Geograph - photograph every grid square

Here's a quick link to the Ordnance Survey's beginner's guide to grid references: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getoutside/guides/beginners-guide-to-grid-references/

Grid references locate places on the map. They consist of one (Ireland) or two (Great Britain) letters followed by an even number of digits. The letters define a (100x100)km^2 square (a 'myriad' in Geograph-speak) and are best looked up on an overview map. The numbers locate the position within that square. To find a location, split the block of numbers in two. The first block is the easting, i.e. the distance from the western edge of the myriad. The second is the northing - the distance from its southern edge.

Grid references always specify square areas, not points. The more digits there are, the smaller is the square referred to, and the higher is the precision of the grid reference. For each pair of digits, the precision increases by a factor of ten: SN58 defines a square of (10x10)km^2, 50km to the east and 80km to the north of the origin of myriad SN. SN5881 is a (1x1)km^2 square 58km east and 81km north of that origin. SN 58272 81324 is a (1x1)m^2 area. When stating a grid reference, the precision given should be in line with the accuracy of the position (how well do we actually know where we are?) and with the size of the object (a building doesn't fit on a 1m^2 footprint).

The system Geograph still uses in Ireland works in exactly the same way, although the Ordnance Surveys of Ireland and of Northern Ireland have recently introduced a different system for their maps. This article http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Locating-photos---Republic-of-Ireland explains the differences.

The Geograph search only retains you most recent 35 searches (unless you [save a search]). As you add more searches the oldest will drop off the list.
You can [save a search] by clicking the yellow hollow star to the left of it on the list - the star fills in and the search terms are then shown in bold. To [stop saving] an individual search, click the star again and the search will drop off the list like any other unsaved search.

The Geograph search only retains you most recent 35 searches (unless you [save a search]). As you add more searches the oldest will drop off the list.
You can [save a search] by clicking the yellow hollow star to the left of it on the list - the star fills in and the search terms are then shown in bold. To [stop saving] an individual search, click the star again and the search will drop off the list like any other unsaved search.

The Hamsters! Each time the page loads 5 random images are selected, from the last 250 photos moderated.

(For the hamster reference see this http://www.nearby.org.uk/geograph/answers/faq.php?q=geographism )

For performance reasons our search engine can only access the first 1000 results of a given search. This is in fact just like Google and other major engines.

If you are trying to view more images, there is a few techniques to use. The best one is to try to narrow your search results. Maybe adding a another keyword. Or even specifing a date range - for example limiting to only recent images.

If you order the results in date submitted (decending or ascending) order, you may be offered a link on the last page to create a new search from that approximate point forward (it does this by adding/changing the date critieria of the search) - in this way you can get though by using a number of seperate searches.

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, allows you to obtain an up-to-date listing of the latest Geograph submissions for integration into another website or RSS reader. For more information, try this Wikipedia article on RSS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(protocol)

We provide an GeoRSS (RSS1.0) feed at http://www.geograph.org.uk/feed/recent.rss which contains links to the latest 20 moderated images.

We have recently added RSS feeds to other parts of the site:
* You will find an RSS button at the bottom of search results, useful to keep updated on local images.
* Registered users can access an RSS feed of the latest topics in the Discussion Forum, and even subscribe to an individual topic, just look for the RSS button!
* the Grid Square Discussions even supports GeoRSS.
* Get an RSS feed of recently updated Articles.
* The newer Content section has an RSS feed.
* Find out about organized meets by following the RSS feed.

(They also accept the format parameter like the main feed.)

If you use the Firefox web browser, you should be able use our feeds as "live bookmarks" - simply click the orange button in the address bar (or in the status bar on older versions).

For more technical information, see
http://www.geograph.org.uk/help/api

If you are looking for squares to obtain a point, try the coverage maps, and look for green squares; also accessible from that page are various printable checksheets for easy reference in print form. More technical users might enjoy GPX, or Memory Map downloads.

Many of the squares have been captured but only have a few photos; check out the depth map, from which you can find under-represented squares. In the same vein we have a number of maps to show the distribution of photos within a square, usually on a centisquare grid, which divides a grid square into 100 squares, each 100m by 100m.

We have also recently introduced a new map, "Recent Only" this shows recent photos. Help us keep the coverage current by photographing squares without any recent photos (orange or green).

Also look out for Red pin icons around the site, click them to take you to the links page for the location. From that page you can access textual lists of squares in need of photos (as well as direct links to many of the maps on the site).)

Running this site costs money, particularly over time as the storage requirements are quite large. Whilst those costs were initially met by generous sponsorship from the Ordnance Survey, more recently the site has been dependent upon donations. Granting commercial use allows anyone who runs the archive in the distant future to explore other options for generating funds, such as sales of montage posters.

Granting everyone those same rights actually protects the site community from exploitation), but do bear in mind that we only retain a screen-quality version of your image, and that under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence, you must be credited for any use of your image.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/help/freedom

This will depend upon how many moderators are active and the rate at which images are being submitted. It can vary between a few minutes and a couple of days.
Occasionally technical problems can lead to the suspension of moderation for brief periods. This may be announced in the forum.
You can view your recent uploads, moderated or not, via your Recent uploads page http://www.geograph.org.uk/submissions.php (link in the side bar) or from links on your profile page http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile.php (link top right of most pages).

