User talk:Robyn

Make a new category at the bottom and add your comments, or add them into an existing category that makes sense. I'd really appreciate a good summary, too, as I might not get to the wiki for a week, but I'll get the notification e-mail. Feel free to move a section back here if you want to talk about it more.

I moved all the old comments to User talk:Robyn/OldTalk because I was having trouble finding the new ones.

Deletion of old expedition planning pages

Hi Robyn! I hope this is the right place to ask (if not, please move it to where you think it should be). I recently started tagging old "yyyy-mm-dd nn ee" expedition pages for deletion, where they contained only very preliminary planning or no useful content, such as "point is in a field, i might go there if the rain stops" or "the algorithm sucks, this point is in the ocean"; pages that were created in May or June last year when rules for doing that sort of thing had not yet been established. I had asked about it in #geohashing, and we decided those pages weren't really needed anymore and merely clutter up the wiki. A few others joined in the delete-tagging frenzy and now we have a lot of these pages tagged. Joannac is (understandably) reluctant to delete so many pages (which she thinks may someday be interesting to look back to), and is asking for your expert opinion on the issue. What should we do with those one-line, single-user expedition pages that never even really deserved the "Expedition planning" category? --dawidi 23:36, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I must admit to being a little dismayed when I returned from my vacation to see the frenzy of planning deletions. I think the failures and planning are part of the process, and I wouldn't have voted to delete any page that consisted of someone considering a location and how to get there, or simply cursing their fate at not having a boat. I have seen a few that look like automated page creation with no thought, and wouldn't mind discouraging the people who seem to sit and compile lists of geohashes but never try to reach any. But "clutter up the wiki"? If we're running out of room, we haven't left enough space for a growing sport. I think I have created a few "planning" pages that I knew at creation were for expeditions that would never happen, but they reflected days when all I could do was look. I wouldn't want them to be deleted. Good on Joannec for showing the stuff a moderator should show. I wouldn't delete anything unless its presence was actually posing a problem, e.g. causing confusion by being a duplicate page or a wrong name graticule page. -Robyn 00:04, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

I actually have to admit that I'm one of those who would prefer to see a cleanup. Anyway, Not so much on the pages themselves but in the categories - I don't think it's appropriate to have dozens of "It's a field, does anyone go?" pages in a Category:Meetup in X Y and Category:Meetup on YYYY-MM-DD. Because there neither was a meetup/expedition in that place nor on that date. Currently the template puts the pages into these categories automatically, and some of these categories leave the impression that a graticule has been very active in the past although the only activity was creating the pages. So if we want to keep these pages, I'd at least vote to take them out of the regular expedition categories, similar to the retro expeditions. --Ekorren 00:26, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmm. I think the cause of Ekorren's discomfort was in the original decision to name the categories "Meetup" when often no meetup is involved. I am never entirely happy with those tags, either, but I do support creation of such pages early in the planning process, so that people clicking through from the peeron page see that others might be going. The Expedition tag distinguishes between the "hey, it's a road" and "I went and no one else came" submissions. One argument is that it is appropriate for a planning page to have the proper meetup tags, and it isn't reasonable for the system to require people to go back and edit planning pages when they don't make the meet. -Robyn 00:51, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

I too have been deleting the odd early page so perhaps I'd better take an interest in this discussion. I think I agree with Ekorren. To me, the "Meetup" tags indicate a successful mission (no matter how many people showed up) -- either to the hashpoint itself or to an alternative Saturday location. And for unsuccessful missions, the "Expedition" and "Failed: reason" tags are useful. That rather seems to me to be what they are for, taking the "Meetup" tag away from a planning page seems reasonable. (The slight problem then is that it can't show a meetup location map any more.) I am unsure about whether I think that it's better to keep the "Expedition Planning" category for those which are being currently planned, or whether to leave it on all old expedition planning pages. I would still support the deletion of one-line planning pages, though, which are the result of two seconds' tapping at a computer and not any actual planning. -- Benjw 06:23, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

