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Fewer photos in mobile app

Original Post
Nick Wilder · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2005 · Points: 4,098

As MP continues to grow, now with nearly 300,000 photos, it has become time to limit the photos that are sent to the mobile apps. There were too many bad, repetitive, or not useful ones, and the downloads were getting bigger and bigger with little increased benefit.

Starting this week, the mobile apps do not download all photos. The exact system is complicated, but photos that are old but have no star ratings, or any age with a poor star rating, are excluded. Topo Photos are always included.

I’m sure we’re missing some good ones at the moment, but as the star rating system gets used more and more, I think this will fix itself. There's a simple way for you to help: give the good or helpful photos lots of stars! The data packs are rebuilt every week, and good photos will be added as they meet the requirement.

chris tregge · · Madison WI · Joined May 2007 · Points: 11,036

Great idea.

I have a question about the photos in the app. When I download a relatively large area (granted it's been a while since I've updated anything) the photos seem to download in a poorer quality. Then I have to go back and upgrade the quality of the photos. Is this usual? Am I doing something wrong?

Nick Wilder · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2005 · Points: 4,098

It has always worked like this: the original download is only downloading thumbnails. Downloading all the large images at once is impossible. The idea is that you can tell just enough to know if you want to see the full image.

Tapping a thumbnail will download the full image and it should be saved so you can now view it offline.

chris tregge · · Madison WI · Joined May 2007 · Points: 11,036

Right on. Thanks. OCD me wants the good quality of all the photos in an area.

You new idea of only having good quality photos will help me out a lot. :)

Luc-514 · · Montreal, QC · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 12,506
Nick Wilder wrote:[...]The exact system is complicated, but photos that are old but have no star ratings, or any age with a poor star rating, are excluded. Topo Photos are always included. [...]
By Topo you mean those which have been topo edited?
Because I was under the impression that all Beta photos should be included, since many are clear enough not to need any added overlay.
Unless they're low rated of course.
Stonyman Killough · · Alabama · Joined Jan 2008 · Points: 5,785

Understood, thanks!

Andy Petersen · · Florissant, CO · Joined Mar 2013 · Points: 255

I'm trying to understand how to get the beta photos I so heavily rely on back.

So if I'm following this thread correctly I should have this beta photo on my mobile app if things are working correctly.

mountainproject.com/v/10794…

"The beta photo for Savory Truffle in the BoZoo Climbing Area, West Virginia"

Since it is not there in the latest update for the mobile app - what must I do to get it included as a beta photo usable offline?

Is it coded wrong?

Thanks for any assistance

Luc-514 · · Montreal, QC · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 12,506

Make sure it's set as "Beta, informative, or descriptive photo"
Rate it 4 or 5 stars or create a topo overlay on that pic.

It might only apply in the next database update or the one after.

Andy Petersen · · Florissant, CO · Joined Mar 2013 · Points: 255

Thanks for the reply.

I'm hoping to give useful debugging information here.

This photo mentioned above did have a topo overlay and has been in the database for over a year - and is not included in the latest update.

Perhaps the photo is not coded as beta. I am not the owner of the photo - I don't see a way to look at or change the type of photo to Beta or descriptive photo - how do you change a photo that someone else uploaded?

The debugging information that I am trying to provide is that lots if not all of the photos with overlays on them were not included in the latest update and it seems from the discussion that they should have met the criteria to be included.

Hopefully that helps.

I will go mark them as 5 stars - which should allow them to be included in the upcoming update packages.

Sam N. · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2011 · Points: 0

This is a bit disappointing. One of the main reasons that I use the mobile app is to have the pictures available offline at the crag. While this is disappointing, I do hope it improves things the way you envision.

My main issue with photos is for larger areas especially Yosemite. Every time there is an update I have to go to every single wall/crag in the Yosemite section and click "download all photos". I really want to be able to do this just once on the main Yosemite page. It is a real pain and time killer. Is there any specific reason this cannot be implemented for areas with lots of photos?

Thanks for any information,
Sam

Nick Wilder · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2005 · Points: 4,098

Okay, I'm adding Beta images back in. It will be a week before everything is rebuilt though. Thanks for the feedback!