Please see the article http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Shared-Descriptions

The easiest place from which to add shared descriptions to a few recently submitted images (or check if you have attached it to all you intended) is your Recent Uploads page http://www.geograph.org.uk/submissions.php (link in side bar).
The Shared Descriptions tab below the description box shows how many shared descriptions are attached to an image. Click it to check which they are, create a new shared description or attach one already created.
There is a bulk attach tool available to facilitate the adding of a shared description to up to 50 images at a time (see article).
Note you can only add shared descriptions to your own images but are free to contact other contributors to alert them to the existence of a shared description relevant to their photo which they may wish to add.

There are three simple ways to link two (or more) photos.
To produce a link which simply shows as Link, add the full URL of the photo to be linked to in the description eg
"See http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5966333 for a wider view."
To produce a link which shows the grid square and title, enclose the photo ID number (found at the end of the photo page URL) in double square brackets [[5966333]] so the link (in this example) will show as "See SO1189 : The Berwyns under snow for a wider view."
Either way it is a good idea to describe the other photo a bit, rather than just give the link.
For linking several photos a shared description - which may only be a title - can work well. Create your shared description in the Shared Description tab and then add it to each of the relevant images. This will produce an automatic link "see other photos of [title of shared description]"
For recent uploads such linkings are most easily done using the Recent Uploads page https://www.geograph.org.uk/submissions.php where the ID numbers are provided below the thumbnails and you won't need to visit individual edit pages to add the links.

If you have taken the picture yourself, or you have inherited it from a deceased relative and are certain of the copyright history, the age of the photograph is of no consequence.

With regard to old postcards or photographs without provenance, although the photo may well be out of copyright it is incompatible with the Creative Commons share alike licence and cannot be accepted on Geograph.

If you have taken a current view of the same place and would like to link it to the old photograph you can submit the recent shot here and upload the old photo to the media repository http://media.geograph.org.uk or a photo-sharing site like Flickr and link to it there in your description.

In your description you can create a link to another picture on geograph in 2 ways:
1) By entering the ID surrounded by 2 or 3 square brackets e.g. [[12345]] This will display as a link to (e.g.) " NN2544 : Coire Toaig"

An easy way of getting ID's for your recent photo's is to click on "recent uploads", where the id's are listed in square brackets for you to copy. This can be helpful when creating links before pics are moderated.

2) You can enter the full URL of a pic e.g. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/12345 and that will display as "link". Note that the set of numbers at the end of the url is the photo ID.

For more detail, and for editing pics that have already been moderated, we suggest taking a look at Rudi Winter's tutorial (click on "More information on this topic... " below)

You can put links (URL or URI) to web pages and geograph photos into your description, and this will display with the text "link" in the description. Always leave a space after the link to avoid punctuation marks being included in the link. A link to any web resource will work, including a link to a photo on geograph such as http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/12345. Note that the set of numbers at the end of the url is the photo ID.

You can also link directly to a pic on geograph by entering the ID surrounded by 2 or 3 square brackets e.g. [[12345]] This will display as a link to (e.g.) " NN2544 : Coire Toaig".

An easy way of getting ID's for your recent photo's is to click on "recent uploads", where the id's are listed in square brackets for you to copy. This can be helpful when creating links before pics are moderated.

For more detail, and for editing pics that have already been moderated, we suggest taking a look at Rudi Winter's tutorial (click on "More information on this topic... " below)

TPoint or 'Time-gap Point' is a new kind of point. A contributor can gain a TPoint by submitting a contemporary photo to a square that hasn't had a photo for 5 years. The aim is to increase the date range of available photos per square.

Squares available for a recent photo are shown in orange on the Recent Only coverage map,
http://www.geograph.org.uk/map/?recent=1

or purple dots on the 'TPoint Availability' layer on the Draggable OS map.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/mapper/?lat=650000&lon=350000&zoom=0&layers=BFFTFF&recent=1

Also can get listings of squares via this page
http://www.geograph.org.uk/squares.php?distance=5&gridref=SH5050&type=norecent
(change the grid-reference in the box to your area of interest)

· Read more about the various points on the Statistics FAQ
http://www.geograph.org.uk/help/stats_faq

I am guessing this is a question as to the suitability of family snaps. The general rule is the people should be the secondary element of the photo rather than the main feature, and posed shots (it can be worked out in most cases) are more suitable to other photo sites as not related to the area they are in. Having said that a discussion thread has refined this recently, and the general conclusion was if there are local events or occupations which are taken spontaneously then a person featuring as the main subject can be included although without a reasonable amount of background would normally be added as a supplemental*. But for straightforward posed family snaps then the only circumstance they would be suitable is if they were a small part of the whole scene, and as with most the older the photo the more flexible the criteria.

*From 11 May 2016 the Supplemental classification will be replaced by Image Type Tags: see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Image-Type-Tags-update

First select the appropriate forum, either from the forum list page http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?forums=1 or by selecting the icon from the 'recent discussions' page http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?forums=0 (either at the top or beside an existing discussion thread).
Once on the correct forum, scroll to the foot of the page and in the box labelled 'Topic title' just below 'New topic' type your title.
In the large text box below 'Message' compose your post - help on formatting is available by clicking the link [Help - How to format posts including inserting images and links] (opens in a new tab).