People's levels of verbosity range. What if some of those planning pages you delete are both the initial planning and the placeholder for expeditions that actually happened, but whose expeditioners haven't written them up. They went but didn't meet anyone, so didn't see the point. They haven't finished the roll so haven't developed the film (not everyone has digital already) and intend to ome back and finish it, but you deleted it! Anyway, I don't see what harm the patheti planning pages do. The Meetup tags don't indicate a successful expedition. They indiate the time and place of the geohash being disussed. I don't think it's a good idea to change the system that is ore to identifying the things. And maybe my tomorrow's geohash will be achievable. -Robyn 06:40, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

I tend to agree with Robyn here (and you are always welcome to come south and expedite, er, geohash with us, okay, me). Deleting a "this sucks" page from a many moons ago and from a user who hasn't made a wiki edit in as many months is probably okay, but anything else should be left. Active users can (of course, and arguably should) mark their own planning pages for deletion - I have a few times. --Thomcat 06:54, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

January 22nd Multihash

First glance at the map put the hashpoint on I-5, but satellite examination has it off E Lake Samish drive. Been by that lake many times, but only on the interstate. Good luck! --Thomcat 18:08, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

I've been there. I won a ribbon in a triathlon along that road. I wonder if I can summon proof of the deja vu! -Robyn 18:12, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

2009-01-24

I'm doing Bowen Island! Want to come? Thepiguy 04:08, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

I dooo. I was supposed to go to motorcycle show in Abbotsford, but I've just persuaded the person I'm supposed to go with that Sunday is a much better day for attending motorcycle shows. Target: Bowen! -Robyn 04:29, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Bill Gates

Since I trust you, and wouldn't want to miss a Gates achievement, I'm getting on a plane now...I'll see you in a few hours at your place... -- UnwiseOwl 05:00, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Excellent. See you here in 14 hours or so. I'll send the butler to get you at the airport. -Robyn 05:07, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

It's snowing today so I have to decide if I'm going to bike 100 km in the snow or not. -- I'll vote for "no"! -- Benjw 16:35, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

For the record, I vote yes. -- UnwiseOwl 22:48, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Eat Poop You Owls

Of course you like me, Robyn. -- ummmwhat

Ha ha! I love the internet. It's funny how I had a different mental image for "each" of you, though. -Robyn 19:42, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

After all, unwiseowl is a jerk, and ummmwhat is a nery, poetic type..., anyway, well met. - UnwiseOwl 04:14, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, while I'm here, I saw you mention a while back that you had a collection of favourite geohashing quotes...I think, my memory is a bit odd. If so, have you any to add to my little collection here? -- UnwiseOwl 02:49, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Um, didn't I start that page? If not, then there's a very similarly named page somewhere that I did start. -Robyn 03:08, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, I started that one, I think...I couldn't find yours, but I did look. Hmm, maybe I'm getting old and my memory is broken.-- UnwiseOwl 03:09, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Found and integrated. And then did weird things to the formatting. You think maybe every second one should be a different colour or something? -Robyn 03:18, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

How about we put them all in quotes boxes, then see waht it looks like? You wanna do it, or want me to? -- UnwiseOwl 03:23, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure all quotes would look a bit lopsided. Maybe a few more, but not more than every second one. -Robyn 03:27, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Ugh, formatting this is nasty...I might leave it to someone who understands, as mine keeps being...weird. Another one for joannac's list, I guess... -- UnwiseOwl 04:05, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Sumas

I will do my best to take some good photos and have a half-decent summary... ;) Twilightcity 20:38, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Hashcard

Whoo Hoo! Thankyou very much! I was very, very excited to be the hashcard's lucky recipricant. Kate 09:00, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. It was almost as exciting to log on and have the award as it is to turn up at a geohash and have there be a stranger there. -Robyn 18:07, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Birthday Party

Geohashers are invited to my birthday party.

Thanks!

