Editing the little maps on the cache page

[+Pharmadude]

How do those little maps get on the cache page?

I noticed that my cache (ID 19971) has a little map of Kansas, even though it is located in British Columbia. Can I fix this myself?

The larger map at the bottom of the page is OK.

[ride_bent]

I noticed my cache page (posted on Tuesday 5/1/02) doesn't even have a little map. I check 5 or 6 of a random sampling of the newest cahes from the main page and they don't have a little map either. Must be a problem with the site or something...

 

The best things in life are not things...

[+welch]

what ive heard is that the little maps are from tiger (whatever that is) and that they are used because they are free and load quick, but are sometimes wrong. but after a few days the system usally rechecks them and gets it straightened out, thats why new caches usally have ones that are missing or showing the wrong location.

 

[+Markwell]

Not exactly.

 

When the cache page is first entered or edited, there is only a map in the lower right hand of the cache page for US caches. Those "temporary" maps are from Tiger Census mapping service - free maps provided by the US Census Bureau.

 

About the time of the great migration to the open topic forums, Jeremy also started using Microsoft Street Maps for the big and little maps on each page. But it is not a real time update, so it has to cycle through each of the cache pages to update the maps.

 

A new cache will not have the little map or the nice big one until the system gets to that particular cache page.

 

Also, there is a known glitch in the little map in the upper left of the cache page. For some unexplainable reason, it will show a cache in Kansas in Zimbabwe or Togo, and for others it will work just fine.

 

The best suggestion I have heard is that as a cache owner, you can periodically go in to the "Edit this Cache" feature, make a slight change (add and then delete a period), and "Modify this Cache" to save it. This will force it back into the Tiger Census map mode until the Microsoft maps sweep through and update both the big and the little maps. Hopefully, it will correctly redraw the little map.

 

All that being said, as an avid cache watcher, I have learned that the little maps are unreliable, but the big maps in the lower right are right on target. I now ignore those little maps.

 

Markwell

My Geocaching Page

[+welch]

i stand corrected, thank you Markwell

 

[+Pharmadude]

Hey all, thanks for the help. Much appreciated!

[+VentureForth]

Just adds to the load time of the page (by a nano second perhaps) and is generally unreliable. It was a great idea, Jeremy, but let's archive the minimaps.

 

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Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

[Yotian Soldier]

quote:

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Originally posted by VentureForth:

...but let's archive the minimaps...

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As an admin I love the maps...helps out to check where the cache is situated....if the coordinates are ok in relation to the country....

 

Greetings,

Yotian Soldier (europe approver)

 

[+Gloom]

quote:

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Originally posted by Yotian Soldier:

As an admin I love the maps...helps out to check where the cache is situated....if the coordinates are ok in relation to the country....

---

 

I agree, the map helps me quickly figure out where a cache is located, without having to go to mapquest, etc. Also when I print the page out it helps me keep them organized by location.

 

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Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

[+Team Galaxy]

I think the mapquest maps are great, but on one of my caches which is by a river, the mapquest map shows the little red star on the wrong side of the river! Imagine hiking down the wrong river bank only to realise the cache is 30 ft away on the other side?

 

Should I tell, or is this all part of the sport? At the moment, this info is encrypted in the hints bit.