User talk:Alexandre Koriakine

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I have one archive: first archive

Proposal to integrate Wikimapia with Wikipedia

Alexandre, you can communicate with me on my talk page if you wish. Basically, I would like you to integrate Wikimapia with Wikipedia. How it would work: When contributors draw their rectangles around places, landmarks, etc., the info. box that comes up inviting them to write a note about the landmark should feature a Wikipedia article about it, if there is one. If there isn't one, writing a note for a place on Wikimapia would automatically create such an article on Wikipedia. You could talk to User:Fred Bauder, who runs the Wikinfo project, which uses special software to incorporate Wikipedia articles into its own structure. David Cannon 22:09, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

• I don't particularly like the notion that an article would be created in Wikipedia when a bounding box is created in Wikimapia, at least at this stage. My concern is one about article notability. There are no controls on notability in Wikimapia, nor (it could be argued) should there be; noteworthy here is the comment on a related blog that folks in India are adding their home information to Wikimapia. I personally have added things that I wouldn't want to see appearing in Wikipedia as articles (residential addresses .. no names .. and gas stations, for instance). I believe that creation of object references in Wikipedia and Wikimapia should be left separate right now, but that the interlinkage between the two be made as easy and bidirectional as possible. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 01:40, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it's not good for adding indian homes to Wikipedia, but there are still many places which might be in Wikipedia. I propose there will be a link, create an article in Wikipedia wich redirect from Wikimapia place to Wikipedia NEW ARTICLE EDIT PAGE (maybe for all or for registered users) with some information from Wikipedia (for example if place has no description - the system won't let you automatically create Wikipedia article, etc.. ). What are your thoughts? Alexandre Koriakine 08:05, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

I think Wikimapia is a great concept. Integration with Wikipedia would maximize its usefulness by connecting landmarks with well-written and verified information. It would also allow Wikimapia to "ride" on Wikipedia's popularity. David Cannon 22:09, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

• I agree with all of what David has said in this preceding passage. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 01:42, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Approving Wikipedians to Wikimapia (write under here WikiMapia username)

How I approve: If I see a contributions history of the user (or some other facts), I manually make high userlevel in WikiMapia. Usually I look at this page once ever two or three days. Alexandre Koriakine 02:02, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Just registered in wikimapia as bscheuv (since 3 letters alone are not allowed) --213.183.10.41 09:03, 28 February 2007 (UTC) =de:Benutzer:Bjs

Approve hirak99 --User:Hirak 99 19:01, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

fauji_tiwana Tuesday. December 12, 2006. From Chandigarh India.

I've just registered. I found the instruction to use the above words:-) David Cannon 23:28, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I've done it. Alexandre Koriakine 07:28, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! David Cannon 09:33, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve Mosesofmason --Mosesofmason 12:08, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve kessler --Kessler 16:57, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve OlivierAuber--Olivier Auber 17:12, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

OK! Alexandre Koriakine 18:19, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

thanks Alexandre--Olivier Auber

Approve vijaygirish2001.

Wikipedian user not found, please provide Wikipedian username - or link to Wikipedia user page.Alexandre Koriakine 18:19, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

approve shaji

Approve jodamiller

hi Approve shanmukhanand

Please approve shibulona

Approve aaho

Approve ceyockey --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 01:21, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve Bronx, please Bronx 05:09, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

APPROVE kschandran

Approve PaddyMalone, Thanks Paddy

Approve palani12kumar

approve harshadod

Approve anindya_56

Approve ahadiputra

Approve Munira

Approve nejron With respect, nejron 13:52, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve bruce89, bruce89 21:34, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

himasaram: Himasaram 01:26, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve Chairboy - CHAIRBOY (☎) 02:03, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Pls Approve lynnseck lynnseck 03:30, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve Moorlock -Moorlock 01:28, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve tonyjose Tonyjose 18:10, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve Sigmoid Wilderns 21:54, 12 November 2006 (CET)

Approve Gabrielseed 13 November 2006

Approve alnowras

Approve wferranini

Approve atchius Atchius 20:04, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Approve lordfuzzz Lordfuzzz 18:26, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Approve WikiMapia user Gaimhreadhan, please. Thanks in advance!...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 19:42, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Approve teskayev Teskayev 19:04, 21 December 2006 (UTC) Approve suryarao_r

Approve pbrabant514 -Wikimapia is an incredibly useful navigation tool and deserves serious recognition. Jan.2007-

On the understanding that this is the place for a Wikipedia user to request expanded permissions on WikiMapia, my WM ID matches my WP one, i.e. it is

Jerzy

and please do for me whatever you do for established WP users.
--Jerzy•t 05:25, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
(I also have the problem of having my password rejected after WM hung up my MS IE browser and i terminated it. My 4 locations created as Jerzy show that, but i can't sign in again, and my two requests for replacement password via EMail have produced no incoming e-mail after several hours.)
--Jerzy•t 05:25, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Approve IvanLanin IvanLanin 12:19, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Please approve my nickname in Wikimapia (Loqu). My Wikipedian nick is Loqu. Thanks. Loqu 10:53, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Approve drherrick DHerrick 04:49, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Approve my nick on WikiMapia, it's Marcoscunha. Marcos Cunha 01:11, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Approve tariqabjotu. -- tariqabjotu 17:28, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I just registered as BigrTex. ~ BigrTex 23:13, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Approve Pibwl (well, Wikipedia lost some of my free time ;-) Pibwl ←« 00:33, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Please approve "UNFanatic" Wikimapia username. Thanks (UNFanatic 22:38, 2 February 2007 (UTC))

