former but not the latter. For excluding attributes, one of the touted benefits of the recently-introduced power trail attribute was to allow power trails to be excluded from searches but the search function doesn't allow that.

[+Isonzo Karst]

I don't know if this thread is still being monitored.  The username module on Search behaves erratically  with usernames with spaces, ampersands. It returns some, but not others.

See this bug report

 

 

 

 

 

 

[+lodgebarn]

Not sure whether this has been reported before but if you follow these steps then only standard events are searched for:

Select a whole region e.g. Southern England

Select All Types

DeSelect Traditional

 

This is the type list generated types=3%2C8%2C137%2C5%2C6%2C11%2C1858%2C4   which is minus CITO, Community etc etc

 

If you search for Event the correct list is generated i.e. types=6%2C13%2C453%2C1304%2C3653%2C3774%2C4738%2C7005