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I think I’ve fixed the problem, so if you were having problems updating your stats, you should be able to now.
As for harvesting stats automatically, read a few messages up. It seems the GC.com is doing what they can to prevent stat harvesting. The server that ran my script has been banned, so it no longer functions.
So the site is completely self-serve, which if fine by me. I figure if you are interested enough in stats that you put yours up, then you’ll keep them updated as well.
You may now go in and update your individual cache type totals. (traditional/multi/virtual/etc.) You can now also enter how many Wisconsin finds you have. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out a good way for you to get that number other than going into your logs and counting by have. No problem if you only have a couple dozen, but if you’re in the hundreds with several other states mixed in as well as post-a-notes and not-founds, it may be more of a challenge…
These will show up on the front page where you will be able to see them and also sort the list by the types.
Since I can’t get at any GC.com data, there’s really no point right now for entering individual finds/hides, so clicking on the “Update Stats” link will take you directly to your totals page.
We’re up to 25 names! Fantastic!
[This message has been edited by Cheesehead Dave (edited 10-07-2003).]
Well…
It seems that the fine folks at GC.com do not want people mining their site for stat data. As far as I can tell, sometime yesterday my server was blocked from accessing any page from GC.com. Therefore, it looks like the stats page is back to self-serve for now, and probably to stay.
When I get some time, I’ll add in a way for you to be able to update your individual totals as well as a place to note how many Wisconsin finds you have.
Sigh.
First, I’m allowing anyone who has a find in Wisconsin to add their stats to the chart. To quote TATB, they’re “Geocheeseheads”
Next, I think I’ve got the auto-updating down. Every two minutes (to not swamp GC.com with page requests) one lucky team will get their stats updated. This will continue for each team on the list until all teams have been updated. Then it all starts again. Since there’s currently 22 teams on the chart, the stats will be fully updated every 44 minutes. What you also get from the auto-updating is a breakdown of finds by type (traditional, multi, etc.)
I’m still working through a few bugs. I’m suffering from the same problem that Dan’s page did in that if you make multiple logs for a cache on the same day, they will only be counted once. This is mostly a problem with event caches, where even if you log 20 finds, if they’re all on the same day they only get counted once. People have been able to get around this by logging each event find on a different day. That’s up to you. Either way, you can still update your grand total to reflect reality.
Speaking of updating your grand total, please don’t update it right away when you find caches. Give the page enough time to cycle through all the teams and your totals should increment automagically. If a day goes by and your totals are still wrong, then do a manual update. Again, you should only have to manually update if you have multiple logs for a single cache.
Finally, if you didn’t notice, you can now click on the column headings to sort by that column.
Enjoy!
[This message has been edited by Cheesehead Dave (edited 10-01-2003).]
quote:
Originally posted by Geotrippers:
This has worked well except for the caches placed by Genius Loci.
The quality of his caches has trancended normal geocaching. You need to download WatcherGE (Genius Edition) to do a proper conversion…
Seriously… Could his extra-long cache descriptions possibly have something to do with it? Maybe during the conversion the description field gets overloaded and it just gives up. I use Spinner and Plucker to do the conversions and have never had a problem.
quote:
Originally posted by Team Cachebarr:
Thumbs up, Cheesehead Dave. I have asked, and you have answered! I am loving your new site. I hope others will keep checking it out and placing their stats. It’s just another neat way of watching what people are up too!
I’m glad you’re finding it worthwhile. What I’m glad I added (because I find it more interesting than the totals) is the finds/day number. I’m amazed at the number of people that have numbers greater than 1! (Some are even greater than 2!)
If anyone can think of some other interesting calculations to add, please let me know.
Just added: You can now click on any of the column headings to sort the table by that column.
[This message has been edited by Cheesehead Dave (edited 09-24-2003).]
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Originally posted by kbraband:
I just created my login for the stats page. I tried to enter the GC# for my first cache, but your instructions say it must be exactly six characters. My first cache was GC28. Any suggestions?
A stunning oversight on my part…
It should accept it now.
Old timer…
I’ve added a stat for finds per day. To see it, you need to go in and update your profile by adding the date of your first find.
Also, I’m doing a little experimentation with harvesting data from GC.com. It’s dependent on your team name being exactly the same as what’s there, so please double check that and edit your name appropriately.
My harvesting experiments are going well, although I seem to be bumping up against the same problem that was on Dan’s stats page and that’s if you make multiple logs for the same cache on the same day (such as for event caches) it only will come up as a single find. This will be an interesting one to try and work around…
quote:
Originally posted by MR Andersen:
Any updates coming soon? I noticed we still don’t have any finds after a few weeks.
Got me how I missed you. I’ve got this on my watch list, so I should have seen when you made your logs. Hmm.
You’re on there now…
You can add Michigan to my list! I found four in the U.P. this past weekend!
So far as I can tell, it looks like GC.com is deliberately tring to make it difficult to harvest their site for stats, so a “self-serve” system like this may be the only way for now.
I agree that registering you finds in two places might be a bit redundant. That’s why it’s not required here; you can just update your totals as often as you like. It’s not going to be spot-on accurate all the time, but if interested people update their number once a week or so, it should always be pretty close.
I have a copy of the Beast’s data. I could upload it all, but then that leaves the problem of how people can keep their numbers updated, because unregistered people won’t have access. I’ll have to come up with a way for people to “claim” their team name in the list if they want to update themselves.
Like I said, this is just a first pass. It may be a fun little project that over time can grow. If we can figure out how to get at the totals page for individuals, then it might be able to capture those numbers automagically, but for right niw, there doesn’t seem to be a way to directly link to those pages. Any other programmers out there have any ideas?
Here’s a first pass.
It’s a completely self-serve system. You can add as much or as little detail as you want. If you just want to update your total finds and hides every now and then, you can do that. If you want to enter in every single hide and find, you can do that, too.
Right now, if you enter in individual finds, you won’t see anything different that if you just updated your totals by one. They are being captured, however, and I might do something with them in the future.
Here’s a question…
Should people have to enter in their own data to appear on the list, or should I initially enter in a whole host of cachers?
The problem with entering in other people is that if they don’t know they’re here, they’ll never update their numbers.
Unless, of course, there’s somebody here who enjoys keeping track of other people’s find counts for purposes of seeing who’s hitting certain milestones and would be interested in keeping the list maintained… *AHEM*
It’s a work in progress. Please let me know of any bugs, or any cool features you would like to see!
Enter in your stats!
[This message has been edited by Cheesehead Dave (edited 09-19-2003).]
I also have ON, if you consider that a “state”.
This weekend I will be adding MI as I make my way up to Yooper country.Agreed. I think it’s really only useful if you’re out on the open water with zero cover. In the woods, it just eats up your batteries faster.
For geocaching purposes, it really doesn’t add a whole lot of more useful accuracy. Unless the hider used it to set the coordinates in the first place, then it really wouldn’t do you much good.
Hootie-hoo?
Anyway, congrats to you two!
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