Please approve heli12 Jake (talk) 17:50, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Please approve knobunc Knobunc 05:16, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Please approve gimboid13 Gimboid13 02:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Menchi. Menchi 08:36, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

torzsmokus -- Torzsmokus 15:16, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Please approve JoanM [[1]]

Please approve Wanted: most contribs in pl, some in en.

please approve sarafankit --Sarafankit

Please aprove dosowski --dosowski

Please, aprove: Naipe -- Rbsnsnts 01:40, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

approve slipknotshukla

Please approve santjohn

Please approve: "hiru"

Please approve: Kot_, you may want to see my contributions in Polish Wikipedia (over 500). Thank you in advance. --Kocur 11:13, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Preview function would be useful

following from "Delete function stil not working" thread

Do you have a caching system in place that provides a lag between creation and writing to a more permanent store? The reason why I ask is that I created a Place, then a few minutes later was able to delete it without a lag. As object references become more complex, you should consider introduction of a Preview function that allows the editor to see how the final entry will appear prior to committing the edit; this would be useful right now, in fact, because there is a difference between the edit view and the saved view as the edit view has the 4-corner bounding box handles which are not present in the saved view ... fine-tuning the bounding box is useful for tagging 'small' closely spaced objects. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 01:52, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, there's an "upcoming mode". Usually you may delete within 3 hours your place without delay. (In menu you choose upcoming mode, the new places are yellow colored). Alexandre Koriakine 08:00, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Why not including a real wiki in the Wikimapia FAQ window?

It would allow registred users to edit usefull infos for other users (and stop using wikipedia as FAQ ;-)...--Olivier Auber 15:22, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Olivier, at this time we don't have functionality for the Wiki window (you're right, in the future it's good to make a kind of this Wiki FAQ window), and why not using Wikipedia. We a not using it as a FAQ, we are using it to be in contact with Wikipedians. Alexandre Koriakine 08:18, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Private residences; colour-coding hotspots (a proposal)

Hi there! I'm a little unsure about this. A number of people have been hotspotting private houses - e.g. "Peter's house", "My place", etc. Such labels are meaningless to the public and they only serve to clutter the map. Should they be deleted? Also, some people have been hotspotting street names. That seems superfluous to me, because anyone who wants to find the name of the street can select "Hybrid" view. David Cannon 00:07, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Hello there :) We understand the page clutters with private places, that's why we included devision private/public. We have idea to make another layer for private or show them with low priority. It's a next step and it will be done. Alexandre Koriakine 08:09, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Hotspots with street names should, indeed, be deleted as this is in many cases superfluous information; usually it means the user doesn't realize the hybrid mode will give you this information. However, in cases where an alternative valid street name is given, or where the street name is missing from hybrid mode, that hotspot annotation should be retained. This would be one feedback mechanism to Google Earth, thereby potentially enriching their byways reference map. As far as personalized places go, I feel that 'ephemera' should be discouraged from the map. Thus "Peter's house" would be a no-no, but "37 Chunk Lane" would be ok. By 'ephemera' I mean information that might easily and frequently change over the life of a given structure. For instance, I have added a couple of gasoline stations, but I've labeled these as "gasoline station" and in the description labeled as (for instance) "owned by Exxon as of 2006-10-10"; the fact that a gasoline station was on a particular spot is important from subsequent use, environmental and demographic perspectives, but the fact it was owned by a particular company is an ephemera. Likewise with family names associated with personal homes; the fact that a personal home of address X is the identity of a particular building is important from the various perspectives, but the identity of the owner is an ephemera, relevant only to personal geneaological research except in those rare cases where the person-site association is particularly notable (e.g. person X murdered by serial killer Y at place Z or persons a,b,c,d all died of cholera and they were all within walking distance of well g [from a classic epidemological study in London]). --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 22:13, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

• By the way, I do understand that the 'person residing in a building = ephemera' perspective is very much a rootless modern Western one and though relatively representative of the majority of contributors to these resources does not necessarily reflect the perspective of the majority of people on the planet. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 23:22, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

As I don't understand the whole "private place" business at all (luckily there will be a separate layer for it), adresses seem less disturbing than ephemera based on mere vanity. There is, however, another thing about hybrid mode: a lot of regions have street-level photos but no corresponding maps (like here in Lithuania). saimhe 14:23, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I think in that case it's perfectly reasonable to add street name tags to overcome the deficit. I took a look at centeral Lithuania and was surprised (though I should not have been) that the level of aerial photographic resolution was the same as for the continental United States (available down to z=18 but not available for z=19). --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 21:57, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

I would also like to make a proposal about a colour-code for hotspots. At the moment, you have white rectangles for approved places and yellow rectangles for upcoming places. How about expanding the system to have different colours for different kinds of places (e.g. red rectangle for government buildings, blue for churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, etc., green for cultural institutions like libraries and museums, purple for shops, orange for famous monuments, and so on. Alongside the UPCOMING PLACES link could be tabs for all these different kinds of places, giving users the option to show only one kind of place, or any combination of places, so they can easily find what they are looking for. Just a thought.

