Geograph - photograph every grid square

Keyword Search:

General

What makes a good Geograph? Close

The answers given by Barry have been on the site for a long time, and they form the basis of what the site is about. Yet many good Geographs do not fulfil any of those criteria, and two are almost contradictory (at close up and being useful in interpreting a map).

It is important to realise that the site has grown way beyond what was first envisaged, and so the site's definition of Geography is now very wide, incorporating a lot of social history, ecology, geology and other allied subjects. This is encouraged but it means that the definition of a Geograph has become broader.

So a Geograph is any photograph, accurately geoloacted, that depicts the Geography of a square, or any aspect of the Geography of the square, shown in some form of context. A description is useful and encouraged, especially for photographs in which the geography is not obvious, but it is not essential.

Some other photographs are still extremely welcome and contain useful geographical information but may not be classified as Geographs.

Firstly, it was felt that it was very important that every square should be actually visited and not just 'view-bagged' from a distance. So, Geographs must be taken within the square. Nevertheless, certain views can only be seen from outside a square. These cross-grid shots are classified as supplementals.

Secondly, some photographs don't have much context. These are usually details of large objects, but they may just be very small objects or they could be large objects that are not shown completely. Most mods would agree that the smaller the object the more context that is needed to make it a Geograph. These close-ups are classified as supps. The largest objects that tend to be classed as shown in close-up or incompletely are buildings. Most mods believe that to be a Geograph a building photograph should the whole building or some context, although some mods would prefer both.

Thirdly, indoor shots are always made supps. They can add useful information, but indoors, being an entirely human environment, is on the fringe of the site's definition. Only public indoor areas are acceptable.

Finally, aerial shots are always supps. They are often useful, but they approach the subject of Geography in a different way than was originally envisaged.

· contributed by Mike Pennington, Jun 2011 · Edit this answer (Open for editing by anyone) · Provide an alternative answer!

Points and Moderation

Are all photo's taken outside of a grid square supplementals? Close

The short answer is "No": Moderators may adopt a degree of discretion if the the camera position is close to a grid-line. There are 2 main principles which moderators may use to help them make a judgement on this issue.

1) One of the aims of Geograph is to encourage people to visit all possible land squares. If there was not a general rule requiring the camera to be in the same grid square as the subject a photographer could go to the top of a mountain or tall building and use a telephoto lens to "bag" a number of grid-squares without having to visit them.

2) On occasions, e.g. to get a good contextual shot of a building or street scene, the photographer may move say 30m from the subject to get a clean shot (in focus, not too much wide angle distortion). If the subject is almost on the grid line, the 30m could create a "cross-grid" shot.

Moderators are given an indication if a shot is "cross-grid", and the system flags it as a suggestion for supplemental if its over 100m from the grid-line.

So it is up to the moderator to apply judgement in each individual case.

Based on discussion topic: Moderator Discussions / Close pic of building=Supplemental
and contributions from:
StephenMcKay, Mike Pennington, Barry Hunter & rudi

· More information on this topic... · contributed by Roger Jones, Aug 2011 · Edit this answer (Open for editing by anyone) · Provide an alternative answer!

I've had a photo made a 'supplemental' - what does that mean? Close

see also http://www.nearby.org.uk/geograph/answers/view.php?id=16

Supplementals are all photos that are not Geographs.

Any photographs that show close up details without sufficient surrounding context to be deemed geographs are classed as supplemental as are photographs of the insides of buildings. Also photographs taken from outside the grid square are commonly referred to as cross-grid supplemantals.

Aerial and underground shots are always classed as supplementals as are "all-at-sea" photographs with no land or permanant structure (such as a fixed navigational aid) in the square.

The distinction may be "borderline" in some instances and different moderaters' decisions might fall another side of the border but such decisions are initially based on their interpretation of the guidelines and generally without reference to other similar images.

The "aesthetic quality" of the image is irrelevant.

· contributed by Gerald England, Jun 2011 · Edit this answer (Open for editing by anyone) · Provide an alternative answer!

· Old FAQ page in case you still looking for it. But please let us know why so we can update this one!