Geocaching Australia

Logging locationless caches takes longer than an average cache (find your photo, edit/crop the photo, get the coords, find the locationless cache page, write the log, upload image and for bonus points, go back to the log and include the newly uploaded image into the body of the log) and I've been trying to think of ways to speed this up.

Is it possible to extract the EXIF data from an image as it's uploaded to the site? i.e. have the photo load as it does now but have the coords auto populated based on the data found within that image (if it has been stored in the photo of course)?

ziggiau wrote:Is it possible to extract the EXIF data from an image as it's uploaded to the site?

Tickbox which is not enabled by default would be ideal for this feature.

It should be possible, I'll add it to the dev list.

CraigRat wrote:It should be possible, I'll add it to the dev list.

Awesome, thanks CR.

Avoid adding the image directly into the log so it displays. This is a very large bandwidth hog. Especially on a mobile device. I would hate to get to a cache page of a locationless cache and have to download 100x1MB files just to see the cache page. By all means link, or use the thumbnail, but consider the volume of data you would push at someone who will now have to wait for each image to load before they get to the cache logs text.

The other item of interest is whether your phone has captured accurate co-ordinates. If you're auto-populating and never check /' confirm, your phone might be placing the actual location a very long distance away.

By all means, let's look at improvements, but also consider the restrictions, checks and balances.

caughtatwork wrote:Avoid adding the image directly into the log so it displays. This is a very large bandwidth hog. Especially on a mobile device. I would hate to get to a cache page of a locationless cache and have to download 100x1MB files just to see the cache page. By all means link, or use the thumbnail, but consider the volume of data you would push at someone who will now have to wait for each image to load before they get to the cache logs text.

I think you'll find that the going etiquette is to use thumbnails. The effort required to actually include images in the log copy probably helps to limit the volume. But if this is such an issue, then perhaps it should be noted in a cache logging primer somewhere.

caughtatwork wrote:The other item of interest is whether your phone has captured accurate co-ordinates. If you're auto-populating and never check /' confirm, your phone might be placing the actual location a very long distance away.

If that's a generalised comment, then maybe, but with the effort I go to to log each locationless, this is not an issue (plus I take as many geocaching photos with my GPS as my phone, just depends which one I'm relying on for directions at the time). Often where I've had to stand some distance away to capture an image I will start by extracting the EXIF info, map it, and then correct it before including it in the log. Comes down to personal responsibility, just like everything we do on this site .

caughtatwork wrote:By all means, let's look at improvements, but also consider the restrictions, checks and balances.

Maybe a yellow warning note once the upload has happened to remind people to double check their work?

Yes, quite generalised. My phone, as an example, is terrible with GPS accuracy. A Samsung Galaxy S7 and it will move me around by a dozen meters or so until it stabilises, then wanders around again. I wouldn't trust it to get accurate co-ords for anything

Thumbs are cool. Full images are less cool. If the auto-doohickey can add a thumb to the log text (at the end), then that sounds like an easy way to log, include the image and have a thumb link generated.

caughtatwork wrote:Thumbs are cool. Full images are less cool. If the auto-doohickey can add a thumb to the log text (at the end), then that sounds like an easy way to log, include the image and have a thumb link generated.

I agree with the OP, the process of adding thumbs to logs is a cumbersome one. Auto adding thumbs to logs is a great idea.

Can I add to this suggestion. If you are going to add image thumbs to logs via an auto-doohickey would it be possible to lightbox them?

Cheers,
Michael.