Member Map

[Wawa Skittletits]

I've noticed this since the member map was created but there are routinely quite a few members misplaced in my neck of the woods. This time around I was looking to directly contact members in my 'neighborhood' of northeast Pa about getting together and I find myself weeding through members from anywhere else but here. Thanks for the help in correcting this issue.

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

Soooo... any way of correcting this. It would be one thing if these members didn't have their information listed but they do.. so thats how I know they're supposed to be in Oklahoma, New Mexico, California, etc..

 

[Benharris797]

Hey Wawa Skittletits,

I have just looked at my 'Home' location on the Members map and I'm out by some 25 miles. Maybe it's a security thing not to show your correct position on the map, or it could be down to a large finger pointing on a small scale map! Either way, I'm up for a meet if invited

 

[Michael]

Hey Wawa Skittletits,

I have just looked at my 'Home' location on the Members map and I'm out by some 25 miles. Maybe it's a security thing not to show your correct position on the map, or it could be down to a large finger pointing on a small scale map! Either way, I'm up for a meet if invited

@Wawa Skittletits

It IS a security thing, but it should not be 25 miles. Can you give me a specific example and I will look into it?

Thanks!

M

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

@Michael

This obviously isn’t a ‘serious’ issue but it would be nice if the member map could be used as I attempted to. Not to mention what if a member were in the area and needed assistance? They would have to weed through all of these misplaced people in the hopes of finding someone who is actually there and that’s assuming they’d even notice the error in the first place. Here’s an example.



Here are literally the first 3 I selected. Not one who’s even supposed to be in Pennsylvania, let alone the eastern half of the country.

Arizona



Oklahoma



California



The issue continues outside of this little concentration on the map but I’m sure you get the point. Thank you for your time.

Drew

 

[Nomad00XJ]

@Wawa Skittletits

I was looking in my profile page and noticed that I can show my location by a few choices that I define myself:
- Any option available
- My location entry
- My registration IP
- Last session IP

I use a VPN a lot so if I had one of the last two selected I could show up anywhere in the world. Not sure if that's the issue here, but could be the case. I also looked up that first member you mentioned from AZ and they show up in a different spot on the map than you're screenshot. I did notice as you mentioned that their location is AZ.

 

[Boort]

@Wawa Skittletits, @Nomad00XJ,


As @Michael said this is a security option. On your Profile, under Privacy, (hidden by the bubble in Nomad00XJ's post) is another option that provides a radius around the specified location. The settings below put my pin on the map randomly within 5KM of "Colorado". Other Folks have more exact locations settings. Wawa's is currently "Location: Wilkes-Barre, Pa", and Nomad's currently reads "Location: Littleton, CO 80120" so each pin would be placed randomly within X KM depending on their "point my location..." setting.

Wawa, you mention your observed pin locations being off by 25 Miles, if your "point my location..." setting = either 50 or 100km that would be expected.


In a rescue situation I would hope that the person being rescued would NOT be relying on this map and would relay to the assistance team their GPS location and details about how to reach them. I'd expect that the rescue team would insist upon it.

Boort

 

[Nomad00XJ]

@Boort @Wawa Skittletits @Michael

Boort, you're right so it looks like there are a few options a member could choose to display their location that would not necessarily be their true location. I do understand Wawa's original request because this makes it harder to connect with others based solely off their map location.

 

[Boort]

@Nomad00XJ

@Boort @Wawa Skittletits @Michael
Boort, you're right so it looks like there are a few options a member could choose to display their location that would not necessarily be their true location. I do understand Wawa's original request because this makes it harder to connect with others based solely off their map location.

I agree that it can make connecting with new people more difficult based on location. That is by design, Unfortunately some folks have life and death reasons for wanting to be vague about their location. It is good that @Michael and the team here at OB offer members these and other privacy options. They also appear to have mostly taken sensible defaults rather than opting everyone in to the highest levels of sharing (Coff, FaceBook, Google, ... Coff, cough) and/or making us swim through a UX maze to find all of the various intentionally misleading switches to tighten privacy up after the fact.

Another way to look at these map features is as a filter that enables you to connect with those members who freely and knowingly choose to share their location. Often these are the people who will welcome such interaction and reciprocate.

Boort

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

@Wawa Skittletits

I was looking in my profile page and noticed that I can show my location by a few choices that I define myself:
- Any option available
- My location entry
- My registration IP
- Last session IP

I use a VPN a lot so if I had one of the last two selected I could show up anywhere in the world. Not sure if that's the issue here, but could be the case. I also looked up that first member you mentioned from AZ and they show up in a different spot on the map than you're screenshot. I did notice as you mentioned that their location is AZ.
View attachment 46346

I hadn't noticed the options but this makes perfect sense in explaining the issue. While it certainly explains it I honestly don't know why some of those are even options. Quite simply 'my location entry' should be the default as anything to do with IP can be wildly misleading... as we're seeing.

