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What's Wrong With Gc.com Maps?


WRITE SHOP ROBERT

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I know I've mentioned this in other posts in other threads, and I've seen it mentioned by others also, but I'm really starting to get bothered by it. I'm not recieving the benifits I pay for.

 

I'll start at the beginning.

 

The main reason I pay for the premium membership is because my preferred method of picking the caches I want to seek is to

PAN AROUND THE GEOCACHING.COM MAPS And see what shows up as I pass over the areas where I know I'll be going.

 

Here's an example.

 

When I'm in the PAN mode and I click on the center of where I want to go next weekend, I see 8 icons on the map. Only the caches that are "new" "mystery" "multi" & "virtual" show on the map and "travelbugs" show also. and on the ones that are new, or have TBs only those are the features that show on the map, not the actual "traditional" icon. (so that it looks like there is a "TB" there, but no cache there. Or it looks like there is a "NEW" there, but no cache there)

 

OK, now when I click on the same spot in the "Identify" mode, a list of 22 caches pops up, but I can't see on the map which caches are which style, because the white numbers are in the way. I can read the styles in the list below, but I should be able to see all the icons just in the "Pan" mode.

 

When I pan around on the map in "Pan" mode all the icons should be showing , and all the active caches should be showing. Why aren't they, and when will this be fixed?Please attend to this issue, this is the main reason I give you money each month ( I know $3 isn't very much, but I'm not able to make use of the one feature I actually wanted.)

 

Please don't tell me to make sure all the correct boxes are checked, they are ALL checked!!!

 

IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING THE SAME TROUBLE?

Edited by WRITE SHOP ROBERT
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I can't see on the map which caches are which style, because the white numbers are in the way.

IS ANYONE ELSE HAVING THE SAME TROUBLE?

No. (I mean I see only numbers on white, but I don't think that's a problem.)

 

My problem is, that I only see cache icons or those numbers on the map. Nothing else. No roads, no buildings, no railroads, no lakes, no elevation; just the sea shore, and it's several hundred meters off. And even the scale is in different units that what I have set in my profile. The discussion on the map data has started ages ago and I remember it was promised to be installed last April.

 

Still I think there are enough reasons to pay my Premium Membership.

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hehe, i wrote my own web map interface and don't have to deal with the tiny, sorta slow maps that don't have features i want.

 

oh yeah, i noticed your problem a while back.

What are you using for data, a .gpx file? If so, why do you need a web interface, why not just use something local like MapSend, MapSource or MS S&T?

 

--Marky

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Rotert, I understand your frustration at paying for something that you want and not getting it. I've walked out of restaurants in the past because of similar issues.

 

However, in this case I think you have the opportunity to get what you want, and a whole lot more, if you go about it a different way.

 

If you download a pocket query and use that data via GSAK or one of the many other programs (GSAK is my favorite but it costs $20 to get rid of a nag screen, others are free but less useful) to load the caches into a map, you can pan and zoom to your hearts content and have all of the information you want.

 

I'm not going to try and answer the un-asked "How do I do that" question since it's even further off topic than I've already gone. I just wanted to suggest an alternative to you that you'll find way more useful than the online maps.

 

After doing this just a few times you'll get fast enough with it that it only takes a few minutes.

 

You can download a pocket query for places you plan on visiting (I do this quite a lot as I travel about once a month for work) and save several maps.

 

I hope this helps.

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hehe, i wrote my own web map interface and don't have to deal with the tiny, sorta slow maps that don't have features i want.

 

oh yeah, i noticed your problem a while back.

What are you using for data, a .gpx file? If so, why do you need a web interface, why not just use something local like MapSend, MapSource or MS S&T?

 

--Marky

im gonna venture a little further OT to answor this q

 

i don't actually have any mapping sw on my computer. part of the reason is i don't like features in this or that. i have mapping on my palm tho.

 

i use a proscessed gpx file display points on a map from the us census bureau(as long as their server is responding in a timly manner). 500wpts = 76kb file, so it isn really a big send. I am not gonna advertise where my interface is because i dont want a flood of people crashing it, not sure how it would like a huge load.

