User talk:Zigdon

Nearby food link in new window?

Loving your work! One nit - could you make the nearby food link open in a new window (and say so)? Following it then hitting back takes me back to the default location, not where I was. (Firefox 2)

Well, I dislike strongly forcing new windows. You could just as easily middle click on the link to open it in a new tab, or use it's right click menu. Zigdon 03:50, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Oh, sure - and have been doing since I found out what happened. 'Twas just a bit of a gotcha the first time. I too hate new windows being forced on me (hence the "say so" comment), but they can be useful sometimes... Perhaps I should have said "another version of the link that opens in a new window" - but then it's getting cluttered. Forget I spoke ;-)

KML files

Just curious.. where do your KML scripts get the information of how many active users are in each graticule? - Histumness 19:51, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

They parse the page for each graticule, looking for User: tags Zigdon 20:15, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Ah, okay. This probably isn't a big deal, but I guess it doesn't check to make sure that there aren't any duplicates. So if there are 10 active users listed in the "Local Geohashers" section of a graticule's wiki page, but then there are 3 wikified references to those users in the "Activities" section, the script will list that graticule as having 13 active users. - Histumness 20:56, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Correct. Right now, it doesn't take too much care - the idea is really to gauge activity. Perhaps I will adjust the label to reduce the confusion. Zigdon 21:48, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Non US algo has an error

Hi. I've just tried to search fr this sunday (2008-06-01) and it has complained of no market data for 2008-06-30. Shpuld it have looked at 2008-05-30 instead? 122.110.140.231 01:46, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I can't seem to reproduce it - what OS/Browser are you using? Zigdon 01:49, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

A workaround fix has been uploaded. --Tim P 16:35, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Please direct all further discussion on this topic to Talk:Implementations#Wrong_market_data_for_June_2008_in_locations_east_of_-30.C2.B0.

Tim P 16:35, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Montréal

Hey man - thanks for cleaning up my duplication - I was working from the map lookup, and it gave me an "unknown" when I centred on Montréal. Thus, I blindly created the new page. It was dumb, I know, because I should have checked above, but I wonder why it gave me the Unknown. Oh well, must be a flaw in the Matrix. Cheers. AshleyMorton 23:09, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't remember offhand, but I think it ignores pages that don't actually exist - so even though Montréal was in the list, it didn't show up because the page it linked to wasn't there. No worries, only reason I noticed was that my script complains when it gets an updated list with duplicated :) Zigdon 23:32, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Negative lat/lon

I noticed that in the reference implementation, if you specify a negative latitude or longitude in the URL, it will select the graticule to the west (for negative longitude) or south (for negative latitude) of the correct graticule for the given location. For example, this link should select the graticule containing Lambert airfield in St. Louis, Missouri, but it selects the graticule to the west because the longitude is negative. My guess is that the script always uses the floor function to get the reference coordinates, but should actually be using ceiling for negative numbers. - Histumness 16:41, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

I might change it - but mostly, the script doesn't expect to get fractions for lat/long - [this link] does what you'd expect. I can see that being able to give any coords might be useful though, I'll see how easy a change that will be. Zigdon 17:12, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Active Graticules

I presume that when it says "this page is read by automated scripts." on the Active Graticules page, that your reference implementation is the automated script in question. On Tuesday, I plan to collapse the "active" and "inactive" sections, and add a links to the Category:Active (and Inactive) near the top of the page, then links to Category:North America, etc. within the page. Do I have to do something to specifically avoid breaking things?  :) Thomcat 7 June 2008

Assuming each line won't be changing as far as the format of it (lat,lon, name, etc), it should be fine. If it breaks horribly, I'll find out :) Thanks for the heads up though! Zigdon 21:18, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Calgary, Alberta is one page for four different graticules. When I put them in the All Graticules list, I wanted to make it so that the link would go to the Calgary, Alberta page, but that the graticule names on the application at irc.peeron would show up as Calgary SW, Calgary SE, etcetera. I entered the names as Calgary, Alberta|51 -114 (Calgary NW, Alberta) (in double brackets) but I see that all four graticules display on peeron as "Calgary, Alberta"? Is there a way to force the behaviour I was expecting? -Robyn 15:17, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I think the correct way to do this is to have each of the 4 graticules link to an individual page, which can then redirect to the combined page. The map gets the titles for each graticule from the title of the page it links to, not from the page it ends up getting to after redirections. Zigdon 19:00, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I'd look at Denver, Colorado and steal wholesale from them. - Wmcduff 19:20, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

