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Release Notes - February 25, 2014


Moun10Bike

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Read the last update's release notes

Release Notes

The latest release of Geocaching.com has lots of goodies, updates and fixes for everyone:

  • Ready to start your GeoTour? Now you have the correct phone number.
  • Shiny new videos are now on the Geocaching 101 page.
  • The Geocaching for Beginners brochure received a fabulous makeover.
  • Hiding a geocache is now less of a game of hide, seek and potentially re-hide. There’s a new map to help hiders find likely locations to place geocaches. The map shows a radius around the known locations of traditional geocaches and physical and visible waypoints without revealing their exact location. Hidden waypoints and some additional information are not shown. Geocaches are still reviewed by geocaching community volunteers before they’re published.
  • And of course, the ever-present round of bug extermination.

Edited by Moun10Bike
Added info about new planning map
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thanks for the map for hiders, but honestly it still is pointless without hidden stages showing up as well. Just do away with centers and do not allow people so see exactly where they are. then of course warn people about spoilers before continuing. I love caching for hiding, not really finding them. and i hate virtual puzzle caches. honestly don't care if i accidentally figure a crossed out area must be the hidden stage to a virtual puzzle. and i am not inclined to skip ahead in a multi. just have a no-cheat policy, or have this option unlock once you accept more firm terms of agreement. If you go into it with the mindset to place a cache, your not really thinking about what the circles mean anyway and what must be hidden there.

 

also to make this map more useful, i recommend having the mystery caches that are not at the posted coordinates not show up, or show up with dotted lines or another way to show the area can have a physical cache (if this is not how it already is set up)

 

at the very least i would like the option to opt in to see all true locations a cache may be hidden.

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at the very least i would like the option to opt in to see all true locations a cache may be hidden.

As pointed out in the release note, just because there is no cache already there is not a guarentee that you can hide a cache there. The reviewer may be aware of locations that are off-limits for some other reason (including land managers who request a separation of more that .1 miles).

 

As the owner of some puzzles, I'm already a bit ticked at the new map. I'm certain that people will use this to find potential spots where the puzzle might be and find my caches that way. The data is already available, but displaying it this way encourages people to use it to bypass solving of puzzles.

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at the very least i would like the option to opt in to see all true locations a cache may be hidden.

As pointed out in the release note, just because there is no cache already there is not a guarentee that you can hide a cache there. The reviewer may be aware of locations that are off-limits for some other reason (including land managers who request a separation of more that .1 miles).

 

As the owner of some puzzles, I'm already a bit ticked at the new map. I'm certain that people will use this to find potential spots where the puzzle might be and find my caches that way. The data is already available, but displaying it this way encourages people to use it to bypass solving of puzzles.

Well, I checked the new map and it seems that none of my puzzles or multis were shown. Or anybody else's.

So seems that it only indicates readily available locations, there's already a few tools to draw circles around existing traditional caches. So not a big deal for solving puzzles.

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at the very least i would like the option to opt in to see all true locations a cache may be hidden.

As pointed out in the release note, just because there is no cache already there is not a guarentee that you can hide a cache there. The reviewer may be aware of locations that are off-limits for some other reason (including land managers who request a separation of more that .1 miles).

 

As the owner of some puzzles, I'm already a bit ticked at the new map. I'm certain that people will use this to find potential spots where the puzzle might be and find my caches that way. The data is already available, but displaying it this way encourages people to use it to bypass solving of puzzles.

 

I do not think this map is for finding caches.and honestly blank spots on a map are not very useful for finding hidden stages. those that could do this, probably already could without the extra circles. I think we should be able to have the circles show up for hidden stages as well; as long as the person accepts a very strict terms of agreement that prohibit using the map to cheat. It simply doesn't help much without showing them when placing anything other then stupid park and grabs.

