Clusters: No way to update?
 

Greetings,

I’d taken several months off from the game and when I returned the first thing I did after patching was grab EQ2Map! I’m directionally impaired on the best of days, and I suspect I would get lost in my own game house without it. So first and foremost: thank you guys for making and keeping current one of the most amazing and awesome mods out there.

Back in the day I was quite active in updating and submitting POIs, and I remember there being an issue with the new (well, it was new then) system for submitting corrections to clusters. Now I see that the feature was been completely removed, and that clusters aren’t on the new maps. Is there any way the current clusters (many of which are either out of date, duplicates, or just plain wrong) could be replaced with POIs so that each could be edited/corrected? I understand that would be a lot of work (how many thousand of old clusters are there? Ack!) but I would be happy to do so if there was only a way. I know I’m not the only one out here itching to bust those clusters and make the maps better for everyone! Is there any way cluster corrections could be added, or the clusters themselves broken up into their old individual POIs? Sorry for all the questions and a possibly long-dead feature.

Odds are, the best you would be able to do is to follow these instructions and wait for them to be fixed. I, too, have been out of the game for a while (still no time for it right now, actually). But if I remember correctly, even at the time I was able to play, alot of the maps were cluttered with duplicates and wrong POIs. So I am sure the project (or some may say 'overhaul') will take some time, but Rome wasn't built in a day ;).

Greetings,

Sadly, the normal directions don’t work for Clusters. I happily update and correct dozens of POIs every time I think about it, but currently, there’s not a thing I can do about Clusters. Well, other than post here. *Grin*

Yep, I started a post about this too... once POIs are 'clustered' they become very hard to 'uncluster' by us folks.

The only poi clusters that are on the maps are from the old website. The new site doesnt make them as the way the old site was making them was not a good way to do it. Since then the people helping on the site have been busy or moved on to other games.

So this brings up a good discussion, what should be done with the clusters? Remove them all together and restore the POI's? This might be a good idea since there is a eq2map side-pane list in the works that list all the points of interest in the zone and when clicked creates a waypoint.

I vote restore the POI's:)

Were Clusters introduced as a way to make multiple POIs in the same general area easier to pinpoint? Meaning that it's sometimes very difficult to hover over the correct POI when there are others within close proximity. Will removing Clusters cause more of this type of issue?

Also, is the Side Panel system similar to the Spoiler Project and if so will it update more often, such as through the updater along with each POI update?

Lastly, I probably wouldn't be of much help but if there's anything that you can think of I would be more than willing to assist in any way possible.

Greetings,

I too would heartedly vote for restoring the POIs to their original states. In many cases, such as POI#25405 at least two parts of the cluster are duplicate POIs and one (or more) could just be deleted. In the case of many POIs being crammed together in a small area of the map, I’ve found that fudging the LOC a small bit works far better than the clusters ever did: in most cases, no one’s really going to notice if the NPC is standing two feet to the left from the POI.

While I can’t code my way out of a brown paper bag (and, without EQ2Map, I’d probably get lost in it too ...) I would happily volunteer to help in any way I am able. I know that you can’t just let anyone in the scary back rooms of the webpage, of course, but if there’s any way at all I could be put to use for the project I would happily go along with it. Is there anyone I could contact about volunteering?

I also vote to can all clusters... for now.

_HOWEVER, once the side-bar thing is done it might be nice to have them back -- that way you just have to pinpoint a cluster to see everything in the (relatively small) area and then can reference the side bar thing and click each POI individually in that cluster for the exact location.

But for now... smash the clusters. The idea is good but they're ungainly ATM, IMHO.

Ok all clusters have been removed. Thinking about it much of the data in most of the clusters is out of date. All I really need is some help in writeing a php function to detect what POI's should be in a cluster. The rest I can write no problem and would write it in a way where clusters are not stored, they are made every time the xml is generated so when a clustered POI is updated with new info the cluster is automaticly updated too.

Greetings,

I'll get right on updating and/or marking as bad the newly freed POIs. Thank you, EQ2Map Team!

Edit: Made it through Shattered Lands, Splitpaw, and Bloodlines other than Nektalos Forrest and East Enchanted Lands. Made it through Desert of Flames only skipping Sinking Sands and the right half of Pillar of Flames. I think I’m going to start seeing POIs in real life. *Grin* I hope that helps clean up the maps a little, and thanks again for making those POIs/former clusters correctable.

Dolby,

If you can PM me the requirements (input and output variables, and tolerances / what you want the function to do) I can make your php function.

Does this mean that Clusters will return or is there another system in the works to better handle a clump of POIs?

As it currently stands, without clusters, it's extremely difficult to click on many of the POIs when there are so many bunched together in a small space. I'm even using a "small POI" mod but it's still problematic.

Any insight to this would be highly appreciated. Thank you kindly.

They should be re-implemented when someone has enough time to add it in i wrote some basic proof of concept code for the web page however it still needs modification by someone else and i dont have the time to do it right now.