I agree that's a good idea. As for Google Earth we think to make different icons for different types, then for Google Earth and Browser Wikimapia it will be good to change color (and for private it will be a kind of light gray). Again, it's a good adia, just we have to see if it will be looking good with many colors on the map. Alexandre Koriakine 08:09, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Also, could users have some way to enter an "edit summary" like what we have on wikipedia? That would allow users to explain what they have done and why - e.g., why they have deleted a place or changed its description. David Cannon 00:07, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

We are working on it :) Alexandre Koriakine 08:09, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

To share my view on this whole ephemera question, I really don't see the point of these "I live here" places, especially when the sorry bastard doesn't mention even a nickname, but I do feel that Wikimapia should in fact be personal. By personal, I mean having lots of information that would be considered irrelevant or ephemeral by commercial informational maps. Street names in themselves are superfluous, but marking a street up named as itself, and describing its aesthetics as seen by one, or a short (true) anecdote that makes it interesting is the very lifeblood of such a system. I do think though that the dating of ephemera is vital. (Like, "As of autumn 2006, there is a rude inscription done in spray on the southern wall.") Wilderns 12 November 2006

I think there are cases where private residences can be useful. Foreign inmigrants in a big city may want to find important persons of their community. Some private homes act as boarding houses or religious services. They should be acceptable as long as properly explained and tagged. Mlatum 19:36, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

I'd love to see a filter for the private residences. I find them distracting but don't want to see them removed from wikimapia. On a more grand scale I also find the whole village/town/city mark ups distracting when I am looking at a smaller regions but fine for large scale viewing. Another candidate option for future filtering? --Affe 10:00, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Template and logo

Hello again. I created Template:Wikimapia by merging two other templates and fiddling around with the syntax. Just one thing bothers me: the image appears to be the Wikimapia logo, not a public domain image, and some other administrators do not approve of using company logos in templates.

There are two ways to solve the problem: (1) you could edit the image page (Image:WikiMapia2-logo-en.png) and explicitly give permission, as the copyright owner, for the image to be used in the template and on any page which uses the template, or (2) we could change the image to one that is in the public domain, has something to do with maps, but isn't the Wikimapia logo. Please let me know which option you prefer. David Cannon 13:41, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

We will think about the situation. Also we wanted to discuss with you some questions about Wikimapia policy - I will ask you later. Alexandre Koriakine 17:58, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Any time:-) As a temporary solution to the image problme, I have uploaded an image I designed myself (it shows a world map) which is somewhat similar to the Wikimapia logo, but not the same. This solution is only temporary, and satisfies the public domain requirement for template images.

Wikimapia discussion, etc

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I am indeed in New Zealand. [You can see my house here] - directly opposite the one with the swimming pool. Yes, we have sharks off the coast; there have been some shark deaths, but they are not common. Yes, I think our nature is our greatest asset; spots of natural beauty are never far away. No, I've never read the book you mentioned - but I'll have to look it up now!David Cannon 13:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

The book is very interesting read, they are moving along 37 parallel to find captain Grant (they cross South America, Australia,New Zealand) and written by Joules Verne. (Still trying to find the sw. pool).

Thanks, I'll have to get a copy of the book! I'll temporarily hotspot my house (as a private place), so that you can see it. It can be deleted tomorrow (nothing wrong with private places, seeing that your're working on software to hide them, but for privacy reasons I don't want my own house hotspotted. But I'll do it temporarily, for you:-)David Cannon 13:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Oh, I see what your problem was! I must have been half asleep - I've entered the code for a place that's nowhere near where I live! I've corrected it now, and my house is now hotspotted too:-) correct link is here. David Cannon 13:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Now, concerning the matters you wrote about.

1. What do you think if we have a place with some information (approved place), say, in 10 sentences. Then we show to user a button 'Create a new ************ Wikipedia article ' pointing to http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=*************&action=edit with already generated text from ***********? What do you think?

I think that's a great idea, which will ease the cross-referencing of the two projects. I'm looking forward to it.

2. Also is there now a real necessity that we must choose a 'licence' for the project? Probably a kind of http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ or http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/? Just wondering must we think about this more closely?

I don't know how the law stands in Russia, but in many other countries (including mine), there could be legal complications for people wishing to use Wikimapia images on their websites if there is no license. In New Zealand, I have never heard of such laws being enforced, but adopting a licensing system would avoid any potential problems.

What do you mean by Wikimapia images? You meant with places? I have to check if it's corresponding with Google Map TOS. We can give permission from Wikimapia, but we don't own satellite imagery.

Yes, I mean places - maps. You have allowed people to put a portion of a Wikimapia map on their webpage - so some form of licensing would be appropriate. I'm no lawyer, but I think giving permission from wikimapia should be sufficient, as Wikimapia already has permission to use the imagery. David Cannon 13:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

I also have a couple of questions of my own.

1. I'm pleased to see the box linking hotspots to Wikipedia articles. Would it be possible to add a second box, to link famous monuments to that structure's own website?

Could you explain a little bit more? A monuments in Wikidepia?

No, on Wikimapia. For example, if I create a place on Wikimapia for, say, New Zealand's parliament building, there's a box allowing me to enter a link to the corresponding Wikipedia article. Could we have a second box for the parliament building's own website?David Cannon 13:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

2. I tried to hotspot some Fijian islands, but kept getting the error message that I could not create a new place at that zoom level - I must zoom in closer. But (a) I wanted to hotspot the whole island, and (b) there was no image or map at a closer zoom level. Is it intended to be that way?

I forgot to make this for approved users.

