Mine Database/Mine Docs Issues

I'd start with the Arnchair Explorer tab prominent rather than the Mine Search one.

Chalk mine icon is so white it can't be seen

The site ID is a number, but the URL has a different alphanumeric code. Which will will have long stability, for incoming links?
 
@vicarage Thanks for the feedback.
The reason it defaults to Mine Search is that AE has a big big data hit when the page is first loaded. However, if people are happy with a bit of latency at startup, that's certainly something we could do. Or maybe default to last view be it Search or AE.
Chalk Icons. Yes, fair enough.
Site ID. The code is a simple hash of the ID, so it shouldn't ever change if we use the same hash script. It's there to prevent casual web scrapping using a predictable incremental id.

Thanks,

Robin
 
IsCrow is a bit baffling. I guess you will explain it in notes, but it needs hover text in the Mine filter section on the Map

Area opening a Forum tab is a nice feature, having label "Forum Area" would encourage this
 
IsCrow @vicarage Yes you're right. There is hover text on the Search screen, but but not on AE. And the Search version is 3 state (no pref, yes, no), so yes, that's definitely going on the change list.
Forurm Area label - yes, again going on list.
 
On the desktop the hover text allows you to see more about a point before you click and go to it. On a phone, you need to click on a point to find out more, and its startling to be taken to the entry. On my site I make the title text in the hover box the link to avoid this.

Do you plan to have the mine search to be available through an api call, for better integration with external sites?
 
Last edited:
Idea - At the moment when starting explorer, you start in the middle of the country (?), then zoom out to show the whole UK. What do you think to storing the previously clicked/visited location in the users/browsers cookie, that way when a visitor returns to the site, they go back to that point. I don't know if that would help lower the initial 'hit' on the server/resources too?

Something to ponder?
 
@vicarage Thanks.
Mobile. You can sort of get round it by holding your tap for a few seconds before releasing - but it's not ideal. Will have a look in line with your suggestion.
api. The answer is probably yes as that falls within what we are trying to do with the forum. The api calls are currently secured via the forum login/permission levels. So we'd probably need to issue api keys as an alternative and parallel authorisation system - which should be perfectly doable. Possibly we'd also need to implement OAUTH, although it would be simpler to ask for a domain name when issuing api key and restricting api access to that domain.

I'm happy to discuss that further it that's something of specific interest to you.
 
@ElectroNick The idea with AE was that you just get one server hit where the entire json dataset is retrieved at the start. From then on, any processing load is on your browser and not the server. Not just when zooming, but any filtering operation operates on the json dataset in the browser.

When I say entire dataset, that's not quite true, it's only that part of the database necessary for AE to operate, which are mainly display and filter properties. If you click through to a specific entry, the full record for that particular site is retrieved then.

Saving and retrieving last AE settings server side, and retrieving with a cookie could well be worth implementing for it's own sake though.
 
I'm happy to work with getting your database links into Wikidata, and developing an API, but only if the information is not presented behind a firewall, and does not need authorisation. I strongly dislike resources that require a login to access them. I see that currently the database is only visible to logged-in users, I hope that's just during development, and it will eventually have open access, as the rest of the forum currently does. Without search engine crawling, the site will get a lot less traffic and be a lot less useful to the community.
 
Hi @vicarage, several interesting points in there, which I'll try and address in terms of your observations and how things are currently implemented.

tldr; I think we'd have to produce a separate api for external usage

  • All api call responses have CORS domain set to buddlepit.co.uk so none are callable from other domains
  • All api calls are authenticated using forum cookie, and optionally authorised. Most calls are authorised at user or above, so as you say, AE and Search are effectively behind a wall
  • Some api calls, e.g. mine edit will need authorisation at a level allowing modify permission, otherwise we are likely to have chaos.
  • We could bring all AE and Search api calls down to non logged in user level. The functionality would be available to non logged in users, but the api calls themseleves would still need to originate from the buddlepit website. There are no technical downsides to doing this, but I guess that's a question for the buddlepit board.
  • Given the above, I think we'd need a totally separate set of api call for external access
  • We'd have to work out what actual functions were needed and set CORS domain to *. (or a manual list of client domains)
  • We'd still need some mechanism to control access as otherwise we run the risk of a crawler or malignant coder downloading 20M of mine data several times a second.
  • We could use an api key per user, or simply have a global api key we share with people wanting to use the external api, or maybe use rate limiting for origins using the external api

Cheers,

Robin
 
Hi all,

Just to allay any concerns about accuracy at this stage of the database's life I had a quick trawl around parts on NE England today and a number of the current entries could do with corrections. I don't want to waste the time of the area moderator, although I have used the 'request change' tab for two to see if that works OK.

Have you a protocol to organise amendments as the database gets established? i.e would you prefer people to let things lie for a few more weeks? I certainly don't want pedantry to become an issue but sticking with the historical or customary names, where possible, seems a wise starting point.

Is the area moderator part of the omerta or, if the individual is OK with that, will the name(s) become available?

Jim
 
Hi @Jim MacPherson

Yes, please use the Request Change feature now. Request submission is fully operational. I see a modest queue is already building up.

1720454503771.png

However, what is not yet fully operational is for the Area Mods to actually edit the underlying data. At least for a couple of weeks whilst that bit of functionality is completed. At the moment it'll be be me running queries against the db.

When Area Mods themselves are able to modify data, we'll name names then!

Roughly how it will work is this.. When a change request is made, the area mod(s) responsible for the partciular area gets a notification and it appears in their pending requests list. They can claim that request (where an area has more than 1 mod), which means only they can process it from that point on, unless they relinquish it.. They will then edit or add a new entry. An automated notification is sent to the request originator upon completion.

The choice was between a moderated system or a system that anyone can edit with full change tracking and rollback. I can't recall what system AN adopted.

TLDR; Any Request Changes made will be picked up and processed from this point in time. Either by me now, or Area Mod in a few weeks
Area Mods will also be able to, and are encouraged to curate their own areas proactively.
 
I can't remember how AN handled those problems either although Simon did say that some of the named people for areas were no longer active which I guess is a perennial problem.

Sounds fine to me but I'll not get too enthused about adding to your list for a few weeks at least.

Jim
 
PS. Some areas currently with no Area Mod covereage if anyone is interested are:
Devon
Hampshire Basin
Isle of Man
Scottish Midland Valley
N Yorks Moors
Northern Ireland
Somerset & West Dorset
Thames Basin
Weald and Kent
Yorkshire Dales (Swaledale to Skipton)
Rest of the World
Republic of Ireland

Areas we have very good coverage for
North East England
Northumberland
North Wales
Mid Wales
Forest of Dean

All other areas have a single Mod, so for busy areas, we could be interested in adding a second mod if you know an area well.
 
I offered Weald and Kent but got no response. I used the "Contact Us" feature at the bottom of the page.
 
Hi @Quarryman Ah... TBH, I'm not sure where that goes - I'd better check! If you're still up for Weald and Kent, then that would be great.
 
no problem happy to help. I don't have a copy of what I wrote but it was something along the lines of the area description being a bit naff. Sorry!
 
Have updated 4 of the requests. The other 4 are for Northern Pennines (including 2 for @Jim MacPherson) and have been claimed by an Area Moderator. I'll leave these for the moderator to modify when the modify record functionality has been made available to them!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back