Re: Checker for this old challenge - GC4PQFR

could a checker be created for this old challenge? At least using the list of Metro Statistical Areas which as far as I can tell consist of n number of whole counties for each MSA. If a checker is feasible, I can provide a list of the counties for each MSA.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2023 05:57PM by DrPflug. (view changes)

For Option (2), I suppose it would not be difficult. But I am hesitant to make one that doesn't also support Option (1), since it may lead to false negatives (and possibly cache-police accusations: "but the checker says that..." -- I have seen it.) I will look into getting polygon data for the cities from OSM.

thanks. that said, I have to believe the city boundaries are within the boundaries of the MSAs. so it's just a harder way to complete the challenge. but if you did it with city boundaries you'd also also qualify for it via the MSA boundaries which is why I think a checker for just the MSA boundaries is sufficient.

I don't think that's the case. For instance, Memphis, TN and Nashville, TN both appear on the "cities" list, but not on the Metropolitan Areas list.

You are right. I thought the two lists were for the same 25 regions, just one being for the city and the other for the MSA. But you are correct. so carry on. If you have access to polygon's for cities, then great.

If you have the list of counties for the MSAs, please do post or email them to me. The format you have them listed in above is great, but if possible the best format is:

1 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Kings County (NY)
Queens County (NY)
New York County (NY)
...

2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Los Angeles County (CA)
Orange County (CA)

<rank> <MSA name>
<county 1> (<2 letter state>)
<county 2> (<2 letter state>)

Since this is the format that Project-GC's county scripts recognize.

Also, if you have some time and are able to help with the city polygons, that would be immensely helpful. Here are the steps:

1. Go to https://www.openstreetmap.org
2. Search for the city in the search box at the top-left.
3. Click on the correct city among the search results. It should say "City (city name), (county name), (state), United States", or something like that.
4. Confirm that the correct city is displayed, and that an orange outline appears around the city demarcating city limits. Some cities have "weird" polygons (ie. Los Angeles) but don't worry about that.
5. Write down the "relation ID" that appears at the top of the panel on the left beside the city name.

For example, for New York, the relation ID is 175905. Los Angeles is 207359. Chicago is 122604. I can then use some scripts of mine to extract polygons from these relations and load them into a checker.

will do. I am very knowledgable on open street maps and adjusted some boundaries in the past. when I have all 25 cities I will document those 25 relation-ids

Oh, wonderful. Thank you very much -- you'll save me a whole lot of manual lookup work.

Here are the 25 cities and their OSM relation-ids:

City Relation-Id
1 New York, NY 175905
2 Los Angeles, CA 207359
3 Chicago, IL 122604
4 Houston, TX 2688911
5 Philadelphia, PA 188022
6 Phoeniz, AZ 111257
7 San Antonio, TX 253556
8 San Diego, CA 253832
9 Dallas, TX 6571629
10 San Jose, CA 112143
11 Austin, TX 113314
12 Jacksonville, FL 119008
13 Indianapolis, IN 1812962
14 San Francisco, CA 111968
15 Columbus, OH 182706
16 Fort Worth, TX 115274
17 Charlotte, NC 177415
18 Detroit, MI 134591
19 El Paso, TX 113919
20 Memphis, TN 197239
21 Boston, MA 2315704
22 Seattle, WA 237385
23 Denver, CO 1411339
24 Washington, DC 5396194
25 Nashville, TN 197472

Thank you so much. I've collected the GeoJSONs and sent them to administrators to be uploaded to the servers (the polygons are too big to go directly into the script). Once they upload them, I'll be able to to proceed with the checker.

thx.ill be working on the county lists for the MSAs next.

Here are the counties that comprise the 25 MSAs. If any issues let me know. FYI - There is a Saint Louis County and Saint Louis in Missouri, a Baltimore County and Baltimore in Maryland and a Fairfax County and Fairfax in Virginia. There are several other independent cities listed in Virginia. Anything without "County" in its name is a City.

1 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Kings County (NY)
Queens County (NY)
New York County (NY)
Bronx County (NY)
Richmond County (NY)
Westchester County (NY)
Bergen County (NJ)
Hudson County (NJ)
Passaic County (NJ)
Putnam County (NY)
Rockland County (NY)
Suffolk County (NY)
Nassau County (NY)
Middlesex County (NJ)
Monmouth County (NJ)
Ocean County (NJ)
Somerset County (NJ)
Essex County (NJ)
Union County (NJ)
Morris County (NJ)
Sussex County (NJ)
Hunterdon County (NJ)
Pike County (PA)

2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Los Angeles County (CA)
Orange County County (CA)

3 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
Cook County (IL)
DuPage County (IL)
Grundy County (IL)
McHenry County (IL)
Will County (IL)
DeKalb County (IL)
Kane County (IL)
Kendall County (IL)
Jasper County (IN)
Lake County (IN)
Newton County (IN)
Porter County (IN)
Lake County (IL)
Kenosha County (WI)