I see. I'll look forward to it.David Cannon 13:10, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Geo-Templates

Thanks for pointing them out. Yes, those templates are protected, but as an administrator, I can modify them quite easily, to include a wikimapia link. I'll get around to it in the next day or two. I'm excited about all the new developments. David Cannon 12:41, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Thank, David. Thank for appreciation! We are trying to do our best.Alexandre Koriakine 22:52, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

How many delete votes required to delete a non upcoming place

I have seen (in India) several hugely oversized private houses marked and they were typically marked when the place was having low resolution imagery and also at that time upcoming place feature was not there. Now when I try deleting them, it simply takes the request but nothing happens (pls note I haven't logged-in as a registered user in the system). Example of such places can be see at Jhansi at Wikimapia (check the bigger boxes) Vjdchauhan 13:43, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

my wikimapia login name is vikichauhan. Thanks, Vjdchauhan 04:48, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks,I already went to your talk and saw your perly, I raised it. What about how many - delete votes must be from 5 to 10 percents of place views (2 weeks info). But, you now may delete bad places. Alexandre Koriakine 08:25, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

there is a similar problem in Dhanbad, India Dhanbad at Wikimapia. Can someone please clean it up or i'll do it if you raise my rank... my wikimapia user id is utkarsh31.

thanks...

Cleaned most of the boxes. They will not be there after 12 hrs. Regards, Vjdchauhan 10:43, 22 November 2006 (UTC).

Vertical rectangle vs Rotated rectangle box

Till the functionality of allowing different types of box shape is implemented can we have the functionality of rotating the rectangular box as most of the places are typically rectangular in shape but may not be perfectly aligned vertically, allowing rotated rectangle will help a lot esp in places like India where wikimapia is used heavily (one of the reason is absence of detailed map). Thanks. Vjdchauhan 06:38, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

The rectangle is simplest solution. Rotation is not possible, polygons will be ok for that. Anyhow polygons are for the future, because now we have to focus on some really required functions. We can do polygons now, but it won't help the project on a current state, and it will introduce more complexity. Alexandre Koriakine 22:41, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Deleting added pictures?

Will we eventually have the ability to remove and/or review pictures that have been added to place information pages? I know that there are some images that are inappropriate that should be removed. Thanks! --Matt510 02:30, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Easy, by registered user. :) Alexandre Koriakine 22:41, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Open pre-voting permanent boxes for voting

In places (esp cities) which were already having high resolution imagery before voting system have been put in place people have misused place marks in very great numbers and for famous monuments/bildings one ended up with multiple box (see number of permanent placemerks over Taj Mahal in Agra at Tajmahal at Wikimapia), and people like me who want to delete such boxes are not able to delete such frequently visited boxes. Can this be done if possile, i.e. open all the permanent boxes for voting which were created before voting system was put in place, I know I am asking too much but if done it will help in having Wikimapia with very accurately marked places and will also clear lot of mess. Thanks and regards. Vjdchauhan 12:13, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for info, but mostly it's a problem of famous places, this problem could be done by high ranked users like you (just to delete this place, it's possible, only 12 hours pending cancellation and it will be deleted). I cleared Tajmahal by myself. Thanks Vjdchauhan, but we won't turn all places to upcoming, because only of 0.1% wrong placed. Many people now have the power to delete bad places just with a click, a moth will pass, everything will be fine, I think. Alexandre Koriakine 12:21, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

I am able to delete some boxes but they still need (even with enhanced user privilege) more than one delete request and for the some incorrectly/improperly marked palces (e.g. see Aligarh at Wikimapia where its low resolution imagery and all boxes are highly oversized) I am not able to delete them even after repeated delete requests them same was true for some unwanted boxes on Taj Mahal.
I am not sure whether 'only 0.1% incorrectly marked places' data is correct for pre-voting days boxes. I don't think Wikimapians will clear all incorrectly marked permanent places (that too in a shorter time frame like a month), they can at max clean the incorrectly marked (permanent) public places and is it ok with Wikimapia to have tens of thousands of boxes per city (see Most described cities at Wikimapia), I think most of these boxes belong to pre-voting days (in fact I was not requesting for opening per-voting days boxes all at once, it could have been done phase wise say day/week wise).
Alexandre what is your opinion on Tens of thousands of boxes per city.
Regards, Vjdchauhan 09:45, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

I'll check this, but there's 12 hours delay, maybe you forgot it? We will think about this closely, we will try to make as easy as possible to clear bad tagging. Alexandre Koriakine 10:52, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

I am not sure what '12 hous delay means' but for sure I try to delete the places in example almost once a day for 2-3 days and then give up. Vjdchauhan 11:24, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

I will investigate this problem.Alexandre Koriakine 11:43, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Cross-linking hotspots

I found that the system has a pretty clever way of determining the ideal view (center, zoom) of a certain hotspot. (In search view, or the upcoming places waiting for review on the bottom of articles, etc.) However, I didn't find a way to easily extract this link from the system. What I mean is that when I click on a hotspot, it should give me a URL I can post into other articles as a link. At least. What would be even better is an integrated hyperlink system like that of Wikipedia, where I could link to a hotspot by a unique hash based on location and name, or a serial id, or anything like that. Wilderns 12 November 2006

• Well I just resorted to "Zoom in" and then copy-paste from the location bar. Still wish there was a more elegant solution for this. :) Wilderns 17 November 2006

Admins of nl.wikipedia.org deleted all links to Wikimapia

See http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overleg_gebruiker:Siebrand#Links_to_Wikimapia With respect, nejron 17:28, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Nejron, Thank you for pointing it. We can't do nothing in this sad situation. NL:WP admins can decide to remove links crosslinked by other people, but I don't think they had consensus in that situation and this broke the Wikipedia rules. As NL admins saying NL:WP is independent from other Wikipedia. Maybe this is the case for Wikipedia bureaucrats. Best Wishes. Alexandre Koriakine 10:01, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I've checked now, we have almost 200 links to nl.wikipedia.org and nl.wikipedia.org has zero links to Wikimapia. Great work NL:WP.Alexandre Koriakine 10:13, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

The article on German and Polish wikipedia was also deleted. :-( 2T 05:09, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Licensing

That's really great news! I look forward to seeing it. David Cannon 09:39, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Source code, please

Hi, I am enquiring in regards to Wikimapia and for our possible usage of your source code. Please can you email me and I will ask, my email in enabled. frummer 16:13, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Possible abuse - How to deal with?

