Geograph - photograph every grid square

Have a look at More Pages and our Sitemap, between them they should give access to many a page

http://www.geograph.org.uk/help/more_pages
http://www.geograph.org.uk/help/sitemap

In the line of links just below the credit line on the photo page are one or two yellow 'thumbs up' icons. Just one, which says [👍🏻 Like] if there is no description. Or one saying [👍🏻 Like Image] and another with [👍🏻 Like Description]. You can also find the 'Like' thumbs on the 'Full listing + Links' format of the photo search under 'Thumb'.
Click on one or both to show your appreciation.
When this happens to one of your photos, it is reported on the section of your profile 'Use of my photos around the site'.

If it has both question and answer, it should appear in the 'list' within a few hours.
However, it may take 24-36 hours for a search to find it.
A new question may take longer than this, moderators are alerted to its existence but may not know the answer.

Yes, we have a page here https://www.facebook.com/geograph.org.uk
It rarely shows more than the daily home-page image, the wealth of the site is here, on the website, with many ways to search for the images you want to see. Along with collections in the Articles, Galleries and forums.

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.

Geograph publishes photos that illustrate the geography of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

For the first six years and 2 million images, Geograph contributors have been required to choose a primary geographical category for each of their images. They could either select one from a list or create a new one if what they wanted didn't exist. Some contributors limited themselves to a small number of very general categories (moorland, lake, buildings...) while others preferred to create much more detailed, often unique, categories (church (Roman Catholic) (former), artificial fish farming pool, bat hibernaculum...). The list grew to an unwieldy 9,000 categories, mostly of detailed photograph subjects. The primary geographical categories – which offered a broad-brush way of organising the archive – had got lost.

The system showed its limitations as the archive grew. For example, in this subject-rich photo http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1579473 the short title and description and single category (Watercourse) mean that other features go unrecorded, so will not be picked up in a search. Similarly in http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/716196 the category selected was Lake. A search on Lake would return over 25,000 images – not very useful. The interesting detail in the description would only be found by a very specific search. In a third example http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/514710 the category Artificial fish farming pool is unique, although the image would be found by a search for Fish farm. All these images would of course be seen in browsing their respective gridsquares. Photos with the minimum information will tend to be invisible to searches because searches are text-based. The solution is to enable contributors to choose multiple categories – tags – and one or more primary geographical categories – geographical context - that describe the content of the photo.

Of course, submitter knows best. The new system asks submitters to choose at least one geographical context from a fixed list of 46 very general options. If several of them apply, all their boxes can be ticked. At the same time, detail is encouraged with free-form tags which would previously have cluttered up the category list, and which can now be put to good use in narrowing down searches. So, geographical context and tags together should do all that categories used to, but without their limitations. In the Askern example several context boxes could be ticked: Lake, Village, Open space, Leisure; possibly Mining. From these alone a picture forms in the mind. Tags would fill in details of the birds, the tree, and the vanished historical features. The more information that can be attached to a photo the greater its value to the archive.

[edited by Robin Stott]

We use county information to aid recognition of place names on photo pages and other areas of the site, like helping to disambiguate search terms (e.g. a search for "Gillingham")

For Ireland, it's simple; we just use the traditional counties. Great Britain isn't so easy, which has seen three major county structures;

Ceremonial counties (sometimes known as Geographic)
These were introduced in 1974 primarily as a way to define areas for county councils. Although these are possibly what most people recognize as counties, a suitable dataset to allow us to use these counties would be too costly for us to bear. So we must compromise a little...

Administrative counties (also known as district/unitary authorities)
These are the modern 'counties' in use by the current government (since 1997). This is the best dataset we have available, so we display it prominently in the gazetteer line on photo pages. It is also useful for identifying the council responsible for the area. However for large towns/cities, for example Sheffield, which are in their own authority (i.e. the 'county' of Sheffield), we attempt to be clever and display the historic county instead.