AndyPetersen, the "Topo Photos" I'm referring to are the ones created using the built-in Mountain Project tool. It's pretty new and the ones you're seeing were probably done using a drawing program outside of MP.

To get a photo into the mobile system, please rate it with 3, 4, or 5 stars and it will get in there. Unrated photos, and those with only 1 or 2 stars are skipped.

Andy Petersen · · Florissant, CO · Joined Mar 2013 · Points: 255

Thanks for the clarification.

Kurtz · · Fort Collins, CO · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 4,632

Thanks for adding back the beta pics, Nick. I've added a fair number of routes and pics over the last year. Here are some ideas you might consider:

  • the ability to see a topo-annotated pics with and without the annotation (sometimes the annotation obscures the route detail).
  • sort pics so that beta/topo/high-star pics display first
  • the ability to rate a pic "not download-worthy"
  • the ability to rate pics using the mobile app (I rarely remember to do this after a climb)
  • the ability to maintain personal notes associated with a area/route that I added. Ex. Two days ago I scouted a crag. As I sat at my desk today pounding in all the routes, I realized that I missed some important details. It would be great to have a list of these so I remember them next time I visit. Even better if I could note the answers on my phone so I don't have to deal with paper and pencil.
  • AND THE BIG ONE...the ability to add new routes and associated pics with the mobile app!

Keep up the good work!
Luc-514 · · Montreal, QC · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 12,506
Kurtz wrote:the ability to see a topo-annotated pics with and without the annotation (sometimes the annotation obscures the route detail).
This is possible on the web but not mobile by checking "Show Topo Overlay" box when viewing the pic.

Kurtz wrote:the ability to rate a pic "not download-worthy"
Rate it 1 or 2
Eric Sophiea · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2012 · Points: 232

I'm glad you're adding beta photos back in. Sadly, I know there are a lot of good beta photos that help you to ID a climb that the photo owner did not label as beta. Sometimes, the route descriptions are so crappy that a crappy picture of someone on a climb is the only good way to ID a route. Frankly, I usually find the pictures to be the single most useful tool while using MP on my phone. Let's face it: most of the route descriptions are crap, and a picture is worth a thousand words.

So... I'd really like to see all the pictures on my mobile. The number of pictures isn't a problem for my mobile, and since people can choose to download photos, or not, I don't see why the end user needs you to make this decision for them. Is the data load clogging your system somehow? What else can be done to solve whatever problem it is that doesn't limit the information that gets to me on my mobile? Seriously. The pictures are really THE BEST way to find a route.

Thanks in advance for considering reversing this decision!

Paul Zander · · Bern, CH · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 739

I feel like there could be lot of routes where there are one or two photos uploaded that are pretty unremarkable, not labeled as a beta photo, not rated by any users, and yet could be extremely helpful in identify the route using the mobile app. These photos will no longer show up on the mobile app. I agree that reducing photo bloat is absolutely necessary, but feel that the system should be tweaked so that we don't lose a lot of potentially valuable pictures. Maybe the rating system should only go into affect for routes or areas where there are greater than say, 3? photos? I reckon the majority of the photo bloat is from classic routes that have 150 repetitive photos. That needs to be cut down in the app, but not necessarily the average photo of a route with no ratings or beta lables attached to it. I look forward to seeing this process progress

Eric Sophiea · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2012 · Points: 232

Great idea, Paul! If a route has only 3 photos or less, don't truncate them at all. Sure, if a route has a dozen photos, then only send the "beta" or "highly rated" photos to the app, but so many crags in my area have only a few photos and those are really valuable, even if they aren't the best quality.

Nick Wilder · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2005 · Points: 4,098

Paul, by total coincidence I implemented your idea a few days ago (with a threshold of 5 photos instead of 3) and all the packages rebuilt by this morning.

If you want more photos, delete a package and re-install it. You should have more photos... not quite all of them, but a lot more.

Paul Zander · · Bern, CH · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 739

That's awesome Nick!

Eric Sophiea · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2012 · Points: 232

Thanks for taking our input and making this change, Nick! My mobile info is useful again. :)

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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