Geograph Introductory letter

Published: 26 August 2009
Dear New Member,

Thank you for your interest in Geograph. We hope you will enjoy contributing to the site.

The aim of Geograph is to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland.

You are very welcome to explore the site and we hope you will find the information useful. The following are a few tips that will help you as you start submitting photos.

Identifying the location of your photo

All photos on Geograph are stored within Gridsquares. These are 1km by 1km areas based on the Ordnance Survey grid references. A grid reference consists of 1 or 2 letters and 4 numbers, but it is generally possible and preferable to get a more precise reference, such as a 100m x 100m square (which we call a centisquare), using a 6 figure reference.

You can find grid references by the following methods
Most people use a mixture of these, so feel free to experiment and ask questions if you get stuck.

Creative Commons Licence

We are trying to build a long lasting and useful archive. As such we ask all contributors adopt a Creative Commons Licence for submissions. This helps ensures that we at Geograph can freely distribute the image, but also that nearly everyone can freely use the image with little restrictions. For example children can use the image in their school reports.
Can read more about the background here: Freedom - The Geograph Manifesto. It might sound like 'giving way' your images, which to an extent is true, we just hope you will agree it's a worthwhile sacrifice.

Image Moderation

Once you have submitted your photo, our moderators will review and classify it. The photo will generally be classified either as a Geograph or a number of Image Type Tags. On the rare occasions that a photo is rejected, you will be given an explanation and, if appropriate, be able to amend and resubmit.

The difference between a Geograph and other types is not one of quality: both are welcomed and can add to the project.

Photographs are generally located in the square in which the main subject of the picture appears to lie. A Geograph is a photograph taken from inside that same gridsquare; the subject must be a geographical feature of the square, the picture must show all of it within reason, and the picture must also show enough of the surroundings to provide some context. Thus a photo of a building should show all of it, or a significant part of a very large building; it should also show some of its surroundings.

A photograph that does not fit the criteria of a Geograph can nonetheless offer a valuable contribution and it is important not to see this distinction as being in any way a judgement on the quality of the photograph or its value to the project. You are welcome to ask the moderator to explain the reasons why they have decided on the classification of any particular picture.

Points and 'Games'

One of the major Geograph aims is to collect photographs for every square kilometre. A geograph point is given to the first person to submit a geograph in each gridsquare. There are also personal points given for each gridsquare where you contribute a geograph, regardless of how many people have previously done so. Some members play other 'games' while pursuing their Geograph hobby.

Finally...

Remember that while we encourage you to have fun getting out, taking pictures, uploading them and tracking your progress, Geograph also has a serious side; the archive is more and more perceived as a valuable research resource for both now and the future. Care in choosing an appropriate title and adding further information in the description below will help locate the picture in a Search and will increase the value to others. Descriptions may include links to other pictures on Geograph or to outside sources such as other websites.

In building the archive, we can help each other by adding and correcting factual information in descriptions. If you have relevant factual information to add to another image, please use the Suggest an update link under the picture, and be sympathetic to additional information offered by others on your pictures.
If you have specialist knowledge on a subject, you can draw together many images (both your own and other people's) and write an article about it. There are already quite a few Geograph articles available.

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We look forward to receiving your submissions and hope that you enjoy participating in the Geograph Project.

Regards,

Everyone at Geograph
Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   Text © Copyright August 2009, Paul Gillett; licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence.
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