Polygon definitions
Contents
Page description
This is an admin/moderator page to which only specific users have access. The page is used to create rules used when importing polygon data from OpenStreetMap into Project-GC. The data is then used for calculations regarding placing geocaches in their correct region/county. The data is also used for rendering maps, as for example the maps in Profile stats.
Country selector
The country selector lists every country available in the Geocaching LIVE api. By selecting a new entry the country is automatically loaded, allow it 1-2 seconds to retrieve its data.
Data shown
In the first section there is basic metadata about the country shown, like the name of the country, and the ID in the [[Geocaching LIVE api|API]. Then it shows who has created the last definitions of rules and when. On the right side there is a list of region names used by Geocaching.com.
The region names in Project-GC **must** match those of Geocaching.com. Use relevant rule options to make this happen.
Source site
Project-GC uses OSM-boundaries.com as a source when importing its polygon data. This site is also a great source to use when building the import rules.
Rules
For Project-GC to know where a country (or region/county) exists in the world it needs the borders. In the most simple cases we can just match a country with an ID in the OpenStreetMap database and it's done. However it's not always that simple, especially for countries. For example the polygon for Finland includes Aland Islands while Aland Islands is its own country according to Geocaching.com. In this case we need to make more advanced rules defining and calculating new polygons in Project-GC.
Country rules
Region rules
County rules
Preview data
There is not yet any way to preview the data. Depending on how complex the definitions are it takes hours to calculate new polygons which makes it troublesome to show the moderator some form of preview. Ultimately we should also calculate the number of geocaches included in the polygons, both with old and new definitions - This would be even more expensive.
