Wikimapia - User contributions [en]

AU Codex

2013-05-12T01:28:06Z

Antdoghalo: fixed typo

{{Languages|AU_Codex}}

#'''Advanced Wikimapia User:'''
##Is a person who had gained large experience in adding and editing content of remarkable qualities according to Wikimapia guidelines.
##He/she should be familiar with all of Wikimapia guidelines and [[About_Wikimapia#Policies|policies]].
##Shares Wiki philosophy and perceives the Wikimapia community as largely self-organizing, so the only way to assure fluent editing process is through constant coordination and encouraging users.
##Is expected to conduct him or herself on Wikimapia in a way that represents the project - no offensive behavior or arguments. He/she should be enthusiastic about helping other people, can stay patient and polite in any situation, has a skill to arrange debates.
#'''Advanced User Status''' means you can keep up your work and help other people to improve their and assure fluent editing process on a completely voluntary basis. Here are the possible ways:
##Recognize and maintain a higher standard in submissions worthy of the Advanced User level.
##Be welcoming and supportive to new users. As an active Advanced User, you are expected to help other members by offering knowledge that you have, assisting and correcting when necessary.
##Keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.
##Limit or ban a user as appropriate according to the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7688docs/Banning_Guidelines| banning guidelines].
##Always be cooperative, which means that major issues should be solved through discussions with other users and [[Community#Wikimapia_Team|Administration]].
##Be ready to resolve conflicts and communicate in an international multi-lingual community.
##Use your best judgment and assume good faith.
#In case you decide to accept the offer and undertake Advanced User status, your request will be immediately send on approval to other Advanced Users. Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
##Ban tool
##[[Protection]]
##Deletion/restoration of comments
##Faster object deletion
##Up to 2,500 points per polygon
##Privilege to test and discuss new tools and features before they are released
#Advanced Users must accept that failure to uphold the Advanced User Codex shall result in demotion.

Linear features

2013-05-07T04:47:54Z

Antdoghalo: /* Types of roads */ update

{{Languages|Linear features}}

Linear feature is a geographic feature that can be represented by a line or set of lines. For example, rivers, roads, railway lines or ferry routes.

Each set of the linear feature will have it's own unique tool to assist you to map each set of linear lines of your choice.

=Roads=

'''Roads''' is a feature whereby you can define roads and routes in Wikimapia just like marking places. However, unlike marking places which are done by adding polygons, you add roads by adding points. Successive points which have been pinned on the map are joined (automatically as you go on marking them) by segments.

You can then select a set of successive road segments marking a road, and give the road a name. The Roads feature should only be used for thoroughfares facilitating road vehicle conveyances and animal-drawn carriages. Please see the [[Tools#Linear_features|Linear features]] section. You can also mark different types of roads from dirt roads to highways

== Starting a road ==

Firstly zoom into the map, so that you are at zoom level 13 or more. You can check your browser address bar for "z=13" (or "z=14" or "z=15" or ... "z=20"), this indicates your zoom level. Note, however, that even though Wikimapia will allow you to draw roads at zoom 13, this is not a good idea, you need to zoom in more, much more! From the Wikimapia-BETA "Edit map" menu, select 'Road' mode. Click first where you want to start marking your road, and then choose "Start new" option. You will be prompted to choose the kind of road you want to make: "Dirt road," "Courtyard road," "Street, low traffic," "Road, high traffic," or "Highway" (as described in 'Properties' below). Select one of these options, and a bright blue road segment will appear that will follow your mouse cursor.

Every next click that you do will place an additional point and a road segment will be created between your current point and your previous point. Once done with marking the road, click on "Save" in the bottom centre of your screen. Clicking on "Cancel" will erase all your work since your last save.

If you need to start a road from another road already marked, you can click on the location where you want to start your new road. If there is already a road "point" at this location you will have the option "Start new road" and then you can follow the above instructions. If there is no existing road point where you want to start your new road, you should click on the segment of the existing road and choose the "Insert point" option. Then you can continue as above.

== Making your road accurate ==

How can you tell if your road drawing is accurate enough? Zoom in to the highest zoom level available. If your drawn road is shown always on top of the roadway in the image then it is "good enough". If, however, your drawn road strays outside the roadway (into the ditches or houses at the sides of the road), then you can make it fit better. Note that it is always preferred to follow the center of the roadway or a particular traffic lane if the image shows this amount of detail.

== Crossing roads ==

When you are marking a road and you have to cross a pre-existing road, you will be prompted to choose between 3 options:
* Make a crossroad: the roads are in the same level.
* Selected segment under: the road you are marking passes under the existing road.
* Selected segment above: the road you are marking passes above the existing road.

You can cross only one road with each new segment, so you won't be allowed to create a segment if it crosses 2 (or more) roads. You have to make it in 2 (or more) steps. Firstly, cross the first road, choosing one of the above options. Then click on the final point you have just added and click "start a new road" to continue marking the road. So you can cross another existing road, following the same steps.

== Ending a road ==

When you have finished drawing a road, you can click on the last point and choose "stop line draw". If the road ends at a pre-existing road, you can click directly on this road; a new point will be created, and it should be inserted into this existing road segment also. You can check it by moving it with the mouse (drag it on the map and return it to the same place) and verifying that all the segments that are supposed to be connected to it all move together.

Sometimes, when you do it, the pre-existing road moves a little bit to accept your new point. This can be avoided by creating the point just beside the pre-existing road. Then you can drag and drop it above the existing road. If there is a point next to the connection, you will have an option to "Join points", so that the point you are dropping and the existing point will merge into an unique one, assuring you the connection has been made correctly. If there is no pre-existing point next to the place you are making the connection, you should choose the option "Attach point" to be sure the roads are connected. Doing this way, you should check directions of both new segments in pre-existing road, because sometimes their directions are changed inadvertently, due to a system bug.

After marking a road, you can set its properties (see below). In general, it's better to set the properties correctly before naming a road.

== Naming a road ==

The best time to name a road is as you create it, and carefully set its properties. After you have laid down all of the points you can, you should "save changes". Wikimapia will not allow you to enter a name if there is an unsaved drawing change ("You must save changes before naming!"). Immediately after the [Save], left or right click on the road (your browser menu may be dismissed with a click): a set of nearby segments should change colour to bright blue (if road is short, every segment will be highlighted). If not all segments you want to name are blue, you should choose "Start to select" option and choose them properly. With all segments selected, choose 'Set new name', and a window much like a place tag editing window should open ("Access denied"(sic) implies wiki data error). Check the language you are using above the title field. Then type in only the name of the road into the title field. If you have extra information, you can type it in description box. Since there is not a specific field for a Wikipedia link, you should put it in the end of description (especially if there is an article about this road). Click 'Save', and wait for confirmation.

*If you don't know the name of a road, please do some research to find its correct name and route number.
*Do not abbreviate parts of the name such as "Avenue", "Street," "Park", "Boulevard" or "Route".
*Be aware that each city or other jurisdiction generally has a system of road naming and addressing that should be followed. There is a difference between "2nd Street" and "Second Street".
*In some cases, the cardinal direction is part of the road name, so that "South Brown Street" is different from "North Brown Street". In other naming conventions, the road is just "Brown Street" and North and South are considered to be part of the ''[[Beta_Help:_Adding_place#Building_Number|address]]''. Also, as a road crosses through various towns, it may go from being North to South and back to North again. If you are not familiar with the local naming convention in use, assume that the direction is part of the address and do not include it in the road name.

== Properties ==

Properties of a road are defined for each segment individually. To see these properties of a segment, you can click on it and select "Properties".

=== Types of roads ===
There are 5 types of roads available. In map, they differ mainly by their thickness and by zoom levels they are shown. Once you defined a type of road for a segment, this property will be inherited to new segments created starting from the final point of the first segment. {See discussion of additional types and see 'level' properties for bridges & tunnels.}

1. Dirt road

Select for gravel, unpaved or dirt roads. These roads must be usable by vehicles. They are shown at zoom level 12 or higher.

2. Courtyard road

Courtyard roads are used for paved alleyways, private roads and driveways. They may or may not have an official name, and if they don't, be sure that ''your name for it'' mentions that it is not official in the description field. They are shown at zoom level 15 or higher.

3. Road, Low traffic

Low traffic roads are typified by having one lane in each direction. In some cases, they may have only one lane. Also, low traffic roads tend to be in residential areas. Low traffic roads are also shown at zoom level 12 or higher.

4. Road, High traffic

High traffic roads are typified by having two or more lanes in each direction. They tend to be well-known to locals, and to be lined by businesses rather than residences. High traffic roads are shown at zoom level 8 or higher.

5. Highway

Highways are typified by having two lanes or more in each direction, limited access from other roads, and by a median strip which divides the two directions of traffic. "Limited access" means no intersections with minor or smaller roads, only merging traffic permitted, nor any direct crossing by cross-roads i.e. these use bridges or tunnels instead. These features make high speed, high volume traffic possible. It is best to draw each direction of highways with its own road. Highways are also shown at zoom level 8 or higher.

=== Directions ===
This property indicated direction of traffic in the segment. There are 3 options:

* <==> : both directions are possible in this segment.
* <-- : only a direction is available. This option usually refers to direction of the older point to the newer one.
* --> : only other direction is available.

In order to check on map directions referring to each symbol ("<--" and "-->"), you may look the road while hover mouse over these symbols. A red arrow will appear above selected segment to show the corresponding direction. The first option ("<==>") doesn't show anything.

Once you have defined a property to a segment, and you start to mark new segments starting from a final point of this first segment, direction will be inherited.

=== Elevation Level ===
This properties refers to the elevation level of segment in relation to ground level and nearby roads. There are 6 levels available:
* 2 underground ones: -1 and -2
* ground level: Ground road
* 3 overpass ones: 1, 2, and 3

This property changes way segments are displayed on map. Tunnels are shown in a different color than other levels. Ground level and overpass levels can only be differentiate when there is a viaduct, where you can see which road is above other.

This property is never inherited to new segments. So, for example, if you want to draw a tunnel with many segments, you will need to check every segment property to assure they are assigned -1 (or -2) elevation level.

== Changing properties ==
If a road changes, for example, from high to low traffic, it is possible to change the properties of those segments to reflect that fact. After drawing the road, click save. Then click on a segment which begins (or ends) the section you wish to change. Choose 'Start to select' from the prompt box, and the segment will turn bright blue. Click on any other segment and it and all the segments between will be highlighted bright blue. Choose 'Properties' from the prompt box, and change the road type. You can change all or part of a road in this manner.

Each property has its own behavior when one attempts to change it in multiple segments simultaneously.
* Level: You can change this property for a single segment only. You can't make a selection to try to change properties of any segments together.
* Direction: This property is changed only for a group of segments where there is no junction. If you select a group with junctions, property will be changed only for the set of segments between 2 junctions where the segment you click is on.
* Type of road: You can change type of road of many segments simultaneously, no matter there are junctions among them. But if the road is too long (for example a national one), you can not change properties of all its segments in a single step: just some segments near segment you clicked will have their properties changed.

== Correcting Errors ==

=== Points are in wrong location ===
If you placed a point on the wrong location (or they were already this way, when you found them), possibly just outside the road by mistake, you can click on the point and drag it to the correct location (without releasing your mouse click). If you attempt to put this point over an existing road (or point), you will be prompted to choose between "Cancel" or "Attach point" (or "Join points"). If you don't choose any of these and click anywhere on map, your change will be cancelled. If you want to avoid it, you may use map mode and zoom it so that you can put point in that region and it will not be considered too close of existing road (or point).

=== Wrong segment linking correct points ===
If a wrong segment is linking two points that are correctly marked, you can delete only this segment, keeping the points in their right places. To do this, just click on the segment. If more segments become highlighted, click on "Start to select" to select just the one segment. (Road segment deletion must be made one by one. You can't delete a set of segments with a single command.) Then click on "Delete segment". You will be prompted to confirm your deletion by clicking "ok".

=== Name error ===
If a segment or a set of segments is not named right, you can edit it or clear its name. It's very important to be sure that you are changing only the segments that are wrong and not the whole road.

First you need to select the segment or segments you want to correct: Click on one segment. All the segments of the same road (with the same name) will be highlighted. If you want to modify just some of these segments, you should click on one of the segments and choose the "Start to select" option. You can then select more segments by clicking on them, as long as the segments are all connected.

( Because of a flaw in the system, if you want to change the name of just part of a road then currently you have to do this in two steps: first clear it, and then set it anew. If you try to do it in one step (by choosing the "Edit this name" option, below) then you will end up changing the whole road, and not just your selected segments. )

Once you have selected all the segments you want, click on any one of them and then:
* Clear (unset) name: to unset the name and description of all these segments,
* Save the changes;
If you wanted to change the name (instead of stopping after clearing it):
* Re-select all the same segments, click on one of them and
* Set new name: to set the name and description of all these segments.

