User talk:Alexandre Koriakine/Archive/1

Wikimapia Registration
Functions suggestions are welcome.

What is ready:
 * registration
 * move/resize works (you must be a 3-day user), with moves history
 * article locking

To do:
 * tracking users/anonymous for: obj creation, article changes, place move/resize, comments
 * some supplementary statistics for users
 * blocking unwanted users
 * simple place delete for reg. users
 * discussion under user profile

To know: --AK
 * is there a possibility for Wikipedia admins to ban vandals? How we could implement it in Wikimapia.
 * any suggestions on admin functions - welcome.


 * Thanks! Yes, administrators on Wikipedia have the power to ban vandals and troublemakers (by blocking their user name or IP address). They also have the power to delete pages and to "protect" pages from being edited by unregistered users (semi-protection) or by non-administrators (full protection).  (This power is used in the case of repeated vandalism).  Above Administrators are Bureaucrats, who have the power to create administrators (but normally only after a vote to approve them).  We also have Arbitrators (appointed by the Wikimedia Foundation) to handle cases where administrators are alleged to have misused their powers. There are also a small number of Stewards, who are able to exercise administrator/bureaucrat powers on all Wikimedia projects (Administrators and Bureaucrats, by contrast, are chosen for only specific projects.  In my own case, for example, I am an Administrator on the English language Wikipedia.  I also edit other language projects and other Wikimedia projects (such as Wikiquote) from time to time, but as an ordinary user, not as an administrator.  When I edit the English Wikipedia, several tabs appear at the top of the page that do not appear when I edit other projects).

Generally speaking, users who have proved themselves trustworthy get "nominated", and a week-long referendum follows. If there are no, or very few, serious complaints voiced against the candidate, he or she is almost always approved.

Wikimapia does not need an identical system, but as the project grows, you will need some way to empower trusted users to exercise certain powers that it would not be wise to give to just anybody.

For your information:
 * Administrators - this explains the powers that administrators have, and the restrictions they are expected to obey. It also has information about other user levels.
 * Requests for adminship - This shows the process by which we decide whether or not a user can be trusted with administrative powers.
 * List of administrators - this list is self-explanatory.

I hope this helps. David Cannon 22:52, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Delete function still not working
Just a quick comment on your delete function. I tried to delete a couple of placed that were totally unsuitable and/or superfluous (e.g., one building had not one but two rectangles around it, with identical information in both). I found that the correct question screens came up (e.g., ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE THIS PLACE?), but that after I confirmed it, the place was still there. This happened several times. Is this a bug, or is it something that hasn't been made available yet? David Cannon 23:06, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing it, will be finished today. Alexandre Koriakine 08:12, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Now if you try to delete, then it will be shown that the place will be deleted in 12 hours, with a link for cancellation.Alexandre Koriakine 14:44, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Approve Michy9, 18.11.2006

Your biographical article
Hi there! I've created a biographical article for you - just a stub, two sentences - on Wikipedia. Perhaps you'd like to check it for accuracy, and add some information to it. David Cannon 22:54, 12 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thank you, if you think it must be, then it must be. I'll add more info.
 * Great! David Cannon 13:35, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia link from Wikimapia
I noticed some new functionality -- an attempt to add a linking function to Wikipedia -- which isn't at the moment working exactly correctly. However, when I went to the Wikimapia Blog to see if there was a notice of the change there which would provide a feedback opportunity, I didn't see any mention of it. I'd like to post comments mostly to the Wikimapia blog if they regard Wikimapia functionality ... it would be helpful to keep the Wikimapia blog assiduously up to date by posting new comments to it when changes to Wikimapia are made. I know that can be a lot of work, but I think you'll find the effort pays off in the end. Regards ... --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 01:37, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks Ceyockey. We write about funtionality when it's done in correct way. I will write about some new features, but they are still under construction.
 * "which isn't at the moment working exactly correctly" - what was not working correctly, could you tell me?Alexandre Koriakine 10:14, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Problem with parentheses
I'm looking at the "Wikipedia Link" field. Links in general work ok; for instance, I've added a bi-directional reference for Mount Cuba Astronomical Observatory. The type of link I've found so far that does not work is that which contains parentheses. For instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Georges_Bridge_%28Delaware%29 or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Georges_Bridge_(Delaware); both of these yield error messages ('given link is incorrect'). The same error is thrown if the url is "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St. Georges Bridge (Delaware)". Hope this helps. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 23:50, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Problem with ampersands
Another problem I found is in the use of ampersands (&). The link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_%26_Delaware_Canal_Bridge works but the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_&_Delaware_Canal_Bridge does not; the latter is directly representative of the Wikipedia article title. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 00:03, 19 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I see, the correction will be uploaded soon.