There is something I noticed these days. I have been playing around with Budapest, adding locations, fixing broken data or misplaced hotspots, and adding descriptions to hotspots that lacked one before. What I found quite sad is that almost nobody votes on Upcoming places whatsoever. A quite large and locally well-known place can hang around for a week without getting a single vote, yes or no. (I mean, it would take, like 1 minute to scan the local upcoming list and vote for them.)

I found a few rather stupid Upcoming places, like this: Csomád utca(hu) - saying in the description "This is Csomád street". For one, the street name is there in the hybrid mode, and for two, the hotspot doesn't come near to covering the street. Another one is hamed hanin lakasa(hu) - name and description both stating that this is Hamed Hanin's flat, however the hotspot covers over 10 buildings and around 3 streets.

And this is where the possible abuse comes in, that I did vote No for both these places, and in a few days there were ranks of Yes votes passed on them, 2 for Csomád street, and 4 for Hamed Hanin. What I suspect is that the creator of these hotspots registered under multiple names and voted for himself to push their stupidity through. I mean, in such short time compared to the normal pace on Budapest wikimapia, and such stupid and useless places to boot (with absolutely no votes on normal, useful places just next to the stupid one), one just jumps to such conclusions.

What is Wikimapia policy for this? Is such conduct vandalism? What can a user do in such a case (How to report to authorities? Are there any authorities? Is there a ban system on Wikimapia? Can you check for clone users by IP?)

- Wilderns

Thanks for your worry - if you are registered in Wikimapia, please, give me your username then your vote will have the power of two and some more function. They about your questions - yes we have some kind of protection, but working on more! All will be explained in FAQ soon. So just send me your wikimapia username. Alexandre Koriakine 23:37, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I hope you regard my suggestion as practical, rather than authoritarian: Appoint volunteers to police particular Geographical blocks. I discovered a whole load of nonsense and mis-spellings in the Nelson, New Zealand area today (first time I've looked at your wonderful project) and scheduled some disruptive entries like "Home" "Burgle this" etc, but I'll lose interest in maintaining an area if a 30 strong gang of schoolkids comes in and simply outvotes me to keep an entry of "firebomb this tonight" located over my home...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 19:30, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

• Hi! My Wikimapia username is Sigmoid. Thanks. ;) Wilderns 18 November 2006

I have also been battling with vandals on the map of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Some users are adding fictional places, editing legitimate places with nonsense, and voting down legimate upcoming places. There has to be some way to "lock down" a place, much like a Wikipedia article, if it becomes the target of vandalism. Drm310 18:10, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the update

Hi there! Thanks for updating me on what's going on. I'm excited! Yes, I can see why you're being cautious about the bot. Personally, I don't think we'd ever go as far on EN as they did on NL - the Dutch Wikipedia (and also the German one, BTW) is dominated by a powerful "deletionist" lobby which excludes anything that doesn't fit a narrow criteria. On EN we're somewhat more inclusionist (I think), so the problem wouldn't be with the links to Wikimapia. I cannot see a problem with it at all, but I understand why you want to play it safe. Better safe than sorry!

No, I didn't feel the earthquake. The first I heard of it was from you! BTW, it's almost summer where I am.

I've been busy over the last couple of days annotating Wikimapia's map of Fiji. I've had to compile the information from multiple sources, as there are NO maps available that label ALL of Fiji's islands (between 322 and 844 - depending on how you define an island). From a combination of sources, I've been able to establish the identity of most of them and have edited Wikimapia accordingly. Very likely, Wikimapia will be THE FIRST resource in the world to have a comprehensive map of Fiji which doesn't omit all or most of the minor islands.

I hope you're having a great day! See you around, DavidDavid Cannon 11:43, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

New look of Wikimapia

Hi Alexander, since today morning I observed that user interface of Wikimapia has changed/simplified a lot. Apart from UI changes following are new changes that I observed.

• One can see '+' sign for Hospitals, 'H' sign for Hotels, there may be some other new signs as well can all this be put in Wikimapia faq as well.
• 'Search' option is simplified and the 'All' search gives the distance of 'Approved Place' from current view, can this be enhanced a bit to give State-District info as well for the places matching the search string. Also I observed when a placemark/city is searched the map view shifts to left and it reverts back on minimizing the search results window, it could be a distraction.
  

Simplified UI will help a lot. Regards Vjdchauhan 11:07, 3 February 2007 (UTC).

Thank you Vjdchauhan! Yes, we tried to simplify the user interface, you got the point. What about the distraction - the map shifts but the center of the map (cross) still the same. Where is the distraction? Thanks for your comments. Alexandre Koriakine 12:20, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Alexandre, the addition of the crosshairs to center the map was a brilliant idea. Very simple and very effective. It makes centering the map on a particular location so much easier. Drm310 18:14, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Disappearing places

Hi. Sorry to bother you , but last week I've added some upcoming ships in Burgas [2], Varna and this one [3] (again). Some of them had 1 "no" vote (I don't know why), some had 0 last time I've checked. Why were they deleted? Is there a way to restore them? - I'm tired thinking about adding all that info again. Pibwl ←« 18:08, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it can be very annoying when all your work is vandalised. Don't give up! Maybe there will eventually be a system of ranking users so that your places are not deleted without a vote from responsible people...