=== Duplicated names ===
Sometimes a unique road is marked as 2 separated roads with the same name. This problems caused because someone has erroneously entered the road name more than once, instead of using the option "choose street name from nearest streets". If it occurs, you can correct it by following these steps:

# In roads edit mode, unset the names for all except one road with the same name. The one that you leave unchanged should preferably be at the end of your road. Save.
# Then go to the adjoining road segment to that one segment you left unchanged. Click on it and choose "Set new name" (if you see "Edit this name", it means that you haven't unset the road name).
# In the name definition window, click on "choose street name from nearest streets" and choose the correct road name from the list. If you see the same name twice, it means that you didn't unset all of the segments, so go back and try to find the segments whose names were not cleared and unset them.
# Save the changes and repeat this process beginning from step 2, for the next adjoining segment.

You can make things faster in step 2, if you select all segments together, provided they are connected. This way, you won't need to repeat steps 2 and 3 so many times.

=== Moving a road ===
Sometimes, after an imagery update, Wikimapia place tags and roads are not correctly aligned to the images anymore. In this case, one could need to move a road to the correct position. For now, there is no way to move the entire road. So you should move point by point, taking care to avoid creating new crossroads (especially if all the roads around are also marked and if the misalignment was too large).

===Tips and tricks===
*If after placing a point you move it from side to side then the cursor will release it, allowing you to set its properties, create another road, etc before saving. ''This is useful as saving can be a time consuming operation.''

*If you are having trouble seeing the line of the road when using one of the wider road types (Street, Low Traffic; Road, High Traffic or Highway) you might try changing the road type to 'Courtyard Road'. This shows a fairly narrow line and you should be able to see more clearly. ''This trick is especially useful when drawing highways and major interchanges.'' '''When you have finished editing the road or highway you can select the segments and change the road type to one more appropriate to the traffic.'''

= Railway lines=

'''Railroads''' is a Wikimapia feature wherein you can mark out railway lines in Wikimapia. You can mark railroads by adding points. Once you anchor a point and move the cursor, a '''segment''' will automatically extend from it. A segment can only be established when another point is fixed to a location. These segments and points should be aligned accurately with the linear image of the railroad on the map.

The marking of railroads should follow the same principles as marking tags ie. the object/railroad to be marked must be visible and non-movable. Thus the marking of non-existent railroads or even non-visible railroads of historical importance should be avoided. If it isn't there don't mark it!

'''Creating a Railroad'''

Firstly zoom into the map at zoom level 13 or more. You can check your browser address bar for "z=13" (or "z=14" or "z=15" or ... "z=20"), this indicates your zoom level. Note, however, that even though Wikimapia will allow you to draw roads at zoom 13, it would be preferential to zoom in further to get the best out of imparting points and segments for railroads more accurately.

{| align="center"
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[[File:Railway1.jpg|thumb|250px|'''Example 1''' ''Selecting Railroad mode'']]
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[[File:Railway2.jpg|thumb|250px|'''Example 2''' ''Start a new railroad'']]
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[[File:Railway3.jpg|thumb|250px|'''Example 3''' ''Railroad context menu'']]
|}

From the Wikimapia-BETA ''"Menu bar"'' along the top of the screen, select ''"Edit map"'' and then ''"Railroad"'' from the dropdown list (See ''Example 1''). You will then enter ''"Railroad"'' mode. Click first where you want to start marking your railroad and then choose ''"Start new"'' option (See ''Example 2''). By left-clicking your mouse you will have anchored a 'red dot' or point from which a light-yellow coloured segment shall issue forth and follow your cursor wherever you move it. You will then be able to set further points, joined by segments, by subsequent left-clicks of the mouse. This way you will be successfully laying linear markings along the desired railroad image on the map.

Once completed, click on the ''"Save"'' button in the bottom centre of the screen. Clicking on the ''"Cancel"'' button will erase all your work since your last save.

You can also create new railroads from others that are already marked. There are two ways in which you can do this. The first way is by clicking on an existing point along the railroad and then selecting the ''"Start new"'' option. If there is no existing railroad point where you want to start your new railroad, you can opt to click on the segment of the existing railroad and then choose the ''"Insert point"'' option via the context menu (See ''Example 3''). You will then be able to continue creating railroads as described above.

=Rivers=

'''Rivers''' is a linear tool wherein you can mark waterways such as rivers, canals, streams etc. The marking of rivers is done by adding points and segments. Segments form the main "body" or "line" of the linear tool, while points link segments to each other. Points also enable segments to be laid in different directions. This method of marking is also used for the other linear features available in Wikimapia, such as '''Road''', '''Railroad''' and '''Ferry'''.

The marking of rivers requires patience and meticulous attention to detail because of their complexity. Rivers can be as wide as lakes, while others can be as narrow as streams. Moreover, they can have straight courses or they can have tight "meandering" (curves) channels. Another characteristic of rivers is that they can form junctures (confluences) with other watercourses or split into smaller rivers (tributaries).

To address some of these factors, the River tool has an additional special feature that adds width to its segments. This feature is called '''riversides''', and outlines the width of a river's channel (the distance between opposing "riversides") by adding a framework to segments. In essence, riversides are polygons for the river tool. When the riverside feature is activated, two smaller points, called "riverside handles", appear either side of an attached point at both ends of a segment. Just as opposing points are linked by segments; opposing riverside handles are linked with riversides. The riverside handles are flexible and can be manipulated to give two-dimensional shapes (or riversides) to segments.

When a river with riversides is saved, the Wikimapia map is updated to show the river with a fully rendered form, as opposed to a conventional thin blue line. In "Satellite" view the river is depicted with as a transparent blue channel. In "Map" view the river is defined with a solid blue channel.

'''Example'''
The image to the left shows the components of a riverside: 
A. Segment. 
B. Points. Located at either end of a segment. 
C. Riverside handles. A pair, flanking one point and linked to an opposite pair. The lines joined with the riverside handles give river segments editable shapes. 
 
A typical segment will consist of one line and two points. A riverside segment comprises of five lines and six points. Just as two standard segments share a point, a riverside segment will share a point and its pair of riverside handles. 
 
On the right, the same river (viewed in "Map" view) is shown as saved with riversides activated.

{|
|[[File:River1.jpg|thumb|center|370px|'''Riverside components''' - '''A''' ''Segment'' '''B''' ''Segment points'' '''C''' ''Riverside handles'']]
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|See paragraph above.
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|[[File:River2.jpg|thumb|center|390px|River with riverside in "Map" view]]
|}

'''How to mark a river'''

[[File:River3.jpg|left|thumb|Fig.1]]

1. Select the river tool by navigating to the menu bar at the top of your screen and then choosing "Edit map". 
2. Click on "River" at the bottom of the menu (''See Fig. 1''). You shall then enter the edit mode. 
3. To add a river, you will need to fix an initial point by clicking on the image of the river. Then select → [[File:River4.jpg]] 
4. When you move the cursor, a segment will automatically extend from it. To set the segment, you will need to place another point along the river. 
Repeat the process of adding points and laying segments along the centre line of the river, taking care to follow the contour of the river accurately and adding sufficient points to maintain a smooth line. 
'''Hint add more points for meanders (bends in a river), and fewer points for straighter stretches.''' If fewer points are used for meanders, the bend of the segment line will be more jagged. Remember: more points equals a flexible, meandering river. 
5. Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen when you have finished. ''Note: there will be a limit on how many points and segments you can add in one session.''

'''Marking from an existing river'''

[[File:River5.jpg|right|thumb|Fig. 2]]

To mark confluences, you may create a new tributary by clicking on an existing point and then selecting "Start new." (''See Fig. 2'')
You may also add a new point in an existing segment, by clicking it and selecting "Insert point" from the menu.

'''Some hints'''

Select the highest zoom level available (z=19 or above) for the river you are editing.

If part of the river imagery is obscured by clouds or haze, it would be better to not mark that portion with the tool. However, if you have access to an alternative source that shows the complete watercourse, you may continue to mark it. When the imagery is eventually updated, the edited river should be fairly accurate; if not, it can always be tidied up afterwards

To ensure the river is marked as accurate as possible, the dots and segments should always be placed in the centre line of a river. This will also make certain that riverside segments will always be aligned correctly over the river image when they are included.

For rivers with islands, if both sides of the island provide sufficient space, then create smooth lines for both sides. If one side is definitely wider than another use your best judgment whether or not to create two lines.

For wide rivers with rapids, I tend to follow the 'racing' line, as long as the line entering and exiting curves or rapids is smooth.

It is crucial you use extra points to trace a river accurately, especially its curves, so that the final rendering is smooth and precise in appearance.

=Ferry=

Click on the "Edit map" menu item and then the "Ferry" sub-item. If you are viewing a coastal ferry port, you may see some ferry lines highlighted with red boxes in the style of place outlines. You can edit an existing ferry or add a new line. See the documentation for the other linear features for more information.

Help/FAQ

2013-04-28T16:23:44Z

Antdoghalo:

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
Welcome to FAQ!

If you are a new or inexperienced user, we acknowledge it will take you time to understand the rules and to use Wikimapia's features properly. You may have many questions which need answering or you might need a pointer just to help you get back on track.

We therefore present the FAQ so that it can address your queries as well as covering the essential basics required to make your experience in Wikimapia a well-informed, compliant and pleasant one.
{{TOC limit|3}}
=Basic Philosophy=

===What is Wikimapia for?===
Wikimapia aimed to mark all geographical objects in the world and provide a useful description for them, so that anyone can share his knowledge and freely explore the world.
===Who is Wikimapia for?===
Anyone who is interested in exploring the world or like to share his or her knowledge with everyone who uses Wikimapia.

===What is the basic ideology of Wikimapia?===
To make yourself aware of Wikimapia basic ideology we recommend you to click [[About_Wikimapia| here]].

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikimapia?===
According to Wikimapia [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ License] you may use Wikimapia content as you like (for sharing, recasting, transforming or adapting in any form recognizably derived from the original for any use). We also encourage you to build your work upon Wikimapia data and require its further distribution under the same or similar license to this one.

===Is it WikiMapia or Wikimapia?===
This website is usually more referred to as '''Wikimapia'''.

===How can I help?===
There many ways to contribute to Wikimapia. [[Adding/editing places]] is already a great help. You can also help translating the interface into your language, report about bugs in [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ reports list] or become an [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#Special_roles advanced user (moderator)] to help other users.

=Help=

=== How can I become a member? ===

To become a member simply select 'Login/Register' from the Wikimapia menu and follow the instructions. You will need to choose a unique username, provide a valid email address and submit a password.

Once you have chosen a password, make sure you keep it safe and secret.

===How can I get help using Wikimapia?===
First of all you should read Wikimapia Docs and [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines] carefully. If you still can’t get the answer to your question send a message to an [[Community#Advanced_Users|Advanced User]] or you can also ask for help on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

===Who is an admin?===
Admins are the members of the [[Community#Wikimapia_Team| Wikimapia team]].

===How can I get help from admin?===
First, make sure that a moderator or an advanced user (AU) can not help you. Then send admins a message or email on contact@wikimapia.org

=Wikipedia content=

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikipedia?===
Articles quality on Wikipedia fit Wikimapia demands. So you can certainly use Wikipedia while describing a place or give a link to Wikipedia article.
===Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article into a Wikimapia description box is a great idea, right?===
Giving a link to the article is more than enough, there is no need to repeat things twice.

=Languages=

===Can I add information in my local language in a different language page?===
No. you cannot add languages in a different language page. This restriction applies to wordings added after the proper title. You can only add your language to the corresponding language page by accessing the object's 'Menu' and selecting 'Add another language' in the drop down menu. You may then choose your language from the choices available. You can also access your language page by clicking the two-letter country code (in blue) at the bottom of a tag.

===Someone has added a place in my country and written it in a foreign language. Can I delete it?===
Accurate descriptions in foreign languages are perfectly acceptable as long as they are made in the correct language page. The wilful deletion of tags containing foreign languages is forbidden.
===Can I add the same Wikipedia link to multiple language pages of an object?===
No. You should add the link to the respective language page of the object. Even then it should be confined to the Wikipedia link section in the object's edit window. However, you may include links to secondary Wikipedia articles in the description section.
===I don't understand English. What can I do?===
Wikimapia is a multi-lingual website and supports 101 languages. Though the major discussions are held in English (i.e., on forum), you still can choose your interface language from the list and enjoy Wikimapia.

===How can I see Wikimapia (or mark places) in my own language?===
You need to change the interface language to your language by hovering over two-letter country code at the top menu then clicking 'more languages' and selecting your language.
===Do I have to add the local language in a tag even though I have added the information in another language?===
No you do not have to add the local language; the information you add in any language must be correct. However, if you are fluent in the local language it is recommended (not compulsory) you provide the information in that language too!
===Why are some titles and tooltips in a different language?===
This means that there is no translation of these titles or tooltips in your language yet. You can translate them into your language if you like.
===How do I change the interface language?===
To change the interface language to your language, hover over two-letter country code at the top menu, click 'more languages' and select your language.

