The N-S E-W bug - dissappearing waymarks!

[Becktracker]

I like to keep count of the waymarks posted in the Netherlands and I often do a search of the newest waymarks. Often I find out that the waymarks ended up in Wales and then I contact the owners to change the coordinates. But there must be many that slip through the search and end up in the Western Hemisphere. 

Now I noticed when entering the missing regions in the history museums category (of which I am an officer) that when editing a waymark can jump to the wrong end of the world due to the N-S E-W bug. It's even worse than I thought: at random, a N- coordinate can change to S- and at random a E- coordinate can change to W- . This leeds me to wondering: How much waymarks have incorrect coordinates at the moment?

 

It must be loads of them... They are standing in the wrong place in the world and noone can visit them, they end up in the wrong scavenger hunts, they get double posted instead of this, etc. Is there a way to make a list of them so that they can be corrected?

[+fi67]

Although the problem is very annoying, the situation is not as dramatic as you think.

 

First, it only happens in one direction: S to N or E to W. Never the other way. So only a part of the waymarkers are affected. This is you and me and many others, but there are more who never experience this bug.

Second, the majority of the wrong coordinates end up in an ocean, this is easily (nobody is perfect, but it works often enough) detected by the waymarker before submittal or by the reviewing officer. There are not that many areas with an active Waymarking community that have the corrupted coordinates on land. The wrong coordinates ending up in the right country (with map inscriptions in the correct language) can only happen in Eastern England, Eastern France and Southern Brazil (and a lot of countries with basically 0 Waymarking activity).

 

Ending up in the wrong scavenger hunt almost never happens, it is just not ending up in one although it could, but this is random anyway. No chance to visit is not good of course, but potential double posts are the only real issue.

[Becktracker]

It is worse than you think. I literally saw coordinates change from N to S and W to E (as well as S to N and E to W) in a pretty random way. And when you edit a waymark you can only see where it ends up if you press 'view waymark'. So it only noticeable if you research very well.

[+fi67]

OK, that's not good. But until now I have never seen (or heard of) anything else than E to W and rarely S to N.

 

19 minutes ago, Becktracker said:

And when you edit a waymark you can only see where it ends up if you press 'view waymark'. So it only noticeable if you research very well.

 Here it is worse than you think. It is only noticeable after an officer has approved the edit. This can take a few days.

[+Ariberna]

I wanted to comment on a similar problem that happens to me with the WM when I create them.
If I put the coordinates (almost always in DegDec) and create the WM, when I continue I get those published in the nearby category, so that they don't match, I go ahead and continue uploading photos, but the coordinates appear at 00.000000 . Sometimes I re-edit a few times and it's still the same.

The same if I change Deg Dec for other.

[+Smurffaaja]

I swear that I triplecheck before click to review my WM. Still it happens that E turns W. Most difficult cases are parking coordinates of WM. You go back and forward countless times to get it right.

But I have an solution: I make only N / W area waymarks, so nothing hopely have to change. Well, cannot do those for ages... Just till my photosupply goes empty.

[Becktracker]

Toro61 worked out a workaround that works most times when you use decdegr (like myself). Make the entire first page and then at the end place the coordinates. Convert it to the first option for the coordinate system (I think DMS but im not sure) and then back to decdegr. Then save the first page. Using this the coordinates 'stick in most cases and the conversion to 00.000 rarely happens

[Becktracker]

By the way, check out this list:

https://www.Waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&wo=True&ct=141&st=2&lat=52.24124598719877&lon=-5.056613087654114

Exactly the problem I encountered... This also goes for all countries and for each possible N-S-E-W-switch....

 

Belgium:

https://www.Waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&lat=50.29875581282621&lon=-4.29556243121624&wo=True&ct=4&st=2

 

South-France:

https://www.Waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&lat=44.90776596128133&lon=-5.464416816830635&wo=True&ct=73&st=2

 

So far austria, denmark and switzerland are clear.

 

Check out a wendy's from the USA in the middle of China:

https://www.Waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&wo=True&pw=True&ct=2&st=2&lat=37.97422744069827&lon=113.37158918380737

 

Czechia:

https://www.Waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&wo=True&ct=56&st=2&lat=49.795686225614396&lon=-16.263428181409836

 

Germany:

https://www.Waymarking.com/wm/search.aspx?f=1&lat=52.647285392897444&lon=-9.085328578948975&wo=True&ct=79&st=2

 

Note that you can only do a search with a radius of 100 km's. So even these lists are inconclusive...

Edited February 12, 2023 by Becktracker

[+pmaupin]

I corrected the one for which I am an officer

[Becktracker]

I spend the last week searching for misplaced waymarks and the results are shown in the excel table available here: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/AZEJIaC6yJ . Please check if this applies to your waymarks or the waymark categories that you are an officer of.