4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
Collin County (TX)
Dallas County (TX)
Denton County (TX)
Ellis County (TX)
Hunt County (TX)
Kaufman County (TX)
Rockwall County (TX)
Johnson County (TX)
Parker County (TX)
Tarrant County (TX)
Wise County (TX)

5 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
Austin County (TX)
Brazoria County (TX)
Chambers County (TX)
Fort Bend County (TX)
Galveston County (TX)
Harris County (TX)
Liberty County (TX)
Montgomery County (TX)
Waller County (TX)

6 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metropolitan Statistical Area
Burlington County (NJ)
Camden County (NJ)
Gloucester County (NJ)
Bucks County (PA)
Chester County (PA)
Delaware County (PA)
Montgomery County (PA)
Philadelphia County (PA)
New Castle County (DE)
Salem County County (NJ)

7 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area
Montgomery County (MD)
Prince George's County (MD)
Washington (DC)
Prince William County (VA)
Loudoun County (VA)
Frederick County (MD)
Arlington County (VA)
Charles County (MD)
Alexandria (VA)
Stafford County (VA)
Spotsylvania County (VA)
Calvert County (MD)
Fauquier County (VA)
Jefferson County (WV)
Culpeper County (VA)
Manassas (VA)
Warren County (VA)
Fredericksburg (VA)
Fairfax County (VA)
Fairfax (VA)
Manassas Park (VA)
Clarke County (VA)
Falls Church (VA)
Madison County (VA)
Rappahannock County (VA)

8 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
Miami-Dade County (FL)
Broward County (FL)
Palm Beach County (FL)

9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Fulton County (GA)
Gwinnett County (GA)
Cobb County (GA)
DeKalb County (GA)
Clayton County (GA)
Cherokee County (GA)
Forsyth County (GA)
Henry County (GA)
Paulding County (GA)
Coweta County (GA)
Douglas County (GA)
Fayette County (GA)
Carroll County (GA)
Newton County (GA)
Bartow County (GA)
Walton County (GA)
Rockdale County (GA)
Barrow County (GA)
Spalding County (GA)
Pickens County (GA)
Haralson County (GA)
Dawson County (GA)
Butts County (GA)
Meriwether County (GA)
Morgan County (GA)
Pike County (GA)
Lamar County (GA)
Jasper County (GA)
Heard County (GA)

10 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area
Essex County County (MA)
Middlesex County (MA)
Norfolk County (MA)
Plymouth County (MA)
Suffolk County (MA)
Rockingham County (NH)
Strafford County (NH)

11 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Alameda County (CA)
Contra Costa County (CA)
Marin County (CA)
Napa County (CA)
San Francisco County (CA)
San Mateo County (CA)
Santa Clara County (CA)
Solano County (CA)
Sonoma County (CA)

12 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Riverside County (CA)
San Bernadino County (CA)

13 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area
Maricopa County (AZ)
Pinal County (AZ)

14 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
Lapeer County (MI)
Livingston County (MI)
Macomb County (MI)
Oakland County (MI)
St. Clair County (MI)
Wayne County (MI)

15 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area
King County (WA)
Pierce County (WA)
Snohomish County (WA)

16 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
Hennepin County (MN)
Ramsey County (MN)
Dakota County (MN)
Anoka County (MN)
Washington County (MN)
Scott County (MN)
Wright County (MN)
Carver County (MN)
Sherburne County (MN)
St. Croix County (WI)
Chisago County (MN)
Pierce County (WI)
Isanti County (MN)
Le Sueur County (MN)
Mille Lacs County (MN)

17 San Diego-Carlsbad, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
San Diego County (CA)

18 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
Hillsborough County (FL)
Pinellas County (FL)
Hernando County (FL)
Pasco County (FL)

19 St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area
Saint Louis (MO)
Saint Louis County (MO)
Franklin County (MO)
Jefferson County (MO)
Lincoln County (MO)
St. Charles County (MO)
Warren County (MO)
Bond County (IL)
Calhoun County (IL)
Clinton County (IL)
Jersey County (IL)
Macoupin County (IL)
Madison County (IL)
Monroe County (IL)
St. Clair County (IL)

20 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area
Anne Arundel County (MD)
Baltimore County (MD)
Baltimore (MD)
Carroll County (MD)
Harford County (MD)
Howard County (MD)
Queen Anne's County (MD)

21 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area
Denver County (CO)
Arapahoe County (CO)
Jefferson County (CO)
Adams County (CO)
Douglas County (CO)
City and County of Broomfield (CO)
Elbert County (CO)
Park County (CO)
Clear Creek County (CO)
Gilpin County (CO)

22 Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Allegheny County (PA)
Armstrong County (PA)
Beaver County (PA)
Butler County (PA)
Fayette County (PA)
Washington County (PA)
Westmoreland County (PA)