===How is the default language for my created places determined?===
When open a place tag the system will offer you to see the description on your interface language. If there is no description on your interface language then you'll see the tag on English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian. If there is no description on any of these languages, then you'll see the description on available language.

===When a place is written in several languages, but not mine, how do you determine which one to show me?===
There is a list of most popular languages. If there are several descriptions of one place on different languages the system automatically determines the most popular language among those which are available for that specific place.

===Someone wrote a good description in a place but it's in the wrong language page. What should I do with this?===
You should move the description to the correct language page. You can also translate the good description into your language, if you can.

===Can I remove a place's description in a particular language without deleting the entire place?===
Yes.

===What languages should I translate my place tag into?===
Into whatever you speak from the language list that opens when hover over two-letter country code at the top menu and clicking 'more languages'.

===The place I'm describing has different names in different languages. Which name should I use in my language?===
Proper one for you language. You should find the official name of the place on your language in some other source and use it. If a place has also an unofficial name that locals use, you can also note it in description or in braces near the official name. If a place does not have an official name at all, use its unofficial name as main.

===I found a place described in a language I do not know, but I want to know what was written. What can I do?===
You can try and translate it with Google Translate or any available dictionary.

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them.

===Can I find out how many users use a certain language interface?===
There is no stats on such a case.

===I can see a number of different strange language codes at the bottom right of the object window, but how can I tell what they are?===
Those codes are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO ISO] abbreviations for languages. Is you hover a cursor over them and wait a bit you’ll see the whole language name.

===When I look at the available languages, my language isn't there. What can be done about this?===
In this case you should contact Wikimapia Team. They will either add your language to the language list, or explain to you why it can't be done.

===I have created a description in a new language for an existing place object, but it is not shown in my list of created places although my place tag counter has increased by one. Why?===
Because only the first one who created the place gets it in his list.

===How do I change the language on the map layer?===
You can change the language of your interface at the top menu and the map layer language will change automatically.

=Translations=

===How can I help translate the user interface into my language?===
You can go to [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page] and become an editor.

===How can I find out the translation status of a certain language?===
You can find it on [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page].

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them to the language of your interface.

= Satellite Images =

===Why is the picture of my town/village so bad?===

Because the satellite imagery provided by Google in this area, is bad. We have no impact on it, unfortunately.

===Why can't I zoom in more in a certain area?===
Because the satellite imagery provider has no higher resolution pictures of this area.

===Can you update the map in my location because it is too blurry/low resolution quality?===
No, unfortunately we cannot, as satellite images are provided by Google. This means that we have no idea when Google will update the images. you can monitor the updated images on Google sites, however their help page says that this happens once in "approximately one to three years".
===How can I report an error with Google satellite imagery?===
Click on the 'Report a map error' button in the bottom right of the map, this takes you to Google's error report pages.
===How can we find out where Google has recently changed their images?===
You can try the [http://www.gearthblog.com blog do Google Earth] (English), where there is a link to the updates of recent images.
===When will the satellite images of my area get more detail?===
See previous
===When will the satellite images of my area be brought up to date?===
See previous
===Can I find out which place tags were most recently added?===
You can use Countries watchlist that you may find in 'tools' for these purpose.
===Why have all the place tags in my area shifted 10 meters to the west?===
Sometimes when Google updates its files, they can not line them up precisely with the old pictures. Take satellite photos of a spherical Earth and match these images on a flat map is not as easy as we would like. So sometimes, there are offsets. On such a case there is 'Satellite images updates list' tool (or Map Shift). It allows to fix those shifts of the map.
===What should I do when all the place tags in a certain area have been shifted 10 metres to the west?===
See previous.
=== I found a place where when I zoomed OUT it said "no imagery"?===
this means that the provider has no higher resolution imagery there.

=Place tools=

==Adding places==

===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?===
It's better to name it just Place or Object.

===How do I add a place?===
Select 'add a place' and a red polygon tool will appear. Draw a [[Tools#Polygons|polygon]], then add other information :
* choose Language carefully.
* Title is the name Wikimapia shows that when we hover over the place. Write something short, but representative.
* Description. For the description, as they say, 2 or 3 lines is already good.
* 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
And click the 'Save'.

* Photo

===Can I add my own house?===
It is undesirable to add a personal house if:
#it does not possess interesting details
#you do not recognise the potential repercussions of disclosing personal details

This aside, you are allowed to mark a building as long as it:
*has an accurate outline
*has a properly assigned category
*possesses a recognizable address. This should be demonstrated by assigning a street name (via the Roads tool) and a building number in the Address section.

===A ship which is anchored or stationed in a fixed location (prepositioning) has drifted slightly from its original position. Can I still mark it?===
Yes you can provided the ship maintains a fixed position near to the original location. For existing objects, if the map updates to indicate an anchored/prepositioned ship has drifted, you should update the change by redrawing the object's outline.

===Which map provider should I use to mark objects?===

You can use any map source provided they are not incorrect nor illegal.

Since its inception in 2006, Wikimapia has always used Google Maps to plot its data layer as it was the only source available for five years. Presently, Wikimapia regards Google Maps imagery the best source in most cases.

Google Maps' satellite view is the default and the most widely used map view to mark objects in Wikimapia. We highly recommended that you use Google Satellite 'old places' view ('Satellite + old places' in Beta and 'Google satellite' with 'old places' checked in New Wikimapia) to ensure you don't duplicate the addition of an already marked object.

Finally, reality governs over all map sources. For example, if a building is demolished in real life, it should be marked as such even though the map may show it to still exist as a building.

===Which places should I tag?===
* Any non-movable place that exists at this particular moment in time.
** Planes, submarines, circuses and other movable objects may be added if they are still for at least a week.
** Permanently still or stationed ships which are moored or anchored can be marked even if they have drifted from an original position.
* A place must have at the very least a properly constructed outline.
* Settlement place tags such as cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods must have a properly assigned category.
* Historical/disappeared places. These '''must''' have the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category assigned to them.
* Newly constructed buildings, which are not visible on the satellite image. Use a different map provider with the latest images to verify the outline. If the newly constructed place is not visible on any map, try your best to mark the outline accurately.

Remember, reality governs over satellite images and map sources. If you can see and visit a place not visible on a map, you can still mark it.

===Which places should I not tag?===
Please think carefully before adding a place tag, there are certain things that are forbidden. Place tags that meet the following deletion criteria should not be added:

* An outline that does not mark any identifiable place.
* A historical/disappeared place without the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category.
* A planned building or road that has not entered the construction phase.
* Movable objects that are still for less than a week.
* A place tag that marks temporary or intangible events such as battles etc.
* A place tag that is a copy of another place tag.
* A personal/private residence that does not contain an address or useful information.


===What information should I provide in a place tag?===
You should provide any information that you find useful and valuable, if only it does not violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===What information should I not provide in a place tag?===
You should not provide any information that violates [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===How big should my place tag be?===
For the description 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.

===Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?===
'''No you should not''', you should use the linear tools to draw on the map. This is found under the '''Edit map''' drop down menu list, which is found at the top-left of the screen.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Edit map drop down menu list]]

===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"?===
No you should not, if you do not know the place then you '''should not''' mark it.

===Should I tag a place that does not show up in the satellite image because it has just been built?===
Yes! Once the image is updated, the site will be there.
===Should we mark places that may be dangerous to visit?===
You can mark dangerous place as any other. You can also caution other users in description that this place is dangerous to visit.

===How do I use the categories section in a place object?===
Click [[User_interface#Categories|here]] for answers.

===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!===
''See also: [[editing_places#Undeleting.2FPlace_restoration|Undeleting/Place restoration]]''

Probably some user has deleted the place tag you've created, if so its best to click on '''Deleted Places''' from the '''Map type''' menu drop down list and check on the map if its been deleted.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Map type menu list, where the 'Deleted places' layer is highlighted.]]

===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?===
You can edit and needs no prompting to any user as well as they do not need to ask permission from you. But add good things and not change one point for a comma to stay with his name on the marker.
===How do I edit a description?===
Move your mouse over the desired location, click the left button in the upper left corner hover over the menu and then click Edit this page. After all done click the save button.
===When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?===
Please see [[Help/FAQ#If_a_business.2C_shop.2C_store_etc.2C_moves_or_is_shut_down.2C_should_I_delete_the_defunct_place_object.3F |here]]

===Some places show users' names at the bottom of an object window, but other places don't have a user's name. Why?===
They were made by unregistered user (UU).

===I found several place tags marking the same place. What do I do?===
Ask for the removal of the most most informative site (or recent and leave the oldest), thus respecting the establishment of the previous location.
A tip: put on the map '''Satellite + old places''' (to avoid a site already created is recreated again).

===Tall buildings in a city sometimes seem to be leaning sideways. How should I mark those locations?===
All buildings should be outlined at their base (ground level), regardless of whether their images appear to be leaning. When the images are from directly or nearly directly overhead, the roof edges may be used to approximate the ground level footprint if they have the same dimensions.

Tall buildings and structures like radio towers appear to "lean" because of the way they have been [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Photography photographed] from the air. For further clarification, please read [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Adding/editing_places#Polygons this].

===Can I add places which do not exist any more?===
You can, but only if you:
*know the precise dimensions
*add the historical layer/disappeared place category
If the above requirements are lacking, you should not add non-existent places.

===Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving?===
To see what area needs improving you can use [[status grid]]. If you are interested in specific map area (ie., cause you are familiar with the area and can improve it better) we recommend you to add a [[Tools#Watchlist |watchlist]], so you can monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, etc) and know whether any new place needs to be improved.

===I found some places near the north/south pole! What is going on?===
Most are the result of vandals. Nevertheless, there is no valid markings indicating settlements and scientific stations.

===I don't know what to write in object description. Can I copy only title in description?===
No. But, if object/place has alternative name, write it.

==Semi-Protection==

===The tag info tells me that the place is 'semi-protected'. What does that mean?===
Some tags are often vandalized and needs protection, this can only be done by [[Advanced Users]]. Registered users and unregistered users can not edit tags at all.

===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 [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 thread]. Only advanced users can put on protective items (tags).

==Polygons==

===Why can't I add more points to a polygon?===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots

===Why can't I create big polygons and why do I get the message: "Too big polygon"?===
There are limitations on the polygon size you can make depending on your [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#User_levels User Level.]

===Can I revert a polygon to the state before it was vandalized?===
Yes you can. You can do this by applying the correct polygon state of a previous revision as current.
===Can I delete a polygon?===
No, this isn't possible. If you think the polygon shape is wrong, you should resize it so that it is correct. If the incorrect polygon has hundreds of dots and you find it too laborious to correct manually, please contact an Advanced User to assist you.
===I don't understand guideline 1.2. "A place must have at least a properly constructed outline"?===
This is a minimum requirement for a place object to be acceptable. A polygon should clearly outline a map object you are marking in the aerial/satellite image. A properly constructed outline means a polygon should never overlap an area that is not part of the object.
A place object should have an accurate outline but it doesn't ''need'' a title or description, although the inclusion of which is preferred for the place object to be useful. If the place object lacks proper details, it is still possible for other users to improve it.
===I tried to add new points to a polygon, but I failed. What is the reason? (150 points limitation)===
Regular users can draw up to 500 dots per polygon. When adding new dots to a polygon you should stick to the same limit, which means that total number of dots (first+added) should not overdraw 500 dots.
===Due to the polygon limit can I add several polygons and use them as "jigsaw pieces" (terrain patches) to construct a larger object?===
No. A polygon should mark an object (named or unnamed) with its own identifiable outline. Using smaller fictitious objects to construct a larger object because of a polygon limitation is not permissible. The practice of "jigsaw piecing" or "terrain patching" does not comply with Wikimapia Guidelines clause 1.2. Furthermore, the deletion of such places becomes necessary as per the deletion clauses 3.1 and 3.2 of the Wikimapia Guidelines.
However, smaller interlocking and tessellating polygons can be marked if they represent recognizable places in their own right.

===I added a polygon for a place but my edit count stayed the same. Why?===
When you add a polygon to a place this reflects in line 'Polygons added to places without a polygon' in profile 'Stats', not in edit count.

===Can I use polygons as arrows or waymarkers to indicate the route or direction of a place?===
No. This is because arrows and waymarkers aren't real places with definable outlines. Polygons should not be manipulated to indicate anything other than the outline of a place.

==Comments==

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

''Also see: [[editing_places#Comments | Comments]]''

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only [[Advanced Users]] can delete comments. If you find a bad comment you think should be deleted you can report it [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 Here]

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
Guests usernames are black, registered users have blue username links, which direct to their profile pages.

==Photos==

===How do I add photos?===
Open place description, hover over ‘menu’ at the top and click ‘add/manage photos’. Here you can upload new photos and delete old ones. '''Remember''': photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place will be deleted.