Problem with commas
It also appears that there are problems in urls with commas in them, which are also common. For instance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton%2C_Delaware is a working URL, but neither http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton,_Delaware nor "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton, Delaware" are supported. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 21:58, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Hmm, I read the URL specification at Wikipedia, so some characters are not wikipedia links. I am not sure that "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton, Delaware" must be acceptable (at lease in wikipedia link field). I thought about links there. Must be revised, though.

Problem with #
Wikipedia uses the '#' intra-page bookmark link liberally as a way to jump directly to specfic sections of articles. The Wikimapia link to Wikipedia does not accept links in the format http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_Diocese_of_Delaware#New_Castle_County (for example); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episcopal_Diocese_of_Delaware is a valid link for Wikimapia, though. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 02:28, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Problem with apostrophes
Links with apostrophes are not accepted in the link field; for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's is not accepted as a valid link. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 02:41, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay, Ceyockey. Will be fixed! Thanks for pointing it. Alexandre Koriakine 08:40, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

UTF-8 in links to wikipedia proposal
Hi, there is one little detail that nags me - you cannot add URLs in UTF-8 as the wikipedia link, wikimapia complains about invalid link. You can still use %-escape codes, but it looks ugly (especially for non-latin script wikipediæ, such as Russian). See http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=48133333&x=17116666&z=10&l=0&m=a&show=/83221/ (link added by me) for an example. Otherwise, keep up the good work :-) rado 18:50, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I see, we used Wikipedia URL specification. However, we may replace the showing part of the link! http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Help:URL Alexandre Koriakine 20:01, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * UPDATE - I think I solved this. It shows (and saves) UTF8 link, but give browser Wikipedia standart URL.Alexandre Koriakine 21:24, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Don't forget that often people want just to paste URL as seen on Wikipedia. While Mozilla shows URL escaped, IE or Opera show (and copy) them directly in UTF-8, and wikimapia complains about incorrect wikipedia link. I think you should relax the link validity check (and allow all properly formed UTF-8 strings after the wiki/ URL part). rado 16:45, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay, I see now and mostly relaxed it. Alexandre Koriakine 08:32, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Launch in new browser window and some other proposals
Currently available feature of putting wikipedia link in placemark is very useful and will also help bring more users to wikipedia, showing the wikipedia link in box more prominantly will help further. Following changes can be done for enhancing it further.
 * Clicking on wikipedia link should launch a new browser page instead of opening it in current wikimapia page.
 * In future we can have another search filter criteria for showing only 'wikipedia linked boxes'
 * Do you think wikimapia should allow usage of '' tag (wikipedia internal link tag) for linking the words there in description to corresponding wikipedia pages (putting full url beside the word will clutter the description).