Historic counties
These are the counties that have evolved over many hundreds of years and were in active use until 1974. We use this data as a fallback - where we've opted to display the administrative country on a photo page, you can often find the historic county by hovering over this title.

For a more in depth explanation, see http://www.abcounties.co.uk/ . (However beware that the site doesn't use the exact same terms.)

To see lists of counties in each structure see the Explore Section.
http://www.geograph.org.uk/explore/#counties

If you find a picture or its description particularly good or useful, you'll find links to heap praise on either in the thumbs pop-up menu which shows when hovering over the thumb symbol to the right of the main picture. Just click the appropriate link(s).

Contributors can see which of their pictures others found useful at http://www.geograph.org.uk/thumbed.php?type=&who=others .

You can also 'thumb' your own images to keep track of your own favourites. This is counted separately from feedback by others.

While you're at it, you can use the thumb pop-up to throw the image in one or several 'image buckets' - categories which classify the type of image, e.g. whether it is a close-up or a panorama, or if it shows people or landscapes. By doing this, you can help Geograph to narrow down searches and add value for other site users.

The simplest method is just to put a place name in the search box on the top right, and then everywhere relevant comes up in distance order. If there are more than one place then add the county or other distinguishing element, it also asks you which one you want if not. The advanced search really needs a direct word search to work. Some are easier than others. Tags such as horse, cat or bridge should be the easiest, whereas user names can appear to confuse the system and more likely to raise place names again. These are for searching photos, the discussions are searched using their own search box when logged in, and besides the filtering process where you check the forums to search and dates, the word selection needs to be pretty specific to exclude lots of similar words you don't want to see.

These are the simple methods, there are many more complex but just for the basics these should suffice.

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.

These are searches which have been done on your computer on other websites. They are stored in your browser and you can remove them by clearing the search history. Methods vary with browsers and operating systems - Google can probably help.

Use the keyword
points:tpoint
in a search of your own images (easiest to do from your profile page).

Create a search that only find images in the given square, in reverse date submitted order using the search form http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?form=advanced . This one is an example for SN5881: http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=23416804 . Copy the GeoRSS link at the bottom of the search results page. You can either read the feed in an RSS reader such as Google Reader http://www.google.co.uk/reader by adding the link as a new subscription, or you can use an RSS2email service such as Feedmyinbox http://www.feedmyinbox.com/ to receive updates via email.

There is also a link at the bottom of your profile page giving access to a special search showing images uploaded in the last 30 days in any square that you've submitted to.

Finally, you can subscribe to the grid square discussion of a square you're interested in by going to the grid square discussion page and ticking 'notify me of new posts'.

(Inspired by a question asked on the forum by tuppence and answered by barryhunter http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=18&topic=13038 .)

No, Google Earth sources its images from Google's own Streetview camera vehicles and from its public photography site, Panoramio. However, there is a green 'kml' button in the footer of every image page which allows you to see the particular image in Google Earth. Similarly, you can download the results of every search as a kml file for display in Google Earth (link near the bottom of the search results page). For an overview of all Geograph kml feeds, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/kml.php .

On the other hand, Geograph images are automatically transferred to Wikimedia, and many are already being used in Wikipedia pages in many languages.

The community showcase http://www.geograph.org.uk/results/200 has been used to show pictures that have cropped up in site features other than their picture pages themselves. The source (or combination of sources) has been different at different times and is likely to change as new features are being developed. As an example, images shown in busy forum threads may end up in the community showcase.

(this is referring the 'at most one image from each [...]' option in the 'Advanced Search' function)

The software that drives our search can only at this time return one image from a particular 'group', such as grid square or month. So at this time, can't select multiple images per group.

Also note there is no control over which image is selected, at the moment it's pretty much chosen at random.


Can use the 'Image Browser' (just called 'Browser' in the links on the side) - in the 'Grouped' Mode, can now select multiple images per group. E.g. can get it to show say 4 images per square.
That has much more controls for configuring the sampling.