Thanks for the well-wishes, and I will definitely keep the Formal attire acheivement in mind. I also wanted to thank you for all the great work on the Help and How-to pages... they are a HUGE help! Meghan 22:41, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Move

Thanks for that! I really am not particularly good at this stuff! Ah well, have to go, am meeting CJ for a consecutive meet up! Kate 06:56, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi

I'm no good at how to use a wiki. I'm way confused right now. I just wanted to thank you for welcoming me.... THANKS *waves and runs off into the distance* --Avarice 00:19, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Re: Ninja hunting

I just saw your comment on Talk:2009-02-22_32_-90. I just wanted to point out that there is also a handy E-mail this user function on the left of every user page. This one should work even if the user disabled monitoring of his user talk page (but not if she disabled emailing altogether). I don't know if you knew, but I hope to increase your ninja uncovering odds this way. :) -- relet 09:56, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Re: Last Man Standing Ribbon

Yeah, I was just using it to figure out how the ribbon templates work. I was working on implementing the Back from the Grave honorary achievement and wanted to make sure I didn't break the existing functionality before I edited the real last man standing template.

Ugh. I dislike that one because it fractures the possibilities for any given day, and there's no chance of meeting someone there. But it's not always about me, is it? -Robyn 04:32, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Not always about you, Robyn, no. Just most of the time ;). In reality, no-one is going to go for a retro hash if the actual hash is even the barest possibility, so it probably doesn't have such an effect as you might think. -- UnwiseOwl 04:35, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I'll allow the warm fuzziness of that rationalization to protect me from the retro hash. -Robyn 04:44, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

This weekend in Surrey

Wow, what great wilderness hashes for Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately I have little free time this weekend, and they don't look like quick trips. In these locations, would you expect shallow compacted snow, deep snow, a mud pit, or just a little damp? Also, do you think they're fenced off from the closest road? Be my guide! Juventas 00:51, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't have knowledge of that specific area, but I see that Saturday is in a park, so you should have access. I suspect that the "Private Road" is parksboard access and will be gated with one of those swing bar gates that stops cars and trucks but not bikes and pedestrians. I also suspect there may be trails leading close to the geohash from 128th.

The terrain I predict is steep, heavily treed, with wet debris underfoot, maybe a little bit of snow but not much. Bear in mind that I have been out of town for a month, so I'm a little out of touch with what the weather has been up to.

Sunday: oh my, that's quite the spot. I expect it to be treacherously steep, heavily treed, with no artificial barriers to access, but very difficult going. Were I to try it, I might try to go up along the bank of the creek.

Both spots are at about 300-400 m elevation, so some snow, but I think the forest canopy is sufficient that there will not be much depth on the ground. I await your report to find out how wrong I am! -Robyn 02:12, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Turns out I won't have transportation today, and tomorrow is too far when you combine the driving and the hike. Alas. Juventas 19:02, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Canada grat name

Hi Robyn, your opinion is wanted at Talk:Lloydminster‎. --joannac 00:44, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

etrex tracklogs

Just saw your note...

Do I understand right that the point you fail at is splicing the long tracklog into several parts? If they are saved as GPX, and everything else fails, you could edit them manually in any kind of text editor. GPX actually is a XML variant, i.e. a pure text format which is more or less human-readable. That's what I'm currently doing myself (I have no idea what the software supplied by garmin does - it's windows software, after all, so it probably won't work here anyway - and haven't taken the time to search for decent track processing software yet). Also mind that if you save a track internally in the etrex (as opposed to downloading it from the freshly recorded data), timestamps are removed, which will confuse some programs and make the log less interesting. --Ekorren 01:30, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

The Garmin software is called MapSource, and I have heard it works with Wine. With some extra tricks you can even transfer data from and to the GPS with Linux.