(Since Wikimapia doesn't allow spaces or puctuation in users names, I'm WFrank, there). W. Frank 18:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Disable comment system please !

Dear Alexander creator of WikiMapia. I'm a Vietnamese. When i found wikimapia, i was so happy because i can watch my beloved country from the sky.To my deep regret; not only can i see my beloved country, but i can also see a huge of violent,offensive,political,coarse comment attached to a lot of places. I and someone esle try to erase it (edit, delete, request delete) but it likes " give salt to sea". When it was cleared, the vandal re-wrote it immediately. I known that the administrative system is under construction. But i can stand seeing , day after day, my beloved country map is filled with rubbish comment.Please,creator, disable the Comment system in my country until the administrative system is finished. Respectfully yours Magnifier 20:11, 20 March 2007 (UTC) P/S : My English writing skill is quite bad for now. If i had any error please leave a comment at my talk page

Comment system is the most useless feature of WikiMapia

A wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, edit and change content, typically without the need for registration But how can I edit comments? in Wiki. Comment system is the feature that goes against the meaning of Wiki. Creator, if you have friend or someone who knows Vietnamese please go to Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi City (on wikimapia). You will see, at least 50% place is commented with rubbish, offensive, and coarse ideas. I and my friend spent a lot of time to erase it. But the vandal is faster than us, every one comment we erased, the vandal write 2. Again, please disable comment system. Or please make the comment system allow us to edit it please.Respectfully yours Magnifier 16:00, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

We think about this problem (mostly in Vietnam and some politically unsure areas), however people may delete the comment by pressing block icon. We think we may lower the press count (from 5 to 3) and also hide messages with 1 abuse vote Alexandre Koriakine 22:42, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

I absolutely concur!W. Frank 00:07, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much.For both of your replying and work. Viva Wikimapia Magnifier 06:09, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Limit the number of article's and comment's characters. Why not?

Dear Alexander. After one week deal with vandal> I known that they offten use atricle and comment to complete their goals. I though why can't you limit the number of atricle's and comment's character. An atricle prove the info of the place, like a greetings,an atricle or a comment shouldn't to be too long. 1500 characters is just enough to an atricle, 500 characters is just enough to a comment. If visitor want more they can go to a wikipedia page ( follow the link on the atricle ). Respectfully yours Magnifier 13:08, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Polygons

Great job on the polygons - that is a welcome addition. It took a bit of practice for me at first, but I've figured it out and started to redraw some of the places I've entered. Thanks! Drm310 20:28, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

This addition is fairy hard-to-use Magnifier 08:44, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

I have written a basic how to at How To #6: Adding Polygons, hope it will be of help. --Matt510 00:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips, Matt! Your blog gotme started on my Nelson, New Zealand patch and I successfully delineated the Airport and Tahunanui Beach. However it will not let me edit either Founders Park or Miyazu Japanese Gardens - both places I created! Any ideas why?

I also notice that these articles no longer show my name on them....Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 01:48, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Gaimhreadhan, did you solve the trouble with Founders Park or Miyazu Japanese Gardens? I see they are with polygons now. What was the problem?

Your fine software solved my problem, Alexandre (wink). I tried everything, re-starting my OS, logging in and out of my ISP and my Wikimapia account and nothing seemed to change. Then a few hours later I tried again and, lo and behold, I could edit the Park and Garden's shape. Maybe it takes a while to update your database.

I think I discovered that there is finite limit to the number of points you can plot to define the perimeter of a polygon when outlining the boundary of the City of Nelson in NZ. Is this a memory, algorithm or element number limit? If the latter it would be neat to have a countdown meter visible to tell you how many points you've got left to use...

Did you have any further thoughts about having neighbourhood guardians to `patrol' a particular neighbourhood with enhanced rights to instantly delete incitements to racial, religious or political violence, profanity and libels?

Just think of the publicity you'll be getting in the newspapers when, as a horrible but very real example, anti-abortionists set fire to a Surgeons home and incinerate his wife and 3 young children after his home is pinpointed on Wikimapia...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 22:38, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Possible Helpful Solution to Inappropriate/Spam Comments

Since there have been so many problems with the comments people leave (spam, inappropriate, violent, abusive, profane, etc.) I was wondering if a point system might be helpful (something similar to Digg or Slashdot). I have seen a number of my own comments that are now hidden for whatever reason, I have also seen perfectly fine comments hidden as well. But I have also seen lots of inappropriate comments hidden (which is a good thing). It seems that if you added a points type system you can make it so at a certain threshold (say 1 point) everyone could see it and if it falls below that it would be hidden. If it reached a certain value (say -5 points) it would be permanently deleted. You could also do it so if it got a lot of point it would move higher on the list. Just a thought there. --Matt510 07:09, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Protection

Is there any idea of protection of places like Mount Everest (lots of vandalism there)? Joan M 12:33, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

I see what you mean. Maybe a protection of areas for unregistered users. Tell me your username there. Alexandre Koriakine 16:13, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

It's JoanM (the same as on wikipedia but without a [Space (punctuation)|space] Joan M 04:45, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Full-protection ? Is there any idea of full ( not semi) protection of places like Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi? A lot of "registered" vandalism's still here. My team are working hard to keep it clean. Magnifier 10:09, 27 March 2007 (UTC).

I think this needs to be done. Alexandre Koriakine 19:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

English spelling mistakes

1. "Semiprotect atricle" should be "Semi-protect article" ...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 16:52, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

WikiMapia logout broken

However many times I attempt to logout of Wikimapia (when using Vista Home Premium and Firefox 2.0.0.3) it is unsuccessful.