===How do I know when a photo was taken?===
You can only know who and when uploaded it (it is written below the photo). You may ask a user, who uploaded a photo, when it was taken, but we can not guarantee that he will answer for sure.

===Can I make notes about a photograph?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet. You can only give it a name, when uploading it, and leave a comment with your notes below the photo.

===Which photos should be deleted?===
You should delete those photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place.

As you can upload only 7 photos for every object it is also permitted and even encouraged to delete photos of bad quality if only you can replace them with better quality photos.

===How do I delete a bad photo?===
Click on the tag where you have found the bad photo, hover the cursor over '''menu''' at the top and then click on '''add/manage photos'''. In the tab where you see '''Current photos''' hover the cursor over the bad photo, then a '''Delete''' button should appear underneath the photo, click on it and the bad photo will get deleted. It is to be noted, that this is the same place where you can upload a new photo.

===How can I tell which place tags contain photos?===
You can not. But you can filter all places by ‘places '''without''' photos’ category and see which places do not have photos. Therefore all places without red marks contain photos.

===Can I add a video of a place?===
Yes, you can provide a link from youtube.com in place description, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview.

===Under what conditions can I use the "free" images from Wikimedia Commons?===
Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing here] for answers.

===Can I add photos to linear objects: to streets, rivers, railways?===
Yes.
===If I edit or remove copyright, attribution and watermarks from copyrighted photos, can I still use them?===
Absolutely not! Images where copyright information has been defaced or removed is unlawful. The submission of such images is prohibited.

==Deletion==

===How do I delete a place?===
Places can be deleted by selecting 'Delete place' under 'Menu' in the object's window. Please be aware that you may only delete a place as per the deletion reasons (under 3. Deleting tags) of the [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines].

===What actions are acceptable, or even encouraged, when deleting place tags?===
Before deleting an object, read the [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| Wikimapia Policies]] carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. If you have any doubts about deleting a place you can discuss it on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] or ask an [[ Community#Advanced_Users | Advanced User]] for advice.

===I found some places that should be deleted, but I can't delete them since I am only a regular user (RU). What should I do?===
If you can’t delete an object, it might be under an AU protection. You should contact an AU, explain you reasons and ask for help.

===How long does it take for a "deleted" place to actually disappear entirely?===
After you made a request to delete an object the system will inform you in what time the place will be deleted on the place page. Usually it takes five days (if removed by a regular user) and couple of hours (if removed by an AU). Between deletion request and actual disappearance of the object, a user can cancel the deletion by clicking on ‘cancel’ button.

===How do I know if one of my places has been deleted?===
You can check your Stats tab in your profile window. Your created places which are deleted will be shown via the counter next to <tt>'''Deleted from them:'''</tt>
===Do deleted places still show up on my list of created places?===
Yes. If someone deleted your places they still will be written in ‘Places and streets created’ line (and ‘Deleted from them’ line as well), but they will be marked as deleted and you won’t get experience point for them.

===How many places can I delete per day/week?===
It depends on your user level. On the first user level you can delete three places in one hour only. UL 2 - ten objects in ~16 minutes, UL3 - twenty objects in ~13 minutes, UL4 - thirty in 5 minutes, UL5+ - eighty in 2 minutes, AUs can delete 200 objects in 90 seconds.

===If a business, shop, store etc, moves or is shut down, should I delete the defunct place object?===
If the building still exists, and it hasn't been demolished, it should '''not''' be deleted. We recommend you update the place object's article by describing its present function. It is essential you update its title, description, address and category to reflect the change.
===Can I undelete a non-compliant place object and re-purpose/convert it into an acceptable one?===
The practice of salvaging a deleted place object and reassigning its identity is forbidden '''if''' the newer object is:
*situated at a different location from the original
*has a completely different function to the original

All objects must be marked with their own outlines and are treated as individual objects. For example, the place object for a jetty (which has rotted away) cannot be converted into a lake or boat house - it must be deleted (unless the jetty is rebuilt). The lake and boat house must be marked separately with their own place object identities.

Recycling obsolete objects and reusing them may seem desirable but ultimately defeats the object of populating Wikimapia's map and database with unique places and overall place count respectively. The exceptions to this rule are:
*an existing place can be re-purposed within one day of its creation if a user has marked it erroneously
*a deleted place whose deletion reason is invalid can be restored and edited to reflect its current status

The wilful and persistent act of undeleting place objects and recycling them into compliant objects is forbidden. In addition, the premeditated act of abusing the aforementioned exceptions is also forbidden.

===In China many place tags are marked ?????(cn). Should I delete them?===
No, you should not delete them. Seeing such symbols simply means that your computer does not maintain Chinese symbols.

===Why do deleted objects still show up in Google search results?===
Objects put up for deletion will be removed after a specified time. However, Google will continue to display the deleted/outdated information until they update their own search results to show the latest web pages. This is because Google takes 'snapshots' of web pages it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Unfortunately, these stored pages may be outdated until they are updated. You can either be patient until Google removes the outdated data or you can contact them [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz here].

==History==
===What is an approved revision in the history of place objects?===
A approved revision is an edit which has been considered informative, interesting and accurate by approval of advanced users (AUs). The purpose of approving places is to help AUs save their time and not recheck the same revision repeatedly. After AUs have checked a revision and found it to be correct, they can click the "approve" button and the selected revision shall be marked as approved in the history and in everybody’s watchlists with the label 'This revision is approved' and a green tick icon. If some revisions are already marked with green tick icon it means that AUs have already checked the revision and found it to be correct.

===What does the green check/tick mean in the history of place objects?===
See above.

=Linear Tools=

===Can I add extinct or proposed linear works?===
No. You can only add linear features which exist in reality and (in the case of transport linear features) must be functional as a complete thoroughfare or route for pedestrian and/or vehicular conveyance.

==Roads==

===I cannot add roads===
If you are a new user, it is most likely a temporary limitation has been placed on your ability to use the "Road" tool because your experience level is too low. To increase your experience level, you must first add places to the map with the "Add place" tool or edit previously created objects. Please make sure the places you add are accurate and proper. Once you have gained enough experience with the "Add place" tool, you will be allowed to use the "Road" tool.
The restriction is necessary because the "Road" tool has specialized features that new/inexperienced users find difficult to use properly. Adding roads requires skill and so it is only available to experienced users who are familiar with the use of other tools. Click [[Community#User_levels| here]] for more on experience levels.
If you have suddenly lost the ability to add roads then you will need to create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and a bug report [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 here].

===Should I add multiple road segments to mark individual lanes in a road?===
Only if a physical divider is present between those lanes. Otherwise use segment options to set lanes number.

===What road type should I use to mark a road?===
Depending on the type of the road (dirt road, courtyard road, street/low traffic, road/high traffic, highway).

===Am I allowed to enter the zip/post code in the title field along with the road name?===
You should really not, however you may include the zip/post codes in the description field.

==Railroads==
This tool allow you to map the railway segments onto the map page. To have more information about the use of this tool, please see [[Tools#Railroads|Railroads]] section

==Rivers==
===Can I add a polygon for a river whose sides are too complex for the riverside feature?===
No. You cannot add polygons for a river since the river tool is designed for this purpose and only it should be used for linear water bodies. Instead, the riverside feature should be shaped accurately as possible to cover the expanse of the complex river.

The only instance where you may add a polygon is for intersections (confluences) or the point where a river drains into a larger water body such as a lake. Be sure to use the correct category(s) for water bodies marked with a polygon.
===Can I add multiple river lines for one river?===
No. You can only add one river line per river. The only instance where you can use more than one river line is if you are marking an intersection or confluence from an existing river line.

==Ferry==

===Can I use the ferry tool to mark rivers and vice versa?===
'''No'''. This tool is only for the mapping of genuine ferry routes. To map river you must use the river tool.

=Interface=

==Wikimapia Screen==

===How do I use all those things on the Wikimapia screen?===
Click [[User_interface#About_the_Wikimapia_Main_Screen| here]] for answers.

===When I look at place's description page, there is a line near the top that says, for example, "World/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". What is this telling me?===
This is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_%28navigation%29 breadcrumb] line and shows a list of places according to administrative levels. Please be aware this list is not a precise indication of the place object; it is only to be referred to as an approximation of places near to the place object.

===The breadcrumb navigation is wrong/not showing the correct place name?===
See above.

===What is 'Hotel booking' in the menu under my username?===
‘Hotel booking’ is a useful tool for tourists. If you are planning to visit any specific place in short time, you can find it on the map and click on ‘Hotel booking’ under your username. Afterwards you will see all hotels marked with special icons. This allows you to choose and book a hotel depending on its geographical position. Click on any hotel and see its page on booking.com.

===What is Distance Measure and what can I do with it?===
It is a tool which allows to measure the distance between two points. To do this you need to mark on the map both points or a detailed route from one point to another and the system will calculate its length. Afterwards you may send the link of what you see on the map to your friend by sending URL of the page on the top of your browser.

===What are those buttons underneath the menu bar?===
Those are [[Tools#Adding_place| Add place]], Distance measure (see previous) and [[User_interface#Zoom_Control.2F_Zoom_Levels| Zoom]].

===What are all those options under the 'Map type' menu?===
Those are different map types that you can choose depending on what you are searching for.

===What are all those options under the 'Categories' menu?===
Those are categories that system offers you on default. If you are searching for a category that is not in the list, you need to type it in ‘Search categories’ bar or find it in ‘Categories hierarchy’ in tools.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===What do the red dots under the names of places mean?===
Red dot under an object name means that the object is a city.

===What are the icons in some places and what do they mean?===
These are category icons, they are shown even if you do not using category filter. If you want to know their meaning open ‘Rendering of categories’ in ‘tools’ section.

==User Profile/Account==

===Why should I register?===
While you are an unregistered user of Wikimapia you can use a limited amount of tools and options only. Since you are registered you can gain experience points, advance your user level and get access to new tools. Besides, only registered users can post on forum.

===Do you have any advice for new members?===
Yes, you can read them [[Quick_start#Advice_for_new_users| here]].

===It says in my profile that I created 106 places. But I can only count 82. What happened to the other places I've created?===
Apparently they were deleted, so you can find them in ‘Deleted from them’ line.

===Can I see how many places I have deleted?===
In stats section in your profile you can see the list of all your actions including ‘Places requested to be deleted’ and ‘Place deletion requests cancelled’.

===How do I mark my own location? Why should I?===
To mark your location find ‘Choose your location’ at the top of your profile page. Then choose your location by positioning the map and placing the marker. Location may be approximate for privacy. Your location will be visible to other users, so they could figure out where are you from.

===How do I delete a message someone sent me?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete a message, it will stay permanently in your inbox.

===Is there any way I can change my user name? I hate this one!===
This is not an easy task. You really should have thought of this before registering! If you really have a good reason, you must send an e-mail administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. They may be able to help you. Otherwise, you have two options: 1) Learn to live with it, or 2) abandon the account and start a new, re-registering.
===Someone has stolen my Wikimapia account and password. What can I do?===
Send e-mail to administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. Ask to have your password reset. Remember that the thief may have changed your e-mail, so be prepared to give evidence that you really are the original owner of the account. And be ready to apologize for who the thief might have offended
===I don't want to be part of Wikimapia any more. How do I delete my account?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete your account, alternatively you may want to change your password to something you will not be able to remember easily or you can stop visiting Wikimapia altogether which is even more easier.

==Place Search==

===How do I search for something?===
Type the name of the place you're looking for in the search box in the Wikimapia Menu Bar at the top of your screen, and press the <tt>'''Search'''</tt> button. A list results matching your query shall be returned in the sidebar. You can also tailor your searches by location or coordinates by choosing the respective tabs underneath the search box in the sidebar.
===How can I use Wikimapia to search for hotels on my travels?===
There are three ways to search for hotels:
*Type the name of a hotel or simply type "hotel" in the search box and click the button with the search icon
*Type "hotel" in the category search box and select "hotel" in the dropdown suggestion list
*Under your username, select "Extras" and then "Hotel booking"

==Categories==

===What are Categories?===
Category filter is a tool that allows you to search for places of one type (ie. bars, hospitals, etc) by their category.

===How do I search for something?===
You just need to hover over ‘Categories’ on the top menu and either choose the category you are looking for (if its shown) or search it in ‘Search categories’ bar. Then you’ll see that all the places on the map that fit your category will we have red marks. To quit a category search click ‘cancel’ on the bottom of the map.