The four pages and redirects idea is very slick. That way I won't even be "messing with" the Calgary page. Thanks. -Robyn 04:02, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

user to block

All requests up to date. Zigdon 20:17, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Reference Implementation not updating 07/02/08

Both Google and Yahoo have the 07/02/08 opening listed as 11382.34, but the reference inplementation still says it's unavailable.--Ahecht 13:58, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Appears fixed now--Ahecht 15:10, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

"Graticule" link on Coordinate Calculator

I love the coordinate calculator, wouldn't be able to geohash without it and I really appreciate how easy it is to set the default graticule. The one thing I would change about it is the name of the Graticule link. I keep expecting it to link me to the wiki page for that graticule (I'm hashing a lot in Unnamed graticules), and instead I find myself in the edit box for a Meetup for that day and place. I would name that link Meetup instead of graticule. -Robyn 23:05, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I believe that mistaken pages like this one are being created because people are confused by the link. -Robyn 15:12, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Good call, fixed. Zigdon 18:46, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Dow Jones opening for Jul 3-6, 2008 discrepancy

Despite this being amazingly pointless information at this date... The page http://irc.peeron.com/xkcd/map/data/2008/07/03 and for other dates through 2008/07/06 (closed market days) return 11216.00, but both the Yahoo and Google historical pages list the opening as 11297.33 for 7/3/08. This discrepancy is also reflected in the (really nicely built, I must say) map pages http://irc.peeron.com/xkcd/map for those dates. --Involute 10-03-08

Fixed, thanks! Zigdon 21:20, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Northern Graticules Truncated

–	–	–
–	Zigdon	–
–	–	–

[[Category:Meetup in {{{lat}}} {{{lon}}}| ]]

–	–	–
–	Zigdon	–
–	–	–

[[Category:Meetup in {{{lat}}} {{{lon}}}| ]]

–	–	–
–	Zigdon	–
–	–	–

[[Category:Meetup in {{{lat}}} {{{lon}}}| ]]

As you get into the northernmost reaches of the geohashing world, e.g. Orkanger, Norway, the north and south ends of the skinny northern graticules get chopped off and don't show in the graticule template map. Duskwolf says that it's in the map code, which I think is yours? -Robyn 04:36, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

The map is mine, true - but I don't quite see what the problem is. Could you post a link of the page with the problem? Zigdon 06:17, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the link I gave above to Orkanger doesn't make it clear because there isn't a town right at the graticule edge. The top and bottom of the graticule don't show on the map. You can't see the red line representing the top and bottom graticule edges. The circle representing the town Steinkjer at the southern edge of the 64, 11 graticule is halved by the edge of the frame. Compare with what is framed by the red square on the main peeron map.

Go a little bit further north to Murmansk, and on the template graticule map (bottom right) the town of Murmansk doesn't even appear in its own graticule. I'd say there was about 10 km chopped off the top and bottom of the graticule by the frame. It appears that as the graticules get skinnier, the scale is increased to make them the same width, and forcing the height out of the frame. These aren't wildly pathological cases. They are a ways north, but one of those Norwegian grats has a local geohasher already. -Robyn 07:07, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

Coordinate Calculator User Guide

I wrote a page Using the Coordinate Calculator. You might want to have a look at it and fix up anything I got wrong. I didn't know what version of what browsers it requires, or if there are any plug in issues. -Robyn 20:56, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Links on peeron no longer working

Hi, Zigdon. I'm a new user, so I might be doing something wrong. Anyway, links of this variety http://irc.peeron.com/xkcd/map/map.html?date=2009-01-24&lat=42&long=-85&zoom=6&abs=1 used to show the location in the 42 -85 graticule for 2009-01-24. Now (and for the last month or so), they've been taking me to a blank map centered on Boston. Am I doing something wrong, and/or do you know about this? Thanks for the great implementation.  :-) --excellentdude 02:12, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

There was a change done in the google maps API, but I haven't been able to figure it out yet :/ Anyone who wants to take a peek would be most welcome! Zigdon 02:31, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Ah, OK. I wish I could, but I don't know much. For example, I don't even know what API stands for without looking it up.  :-) Glad to know you know, though. Happy hashing! --excellentdude 02:35, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

More Map App Flak

I haven't gotten anywhere geographically yet, but I frequent the map to see if anything convenient appears. this started as two minor quirks, and turned into mspaint therapy. The first two are things that confused me, the rest is fluff. actually, I also forgot that it stopped working entirely in IE6 [with cookies off], it had worked normally in the past, and maps.google still works fine, albeit with the newer/updated standard theme. dunno if APIs dropped support for IE6 yet.