[I get the white pop-up that says "You have been logged out. CONTINUE" and my login name is no longer visible to the right of "Add place". However, the drop down menu option of "Profile" under the Menu "WikiMapia" still displays all my editing details together with the "logout" option. Even if I close the WikiMapia window and exit Firefox and re-start nobody else can use my computer without being taken as me - which is a bit of a security breach...]...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 16:35, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

This happends in Firefox, I didn't find a solution at this moment.Alexandre Koriakine 18:58, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

VANDALISM: Request for AdminShip

Dear Alexandre, I am Lily, a student and a WikiMapian. I was informed that you are the person in charge of WikiMapia users. I am sending you this message to request for your consideration and help.
You must have been informed about the WikiMapia's situation in areas of Vietnam. I know that you had made improvement on our places. We appreciate it very much. However, the chain of "abuse message - edit - abuse message -..." will never stop. I think it will be much easier if any of us can be provided the AdminShip.
I have joined WikiMapia since Ferbrary, 2007 with the user name "Lily". So far, I have edited over 1600 places. I have called for a campaign of "Let's keep WikiMapia useful" and it's been supported by many WikiMapians. You may see a topic in my personal blog via this link (unfortunately, it's written in Vietnamese): http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-QTo3xbkgbqcVU.5lSIsXKLRpmgY-?cq=1&p=2064 . You may find the attention of a quite number of users simply by counting their comments. You may check my user details in WikiMapia as well.
I am writing you this message to request for the AdminShip so that I can do more in "keeping WikiMapia useful". Your kind consideration will be very much appreciated. You may email me at Lily.usm@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you as soon as possible!
Best regards,
Lily —The preceding unsigned comments were added by 202.170.51.250 (talk) 17:23, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

Lily, I did it, if you know some trust people, you may tell me. What about situation in Vietnam - we are trying to solve the abuse problem, but currently we are focused on some new but necessary functions. However we are trying to make system protection against abusers (but that's not easy, for example there is one IP for many vietnamian users, so we cannot just simply ban this IP).Alexandre Koriakine 19:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your kind consideration and support, Alexandre!
I realized changes in my user functions. However, may I have some more information/ instructions about all functions which are activated for those with adminship? I wish to use my account as effectively as possible.
About the protection against the abusers, we may consider a committee to review contents before they are accepted to be posted or commented to WikiMap places. It takes time and quite number of volunteers but I think it's worth. We are willing to do it.
Thanks for your continued support.
Hope to hear from you!!
Sincerely yours,
Lily

I'm one of Vietnamese who "keeping WikiMapia useful". I'm one of Lily's friend, too.

Wikimapia is one of the most great web to me. I can see everywhere in my country by it. I love my country so much, so I really, realyy want to make it fresh from bad imformations, as well as provide something useful.

But day by day, some bad people edits and comment more and more bad imformations. I still try my best to keep Wikimapia fresh. But I've waited so long for my account to be "power".

My account is MiakaAsakura, I became Wikimapian since 4 weeks ago and now I've created 137 places and edited more than 2500 places.

So now I write this comment to you to request for adminship. So that I can do more for our web.

I do not want to disturb you, but please answer me whenever you can.

My email: miaka259@yahoo.com

Hope to hear from you as soon as possible!

Best regards

Alexandre, after you finish the development of the new necessary WM functions, i think that a quick solution to these abuse and vandalism problems on the Asia Southeast is disable Edits and Add's functions to the unregistered users - only on the critical regions, if possible. This certainly goes to decrease the volume of daily vandalisms, making possible a one or two Local adminins watch the cities. And i really believe that the common users will not care about the function block, because the registration is very simple to anyone. Thank you for your great work! Naipe. Rbsnsnts 16:00, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Naipe. We really develop some special functions, also we will discuss your propose. Tell me, for example, what function is better to have against vandals - a computer banning or something else?Alexandre Koriakine 21:40, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

I think a full-protection system for critical place ( historical place; memorial place... ) and a warn and banning system ( like wikipedia)just enough for dealing with vandalisms. However, two or more Local Admins is greatly needed for keep wikimapia "always useful" Magnifier 05:13, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Alexandre and Naipe for your care about our problems.

I think the attendance of Local Admins is really need to Wikimapia, too. Miaka MiakaAsakura 06:42, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

It would be nice to appoint a local constable / constabulary for particular areas with quick delete and article protection powers.

Most areas of high vandalism also have a high incidence of Internet cafes so banning either IP's (pop round to another cafe) or users (quick - create another user ID) will probably be completely ineffective or lead to migraine. Remember that areas physically need to be eyeballed. One can't add a constables `beat' to any automated watchlist!

I volunteer to patrol the Nelson and Tasman Bays area of New Zealand....Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 17:12, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

-I agree that we need local adminins to judge each case independently, according with your knowledge about the region and the language. As was said, a automated system is impracticable. But, i suggest more restrictions for unregistered users, because they make the most of problems and the majority part of them are sporadic and will not create accounts after accounts to continue the bad editions. The registered vandals still will appear, but in a minor number and the control will be possible. (i hope).

-About the utilization of local adminins, that Wikimapia's page will can help to organize, by the division of world map in listed directories: http://wikimapia.org/country/

(For example - Gaimhreadhan said above that he want patrol these NZ areas: Nelson and Tasman)

-I did observe that this page, in the lists of regions/cities places, show the newest places in the end. It help to watch the recent additions! (Is hard to do it on the normal page, in the middle of hundreds of older upcomming places in a large area). Would be useful if this page could include and order the editions too.