===How can I find, for example, theaters in one city?===
See previous
===What categories should I use if the place object's function changes?===
Always use the category which best describes the primary function of the place object. For example, where the following occurs:

* A house is bought by a banking company and turned into a bank
* A shop moves into an air raid shelter
* An old mansion is converted into a museum

You would do the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Old place object function !! New place object function !! Old category (to be removed)!! New category
|-
| <center>House</center> || <center>Bank</center> || <center>[house]</center> || <center>[bank]</center>
|-
| <center>Air raid shelter</center> || <center>Shop</center> || <center>[air raid shelter]</center> || <center>[shop / store]</center>
|-
| <center>Old mansion</center> || <center>Museum</center> || <center>[manor / mansion / villa]</center> || <center>[museum]</center>
|}

= User Tools =

==Watchlists==

===How do I create a watchlist?===
To create a watchlist go to [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/ Tools] click on watchlist then click add, outline the area you wish to watch, enter a name and click save. You can navigate back to see your watchlist's this way.

===Is there a limit of watchlist's I can create?===
No, there is not limit to the number of watchlist's you can create.

=Community=

==Forum==

===When can I join in the forum discussions?===
As soon as you are registered.
===Why am I not able to post into the forum?===
Every regular user can post into the forum. If you can not then you are either an unregistered user or you were banned on forum for [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 guidelines of Wikimapia forum] violation.

===Should I ask a question anywhere in the forum, or should I start a new topic? ===
If there is already a topic that refers to your question, you can post your question there. You should start a new thread only if there is no topic alike. Remember: Off-topic posts may be deleted by moderators.
===How can I make sure that someone sees my posting in the forum? (should I post it in all sections?) ===
There is no way to '''guarantee''' that someone will certainly see your posting, but new postings usually appear on the top of the forum page, so users '''might''' see them.
===I posted a message in the forum, but I have changed my mind. Can/should I delete it? ===
You can delete your message only during a short period of time after posting. In other situation you can not delete your messages, only [[Community#Forum_moderators| forum moderators]] have such power. So you can contact one of them and explain the reason why your message needs to be deleted.

===I added a photo to my profile, but my forum posting still shows "no foto"? ===
Wait for a while. It may take some time.
===I remember seeing something discussed in the forum last week, but now I can't find it. Is it possible to find it again? ===
On such a case there is a search bar at the top right corner of the forum page.

===Why do forum messages always run off the right side of my screen?===
The forum is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. If yours is set to less than this, the forum display will be wider than your screen.

===How can I make a text bold, italicize or underline it?===
You will have to use square brackets [][/]

*for bold: [b]text[/b]
*to italicize: [i]text[/i]
*to underline: [u]text[/u]

===How to embed images?===
to embed image: [img]url goes here[/img]

==Other Users==

===How do I find out where another user lives===
If a user marked his\her location you may figure out where is he\she from. Otherwise, you need to ask directly to the user, but be ready for a disappointment, since many users prefer to keep your privacy.

===How can I contact another user?===
Find it (a) in the forum or on a map of users, or the link somewhere that he (a) has described or discussed. Click on your username. This will open the user profile that you want to contact. Click "send message to this user", type your message in the text box and click the "send message". The message you sent is shown above a new text box empty. That's it: do not click the button "send message" again. If you have already sent a message to this user, you name it (a) will be on your list of contacts: open your profile, click on "Messages", find the desired user name and proceed from there.
===How do I contact a user if I only know his username?===
You can find him/her by rank. Find 'Users rank' in a 'tools' section in your profile. In the window that opens, there is a search field 'Search username'. Enter the user name and click 'search'. Note that the name must exactly match the user (no matter, however, if the letters are uppercase or lowercase). If you have trouble finding it, you can ask for help from other users in the forum. Maybe some of us may find the desired user.

===How can I find out the email address linked to a user account?===
You can not. This information is private. You will not find any e-mail here. The only way is to ask the user, by sending him a message.
===I have a disagreement with another user. What should I do?===
Bring the items to the forum. We will mediate the "ceasefire" between you and another user.
===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===What is a sockpuppet?===
English Wikipedia page says: "sockpuppet is an online identity used in order to deceive the other members of a virtual community. In its initial use, a "sockpuppet" was a false identity through which a member of a community on the Internet manifests itself while pretending that it does not, as does a puppeteer manipulating a puppet. In WikiMapia, a "sockpuppet" is someone who has a second account.

===Is it acceptable to have a sockpuppet?===
For most users, no. However, there are users who have higher levels "sockpuppets" for experiments. They are useful in this regard.

==User Levels==

===What is the difference between user levels?===
The higher user level you are the more tools and options are available for you.

===What are the advantages & responsibilities of being an advanced user?===
Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
#Ban tool
#Protection
#Deletion/restoration of comments
#Faster object deletion
#Up to 2.500 points per polygon
#The ability to vote on AU's promotion

Being an Advanced User means you need to look after the map. For example, coordinate and encourage users, help new users, arrange debates, keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.

===How do I become an advanced user?===

There is no a defined formula for becoming an AU. Just contribute to Wikimapia and your efforts will be noted. In practice, recommendations are given of possible AU forum and if there is a consensus, so administrators can choose to promote you. These recommendations are based on the overall quality of their contributions, their visibility in the Forum and its suitability to the ideals of WikiMapia.

===Will a high rank qualify me to become an advanced user?===
A high rank itself can not make you an advanced user. Though the more you contribute to Wikimapia the higher is you rank, so the closer the moment that you may be offered to become an advanced user..
===How many places do I have to mark to become an advanced user?===
All these questions have the same answer: There is no magic number you need to achieve because the promotion AU is a manual process done by administrators, and this is not automatic, regardless of what numbers you have.

===How many good votes do I need to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===How long should one be a regular user to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===Why is my account marked as limited/banned?===
If you were banned you’ll get a notification message, that explains the reasons and proofs of your ban. In addition, you’ll see a red window on the right of your profile page that notifies you about the reasons and details of limitation.

===How can I tell what user level a user is?===
In profile of every user there is a number of his user level.

===Can a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29 sockpuppet] (clone) account apply for AU status?===
No, it cannot. Only a personal account (one account per individual) can apply for AU status if it is eligible for application. This is not applicable to separate accounts belonging to different individuals who live in the same household or use the same IP address.

===Can advanced user test accounts apply for AU status?===
It is strictly forbidden for Advanced user duplicate accounts (openly declared for test purposes) to apply for promotion.

==Vandalism==

===What is vandalism?===
Deliberate actions aimed to corrupt information.
Vandalism can take many forms. For example: removing correct, useful information from place tags, or adding false or offensive information. Deleting correct and useful tags, moving tags away from their correct locations, adding offensive photos, adding/re-shaping polygons so that they depict nonsensical/obscene shapes and replacing a place tag's description with one in a different language (instead of adding the new language), '''deliberately''' creating duplicate place tags, all constitute vandalism. Disrupting the forum is also considered vandalism.

===My place tag has been vandalised. What should I do?===

Post a message with the details in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] Forum WikiMapia. We're here to help.

===How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised?===
Find ‘History’ in ’menu’ in place tag, find the revision that you think is a vandalism and click ‘Undo this revision’.

===How do restore a vandalized description to what it used to be?===
See previous

===Is is possible to protect articles that are vandalized often?===

Yes. Advanced User can "semiprotect" a place. If you want a place to be semi-protected, then send a request in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] forum.

==Banning==

===What is a ban?===
A limitation caused by disregarding, violation or misinterpretation of the rules.

===If I am banned and believe that I do not deserve it, What can I do?===
Restrictions and banning are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. Read [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| the policies]] and make sure that you didn't violate any of them. If not, contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban and unblock users, so he/she might help you.

===How can I report a bad user so that he/she is banned quickly?===
You should contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban users, so he/she might help you.

==Voting==

===Why should I vote for a user?===
You should vote for a user if you want to provide a positive feedback about his/her contributions to Wikimapia, to encourage a user.
===How do I vote for a user?===
If you have 2+ user level you can vote for other users. Click on a user profile page, click on ‘votes about user’ and you’ll see a green voting form above a list of users who have already voted for a user.

===When can I start to vote for people?===
As soon as you are 2+ level
===Is there a reason I can't vote for users?===
No, there is no such a reason. You can freely vote for a user if you want.
===Is it proper to ask for votes?===
No. Voting for someone means you want to provide a positive feedback about users contributions to Wikimapia. So asking for votes is poor behavior.
===How can I get more votes?===
The more valuable places and useful information you add the more people would like to vote for you
===Someone gave me a good vote. Should I do the same for her/him?===
If you find that user deserving a good vote for his efforts on Wikimapia. If not - do not vote for a user only just to thank him for his good vote for u.
===How do I remove an unwanted vote?===
You may delete an unwanted vote if open the list of users, who voted for you, in your profile.

===Someone said I voted too frequently. Is there a limit?===
No there is no such a limit. However it is considered bad etiquette to give votes to others just to receive more yourself, only vote for user if you feel they do good work.

===Should I give a good vote to a user who is No.1 in the ranking system?===
No this is not necessary. The ranking system calculates a user's rank based on the quantity of his/her contributions. The ranking system does not calculate quality and therefore it is undesirable and illogical to give votes based on the assumption 'quantity equals quality' because it is impossible to determine quality without meticulous scrutiny. You may use your votes freely, but be aware that voting without due consideration or simply abusing the voting system shall affect your reputation and credibility.

Tip: Always judge the merits of a user's work, not the frequency.

=Error Messages=

==="Sorry, you are doing many actions in a short period of time, please wait a while and retry your action"===
There is a limit on similar actions that a user can do within a certain period of time (i.e. a newly registered user can only delete three places in an hour).

==="Too long polygon"===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots, ~244.14 km²
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots, ~996,006 km²

==="Too big polygon"===
See previous.

==="You cannot change your vote, you started vote, you may only completely unset it"===
This message belongs to a defunct system for ban voting therefore it should not appear. If it does appear, please create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and the bug reports list [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc here]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="You must remove the child objects before deleting the object"===
This message means you can not delete an object as there are child objects that refer to it. You need to delete them first.

==="Wikimapia has just updated! Please reload the page or press shift + ctrl R in order to apply fixes and enjoy new features"===
This message means that Admins have just made some changes in Wikimapia, so you need to reload the page to see the updated version of Wikimapia.

=External=

===Can I see Wikimapia places on Google Earth?===
Yes. You can download Wikimapia layer on Google Earth.

===Can I place part of the map on my own web page?===

Yes! Find the screen you want to place on your page. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" in the upper left corner and select "Map on your page" A popup window will appear with the corners of a rectangle. Just push the corners of the rectangle to resize the box and then copy the html code that is shown and paste it into your page.

===Can I use Wikimapia with a GPS device?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet.

===What browser do you recommend to use with Wikimapia?===

Any modern one, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===How do I make a jpeg or bmp shot of specific part of the map?===
First, check the licence of satellite photos provider, then capture the screen and transfer the picture into whatever format you need.

===I want to send a Wikimapia page to a friend. How do I do that?===
If you want to send a link to a specific area of Wikimapia map use URL of the page on the top of your browser.
===I clicked a Wikimapia link that someone gave me. Why am I seeing all place descriptions in Spanish now?===

The person who sent you the link used Spanish as their language. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" and select "Change language". Select the language you want.

===How can I print the map with the names of the locations (without using another application to overlay the points and names)?===

The best you can do is capture the screen and print it.

=Advertising=

===I own a business. Can I tag it?===
Yes, you can tag it. 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."
===What is the policy on advertising land for sale?===
The advertising of land for sale is not allowed under any circumstances. This means it is forbidden to advertise using Wikimapia's map tools, description and comments sections of place/linear objects, the Forum, the Blog or any other intellectual property belonging to Wikimapia.

{{Back to Main Page}}

Guest Users Watchlist International

2013-04-03T05:59:21Z

Antdoghalo: Personal pages don't belong here

Guest Users Watchlist (Philippines)

2013-04-03T05:57:50Z

Antdoghalo: Personal pages don't belong here

User talk:Happygoth09

2013-03-26T22:09:35Z

Antdoghalo: Personal pages are not allowed on the Documentation, instead you can update them on the old user guide.

User:Happygoth09

2013-03-26T22:04:26Z

Antdoghalo: Undo revision 3752 by Happygoth09 (talk)Personal pages cannot be added to the Documentation.

Help/FAQ

2013-03-21T02:23:21Z

Antdoghalo: /* How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised? */

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
Welcome to FAQ!

If you are a new or inexperienced user, we acknowledge it will take you time to understand the rules and to use Wikimapia's features properly. You may have many questions which need answering or you might need a pointer just to help you get back on track.

We therefore present the FAQ so that it can address your queries as well as covering the essential basics required to make your experience in Wikimapia a well-informed, compliant and pleasant one.
{{TOC limit|3}}
=Basic Philosophy=

===What is Wikimapia for?===
Wikimapia aimed to mark all geographical objects in the world and provide a useful description for them, so that anyone can share his knowledge and freely explore the world.
===Who is Wikimapia for?===
Anyone who is interested in exploring the world or like to share his or her knowledge with everyone who uses Wikimapia.

===What is the basic ideology of Wikimapia?===
To make yourself aware of Wikimapia basic ideology we recommend you to click [[About_Wikimapia| here]].