 

when the tiger server is running good it is a fast mapping option.

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Those gc.com maps are junky, aren't they. I'm a pan and search visual guy too, and I miss doing the Buxley looking for new blue dots.

 

And the TB maps are a bother too. The old TB maps are more useful for looking to see if a bug has made it's mission waypoints, but even on those determining states visited is sketchy.

 

As for making your own maps, most of the day I'm not at a computer that's mine.

Edited by bthomas
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Those gc.com maps are junky, aren't they. I'm a pan and search visual guy too, and I miss doing the Buxley looking for new blue dots.

 

And the TB maps are a bother too. The old TB maps are more useful for looking to see if a bug has made it's mission waypoints, but even on those determining states visited is sketchy.

 

As for making your own maps, most of the day I'm not at a computer that's mine.

They wouldn't be junky if they worked the way they are supposed to work.

 

The OP didn't ask for a new feature, he asked for the debugging of an existing feature which used to work perfectly in the past, but hasn't been for a few months, and which we have been promised many times that it would be fixed soon.

 

I too use workarounds with other maps, but still, nothing would be as easy as the abillty to quickly view a certain area without first making a pocket query which one may never use, downloading it, importing it into GSAK, exporting it to a mapping format, and then reopeing that in the mapping software.

 

I too think the OP went over the top a bit with his money-back attitude, but hey, that too is a legitimate opinion, and the problem he addresses is real.

 

It was inevitable that at some point, someone with an entitlement attitude would phrase the question in a less polite way then many of us have so far.

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I too think the OP went over the top a bit with his money-back attitude, but hey, that too is a legitimate opinion, and the problem he addresses is real.

 

No, no "Money back" not my stance at all (who cares about $3 a month, its less than pocket change). Please don't take any of this that way. All I want is for the feature to work properly!

 

Thank's to all of you who have offered other options as solutions, but for me even composing a post as lenghty as these is more work than I want to do at the computer. I don't have the tech experience that some of the rest of you do, and learning all those things is not on the top of my priority list.

 

So, is it time to hear from someone at GC.com as to what's being done to fix this?

 

The bottom line is, all active caches should show up on the geocaching.com map as I'm panning around, let's please get it fixed

 

It was inevitable that at some point, someone with an entitlement attitude would phrase the question in a less polite way then many of us have so far.

 

Do you mean me? Please, take it easy. I was perfectely happy with the benefits I was recieving as a regular member (when there was a bug that allowed regular members to pan the map, even though they weren't supposed to be able to do so).

When that bug was corrected I suffered a few weeks without the feature, and then was trying to plan a trip, and found that I couldn't live without the "pan" option, so that's the ONE REASON I actually decided to start paying. Do I feel entitled to recieve the product I pay for? Of course I do, as anyone should. The reason for my impatience with the problem is that it has beem mentioned before on more than one occasion. As I stated in the first line of my OP

Edited by WRITE SHOP ROBERT
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Do you mean me?

I did indeed mean you, WSR, but as I said, but it was just your tone that seemed over the top. I agree with you on all your points, and endorsed them. Supposedly existing features ought to actually exist.

 

Malfunctioning features are annoying, and making them work is more important than adding more whistles and bells.

 

I know Jeremy is working on it all. About the map problem he specifically has said that he's working on it. Sometimes I wish, though, that he would allow input on - or at least share - his list of priorities.

Edited by shunra
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are you guys telling me I'd just as well off w/buxley?

Since Buxley's hasn't been updated in several months (a year?) I don't think that's much of an option.

 

The maps do work when they work. Granted they have trouble sometimes and Jeremy has to kick the box. I think lately with trying to keep the servers humming with over 90K logs per week, he's been too busy to kick the map server.

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We're getting an upgrade to our map server within the month. This will, as promised by GeoMicro, contain the world data as promised as far back as last year.

 

The numbering only works for 25 caches at a time using the identify option. It works that way if you are a premium member or if you aren't. Since the identify feature doesn't change whether you're a premium member or not, I don't really see anything particularly deceptive about it.