 

Even if they never allow that, there are some things that could be implemented. color coding, so we can see the multi's and mystery caches more clearly and know that there may be hidden stages near by. I really like that mystery caches not at the posted coordinates don't show up; except they need to show up in dotted lines. as it stands we have places off limits on the map with no clear indication or any mystery cache nearby to explain why the area is off limits. in the image below you can see the circle road in the bottom left corner. i placed the icon for one of my mystery caches in the middle of the circle. then somewhere in the same picture is the cache, but it does not have a circle surrounding it to show that a large area is off limits. this is a problem. Either mysteries need to show up with dotted lines or the hidden stages need to be visible. also color coding would help in any case.

 

image tag is disabled it seems, linked, if against rules i ask a mod to review it first and at least pass my concerns off to the development team first

8

Edited by Intrepid Dyad
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It's nice to see that the planning map has been implemented, as I know a lot of people have been asking for it. However, I can also see a fair few owners of puzzle or PM caches getting annoyed if it lets people work out the locations of their caches. Using this map, a basic member who knows a little Javascript can quite easily work out precise coordinates for a traditional PM cache.

 

I did notice a couple of glitches:

  • The planning map doesn't seem to work if you set your language to French (although as I'm English, I consider this a good thing :P). You get the error message "Oups! Il y a eu une erreur lors du chargement des geocaches. Merci de réessayer plus tard." The other few languages I tried worked fine. It happens on all browsers, because the Javascript string containing the French translation of the message telling you how to obtain accurate coordinates has a single quote in it instead of an apostrophe, breaking the script.
  • Panning the map doesn't work well with a touchscreen. In Firefox 27, trying to pan the map north/south using a touchscreen makes it zoom in and out instead. In Opera 12, the whole page scrolls but the map doesn't pan. Opera 19 and Chrome 33 worked OK (all tested on Win 8.1).

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I did notice a couple of glitches:

  • The planning map doesn't seem to work if you set your language to French (although as I'm English, I consider this a good thing :P). You get the error message "Oups! Il y a eu une erreur lors du chargement des geocaches. Merci de réessayer plus tard." The other few languages I tried worked fine. It happens on all browsers, because the Javascript string containing the French translation of the message telling you how to obtain accurate coordinates has a single quote in it instead of an apostrophe, breaking the script.

 

Thank you for notifying us about this problem. We will fix this javascript issue as soon as possible so it works for all languages. In the meantime, anyone can press "Continue" in order to complete the rest of the cache submission process.

 

Cindy / Frau Potter

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WAIT, these circles look bigger than .1 mile. Are the suppose to be .1 mile per the policy. Otherwise probably need to put a BIG note on the page that says the circles are greater than .1 miles.

 

It almost appears though someone got diameter mixed up with radius.

 

DO NOT SHOW STAGES or other hidden parts of a cache. Just becomes an easy way to cheat.

Edited by TheWeatherWarrior
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WAIT, these circles look bigger than .1 mile. Are the suppose to be .1 mile per the policy. Otherwise probably need to put a BIG note on the page that says the circles are greater than .1 miles.

 

It almost appears though someone got diameter mixed up with radius.

 

DO NOT SHOW STAGES or other hidden parts of a cache. Just becomes an easy way to cheat.

Well, I would hope the circles are bigger than .1 miles. Perhaps you got the radius mixed up with the diameter... :blink:

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WAIT, these circles look bigger than .1 mile. Are the suppose to be .1 mile per the policy. Otherwise probably need to put a BIG note on the page that says the circles are greater than .1 miles.

 

It almost appears though someone got diameter mixed up with radius.

 

DO NOT SHOW STAGES or other hidden parts of a cache. Just becomes an easy way to cheat.

 

Looking at the circles closest to my home, which are for two of my caches, they appear to be the correct size.

 

To Toz, I'm still sorry for filling gaps on that particular trail, that prompted others to fill further gaps that left an obvious hole and allowed that same person to find one of your more difficult mystery caches. It's still one of my favorites.