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikimapia?===
According to Wikimapia [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ License] you may use Wikimapia content as you like (for sharing, recasting, transforming or adapting in any form recognizably derived from the original for any use). We also encourage you to build your work upon Wikimapia data and require its further distribution under the same or similar license to this one.

===Is it WikiMapia or Wikimapia?===
This website is usually more referred to as '''Wikimapia'''.

===How can I help?===
There many ways to contribute to Wikimapia. [[Adding/editing places]] is already a great help. You can also help translating the interface into your language, report about bugs in [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ reports list] or become an [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#Special_roles advanced user (moderator)] to help other users.

=Help=

===How can I get help using Wikimapia?===
First of all you should read Wikimapia Docs and [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines] carefully. If you still can’t get the answer to your question send a message to an [[Community#Advanced_Users|Advanced User]] or you can also ask for help on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

===Who is an admin?===
Admins are the members of the [[Community#Wikimapia_Team| Wikimapia team]].

===How can I get help from admin?===
First, make sure that a moderator or an advanced user (AU) can not help you. Then send admins a message or email on contact@wikimapia.org

=Wikipedia content=

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikipedia?===
Articles quality on Wikipedia fit Wikimapia demands. So you can certainly use Wikipedia while describing a place or give a link to Wikipedia article.
===Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article into a Wikimapia description box is a great idea, right?===
Giving a link to the article is more than enough, there is no need to repeat things twice.

=Languages=

===Can I add information in my local language in a different language page?===
No. you cannot add languages in a different language page. This restriction applies to wordings added after the proper title. You can only add your language to the corresponding language page by accessing the object's 'Menu' and selecting 'Add another language' in the drop down menu. You may then choose your language from the choices available. You can also access your language page by clicking the two-letter country code (in blue) at the bottom of a tag.

===Someone has added a place in my country and written it in a foreign language. Can I delete it?===
Accurate descriptions in foreign languages are perfectly acceptable as long as they are made in the correct language page. The wilful deletion of tags containing foreign languages is forbidden.
===Can I add the same Wikipedia link to multiple language pages of an object?===
No. You should add the link to the respective language page of the object. Even then it should be confined to the Wikipedia link section in the object's edit window. However, you may include links to secondary Wikipedia articles in the description section.
===I don't understand English. What can I do?===
Wikimapia is a multi-lingual website and supports 101 languages. Though the major discussions are held in English (i.e., on forum), you still can choose your interface language from the list and enjoy Wikimapia.

===How can I see Wikimapia (or mark places) in my own language?===
You need to change the interface language to your language by hovering over two-letter country code at the top menu then clicking 'more languages' and selecting your language.

===Why are some titles and tooltips in a different language?===
This means that there is no translation of these titles or tooltips in your language yet. You can translate them into your language if you like.
===How do I change the interface language?===
To change the interface language to your language, hover over two-letter country code at the top menu, click 'more languages' and select your language.

===How is the default language for my created places determined?===
When open a place tag the system will offer you to see the description on your interface language. If there is no description on your interface language then you'll see the tag on English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian. If there is no description on any of these languages, then you'll see the description on available language.

===When a place is written in several languages, but not mine, how do you determine which one to show me?===
There is a list of most popular languages. If there are several descriptions of one place on different languages the system automatically determines the most popular language among those which are available for that specific place.

===Someone wrote a good description in a place but it's in the wrong language page. What should I do with this?===
You should move the description to the correct language page. You can also translate the good description into your language, if you can.

===Can I remove a place's description in a particular language without deleting the entire place?===
Yes.

===What languages should I translate my place tag into?===
Into whatever you speak from the language list that opens when hover over two-letter country code at the top menu and clicking 'more languages'.

===The place I'm describing has different names in different languages. Which name should I use in my language?===
Proper one for you language. You should find the official name of the place on your language in some other source and use it. If a place has also an unofficial name that locals use, you can also note it in description or in braces near the official name. If a place does not have an official name at all, use its unofficial name as main.

===I found a place described in a language I do not know, but I want to know what was written. What can I do?===
You can try and translate it with Google Translate or any available dictionary.

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them.

===Can I find out how many users use a certain language interface?===
There is no stats on such a case.

===I can see a number of different strange language codes at the bottom right of the object window, but how can I tell what they are?===
Those codes are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO ISO] abbreviations for languages. Is you hover a cursor over them and wait a bit you’ll see the whole language name.

===When I look at the available languages, my language isn't there. What can be done about this?===
In this case you should contact Wikimapia Team. They will either add your language to the language list, or explain to you why it can't be done.

===I have created a description in a new language for an existing place object, but it is not shown in my list of created places although my place tag counter has increased by one. Why?===
Because only the first one who created the place gets it in his list.

===How do I change the language on the map layer?===
You can change the language of your interface at the top menu and the map layer language will change automatically.

=Translations=

===How can I help translate the user interface into my language?===
You can go to [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page] and become an editor.

===How can I find out the translation status of a certain language?===
You can find it on [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page].

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them to the language of your interface.

= Satellite Images =

===Why is the picture of my town/village so bad?===

Because the satellite imagery provided by Google in this area, is bad. We have no impact on it, unfortunately.

===Why can't I zoom in more in a certain area?===
Because the satellite imagery provider has no higher resolution pictures of this area.

===Can you update the map in my location because it is too blurry/low resolution quality?===
No, unfortunately we cannot, as satellite images are provided by Google. This means that we have no idea when Google will update the images. you can monitor the updated images on Google sites, however their help page says that this happens once in "approximately one to three years".

===How can we find out where Google has recently changed their images?===
You can try the [http://www.gearthblog.com blog do Google Earth] (English), where there is a link to the updates of recent images.
===When will the satellite images of my area get more detail?===
See previous
===When will the satellite images of my area be brought up to date?===
See previous
===Can I find out which place tags were most recently added?===
You can use Countries watchlist that you may find in 'tools' for these purpose.
===Why have all the place tags in my area shifted 10 meters to the west?===
Sometimes when Google updates its files, they can not line them up precisely with the old pictures. Take satellite photos of a spherical Earth and match these images on a flat map is not as easy as we would like. So sometimes, there are offsets. On such a case there is 'Satellite images updates list' tool (or Map Shift). It allows to fix those shifts of the map.
===What should I do when all the place tags in a certain area have been shifted 10 metres to the west?===
See previous.
=== I found a place where when I zoomed OUT it said "no imagery"?===
this means that the provider has no higher resolution imagery there.

=Place tools=

==Adding places==

===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?===
It's better to name it just Place or Object.

===How do I add a place?===
Select 'add a place' and a red polygon tool will appear. Draw a [[Tools#Polygons|polygon]], then add other information :
* choose Language carefully.
* Title is the name Wikimapia shows that when we hover over the place. Write something short, but representative.
* Description. For the description, as they say, 2 or 3 lines is already good.
* 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
And click the 'Save'.

* Photo

===Can I add my own house?===
It is undesirable to add a personal house if:
#it does not possess interesting details
#you do not recognise the potential repercussions of disclosing personal details

This aside, you are allowed to mark a building as long as it:
*has an accurate outline
*has a properly assigned category
*possesses a recognizable address. This should be demonstrated by assigning a street name (via the Roads tool) and a building number in the Address section.

===A ship which is anchored or stationed in a fixed location (prepositioning) has drifted slightly from its original position. Can I still mark it?===
Yes you can provided the ship maintains a fixed position near to the original location. For existing objects, if the map updates to indicate an anchored/prepositioned ship has drifted, you should update the change by redrawing the object's outline.

===Which map provider should I use to mark objects?===

You can use any map source provided they are not incorrect nor illegal.

Since its inception in 2006, Wikimapia has always used Google Maps to plot its data layer as it was the only source available for five years. Presently, Wikimapia regards Google Maps imagery the best source in most cases.

Google Maps' satellite view is the default and the most widely used map view to mark objects in Wikimapia. We highly recommended that you use Google Satellite 'old places' view ('Satellite + old places' in Beta and 'Google satellite' with 'old places' checked in New Wikimapia) to ensure you don't duplicate the addition of an already marked object.

Finally, reality governs over all map sources. For example, if a building is demolished in real life, it should be marked as such even though the map may show it to still exist as a building.

===Which places should I tag?===
* Any non-movable place that exists at this particular moment in time.
** Planes, submarines, circuses and other movable objects may be added if they are still for at least a week.
** Permanently still or stationed ships which are moored or anchored can be marked even if they have drifted from an original position.
* A place must have at the very least a properly constructed outline.
* Settlement place tags such as cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods must have a properly assigned category.
* Historical/disappeared places. These '''must''' have the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category assigned to them.
* Newly constructed buildings, which are not visible on the satellite image. Use a different map provider with the latest images to verify the outline. If the newly constructed place is not visible on any map, try your best to mark the outline accurately.

Remember, reality governs over satellite images and map sources. If you can see and visit a place not visible on a map, you can still mark it.

===Which places should I not tag?===
Please think carefully before adding a place tag, there are certain things that are forbidden. Place tags that meet the following deletion criteria should not be added:

* An outline that does not mark any identifiable place.
* A historical/disappeared place without the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category.
* A planned building or road that has not entered the construction phase.
* Movable objects that are still for less than a week.
* A place tag that marks temporary or intangible events such as battles etc.
* A place tag that is a copy of another place tag.
* A personal/private residence that does not contain an address or useful information.


===What information should I provide in a place tag?===
You should provide any information that you find useful and valuable, if only it does not violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===What information should I not provide in a place tag?===
You should not provide any information that violates [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===How big should my place tag be?===
For the description 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.

===Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?===
'''No you should not''', you should use the linear tools to draw on the map. This is found under the '''Edit map''' drop down menu list, which is found at the top-left of the screen.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Edit map drop down menu list]]

===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"?===
No you should not, if you do not know the place then you '''should not''' mark it.

===Should I tag a place that does not show up in the satellite image because it has just been built?===
Yes! Once the image is updated, the site will be there.
===Should we mark places that may be dangerous to visit?===
You can mark dangerous place as any other. You can also caution other users in description that this place is dangerous to visit.

===How do I use the categories section in a place object?===
Click [[User_interface#Categories|here]] for answers.

===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!===
''See also: [[editing_places#Undeleting.2FPlace_restoration|Undeleting/Place restoration]]''

Probably some user has deleted the place tag you've created, if so its best to click on '''Deleted Places''' from the '''Map type''' menu drop down list and check on the map if its been deleted.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Map type menu list, where the 'Deleted places' layer is highlighted.]]

===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?===
You can edit and needs no prompting to any user as well as they do not need to ask permission from you. But add good things and not change one point for a comma to stay with his name on the marker.
===How do I edit a description?===
Move your mouse over the desired location, click the left button in the upper left corner hover over the menu and then click Edit this page. After all done click the save button.
===When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?===
Please see [[Help/FAQ#If_a_business.2C_shop.2C_store_etc.2C_moves_or_is_shut_down.2C_should_I_delete_the_defunct_place_object.3F |here]]

===Some places show users' names at the bottom of an object window, but other places don't have a user's name. Why?===
They were made by unregistered user (UU).

===I found several place tags marking the same place. What do I do?===
Ask for the removal of the most most informative site (or recent and leave the oldest), thus respecting the establishment of the previous location.
A tip: put on the map '''Satellite + old places''' (to avoid a site already created is recreated again).

===Tall buildings in a city sometimes seem to be leaning sideways. How should I mark those locations?===
All buildings should be outlined at their base (ground level), regardless of whether their images appear to be leaning. When the images are from directly or nearly directly overhead, the roof edges may be used to approximate the ground level footprint if they have the same dimensions.

Tall buildings and structures like radio towers appear to "lean" because of the way they have been [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Photography photographed] from the air. For further clarification, please read [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Adding/editing_places#Polygons this].

===Can I add places which do not exist any more?===
You can, but only if you:
*know the precise dimensions
*add the historical layer/disappeared place category
If the above requirements are lacking, you should not add non-existent places.

===Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving?===
To see what area needs improving you can use [[status grid]]. If you are interested in specific map area (ie., cause you are familiar with the area and can improve it better) we recommend you to add a [[Tools#Watchlist |watchlist]], so you can monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, etc) and know whether any new place needs to be improved.

===I found some places near the north/south pole! What is going on?===
Most are the result of vandals. Nevertheless, there is no valid markings indicating settlements and scientific stations.

===I don't know what to write in object description. Can I copy only title in description?===
No. But, if object/place has alternative name, write it.

==Semi-Protection==

===The tag info tells me that the place is 'semi-protected'. What does that mean?===
Some tags are often vandalized and needs protection, this can only be done by [[Advanced Users]]. Registered users and unregistered users can not edit tags at all.

===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 [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 thread]. Only advanced users can put on protective items (tags).

==Polygons==

===Why can't I add more points to a polygon?===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots

===Why can't I create big polygons and why do I get the message: "Too big polygon"?===
There are limitations on the polygon size you can make depending on your [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#User_levels User Level.]