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

There are several ways to create a photo collection - http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Content-on-Geograph

Marked list - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Mark-facility
You can save this as a private list or use it to build a Themed Topic or Article.

Themed Topic - a discussion area where you can gather photos either alone (by locking the topic after each post) or collaboratively.

Article - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Help_on_formatting_of_articles for help in creating articles which can also be a sole effort or opened up for collaborative editing.

Articles are indexed by google (and other search engines) and are visible to registered and non-registered users of the site.

Use the Browser search and add "larger:1024" (without quotes) to the end of your keyword query (works with 641, 800, 1024, 1600, 3000) - example https://www.geograph.org.uk/browser/#!/q=bridge+larger%3A1024

... restricts the results to images that have resolution at least 1024 pixels on the longest dimension.

Image Type Tags (ITTs) were introduced in May 2016 to further define different types of supplemental image. Originally there were 5 (including Geograph) but in November 2016 this was changed to 6 after complaints about the words used. Whether this has helped or not is still a matter for debate.
Generally they can be helpful in refining a search.

Chances are that someone on Geograph will recognise it if you show it to them. We've got a special area for images of unidentified locations at http://www.nearby.org.uk/geograph/speculative/ . To use it, you need to sign up with Geograph first (free and painless) at http://www.geograph.org.uk/register.php . Members are alerted to these speculative uploads on a special forum thread http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=12804&page=0 .

Quite a few uncertain images are located using this facility. Once they are, they are transferred to the Geograph collection, and you can add a description and further information from your own research if you like. Good luck!

Using this form https://www.geograph.org.uk/snippets.php tick the 'Only show my descriptions' box and add a keyword then click [Find] - there is a delete button beside each result.
If you find more than one description with your search ensure you pick the right one.

Geograph itself hasn't got any data on re-use of images downloaded from here. It wouldn't even be possible to determine who downloaded it in most cases. Google image search https://www.google.co.uk/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi is quite good at finding copies of an image elsewhere on the web. Just drag and drop the image onto the search bar. But of course there's no guarantee that it'll find all other instances of each photo.

If you find an interesting website re-using your or other Geograph photos, consider posting it on the forum thread http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=3179

(from a support request sent to http://www.geograph.org.uk/contact.php )

The statistics section offers limitless opportunities to generate leaderboards that suit every possible feti^H^H^H^Hspecial interest. You can generate one by filling in this form http://www.geograph.org.uk/statistics/groupby.php - best of all, you can refine the criteria until it is just specific enough, but no more! The 'keywords' box understands the same syntax as the general site search (for details see the link next to the box).

Copy the URL (address bar) after filling in the form and paste it into your profile ('about yourself' box in http://www.geograph.org.uk/profile.php?edit=1 ), so anyone can see how well you're doing in your speciality.

For example, a pubs etc. leaderboard could be generated like this: http://www.geograph.org.uk/statistics/groupby.php?groupby=auser_id&distinct=&q=%22public+house%22+%7C+inn+%7C+pub&ri=0

(inspired by a question asked by galgo23 and answered by barryhunter on the forum http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=13608&dontcount=1&page=0#1 )

Shared descriptions are blocks of text that you can apply to a number of images. You can also use shared descriptions written by others.

This may be useful if you have taken a number of photos at one location, and want to write a paragraph about that location. Also if you make a change to the shared description (e.g. correct a typo) it will be updated on all the images it is attached to.

For example I wrote a shared description for a number of images featuring Epping Long Green, which I can re-use if I take any more images of that location. It also enables a viewer to access a page where all images using that description are displayed.

If someone else has already written a helpful description of a feature, you can re-use this. It also allows a way of grouping images from different contributors together. For example Ian Capper had written a description of Coal Tax Posts, which I was able to attach to one of my images: Anyone searching for "Coal Tax Posts" would be able to access a page where images from all contributors who had used that description are displayed.