 

The new map only offers functionality that has been offered to GSAK users for a number of years now. I think the new map will only help the novice user see what areas "might" be open. Anyone who is smart enough to game the system, has already figured it out.

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To Toz, I'm still sorry for filling gaps on that particular trail, that prompted others to fill further gaps that left an obvious hole and allowed that same person to find one of your more difficult mystery caches. It's still one of my favorites.

Actually the gap where that cache is is well over .2 miles on the new maps, so the new map doesn't actually give away the location of the cache. It is more likely that the hint, which has been in place since that cache was hidden, allows anyone hiking that trail to find the cache if they just pay atttention to their surroundings.

 

I went and looked at all my puzzles with new maps and don't think that any of them are in positions that can be brute forced from just the gaps on the map. The more likely case would be on one of my multis. However the 3rd waypoint in one of them is now way too close to a traditional that the reviewer accidentally published for anyone to get any idea where to look. (I need to get reviewers to publish traditionals closer than .1 from my multis and puzzles). And from looking the multis it appears that even the public initial waypoint is not shown (I suspect so that offsets that use a virtual initial waypoint won't show).

Edited by tozainamboku
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When I look at some caches I helped place with a geobuddy that are a little over .1 miles apart (the min. required) the circles overlap significantly. The cicles (if designed to represent the min.) should show .1 mile radius. The show closer to .2 miles radius.

 

No, they show 0.1 mile radius. Caches that are 528' apart will have their proximity circles overlap halfway. If they didn't overlap at all, the caches would have to be at least 0.2 mile apart.

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Folks, remember the function of the new map is to show areas that are available to place a cache. Therefore the circle radius is 0.1 mile, so two caches that are just over 0.1 mile apart will have their circles overlap by half. The point is you're not looking for overlap; you're looking for available areas to place a cache.

 

If the function of the map was to show caches that violate the 0.1 mile rule, then it would make sense to have a circle radius of 0.05 mile, and then you could just look for any circles that overlap at all.

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When I look at some caches I helped place with a geobuddy that are a little over .1 miles apart (the min. required) the circles overlap significantly. The cicles (if designed to represent the min.) should show .1 mile radius. The show closer to .2 miles radius.

 

No, they show 0.1 mile radius. Caches that are 528' apart will have their proximity circles overlap halfway. If they didn't overlap at all, the caches would have to be at least 0.2 mile apart.

Yup, I messed up. Plus, then I posted the old text versus the new one. My thinking was wrong.
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Hello,

 

I like the new planning map, but i think it is clearer if the correct distances do not overlap.

 

PlanMap.jpg

 

Cache A: SchauGenau #4 http://coord.info/GC4CHPD N 47° 33.893 E 009° 46.189

Cache B: SchauGenau #1 http://coord.info/GC4ARJ4 N 47° 33.785 E 009° 46.042

 

The distance of this coords is 272 meter.

 

(0.1 mile = 161 meter)

 

The planning map in this area is full of cases like these. The Geocache distance is correct, but the circles overlap. Everything is correct, but is it clear for everybody, that overlapped circles are only not good if a circle hit the center of an other one? In this case, please change the color of the circle. Only wrong distances should be red.

 

I agree with Lil Devil

If the function of the map was to show caches that violate the 0.1 mile rule, then it would make sense to have a circle radius of 0.05 mile, and then you could just look for any circles that overlap at all.

 

kind regards from Austria

Edited by WantedDeadOrAlive
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The sole purpose of the map is to show where it is possible to place a cache. All other things considered, you COULD place a cache anywhere there is no pink shade, including the tiny spot to the south of "A".

 

When placing a cache you need not be concerned about the overlaps of existing circles.

Edited by cheech gang
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The sole purpose of the map is to show where it is possible to place a cache. All other things considered, you COULD place a cache anywhere there is no pink shade, including the tiny spot to the south of "A".

