Revision as of 20:42, 2 May 2012

What is a "place object"?

In WikiMapia, a local object is the word commonly used to refer to a location marked, ie, the rectangle with the title, description, etc.. In English, the word used is "tagged" as short for "place tag." In English, "tag" can also mean the field for the keywords.

I've heard different names used for a place object e.g. "tag", "place mark, "place" etc. What name should I use?

How do I add a place?

Can I add my own house?

We do not recommend. A good number of countries accept the marking of houses/sites/private farms.

Which places should I tag? Which places should I not tag?

Remember the motto of WikiMapia ("Let's describe the whole world!") And that is what you add a location. We are describing the world, not the images of the world provided by Google. So, add things that are permanent parts of the world (islands, buildings, parks etc). Do not add anything that moves, (aircraft, ships at sea, etc.), when the Google satellite image provides an updated these things are no longer there.

Add sites that may be of interest to the general public, not just for you or your group of friends. That means you should not add his own house, for example. And you definitely should not add to the homes of friends and neighbors. Even if you do not mind having the world know exactly where you live, you should not assume that everyone thinks the same way.

What information should I provide in a place tag? What information should I not provide in a place tag?

• Language

There is a reason for it to come first: it is very important to get right.

Note that the default language is shown in the box. If this is not the language in which you will write, then change the selection. It does not help much (I'm just giving an example here) to find a site that claims to be in English, but in fact is written in Vietnamese.

Remember that each place can be described in several languages​​, but you're writing in a single language. Do not put a second language in the title (even in the description). If you want to add information in another language, then finished first in the original language. Then you can go back and add a second language in its own page.

• Title

The Title is the name Wikimapia shows that when we hover over the place. Write something short, but representative. Do not include anything else that is not part of the name of the place. Do not include the country name in the title of the place, especially in parts of the world where the boundaries may be in dispute; apenar it will encourage vandalism. Do not use abbreviations unless you also write the full name. Do not write "SHS", even if that is how everyone calls the site and type "Springfield High School (SHS)." Most sites already have a name, then you do not need to invent a new, just use the name that already exists. Oh, and strive to enter it right!

• Description

For the description, as they say, 2 or 3 lines is already good. If you wrote a short title, then you can provide some more information here. If you are just adding the local Starbucks, then you could consider leaving the description blank ("everyone" knows what is a Starbucks, especially if you add the correct category in the box below the description), but put yourself in place of someone else in the world. and provide them with some information. Do not copy and paste a large section of text from other web pages, but instead, just provide the link. If you're describing an airport, for example, you must not copy and paste the entire Wikipedia article, including all airlines and all the cities that have flights there. Nobody will read it, but it certainly will make things difficult for people to look for Nairobi and find it mentioned in the description of the Amsterdam Airport.

Links are good, but remember to start with "http://". Links must come to the end of the description, because they are considered secondary sources of information.

• Categories

Move the mouse to the left of the topics and then select any of the categories in the middle column. Or enter a few letters in the text box "search" [in Portuguese: search], and select the most suitable word from among those available. This information is very important to the display system in filters.

• Link to Wikipedia

There are many, many articles in Wikipedia. Maybe even on the site you are creating. Take a look! The Web is made up of links, and a link is the most important thing you can give the person looking at your site. Just do not put links to articles that there do not hesitate, check first.

• Photo

The photo is of interest to those who never saw the place? If yes, add it. Find it now on the web or ready to upload a new one. A photo should make people interested to learn more about your site, then we add images that already exist in Wikipedia, for example. But stay tuned to the copyrights of the images.

And finally (before you click the "Save"):

Remember that the challenge in creating a site is to provide useful information to people who do not know. Then reread what you did and if you can answer yes to this question, maybe you should click the "Cancel".

And a word of warning: I'm sure you noticed in your profile that there is a record of how many places you have already created and edited, among other information. Maybe you're thinking it would be nice to have high numbers there ... Perhaps you are trying to create more and more trivial places or make edits to existing descriptions, just to get credit for it ... Do not! Remember that our goal is to create local QUALITY: Places that will be of interest to others, that will help them learn more about the world. This type of artificial credit will only make others think badly about you and you will end up being questioned by the whole community WikiMapia by such redundant activity.

What you should not place:

Advertising: Advertising is not permitted on WikiMapia markings. If the description is similar to an advertisement (like "property sale"), then there is a good appointment. You can check that it is often of an advertisement or prices it is mentioned that there is convincing attempts. On the other hand, is perfectly acceptable to add a link to a commercial website that is related to the site which is scoring, since this is not the main reason for adding the place.

I own a little business. Can I tag it? What information can I give in such a tag?

Yes, you can score. You can give factual information: company name, address, what you do or sell, how long has the company, a link to its website, that sort of thing. You should not include promotional material ("the best in town", "good prices", prices in general ...), that would be considered propaganda. On the other hand, you can say: "See my website for availability and prices."

For commercial buildings, shopping malls, complexes, etc., where there are several companies in the same building, there would be a mess if everyone create their own bookmarks. In this case there should be only one tag for the building, and if you want to mark your company, leave a comment in the markup of the building.

What are the Do's and Don'ts of Tagging? Is there a method I should be following?

How big should my place tag be?

Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?

I found something on the satellite image that I want to know what it is. Should I mark the place, and call it "What is this"?

Should I tag a place that does not show up in the satellite image because it has just been built?

Should we mark places that may be dangerous to visit?

How do I use the categories section in a place object?

I added some place tags 2 days ago, but only registered today. How do I get credit for the other place tags?

Sorry, but there is no way. And after you add many others, you will not miss those credits.

My place tag disappeared!

Can I edit place tags created by other users? Can other users edit my place tags? If so, do I need to inform/ask permission before doing so?

How do I edit a description?

When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?

I found several place tags marking the same place. What do I do?

Tall buildings in a city sometimes seem to be leaning sideways. How should I mark those locations?

Can I add places which do not exist any more?

Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving?

Semi-Protection

The tag info tells me that the place is 'semi-protected'. What does that mean?

Some sites are often vandalized and need protection. This can be done by Advanced Users (UL2 's). Registered users can edit a semi-protected site. Unregistered or newly registered can not.

When should I semi-protect an article?

If a site has been the victim of vandalism the best place to ask for protection is this forum thread. Only advanced users can put on protective items (tags).

Wikipedia

What are the guidelines for using content from Wikipedia?

Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article into a Wikimapia description box is a great idea, right?