 

As for the listings appearing and disappearing between refreshes, I have noticed recently that under heavy strain the maps will run out of memory and fail to occasionally show those icons. Refreshing the page will show them again. Hopefully the update to the map server will resolve this issue and in the meantime I'll reboot the map server more often to reduce the times that this happens.

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Will the new map server allow for bigger maps?

Actually I've been toying with a size of up to around 600-1000 pixels high and wide on the development machine. It seems to work well. Once the new server software comes through I'll set up a beta.

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Will the new map server allow for bigger maps?

Actually I've been toying with a size of up to around 600-1000 pixels high and wide on the development machine. It seems to work well. Once the new server software comes through I'll set up a beta.

I am drooling already. This was one thing I have been thinking would be nice but never got arround to asking for. Thanks Jeremy!

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Will the new map server allow for bigger maps?

Actually I've been toying with a size of up to around 600-1000 pixels high and wide on the development machine. It seems to work well. Once the new server software comes through I'll set up a beta.

Need beta testers?

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back to the OP =-

 

yes, actually this has been asked a few times but it still happens.

 

I have learned to get around it with the Identify -

 

but it is really disconcerting to look at a map and see 4 or 5 caches -

then hit identify and get 20 or so.

 

cc

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Hi there,

 

I'm new to the forums and didn't have a lot of time to read everything, but i did a search and couldn't quickly find smth about it.

 

For caches in Canada, if i do a search and click the "Map It" button from the search page I get the map with all the caches in the area, with icons reflecting cache type, etc. (although there are no topografic features, I'm aware of that issue). However, on the individual pages for the caches, I only have a link to the map of all of Canada, will little blue icons for the caches.

 

I was wondering whether it is hard to be fixed so that on the cache page you have a link to the map with icon for types and zoomed in to the corresponding area.

 

The reason this is inconvenient for me is that I have custom searches for Canada (that I cannot do from the general seach page). On the query page I do not have a map it button and on the individual cache page I also do not have access to the right type of map.

 

I hope I described my issue clearly. Also hoping other people were bugged by it :ph34r:.

 

Many thanks for this site!

 

sosonel

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would it be hard to AT LEAST for Canada get a map of major highways and routes......that is what most of us would need on the map it option anyway......if we see the cache is close to an highway that we will be traveling on we check it out .....and if we see the cache is inside a city we will be going to.....we can always do a poquet querie for that city or place we are going...

 

we dont need all the fancy city streets and stuff....in my opinion anyway.

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I completed 22 caches yesterday and noticed that only one was checked using the geocaching.com map feature.

I waited til this morning thinking, giving the server some time may help. NADA.

This problem seems to have happened sometime between March 17 to March 26.

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Even though I might be considered a power user (utilizing many 'offline' tools to process pocket queries such as gpsbabel, GSAK, ExpertGPS, NG Topo 3D, MapSend Topo 3D, MapSend Direct Route, CacheMate, Tomtom Navigator) I still find it more efficient to use the Geocaching.com maps when I am traveling a long distance. I look forward to any improvements on the gc.com maps. (Bigger size would be very nice, but I'd vote for more consistent icon placement first).

 

--Marky

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I look forward to any improvements on the gc.com maps. (Bigger size would be very nice, but I'd vote for more consistent icon placement first).

I look forward to any improvements on the gc.com maps. (Bigger size would be very nice, but I'd vote for more consistent icon placement first).

 

it's not improvement on the geocaching maps that i want.......I just want to see a map :rolleyes:

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I look forward to any improvements on the gc.com maps.  (Bigger size would be very nice, but I'd vote for more consistent icon placement first).

I look forward to any improvements on the gc.com maps. (Bigger size would be very nice, but I'd vote for more consistent icon placement first).

 

it's not improvement on the geocaching maps that i want.......I just want to see a map :rolleyes:

I feel for ya my northern brother. Hopefully, this will be fixed for you and others soon (not much of this month left though).

 

--Marky

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