When you download the data from the GPS, you get all data. My GPS starts a new tracklog every time I turn it on, or after it lost reception. What I do is save that as "all20090307.gdb" and then I delete everything except the tracklog I want, usually the most recent one. Same for the waypoints. I save that again as "geohash20090307.gdb" and *that* is the file I put in gpsvisualizer. You can delete the tracks individually.

Oh well, I also rightclick on the track and go to the properties of it, where I can see all logged points. I delete the very first and last bit, so it isn't very obvious where this man lives that leaves his house every saturday.--Arvid 07:06, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Mine is mapsource, too. It came with either the GPS or a heart rate monitor I bought from Garmin. I tried to save the tracks for just the expeditions, but yes, the device contains every track for every time I've ever turned it on. I'll experiment with deleting parts of it. -Robyn 07:17, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't know. I saved what I thought was the track from my February 25th expedition as the default, a gdb file and then uploaded it using this website but the result had tracks from everywhere I'd ever been since I bought the GPS. Can you talk me through it? Can I mail it to you? Is there another way I can take the data off the GPS?-Robyn 01:34, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

The etrex records everything into an internal memory of 10.000 points (1.500 on very old models, probably more on better models - I own the low end etrex H). When the memory is full, it starts to overwrite the oldest parts. So, unless you manually delete the tracks in the GPS unit from time to time, you will always get a full 10.000 points worth of past logs. Depending on what you were doing, and what recording accuracy you set, that may be a few hours or a few weeks. For an example, on highest compressed accuracy, the 1000 km/19 hours trip to 2009-02-22_51_10 yielded about 8.000 points. The default setting seems to range around 40-50% of that.

I fear I can't "talk you through it" because you probably have to use totally different software I don't know at all. You may send me the file, though, and I'm quite sure I'll be able to cut out the interesting parts (give time range in UTC, please). However, I'm sure there is some good solution for your problem out there, and I hope someone will come up with it. (And now I'm off to bed, anyway - past 3 am here). --Ekorren 02:06, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

This is the website I used. If the files work (they display temporarily) just send them to me by email and I'll put them up for you!

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/map_input?form=googleearth

Thepiguy 20:32, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Australia

Hi Robyn, CJ and I were wondering, when you come to Australia (Whoo Hoo!), Could you please bring your airplane with you? Thanks, -- Kate 13:23, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

I'd need to a) convine my boss he didn't need it that week and b) fill all the baggage holds with fuel to get it that far. How about I bring my licence and hire one there? -Robyn 17:26, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Yay! We'll planepool (as in carpool?) and go on an Airtrip (as in roadtrip?) ! -- Kate 21:34, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah! Drop by your local flying school and find out what the rules are for a rental by someone who holds a Transport Canada and FAA licence. -Robyn 21:36, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

2009-03-09

King Ed and Knight:6:00! Check Vancouver talk page...

Okay, I guess that means 18:00. :-)

Latitude 49

Thanks for leaving the hard ones for me ;). Fortunately I am honing my dormant French skills and visiting Québec government websites for better maps. -- Meghan 21:17, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I knew you liked a challenge. And then I went off and started naming bits of Antarctica. The one where I stopped in Québec is obviously really industrialized, with that poor Abitibi park sticking out like a sore thumb in the satellite view. I assume it's pulp and paper, maybe just Mategami, but perhaps there's a local name you can find somewhere. -Robyn 21:23, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm becoming more amused by the potential names in Newfoundland, especially in -55. Like Seldom-Little-Seldom :). It'll likely just end up being Fogo Island or something. -- Meghan 22:06, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

I agree, so sad not to have Conception and Dildo as graticules, I know. I'm fine with naming after a river if there is truly not one populated centre in the graticule, and if the river is both clearly in that graticule and not substatially in any other. I think the Gulf of St Lawrence one is poor, because there are many graticules that have significant portions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence -- unless that name is on a graticule that has no land at all, just the gulf, like the Atlantic Ocean ones. -Robyn 22:59, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, both of those graticules have no land in them whatsoever. -- Meghan 02:53, 12 March 2009 (UTC)