===Can I revert a polygon to the state before it was vandalized?===
Yes you can. You can do this by applying the correct polygon state of a previous revision as current.
===Can I delete a polygon?===
No, this isn't possible. If you think the polygon shape is wrong, you should resize it so that it is correct. If the incorrect polygon has hundreds of dots and you find it too laborious to correct manually, please contact an Advanced User to assist you.
===I don't understand guideline 1.2. "A place must have at least a properly constructed outline"?===
This is a minimum requirement for a place object to be acceptable. A polygon should clearly outline a map object you are marking in the aerial/satellite image. A properly constructed outline means a polygon should never overlap an area that is not part of the object.
A place object should have an accurate outline but it doesn't ''need'' a title or description, although the inclusion of which is preferred for the place object to be useful. If the place object lacks proper details, it is still possible for other users to improve it.
===I tried to add new points to a polygon, but I failed. What is the reason? (150 points limitation)===
Regular users can draw up to 500 dots per polygon. When adding new dots to a polygon you should stick to the same limit, which means that total number of dots (first+added) should not overdraw 500 dots.
===Due to the polygon limit can I add several polygons and use them as "jigsaw pieces" (terrain patches) to construct a larger object?===
No. A polygon should mark an object (named or unnamed) with its own identifiable outline. Using smaller fictitious objects to construct a larger object because of a polygon limitation is not permissible. The practice of "jigsaw piecing" or "terrain patching" does not comply with Wikimapia Guidelines clause 1.2. Furthermore, the deletion of such places becomes necessary as per the deletion clauses 3.1 and 3.2 of the Wikimapia Guidelines.
However, smaller interlocking and tessellating polygons can be marked if they represent recognizable places in their own right.

===I added a polygon for a place but my edit count stayed the same. Why?===
When you add a polygon to a place this reflects in line 'Polygons added to places without a polygon' in profile 'Stats', not in edit count.

===Can I use polygons as arrows or waymarkers to indicate the route or direction of a place?===
No. This is because arrows and waymarkers aren't real places with definable outlines. Polygons should not be manipulated to indicate anything other than the outline of a place.

==Comments==

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

''Also see: [[editing_places#Comments | Comments]]''

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only [[Advanced Users]] can delete comments. If you find a bad comment you think should be deleted you can report it [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 Here]

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
Guests usernames are black, registered users have blue username links, which direct to their profile pages.

==Photos==

===How do I add photos?===
Open place description, hover over ‘menu’ at the top and click ‘add/manage photos’. Here you can upload new photos and delete old ones. '''Remember''': photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place will be deleted.

===How do I know when a photo was taken?===
You can only know who and when uploaded it (it is written below the photo). You may ask a user, who uploaded a photo, when it was taken, but we can not guarantee that he will answer for sure.

===Can I make notes about a photograph?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet. You can only give it a name, when uploading it, and leave a comment with your notes below the photo.

===Which photos should be deleted?===
You should delete those photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place.

As you can upload only 7 photos for every object it is also permited and even encouraged to delete photos of bad quality if only you can replace them with better quality photos.

===How do I delete a bad photo?===
Click on the tag where you have found the bad photo, hover the cursor over '''menu''' at the top and then click on '''add/manage photos'''. In the tab where you see '''Current photos''' hover the cursor over the bad photo, then a '''Delete''' button should appear underneath the photo, click on it and the bad photo will get deleted. It is to be noted, that this is the same place where you can upload a new photo.

===How can I tell which place tags contain photos?===
You can not. But you can filter all places by ‘places '''without''' photos’ category and see which places do not have photos. Therefore all places without red marks contain photos.

===Can I add a video of a place?===
Yes, you can provide a link from youtube.com in place description, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview.

===Under what conditions can I use the "free" images from Wikimedia Commons?===
Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing here] for answers.

===Can I add photos to linear objects: to streets, rivers, railways?===
Yes.

==Deletion==

===How do I delete a place?===
Places can be deleted by selecting 'Delete place' under 'Menu' in the object's window. Please be aware that you may only delete a place as per the deletion reasons (under 3. Deleting tags) of the [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines].

===What actions are acceptable, or even encouraged, when deleting place tags?===
Before deleting an object, read the [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| Wikimapia Policies]] carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. If you have any doubts about deleting a place you can discuss it on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] or ask an [[ Community#Advanced_Users | Advanced User]] for advice.

===I found some places that should be deleted, but I can't delete them since I am only a regular user (RU). What should I do?===
If you can’t delete an object, it might be under an AU protection. You should contact an AU, explain you reasons and ask for help.

===How long does it take for a "deleted" place to actually disappear entirely?===
After you made a request to delete an object the system will inform you in what time the place will be deleted on the place page. Usually it takes five days (if removed by a regular user) and couple of hours (if removed by an AU). Between deletion request and actual disappearance of the object, a user can cancel the deletion by clicking on ‘cancel’ button.

===How do I know if one of my places has been deleted?===
You can check your Stats tab in your profile window. Your created places which are deleted will be shown via the counter next to <tt>'''Deleted from them:'''</tt>
===Do deleted places still show up on my list of created places?===
Yes. If someone deleted your places they still will be written in ‘Places and streets created’ line (and ‘Deleted from them’ line as well), but they will be marked as deleted and you won’t get experience point for them.

===How many places can I delete per day/week?===
It depends on your user level. On the first user level you can delete three places in one hour only. UL 2 - ten objects in ~16 minutes, UL3 - twenty objects in ~13 minutes, UL4 - thirty in 5 minutes, UL5+ - eighty in 2 minutes, AUs can delete 200 objects in 90 seconds.

===In China many place tags are marked ?????(cn). Should I delete them?===
No, you should not delete them. Seeing such symbols simply means that your computer does not maintain Chinese symbols.
===If a business, shop, store etc, moves or is shut down, should I delete the defunct place object?===
If the building still exists, and it hasn't been demolished, it should '''not''' be deleted. We recommend you update the place object's article by describing its present function. It is essential you update its title, description, address and category to reflect the change.
===Why do deleted objects still show up in Google search results?===
Objects put up for deletion will be removed after a specified time. However, Google will continue to display the deleted/outdated information until they update their own search results to show the latest web pages. This is because Google takes 'snapshots' of web pages it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Unfortunately, these stored pages may be outdated until they are updated. You can either be patient until Google removes the outdated data or you can contact them [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz here].

=Linear Tools=

===Can I add extinct or proposed linear works?===
No. You can only add linear features which exist in reality and (in the case of transport linear features) must be functional as a complete thoroughfare or route for pedestrian and/or vehicular conveyance.

==Roads==

===I cannot add roads===
If you are a new user, it is most likely a temporary limitation has been placed on your ability to use the "Road" tool because your experience level is too low. To increase your experience level, you must first add places to the map with the "Add place" tool or edit previously created objects. Please make sure the places you add are accurate and proper. Once you have gained enough experience with the "Add place" tool, you will be allowed to use the "Road" tool.
The restriction is necessary because the "Road" tool has specialized features that new/inexperienced users find difficult to use properly. Adding roads requires skill and so it is only available to experienced users who are familiar with the use of other tools. Click [[Community#User_levels| here]] for more on experience levels.
If you have suddenly lost the ability to add roads then you will need to create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and a bug report [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 here].

===Should I add multiple road segments to mark individual lanes in a road?===
Only if a physical divider is present between those lanes. Otherwise use segment options to set lanes number.

===What road type should I use to mark a road?===
Depending on the type of the road (dirt road, courtyard road, street/low traffic, road/high traffic, highway).

===Am I allowed to enter the zip/post code in the title field along with the road name?===
You should really not, however you may include the zip/post codes in the description field.

==Railroads==
This tool allow you to map the railway segments onto the map page. To have more information about the use of this tool, please see [[Tools#Railroads|Railroads]] section

==Rivers==
===Can I add a polygon for a river whose sides are too complex for the riverside feature?===
No. You cannot add polygons for a river since the river tool is designed for this purpose and only it should be used for linear water bodies. Instead, the riverside feature should be shaped accurately as possible to cover the expanse of the complex river.

The only instance where you may add a polygon is for intersections (confluences) or the point where a river drains into a larger water body such as a lake. Be sure to use the correct category(s) for water bodies marked with a polygon.

==Ferry==

===Can I use the ferry tool to mark rivers and vice versa?===
'''No'''. This tool is only for the mapping of genuine ferry routes. To map river you must use the river tool.

=Interface=

==Wikimapia Screen==

===How do I use all those things on the Wikimapia screen?===
Click [[User_interface#About_the_Wikimapia_Main_Screen| here]] for answers.

===When I look at place's description page, there is a line near the top that says, for example, "World/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". What is this telling me?===
This is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_%28navigation%29 breadcrumb] line and shows a list of places according to administrative levels. Please be aware this list is not a precise indication of the place object; it is only to be referred to as an approximation of places near to the place object.

===The breadcrumb navigation is wrong/not showing the correct place name?===
See above.

===What is 'Hotel booking' in the menu under my username?===
‘Hotel booking’ is a useful tool for tourists. If you are planning to visit any specific place in short time, you can find it on the map and click on ‘Hotel booking’ under your username. Afterwards you will see all hotels marked with special icons. This allows you to choose and book a hotel depending on its geographical position. Click on any hotel and see its page on booking.com.

===What is Distance Measure and what can I do with it?===
It is a tool which allows to measure the distance between two points. To do this you need to mark on the map both points or a detailed route from one point to another and the system will calculate its length. Afterwards you may send the link of what you see on the map to your friend by sending URL of the page on the top of your browser.

===What are those buttons underneath the menu bar?===
Those are [[Tools#Adding_place| Add place]], Distance measure (see previous) and [[User_interface#Zoom_Control.2F_Zoom_Levels| Zoom]].

===What are all those options under the 'Map type' menu?===
Those are different map types that you can choose depending on what you are searching for.

===What are all those options under the 'Categories' menu?===
Those are categories that system offers you on default. If you are searching for a category that is not in the list, you need to type it in ‘Search categories’ bar or find it in ‘Categories hierarchy’ in tools.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===What do the red dots under the names of places mean?===
Red dot under an object name means that the object is a city.

===What are the icons in some places and what do they mean?===
These are category icons, they are shown even if you do not using category filter. If you want to know their meaning open ‘Rendering of categories’ in ‘tools’ section.

==User Profile/Account==

===Why should I register?===
While you are an unregistered user of Wikimapia you can use a limited amount of tools and options only. Since you are registered you can gain experience points, advance your user level and get access to new tools. Besides, only registered users can post on forum.

===Do you have any advice for new members?===
Yes, you can read them [[Quick_start#Advice_for_new_users| here]].

===It says in my profile that I created 106 places. But I can only count 82. What happened to the other places I've created?===
Apparently they were deleted, so you can find them in ‘Deleted from them’ line.

===Can I see how many places I have deleted?===
In stats section in your profile you can see the list of all your actions including ‘Places requested to be deleted’ and ‘Place deletion requests cancelled’.

===How do I mark my own location? Why should I?===
To mark your location find ‘Choose your location’ at the top of your profile page. Then choose your location by positioning the map and placing the marker. Location may be approximate for privacy. Your location will be visible to other users, so they could figure out where are you from.

===How do I delete a message someone sent me?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete a message, it will stay permanently in your inbox.

===Is there any way I can change my user name? I hate this one!===
This is not an easy task. You really should have thought of this before registering! If you really have a good reason, you must send an e-mail administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. They may be able to help you. Otherwise, you have two options: 1) Learn to live with it, or 2) abandon the account and start a new, re-registering.
===Someone has stolen my Wikimapia account and password. What can I do?===
Send e-mail to administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. Ask to have your password reset. Remember that the thief may have changed your e-mail, so be prepared to give evidence that you really are the original owner of the account. And be ready to apologize for who the thief might have offended
===I don't want to be part of Wikimapia any more. How do I delete my account?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete your account, alternatively you may want to change your password to something you will not be able to remember easily or you can stop visiting Wikimapia altogether which is even more easier.

==Place Search==

===How do I search for something?===
Type the name of the place you're looking for in the search box in the Wikimapia Menu Bar at the top of your screen, and press the <tt>'''Search'''</tt> button. A list results matching your query shall be returned in the sidebar. You can also tailor your searches by location or coordinates by choosing the respective tabs underneath the search box in the sidebar.

==Categories==

===What are Categories?===
Category filter is a tool that allows you to search for places of one type (ie. bars, hospitals, etc) by their category.

===How do I search for something?===
You just need to hover over ‘Categories’ on the top menu and either choose the category you are looking for (if its shown) or search it in ‘Search categories’ bar. Then you’ll see that all the places on the map that fit your category will we have red marks. To quit a category search click ‘cancel’ on the bottom of the map.