Solution - don't use IE6. Switch to a better browser ;)

Seriously though, it seems to work in all the other browsers, including IE7. joannac

If you can figure out how to get it to work with IE6, I'd be happy to apply patches. I don't have IE6 handy to test with, nor do I really care about supporting old browsers. Patches welcome. Zigdon 23:35, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Aye, I agree entirely, the problem is, I overload and abuse fox. It's for searching & untrusted sites. I use IE6 for quick runs on sites I know [I did learn about the firefox -P --no-remote options, now I can use multiple profiles at once!]. I may have had too much text, replying is going to be fun... [hopefully the subcats aren't overwhelming] PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Market

When does the server query it's market data? I don't actually know when the dow opens, but it's usually pretty late before the data is avail. I seem to remember a day when it was at least 11am before it had the data, may have been an anomaly. I considered asking for a text box to enter it manually, but reading other posts about numbers changing is enough to deter me. maybe just a note saying nothing new until 9:30am EST[GMT-5]? [ok, little bit of looking tells me that it should open at 9:30, with exceptions possible [1] & [2].

See Using_the_Coordinate_Calculator#Troubleshooting. In particular: Occasionally, when there have been extreme changes in the stock market the day before, the coordinate calculator will not show a position until as much as a couple of hours after the normal time. joannac

Correct. Normally, the bot tries to get the opening price starting from 9am until 10am EST. There have been cases where Google's info either wasn't available or has changed afterwards, and I had to update it manually once it was pointed out. Zigdon 23:35, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

It shows the working opendow in the debug, so it should be simple to sanity check them [...still lazy...]. I wonder if there is any [automated] way to see if the opening numbers have settled[or just a link?]? I'll do some legwork and see if I can find anything. If the map source is already posted someplace obvious, I'll kick myself. I only saw some for the calculators, if they are the same, It'll be a stronger kick. PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Zoom

This is partly similar to the above issue, Always blank on Boston. Only recently did I notice the default location feature. If the default zoom wasn't so close/low, it would be more useful to new users and lazy people [myself]. Suggestion: no cookie/default, show country or world view. if cookie present, show default as is. or, just drop the zoom, unless default. a combination of shortlived cookies, and using public machines makes default not so useful personally. Maybe also a search/zipcode box? [possibly near the current grat in the top right, maybe the default button should also be there instead of by the date...] I also had not known about URL parameters, a book mark might be my best solution.

Yeah, I'll pay this. But it's not that hard to click out and then back to the grat you want, nor to add URL parameters. joannac

Well, maybe I'll adjust the default default location. For a while there was a searchbox there, and no one noticed it or figured out what it was for, so I removed it. Maybe I'll see about putting it back. Zigdon 23:35, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

No, it's not too hard, but I said I was lazy didn't I? Only complaint about the top/banner box is it's similar to the annoying slide in warning boxes some browsers like[and it overlays, not pushes the map down.]. actually, it would be funny to see that with a message pushing it lower... Like I said about cookies, which was countered below re: urls. I didn't know about the URL parameters, so that should be a solution to my lazyness. PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

API

I don't know how much control you have about this one from an implementation standpoint, but would it be possible to have the grat stay centered, and the location move instead? instead of the current behavior where the map jumps around keeping the loation centered. Sometimes I check a few days past to see what I missed. Maybe add a prev/next day button? Any way to show multiple days? maybe a week at a time historically?

Grat staying centred - I don't mind either way.

Prev/next day has been suggested before, no one has gotten around to implementing it.

Multiple days/week at a time you can construct yourself with a kml file. I'm pretty sure there was a file floating around with all historical locations, which you can also modify as you like. joannac

Patches welcome :) Zigdon 23:35, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

I'll look for that historical KML, should be fun to watch gmaps strain to render it. I'll see if I can't find some way to make myself a rolling weekly/past 7 locs kml script or similar. Like above, I'll look for the source, if it's not too hard to pull out of the live site. [simple solution when i get the source, just have a centered grat point, or starting point on home/work that will be static[or both], and have the daily locs be secondary waypoints, maybe auto solve the routes? hmm] PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Help link

Maybe a separate page for the map in this wiki, linked from the map itself? or a link to the Using_the_Coordinate_Calculator page. This sorted itself out after I found the help nav on the left, which I seemed to forget existed [in most mediawiki implementations]. however, I frequent the map itself more than here, which is partly why I never found it. I might make a help page myself, or help expose the existing one, or start like I'm new, and try to figure out why I never saw the help before.