Thanks. Vjdchauhan 05:39, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I think yes to all your notes. Alexandre Koriakine 09:00, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Places disappearing
Hi there! A few days ago, I marked some places on and around the Fijian island of Taveuni (here). They appeared for several days, then disappeared yesterday. Did somebody delete them? I didn't see them listed for deletion, so I'm just wondering. David Cannon 21:13, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Hello. I expect they were already normal places (not upcoming)? Now I see: Ringgold Isles, Somosomo, Labasa, Vanua levu. I will look at deleted places (I see only one deleted place where with your typing: This should be deleted as a ship is mobile. It is only temporarily at this location, and may be gone by now). I will check database to see more (there's z Zero meridian, so it's possible that it need to be checked).
 * UPDATE: yes, it's a trouble of -179 to 179 longitude, I'll check this, at this moment places are shown. Have you seen Matrix 3? Same here. But what with Somosomo village? Is it correctly marked?
 * Amazing isles! I hope to visit this part of the world: Australia, NZ, Nearest islands.Alexandre Koriakine 07:54, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, Somosomo village is correctly marked. The Ringgold Islands, Labasa, and Vanua Levu are all correctly marked also.  I marked some other places on the same island (including the Matei airfield in the far north and the Bouma Waterfalls on the east coast), as well as 3 nearby islands - but they have disappeared.
 * No, I haven't seen Matrix 3 yet. I will try to see it as soon as I can find some time!
 * I hope you can visit my country! I look forward to welcoming you here! David Cannon 10:23, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Latest: You've fixed it! All the places that vanished have now reappeared.  Thanks! David Cannon 10:27, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

More disappearances
Hello again! I think the area around Fiji is still problematic. In the last couple of days, I created about seven places in the Lau Islands ((here)). I don't think anybody voted to delete them, but only one of them is still there. They were upcoming places, not confirmed, but if nobody voted to delete them, why have they vanished? Is it the same problem as before? Sorry to bother you. BTW, I've voted in favour of your bot request :-) David Cannon 09:37, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Hello. No it's not a bother, it's necessary. We have to check some formulas, it's math. Thanks for the bot, I expect I did everything correctly. Could you tell me one thing - you've seen them in UPCOMING and they dissapared.. I just recreated obj cache and they've been to NORMAL. So it's a problem of moving from cache, I expect. Alexandre Koriakine 10:10, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh I see! That could explain it.  One curious thing, though: it never seems to happen with places I create in New Zealand, but it's happened a number of times with places I've created in Fiji. David Cannon 11:08, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * It's close to 179 -179  coordinates. By the way, what do you think, http://wikimapia.org/#y=-18077979&x=-178857422&z=8&l=0&m=a&v=2&show=/1479813/ (Matei Airfield is the only airport on the island of Taveuni, off the coast of Vanua Levu) is places like this have to be in Wikipedia, or they need more info? Alexandre Koriakine 11:17, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Matei Airfield (little information, etc.)
Hello again. You asked: By the way, what do you think, http://wikimapia.org/#y=-18077979&x=-178857422&z=8&l=0&m=a&v=2&show=/1479813/ (Matei Airfield is the only airport on the island of Taveuni, off the coast of Vanua Levu) is places like this have to be in Wikipedia, or they need more info? Um, the prevailing policy on Wikipedia allows extremely short articles, called stubs, which other users may expand later. The only rules are that they must be about notable topics, and must be tagged with a "stub" template, inviting users to expand the article. An airfield is considered notable; on the other hand, a corner store would not be. The information about Matei Airfield, in this case, is quite sufficient to begin a stub. David Cannon 12:28, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I think all new articles will have STUP sign, and.. usually grocery stores don't have more than once sentence. Users will decide to post or not this article, and Wikipedia admins will delete it if the article is bad. (I go to the sweeming pool.. eh, lucky you, I expect you have visited a lot of isles!) Alexandre Koriakine 12:38, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

How frequently Google Earth updates its satellite imagery
Do we have this data about how frequently does Google Earth updates its satellite imagery to cover newer areas (e.g. over past 6 months or so I have seen only one (prominent) update of Indian cities and now most of smaller Indian cities (apart from earlier bigger cities) are too having high resolution imagery still large tracts of (including some smaller cities/towns and most of rural area) is not covered with High resolution imagery. Regards, Vjdchauhan 09:55, 8 November 2006 (UTC).
 * I think from time to time, not faster than once per 1-2 years. Say, Vjdchauhan, why people in India sometimes call their homes like Temple?Alexandre Koriakine 10:50, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Regarding Temple question, can you cite an example. Vjdchauhan 12:49, 8 November 2006 (UTC).