23 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area
Anson County (NC)
Cabarrus County (NC)
Gaston County (NC)
Iredell County (NC)
Lincoln County (NC)
Mecklenburg County (NC)
Rowan County (NC)
Union County (NC)
Chester County (SC)
Lancaster County (SC)
York County (SC)

24 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Clackamas County (OR)
Columbia County (OR)
Multnomah County (OR)
Washington County (OR)
Yamhill County (OR)
Clark County (WA)
Skamania County (WA)

25 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
Atascosa County (TX)
Bandera County (TX)
Bexar County (TX)
Comal County (TX)
Guadalupe County (TX)
Kendall County (TX)
Medina County (TX)
Wilson County (TX)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2023 06:30PM by DrPflug. (view changes)

I just now editted the MSA List so the word "County" is used for Counties. Independent cities in Virginia are also part of the DC MSA and they don't have "County" in their name. Same for Baltimore and Saint Louis.

Oh, wonderful.

I have just been informed that the polygons have been uploaded so I will get started now.

How's it going, do you see any issues? If possible, I'd like the checker to show the results of both option 1 and option 2 for the user. and they'd get the green check mark if they qualify using either option.

Sorry - I forgot to post an update. The "MSA" part of the checker is done, but the polygons still have not been uploaded. I will poke the admins.

any chance I can see a preview of the checker in it's present MSA option only state?

when this is done, I have another old cool challenge I'd like you to create a checker for.

Sure, you can use: https://project-gc.com/Challenges/80003

I'll have to pull it offline once the polygons are ready, though.

If there's another one, feel free to post it now. I may be able to get started while I wait.

Hi,
any progress on this or is there a problem with the polygons for the 25 cities?

Sorry, still waiting for the admins. They have to upload the polygons and then restart all the servers so it's a bit of work. I'll poke them again.

Update from the admins: they will be uploaded tomorrow.

do you want me to provide the county lists for the MSAs 3 thru 25?

Polygons got uploaded and checker is "ready" -- there are a couple issues that might be worth discussing:

- The polygon uploads for Houston, Dallas, Boston, and DC screwed up. I will check with admins about this. They are currently entirely omitted from the output.
- There is currently a map, but it does not seem to be able to display polygons containing holes. This leads to confusing output. I am considering removing the polygons from the map output entirely.
- The map also has to download quite a bit of data (= all the polygons). I will check with the admins, but if this is putting a strain on the servers I will be forced to remove the polygons from the map.
- This leaves a dilemma: without the polygons on the map, the fact that caches in the enclaves do not "count" may be confusing to players. Perhaps it is worth ignoring the enclaves and just using the outermost polygon instead. The cache owner might not like that, though.

I will check with the CO but I'm 99.999 percent certain he'd be fine with counting a find in any of the city "holes" as a find for that city. Surrounded on all sides by the city is good to count for that city I would think. Not counting it would REALLY be confusing. NOTE: I'll bet that everyone who claimed a find of this challenge qualifies by using the Metro reqions, so it really won't matter. when I have a few minutes, I will double check. Let me know when the four missing cities are uploaded.

There are 15 finds on this Challenge and 14 of them Qualify using the Metro list. The one that doesn't is "no muggle". when the 4 missing cities are added to the city list, we'll see if he qualifed using the city list or if he just made a mistake and didn't qualify via either option.

I haven't heard back from the admins on the four missing polygons, but I have made the change to use the outermost polygons. This is a manual selection process so I still need to adjust a couple (Charlotte, NYC) but I will hold off on finishing that work until the remaining four polygons are uploaded.

something is wrong with Fort Worth, TX. The checker says I have no finds but I have many. here is one. https://coord.info/GC2AF5 Fort Worth does not appear on the map either, so for some reason it may be not be checking it.
Also, the other day, it said I had finds in 11 cities, and now it says 8. so maybe it's skipping two other cities now. I will try to see if I can determine what those other two cities are.

EDIT: It's not showing me as qualified for either Denver or San Antonio either. I suspect something you did related to the holes in those cities did something negative.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2023 11:54AM by DrPflug. (view changes)

Sorry, yep. I just pulled the first polygon from each multipolygon, since that is usually the largest one. But it isn't perfect, so I have to go through and manually correct them all. Just haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

Minor thing I noticed. The first table of the results, the first column heading says "Metopolitan Area", but it should say "City".

Still missing the four polygons, but the rest should all be set to the correct ones now. Also, I updated the table heading.

looks better. I'm back up to the 11 cities I had before.

any idea when the four missing polygons will get loaded? Maybe Monday?

The admins got back to me, saying later today or early on Monday. Sorry for the wait.

Just a heads up: I went in and added the four missing cities to the logic. But, because the polygons have not been uploaded yet, the script crashes and produces an error. Once the polygons are uploaded the script should just be ready to go at that point.

it's ready. You can put this script into production now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2023 01:16PM by DrPflug. (view changes)

Wonderful! The checker is released as: https://project-gc.com/Challenges/GC4PQFR/80003