 

When placing a cache you need not be concerned about the overlaps of existing circles.

 

Exactly. If the circles didn't overlap, the map would basically be useless for revealing open spots. The image is a perfect example of how to use the map. That little tiny spot to the south of "A" is available, provided that one of Toz's puzzles doesn't sit there. :ph34r:

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If I could make a suggestion for the new map...

 

Could you show icons for mystery and multi caches at their listed (public) coordinates? Seeing these icons would help prod a potential hider to dig deeper into the area they are looking at, knowing there are puzzles or multis in the area.

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It was a conscious choice to not place icons on the planning map in order to keep it clean and minimally confusing for new hiders. An upcoming change to the cache submission process will include a more robust version of the map.

 

This sounds interesting.

 

I know that I can be critical at times, but keep up the good work. It is appreciated!

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The sole purpose of the map is to show where it is possible to place a cache. All other things considered, you COULD place a cache anywhere there is no pink shade, including the tiny spot to the south of "A".

 

When placing a cache you need not be concerned about the overlaps of existing circles.

 

Exactly. If the circles didn't overlap, the map would basically be useless for revealing open spots. The image is a perfect example of how to use the map. That little tiny spot to the south of "A" is available, provided that one of Toz's puzzles doesn't sit there. :ph34r:

None of my puzzle caches are in Austria. (I hope that helps :ph34r: )

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also to make this map more useful, i recommend having the mystery caches that are not at the posted coordinates not show up, or show up with dotted lines or another way to show the area can have a physical cache (if this is not how it already is set up)

 

 

But then again a majority of mystery caches are really just challenge caches which mean the cache is located at the posted coordinates. I think it would be very hard for them to pick and choose which mystery caches show up and which ones don't show up on the map.

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What would be another awesome add to this is "off limits" hatching for places like national parks, school zones, etc. That may be more data than GS is willing to pay for, but it would be nice to know those limits. I could see additional "volunteers" similar to reviewers but who only work on the maps behind the scenes. I know I won't every be a reviewer (bad mouthed GS too many times), but could see helping with that.

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What would be another awesome add to this is "off limits" hatching for places like national parks, school zones, etc. That may be more data than GS is willing to pay for, but it would be nice to know those limits. I could see additional "volunteers" similar to reviewers but who only work on the maps behind the scenes. I know I won't every be a reviewer (bad mouthed GS too many times), but could see helping with that.

 

In England, the MAGIC map provides a lot of this information (see https://wiki.Groundspeak.com/display/GEO/MAGIC+Map ). It's one of the sources the reviewers use when checking locations. Your local government environment agency might have something similar.

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Posted 29 January 2014 - 11:26 AM

 

View PostOlddffart, on 29 January 2014 - 01:25 AM, said:

 

View PostMoun10Bike, on 28 January 2014 - 12:12 PM, said:

Read the last update's release notes

 

(Quote from Release Notes - January 28, 2014 post #13.)

 

Today's web release updates and fixes:

 

.............

Map for geocaches with closely spaced waypoints now displays correctly.

.............

 

 

Some do and some still don't. Example:- This one still doesn't work.

.

 

I've notified engineering of this issue.

 

The Bug Is Back ........... http://coord.info/GC51N5A

Have seen it also on some other new caches in the last couple of days.

.

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I'm not seeing an issue there. The reference point and the posted coordinates are very close (~20 m) and so the map is zoomed in close. If you zoom out, you can see the surrounding details.

 

OK - hadn't tried that much zoom out.

Will check out the others I noticed if I can remember which ones they were.

.

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While looking at the results of this item again... I was surprised to find that zooming out now reveals PMO caches on us BMs maps again... albeit at ZLevel 11 (the one with 3km/3mi scale)... they just blink in and out of existance when you transition to 12, but that is good enough in my book... not all that important since they are on the search listings, but they are there since some point in time.

 

Doug 7rxc

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