@Wawa Skittletits, @Nomad00XJ,


As @Michael said this is a security option. On your Profile, under Privacy, (hidden by the bubble in Nomad00XJ's post) is another option that provides a radius around the specified location. The settings below put my pin on the map randomly within 5KM of "Colorado". Other Folks have more exact locations settings. Wawa's is currently "Location: Wilkes-Barre, Pa", and Nomad's currently reads "Location: Littleton, CO 80120" so each pin would be placed randomly within X KM depending on their "point my location..." setting.

Wawa, you mention your observed pin locations being off by 25 Miles, if your "point my location..." setting = either 50 or 100km that would be expected.
View attachment 46358

In a rescue situation I would hope that the person being rescued would NOT be relying on this map and would relay to the assistance team their GPS location and details about how to reach them. I'd expect that the rescue team would insist upon it.

Boort

Ok forgive my rant but it really bugs me when someone responds to a topic without reading/comprehending the thread and then proceeds to also mis quote a person. This clearly isn't a security option, I never mentioned 25 miles, nor did I ever mention a rescue situation. I appreciate your willingness to try and help though.

Also anyone who doesn't want to interact or wants their location to remain secret only has to not bother entering their location. That problem comes solved since you have to choose to enter data in the field. Someone like that shouldn't appear on the map.. anywhere.

 

[Steve]

Drew, I looked at the three examples that you posted above, and there's absolutely no reason they should be showing up in PA. That is unless they all happen to have their setting at IP location, and all happen to be at a conference together...

Some clusters are due to general location. Just entering PA will cluster folks together in a central location in PA. That still doesn't explain why CA and AZ members show up there, though... Another question for @Michael to figure out.

[EDIT] I went one step further into the three examples settings. All three do in fact have IP Location set within 5km. That seems a bit high odds, and may be the default setting. I agree that "Entered Location" should be default.

Maybe that location is HQ for some telecom business, and shows up as the IP location?

 

[Boort]

Ok forgive my rant but it really bugs me when someone responds to a topic without reading/comprehending the thread and then proceeds to also mis quote a person.

@Wawa Skittletits
I do apologize for attributing the quote "I'm out by some 25 miles." to you. It should have been attributed to @Benharris797.

Boort

 

[Wawa Skittletits]

@Wawa Skittletits
I do apologize for attributing the quote "I'm out by some 25 miles." to you. It should have been attributed to @Benharris797.

Boort

No problem Boort. We're talking about being off by thousands of miles and when I said if a member "needed assistance" I was referring to being broke down, stuck, etc.. I imagine you've seen it but theres a box in your personal details called..

OB Helper: ... If it is OK for Overland Bound Members to contact you in the event they need assistance in your area, please check this box!

That is one of the reasons I'd like to see this rectified.

 

[Michael]

@Michael

This obviously isn’t a ‘serious’ issue but it would be nice if the member map could be used as I attempted to. Not to mention what if a member were in the area and needed assistance? They would have to weed through all of these misplaced people in the hopes of finding someone who is actually there and that’s assuming they’d even notice the error in the first place. Here’s an example.

View attachment 44564

Here are literally the first 3 I selected. Not one who’s even supposed to be in Pennsylvania, let alone the eastern half of the country.

Arizona

View attachment 44565

Oklahoma

View attachment 44566

California

View attachment 44567

The issue continues outside of this little concentration on the map but I’m sure you get the point. Thank you for your time.

Drew

Hey guys, thanks for the examples. I'm looking into this right now to see if I can determine why those pins are misplaced. I did note @Steve's IP research. Thanks Steve.

M

 

[Michael]

OK, just an update, I have communicated the issue with the developer. Also, I found this option in the admin backend and "unchecked" the box.



In the case of @samsara, his location in his profile is correctly set to "Glendale, AZ". He should show up within 5 kilometers of Glendale, AZ. He does not. He shows up in Michigan.

I'll provide an update!

M

 

[Steve]

He does not. He shows up in Michigan.

He was showing up in PA. Maybe he was traveling, and it followed his IP address.

 

[Ryan Matthes]

Watch out for this @Wawa Skittletits fellow - he's a trouble maker for sure. He shows in norther PA but really lives on an unknown private island lair made from an active volcano in the middle of Lake Erie.

Just kidding - he's an awesome guy.

 

[Nomad00XJ]

@Michael Thanks for looking into this. It's been a crash course for me in how the map works and all of the different ways your location could be displayed.

 

[Michael]

@Michael Thanks for looking into this. It's been a crash course for me in how the map works and all of the different ways your location could be displayed.

Our goal is to make it very simple, which this has not been :)

 

[Michael]

OK all, @Steve @Nomad00XJ @Wawa Skittletits

OK, I found the issue and thankfully, it is not because things are broken. All of the users above that @Wawa Skittletits had "My IP Address" as the location option. When I changed it, they showed up in the correct position. You can now see that @samsara is in the correct position.

Now I have to figure how to remove this "My IP" option from a possibility. I'll work on this with the developer. It's just confusing things.

Steve, the solution to the "I'm in the wrong location" is to switch the option to "My IP" in the Members Privacy settings, but it will not show the change until midnight of every day.

M