I don't know what you mean by "a separate page for the map in the wiki". But you seem to have figured this out yourself. joannac

Just a general instructional/first use page, but I did kind of answer myself. PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Daily loc Links

The 'Link to this page/GoogleMaps/Nearby food' links have the lat/lon in the URL, maybe put them in the box with the text lat/lon? Then it's clear that they update for the date selected. Also they go a bit unnoticed when they pop-in/appear. If we copy google maps closer, with info on the left, everything can be seen, and nothing is overlapping. [scale/key, and copyright]. this is where mspaint got involved. It's really only the highest div that bothers me.

I actually don't like this, I like one line up the top with lat/long, and all the other tools,links,etc in a box at the bottom, out of the way. I like the extra screen space for the *actual map*. I wouldn't mind the scale key, but it's not such a big deal. joannac

I agree with you, but if I can rip enough off the original google maps, can make the left pane hide itself away. I have a crappy laptop, so I value my onscreen real estate. I just don't like overlays personally. PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

ghcsugg.png A 254KB mockup/wishlist/mspaint therapy session. (this thumbnail must have slid slightly on each reply, but the 3 grat boxes on the right don't help much. also interesting how they break the edit section links...)

Magic?

Is there any real technical magic involved in fetching/updating the data? is most of the app the js to calculate and handle the grat? Would it be feasible to actually host the js+data in the wiki, instead of your site? or was that just a more natural/convenient solution for you to manage?

I don't understand what the benefit would be to put the map on the same server as the wiki. The two servers are run by two different people (afaik), and I'm sure they like the autonomy of being able to control what they like on their respective servers. joannac

Putting the JS where it can be edited by anyone would be a *terrible* idea. Not going to happen. Zigdon 23:35, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

It could be put under heavier restrictions, like [I hope? ] the main page is. [I doubt there has been too much abuse of the wiki[barring spam]]. some of my best work is with terrible ideas ;P [I spent a good while in paint for example]. PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Fin&Thanks

I kind of lost a lot of steam trying to consolidate my thoughts, and most of this is just whining, but thanks for reading. If you are feeling really adventurous, I have upped a horrible mspaint of what I mean with 'stuff on the left' on the left. ~~PidGin128

If you want to see features implemented, feel free to implement them yourself. zig has been happy to add extra features in the past. map2.html is an example of this. --joannac 23:05, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

While there's attention on the Coordinate Calculator (which I love and is the main implementation that I use, praise be to Zigdon), does anyone know why there is no longer a scale on that map? Is this something Google did? I miss it dearly. -Robyn 00:14, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I don't think I changed anything on my end. If you can figure out how to get the API to show it again, I'd be happy to implement that. Zigdon 00:16, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it's there, it's just under the box in the bottom left corner. Then again, maybe not. Would test this theory, but I have no idea how. -- UnwiseOwl 00:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Owl is right. The box is slightly translucent and the scale is barely visible under it. I therefore request an option next to "toggle debugging" for "hide this box." -Robyn 17:36, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Which is why i don't like overlays... I know! We can make all the divs re-positionable!! (joke) [just mad I missed the boat on divs... still using tables a lot >.>; [don't do a lot of web exactly]]. I like the scale, but it's not so helpful. maybe figure the distance onload? like the autoroute sugg above? would need a precise default set. also, I didn't know about map2.html... I'll have to check it out. Thanks for all the replies, didn't mean to put so much text initially but it got out of control. I will be mad if I missed a link to the source, which, had I found I could have spent my time more constructively. [I still have to look for it... Also, This much text is fun, because I keep getting logged out! Am I taking that long?..] Thanks again!PidGin128 02:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Does PidGin128's remark about repositioning imply that my request for a minimizable box is an unreasonable one? I assumed that if the box could easily be resized to toggle debugging info that it could be desized to reveal the scale. Not true? -Robyn 21:09, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Notification Program

I have created a notification program. Those of us who currently use it would like to come up with a way to use the maps implementation you have to be able to figure out the centicules for notification. Personally I know very little of javascript, which is needed for the implementation, but am willing to give it a shot if needed. I won't have a chance to get started on this for a bit, but when I do get a chance, I would like a sandbox to work in, if possible. Let me know via IRC (either #geohashing or PM). Thanks for all your work on the maps! --aperfectring 01:20, 16 April 2009 (UTC)