You can find a detailed article on the topic written by Barry Hunter here: http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Shared-Descriptions

You can search for shared descriptions already written here: http://www.geograph.org.uk/snippets.php

The idea is that you specify at least one 'top' (or 'geographical context') tag. These are about 40 broad classes describing the main aspect of the subject at the time the image was taken. You can add additional top tags if you like, depending on what surrounds your main subject. The top tags are shown in the tagging box if the radiobutton "context list" is selected.

In addition to the top tags, you can highlight detail that you feel is important. For that purpose, free-form tags are also available as an option. You can pick the most salient words from your description or any others that you would like your image to be found by if someone uses the word as a search term.

In addition you can use prefixed tags for collections of special interest: A railway enthusiast might create a prefix 'locomotive:' and use it to tag the different engines in their pictures. Or someone interested in churches could use a 'denomination:' tag to indicate which particular community uses the place of worship shown. You can also use existing prefixes, e.g. 'place:' or 'near:' to indicate which town something is in or near to. Have a look at what prefixes and tags others have already created: http://www.geograph.org.uk/tags/ . However, there is no need to restrict yourself in any way to that list. Prefixes are best used wherever it is likely that there will be other examples of your subject (church, locomotive...) with a slightly different attribute (Methodist, Diesel...).

As far as tags are concerned, chaotic growth is encouraged - the top tags are meant to counterbalance that!

Most GPS receivers allow you to change the datum and display format to OSGB36 and British National Grid, the convention used by the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain. If you're using a GPS built into a mobile phone, this may not be possible, and your coordinates will always be in WGS84 lat/lon format. If you also use your GPS phone to take your geographs, it should store the positions in the GeoExif header, which Geograph should interpret correctly as camera position (via the Geotagged Image option).

Otherwise, you can use the map part of the submission routine ('locate/find on map') and enter your lat/lon coordinates in the format the 'Search' function, in decimal degrees like 56.45657,-4.54675 . This will look up the grid reference for the location and insert it as _subject_ position into the submission dialogue. You may have to adjust this unless the subject was right in front of you.

Alternatively, there is a conversion tool here on Geograph Tools http://www.nearby.org.uk/coord.cgi?f=conv from which you can copy and paste. Or one built into geograph at https://www.geograph.org.uk/latlong.php

(Question asked by Roga and answered by barryhunter, oasthouse and DHL on the forum http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=18&topic=13483&dontcount=1&page=0#1
Later updated, as conversion tools have changed over time))

Go to the Advanced Search page http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?form=text . In the limits section, click the 'you!' button and tick 'geograph only'. In the 'finally' section, select 'at most one image from each grid square' and hit Search. This will show all your images holding persoanl points.

As a by-product, you can see in the search results how many geographs you have in each square ('')n images in group').

Asked on the forum by Adrian Cable and answered by Barry Hunter.

There are a number of forum threads where knowledgeable Geograph members help out identifying a variety of things. Just upload your picture (with the usual geographical information) and post it on the appropriate thread, then update your description when you get a satisfactory answer.

- insects: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=18&topic=10511
- fish: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=12115
- birds: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=7307
- deer: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=13388
- livestock breeds: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=7733
- trees: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=12362
- orchids: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=11958
- crops: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=7530
- plants in general: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=4791
- fungi: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=18&topic=12620
- geological curiosities: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=6&topic=1910
- clouds: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=6&topic=14038
- ships: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=12872
- phoneboxes: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=6&topic=12931
- pillboxes: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=18&topic=12600
- tractors: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=11962
- farm machinery: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=3366
- locomotives: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=11550
- railway paraphernalia: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=12095
- mystery objects: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=3736

If none of these fits your identification problem, try searching the forum (entry box top right on any forum page) or start a new thread, ideally using the word 'identification' in the title. And please edit this answer and include a link to it!