 

The following countries are clear of misplaced waymarks:

Clear:

Afghanistan

Aland Islands

Albania

Algeria

American Samoa

Angola

Anguilla

Antarctica

Antigua and Barbuda

Armenia

Aruba

Australia (Capital territory, Northern Territory, Tasmania)

Azerbaijan

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belize

Benin

Bermuda

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

Botswana

Bouvet Island

British Indian Ocean Territories

British Virgin Island

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cameroon

Cayman Islands

Central African Republic

Chad

China

Christmas Island

Cocos Islands

Colombia

Comoros

Congo

Cook Islands

Costa Rica

Cote dÍvoire

Croatia

Cuba

Curacao

Democratic republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equitorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Falkland islands

Faroe Islands

Fiji

French Guiana

French Polynesia

French Southern and Antarctic Territories

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Greece

Greenland

Grenada

Guadeloupe

Guam

Guatemala

Guernsey

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Heard Island

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

Iran

Iraq

Isle of Man

Israel

Jamaica

Jersey

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein’

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macao

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Marshall Islands

Martinique

Mauritania

Mayotte

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Montserrat

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

New Caledonia

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria’

Niue

Norfolk Island

North Korea

North Macedonia

Northern Mariana Islands

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palau

Palestine

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Puerto Rico

Qatar

Reunion

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saint Barthemely

Saint Helena

Saint Lucia

Saint Martin

Saint Pierre and Miquelon

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa

San Marino

Sark

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Sierra Leone

Sint Maarten

Slovakia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Georgia and the South Sandwhich Islands

South Sudan

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

Tajikistan

Togo

Tokelau

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

Uruguay

US Minor Outlying Islands

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Vatican City States

Venezuela

Wallis and Futuna Islands

Western Sahara

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

[Becktracker]

For Australia, Canada and the United States I am looking for volunteers to do an extensive search (mine was pretty global). These countries stretch a vast area and have many waymarks. In Canada and the USA I found some misplaced waymarks but there are bound to be many more. I can explain to you how I did the search if you are interested.

[+T0SHEA]

Are you aware that you can submit an edit? You do not need to be an officer or submitter, though you do need to give a reason. 

 

 

 

 

[+Bear and Ragged]

Methodist Churches corrected.

[Becktracker]

I saw today and before that the check if the waymark is a double (if there is a waymark in the category within 0,5 miles) gets executed and that the change from E to W took place afterwards. Maybe the bug has to do something with this check?

[+ScroogieII]

14 hours ago, Becktracker said:

I saw today and before that the check if the waymark is a double (if there is a waymark in the category within 0,5 miles) gets executed and that the change from E to W took place afterwards. Maybe the bug has to do something with this check?

 

Mebbe you've heard the REALLY old advertising slogan "Let's get Mikey" - or possibly not, as it may have been, to my limited knowledge, only a North American thing.

Best bet here is "Let's get Bootron".

 

BOOTRON - are you tuned to this channel?!?!?!

Keith

[+Ariberna]

These last days, the problem that is presented with the coordinates, is that it does not matter in which mode you enter them. If there is a WM of the same category nearby, it tells you if you are sure to continue and edit, but when you click on it, it appears so that you can upload photos already in coordinates 0.0
It is the same telephone, computer, etc.

[bootron]

On 3/15/2023 at 7:30 PM, ScroogieII said:

 

Mebbe you've heard the REALLY old advertising slogan "Let's get Mikey" - or possibly not, as it may have been, to my limited knowledge, only a North American thing.

Best bet here is "Let's get Bootron".

 

BOOTRON - are you tuned to this channel?!?!?!

Keith

 

I believe I may have a solution ready to go for the E/W bug. I'll be opening it up to all users in a week or so, but at this moment we are still testing it. If you are interested in being added to the test group, feel free to make the request in this thread and I'll add you to the group.

Edited May 11, 2023 by bootron

[+pmaupin]

40 minutes ago, bootron said:

I believe I may have a solution ready to go for the E/W bug. I'll be opening it up to all users in a week or so, but at this moment we are still testing it. If you are interested in being added to the test group, feel free to make the request in this thread and I'll add you to the group.

I want to be part of the group

[+Smurffaaja]

On 5/11/2023 at 9:29 PM, bootron said:

 

I believe I may have a solution ready to go for the E/W bug. I'll be opening it up to all users in a week or so, but at this moment we are still testing it. If you are interested in being added to the test group, feel free to make the request in this thread and I'll add you to the group.

Me! Me! Me! I wanna be test-waymarker.

[bootron]

pmaupin and Smurffaaja have been added to the test group. 

[+Ariberna]

At the moment, very good the change of coordinates.

👏🏽