-Finally, i can patrol my country's state too. I have worked to keep this region free of bad places and currently i got success. (Okay, maybe for it has less than 2.000 places in 18.000 sq/miles). =) Thanks! Naipe. Rbsnsnts 02:00, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Firefox

There are some upcoming places that I'm unable to vote for (or rather against) for example: http://wikimapia.org/#y=54790492&x=18423772&z=15&l=28&m=a&v=2 . Can it be a problem connected with Firefox? And is it possible to add polygons in Firefox? (I can only do it via IE) Regards. Joan M 14:40, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Firstly, greetings to Gdansk! I had a fine leather belt made there in the early '70's when I was visiting Solidarnosc and it lasted me 30 years since I grew too stout...
I have just visited the location above and voted successfully (wickedly, since it does seem to be some sort of car boot sale judging by the spy satellite) for deletion.
There are differences in behaviour between browsers, but many WikiMapians favour Firefox. I use Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.8.1.3) Gecko/20070309 Firefox/2.0.0.3 myself.
I think polygons can only be added by a certain level of registered user. Here's an example of one I baked earlier (grin):

http://wikimapia.org/#y=-40905210&x=173171997&z=8&l=28&m=s&v=2

Keep warm! ...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 17:13, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

It could be that someone voted using your IP, then the system don't allow it.Alexandre Koriakine 19:08, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

So maybe something is wrong with my Firefox because I can't even see the polygons (I see them only in IE...) The same thing about adding them- it isn't a problem of level (I can add the polygons from the same account, but only via IE). Joan M 19:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

What is your version of Firefox and your OS? And maybe you have strange add-on? Or try to clear cache: CTRL-F5?Alexandre Koriakine 19:49, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I use Firefox/2.0.0.3 on Windows XP Professional. About add-ons- I don't know the computer usage well enough to answer your question but still: some of my friends have the same problem (but only with Firefox- IE functions well and I haven't asked about Opera).
I also have 2 other questions:
do you consider creating some "meta-like" pages? (By "meta-like" I mean things like user and admin [if there will be some], protected places' lists and similar)?
And the second question is if you could clarify the system of ranking users (how many edits [or what else] are needed to have your level hightened and so on. Regards. Joan M 20:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

There will be special pages (and many of them), but we have to finish some necessary WikiMapia functions. Now there's no automatic user level-up to advanced user, so we make this manually by a request. Alexandre Koriakine 20:42, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

upload screenshot

kindly upload a screenshot of wikimapia website to wikimapia article in wikipedia, that is pending due to some copyright issue. thanks202.41.72.100 09:11, 3 April 2007 (UTC) without which the page looks very unfamiliar and hostile.202.41.72.100 09:12, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Can't help :( at this moment. We need to find a copyright free aerial image, and put rectangles on. Alexandre Koriakine 19:55, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

resizing places

Is there any way of resizing biggaer places (like this one: http://wikimapia.org/#y=51770000&x=19460000&z=12&l=28&m=a&v=2 - the big square in the middle shows Łódź but in fact the city is much bigger than there)? Joan M 12:02, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Considering the visualization limit to create places and resize edits -'level' 13 of approach - (I approve this size limit), my strategy is use the internet browser in full-screen and/or increase the resolution size of the monitor. (Have a bigger monitor, like +19inch, help too, where you can make squares until with 20km of vertical line...)-- Rbsnsnts 02:37, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Measure distance and area: buttons

Are buttons (fit to screen and clear all point) really needed? We removed them, left cancel only.

I think those buttons are something useful, because it help to use the measure tool more quickly, without need close the tool and open again in menu every time that you think remake your measurement - about "clear all point" button. It is not a big problem, but, as i say, with this button this is more easy and practical. If this not cause other problems, it could be kept. Thanks. Rbsnsnts 02:01, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Translation of user interface from English

If you want to take part in the translation of the WikiMapia interface, you may follow this link to read instructions: http://wikimapiablog.blogspot.com/2007/04/localization-translation-of-user.html

These are the names of users that have already volunteered for the respective languages (named in English and ordered alphabetically):

Arabic: Amer Alobaidli

Armenian: Armatura

Belorussian: Pavel Zadorski

Chinese: Jin-Jun Liang

French: Koriakine, proofreading Louis-Marie P.

German: Joerg S., proofreading Michael T.

Greek: Waka, proofreading Niklas

Hebrew: Gabriel Seed

Polish: Wojciech Szymski

Portuguese: Eduardo Pereira Habkost, Gustavo de Farias Costa Almeida

Tagalog: Elson Malaki

Ukrainian: Pavel Zadorski

Vietnamese: Magnifier

A Recommendation to Require Users to Login

So I have finally concluded that I think users must login in order to mark a place. I know this is just my opinion, but I personally feel this is a much needed step. I continue to come across numerous created places or edited places that are spam/pornographic/inappropriate/etc. I think the only way this can be eliminated is if users are required to register and login. This will be helpful because then if there are people that continue to abuse the system, they (or their IP) can be banned from making place makers or edits.

Anyone have any further thoughts on this? Alexandre? --Matt510 07:54, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Cleaning Up This Page

How would people feel if I went through and deleted some of the older sections that have been resolved? This page is getting very long and unruly and might benifet from a clean up. yes? no? --Matt510 07:56, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

The "archive" on the top of this page can receive the old and resolved sections, without deletion, like the first time that Koriakine did it. I think too that a dicussion board-page can be very useful to others Wikimapia users (Not necessarily Wikipedia members). Rbsnsnts 16:54, 15 May 2007 (UTC)