===How can I find, for example, theaters in one city?===
See previous

= User Tools =

==Watchlists==

===How do I create a watchlist?===
To create a watchlist go to [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/ Tools] click on watchlist then click add, outline the area you wish to watch, enter a name and click save. You can navigate back to see your watchlist's this way.

===Is there a limit of watchlist's I can create?===
No, there is not limit to the number of watchlist's you can create.

=Community=

==Forum==

===When can I join in the forum discussions?===
As soon as you are registered.
===Why am I not able to post into the forum?===
Every regular user can post into the forum. If you can not then you are either an unregistered user or you were banned on forum for [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 guidelines of Wikimapia forum] violation.

===Should I ask a question anywhere in the forum, or should I start a new topic? ===
If there is already a topic that refers to your question, you can post your question there. You should start a new thread only if there is no topic alike. Remember: Off-topic posts may be deleted by moderators.
===How can I make sure that someone sees my posting in the forum? (should I post it in all sections?) ===
There is no way to '''guarantee''' that someone will certainly see your posting, but new postings usually appear on the top of the forum page, so users '''might''' see them.
===I posted a message in the forum, but I have changed my mind. Can/should I delete it? ===
You can delete your message only during a short period of time after posting. In other situation you can not delete your messages, only [[Community#Forum_moderators| forum moderators]] have such power. So you can contact one of them and explain the reason why your message needs to be deleted.

===I added a photo to my profile, but my forum posting still shows "no foto"? ===
Wait for a while. It may take some time.
===I remember seeing something discussed in the forum last week, but now I can't find it. Is it possible to find it again? ===
On such a case there is a search bar at the top right corner of the forum page.

===Why do forum messages always run off the right side of my screen?===
The forum is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. If yours is set to less than this, the forum display will be wider than your screen.

===How can I make a text bold, italicize or underline it?===
You will have to use square brackets [][/]

*for bold: [b]text[/b]
*to italicize: [i]text[/i]
*to underline: [u]text[/u]

===How to embed images?===
to embed image: [img]url goes here[/img]

==Other Users==

===How do I find out where another user lives===
If a user marked his\her location you may figure out where is he\she from. Otherwise, you need to ask directly to the user, but be ready for a disappointment, since many users prefer to keep your privacy.

===How can I contact another user?===
Find it (a) in the forum or on a map of users, or the link somewhere that he (a) has described or discussed. Click on your username. This will open the user profile that you want to contact. Click "send message to this user", type your message in the text box and click the "send message". The message you sent is shown above a new text box empty. That's it: do not click the button "send message" again. If you have already sent a message to this user, you name it (a) will be on your list of contacts: open your profile, click on "Messages", find the desired user name and proceed from there.
===How do I contact a user if I only know his username?===
You can find him/her by rank. Find 'Users rank' in a 'tools' section in your profile. In the window that opens, there is a search field 'Search username'. Enter the user name and click 'search'. Note that the name must exactly match the user (no matter, however, if the letters are uppercase or lowercase). If you have trouble finding it, you can ask for help from other users in the forum. Maybe some of us may find the desired user.

===How can I find out the email address linked to a user account?===
You can not. This information is private. You will not find any e-mail here. The only way is to ask the user, by sending him a message.
===I have a disagreement with another user. What should I do?===
Bring the items to the forum. We will mediate the "ceasefire" between you and another user.
===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===What is a sockpuppet?===
English Wikipedia page says: "sockpuppet is an online identity used in order to deceive the other members of a virtual community. In its initial use, a "sockpuppet" was a false identity through which a member of a community on the Internet manifests itself while pretending that it does not, as does a puppeteer manipulating a puppet. In WikiMapia, a "sockpuppet" is someone who has a second account.

===Is it acceptable to have a sockpuppet?===
For most users, no. However, there are users who have higher levels "sockpuppets" for experiments. They are useful in this regard.

==User Levels==

===What is the difference between user levels?===
The higher user level you are the more tools and options are available for you.

===What are the advantages & responsibilities of being an advanced user?===
Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
#Ban tool
#Protection
#Deletion/restoration of comments
#Faster object deletion
#Up to 2.500 points per polygon
#The ability to vote on AU's promotion

Being an Advanced User means you need to look after the map. For example, coordinate and encourage users, help new users, arrange debates, keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.

===How do I become an advanced user?===

There is no a defined formula for becoming an AU. Just contribute to Wikimapia and your efforts will be noted. In practice, recommendations are given of possible AU forum and if there is a consensus, so administrators can choose to promote you. These recommendations are based on the overall quality of their contributions, their visibility in the Forum and its suitability to the ideals of WikiMapia.

===Will a high rank qualify me to become an advanced user?===
A high rank itself can not make you an advanced user. Though the more you contribute to Wikimapia the higher is you rank, so the closer the moment that you may be offered to become an advanced user..
===How many places do I have to mark to become an advanced user?===
All these questions have the same answer: There is no magic number you need to achieve because the promotion AU is a manual process done by administrators, and this is not automatic, regardless of what numbers you have.

===How many good votes do I need to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===How long should one be a regular user to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===Why is my account marked as limited/banned?===
If you were banned you’ll get a notification message, that explains the reasons and proofs of your ban. In addition, you’ll see a red window on the right of your profile page that notifies you about the reasons and details of limitation.

===How can I tell what user level a user is?===
In profile of every user there is a number of his user level.

===Can a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29 sockpuppet] (clone) account apply for AU status?===
No, it cannot. Only a personal account (one account per individual) can apply for AU status if it is eligible for application. This is not applicable to separate accounts belonging to different individuals who live in the same household or use the same IP address.

===Can advanced user test accounts apply for AU status?===
It is strictly forbidden for Advanced user duplicate accounts (openly declared for test purposes) to apply for promotion.

==Vandalism==

===What is vandalism?===
Deliberate actions aimed to corrupt information.
Vandalism can take many forms. For example: removing correct, useful information from place tags, or adding false or offensive information. Deleting correct and useful tags, moving tags away from their correct locations, adding offensive photos, adding/re-shaping polygons so that they depict nonsensical/obscene shapes and replacing a place tag's description with one in a different language (instead of adding the new language), '''deliberately''' creating duplicate place tags, all constitute vandalism. Disrupting the forum is also considered vandalism.

===My place tag has been vandalised. What should I do?===

Post a message with the details in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] Forum WikiMapia. We're here to help.

===How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised?===
Find ‘History’ in ’menu’ in place tag, find the revision that you think is a vandalism and click ‘Undo this revision’.

===How do restore a vandalized description to what it used to be?===
See previous

===Is is possible to protect articles that are vandalized often?===

Yes. Advanced User can "semiprotect" a place. If you want a place to be semi-protected, then send a request in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] forum.

===Can I undelete a non-compliant place object and re-purpose/convert it into an acceptable one?===

The practice of salvaging a deleted place object and reassigning its identity is forbidden '''if''' the newer object is:
*situated at a different location from the original
*has a completely different function to the original

All objects must be marked with their own outlines and are treated as individual objects. For example, the place object for a jetty (which has rotted away) cannot be converted into a lake or boat house - it must be deleted (unless the jetty is rebuilt). The lake and boat house must be marked separately with their own place object identities.

Recycling obsolete objects and reusing them may seem desirable but ultimately defeats the object of populating Wikimapia's map and database with unique places and overall place count respectively. The exception to this rule is that an existing place can be re-purposed within one day of its creation if a user has marked it erroneously.

The wilful and persistent act of undeleting place objects (including existing place objects) and recycling them into compliant objects is forbidden. In addition, the premeditated act of abusing the aforementioned exception is also forbidden.

==Banning==

===What is a ban?===
A limitation caused by disregarding, violation or misinterpretation of the rules.

===If I am banned and believe that I do not deserve it, What can I do?===
Restrictions and banning are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. Read [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| the policies]] and make sure that you didn't violate any of them. If not, contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban and unblock users, so he/she might help you.

===How can I report a bad user so that he/she is banned quickly?===
You should contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban users, so he/she might help you.

==Voting==

===Why should I vote for a user?===
You should vote for a user if you want to provide a positive feedback about his/her contributions to Wikimapia, to encourage a user.
===How do I vote for a user?===
If you have 2+ user level you can vote for other users. Click on a user profile page, click on ‘votes about user’ and you’ll see a green voting form above a list of users who have already voted for a user.

===When can I start to vote for people?===
As soon as you are 2+ level
===Is there a reason I can't vote for users?===
No, there is no such a reason. You can freely vote for a user if you want.
===Is it proper to ask for votes?===
No. Voting for someone means you want to provide a positive feedback about users contributions to Wikimapia. So asking for votes is poor behavior.
===How can I get more votes?===
The more valuable places and useful information you add the more people would like to vote for you
===Someone gave me a good vote. Should I do the same for her/him?===
If you find that user deserving a good vote for his efforts on Wikimapia. If not - do not vote for a user only just to thank him for his good vote for u.
===How do I remove an unwanted vote?===
You may delete an unwanted vote if open the list of users, who voted for you, in your profile.

===Someone said I voted too frequently. Is there a limit?===
No there is no such a limit. However it is considered bad etiquette to give votes to others just to receive more yourself, only vote for user if you feel they do good work.

===Should I give a good vote to a user who is No.1 in the ranking system?===
If he is No.1 in ranking system then he might add a lot of good information. If do find it good - vote for him, if not - do not vote.

=Error Messages=

==="Sorry, you are doing many actions in a short period of time, please wait a while and retry your action"===
There is a limit on similar actions that a user can do within a certain period of time (i.e. a newly registered user can only delete three places in an hour).

==="Too long polygon"===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots, ~244.14 km²
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots, ~996,006 km²

==="Too big polygon"===
See previous.

==="You cannot change your vote, you started vote, you may only completely unset it"===
This message belongs to a defunct system for ban voting therefore it should not appear. If it does appear, please create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and the bug reports list [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc here]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="You must remove the child objects before deleting the object"===
This message means you can not delete an object as there are child objects that refer to it. You need to delete them first.

==="Wikimapia has just updated! Please reload the page or press shift + ctrl R in order to apply fixes and enjoy new features"===
This message means that Admins have just made some changes in Wikimapia, so you need to reload the page to see the updated version of Wikimapia.

=External=

===Can I see Wikimapia places on Google Earth?===
Yes. You can download Wikimapia layer on Google Earth.

===Can I place part of the map on my own web page?===

Yes! Find the screen you want to place on your page. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" in the upper left corner and select "Map on your page" A popup window will appear with the corners of a rectangle. Just push the corners of the rectangle to resize the box and then copy the html code that is shown and paste it into your page.

===Can I use Wikimapia with a GPS device?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet.

===What browser do you recommend to use with Wikimapia?===

Any modern one, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===How do I make a jpeg or bmp shot of specific part of the map?===
First, check the licence of satellite photos provider, then capture the screen and transfer the picture into whatever format you need.

===I want to send a Wikimapia page to a friend. How do I do that?===
If you want to send a link to a specific area of Wikimapia map use URL of the page on the top of your browser.
===I clicked a Wikimapia link that someone gave me. Why am I seeing all place descriptions in Spanish now?===

The person who sent you the link used Spanish as their language. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" and select "Change language". Select the language you want.

===How can I print the map with the names of the locations (without using another application to overlay the points and names)?===

The best you can do is capture the screen and print it.

=Advertising=

===I own a business. Can I tag it?===
Yes, you can tag it. 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."
===What is the policy on advertising land for sale?===
The advertising of land for sale is not allowed under any circumstances. This means it is forbidden to advertise using Wikimapia's map tools, description and comments sections of place/linear objects, the Forum, the Blog or any other intellectual property belonging to Wikimapia.

{{Back to Main Page}}

Help/FAQ

2013-03-12T23:12:21Z

Antdoghalo: /* Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving? */weather to whether

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
Welcome to FAQ!

If you are a new or inexperienced user, we acknowledge it will take you time to understand the rules and to use Wikimapia's features properly. You may have many questions which need answering or you might need a pointer just to help you get back on track.

We therefore present the FAQ so that it can address your queries as well as covering the essential basics required to make your experience in Wikimapia a well-informed, compliant and pleasant one.
{{TOC limit|3}}
=Basic Philosophy=

===What is Wikimapia for?===
Wikimapia aimed to mark all geographical objects in the world and provide a useful description for them, so that anyone can share his knowledge and freely explore the world.
===Who is Wikimapia for?===
Anyone who is interested in exploring the world or like to share his or her knowledge with everyone who uses Wikimapia.

===What is the basic ideology of Wikimapia?===
To make yourself aware of Wikimapia basic ideology we recommend you to click [[About_Wikimapia| here]].

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikimapia?===
According to Wikimapia [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ License] you may use Wikimapia content as you like (for sharing, recasting, transforming or adapting in any form recognizably derived from the original for any use). We also encourage you to build your work upon Wikimapia data and require its further distribution under the same or similar license to this one.

===Is it WikiMapia or Wikimapia?===
This website is usually more referred to as '''Wikimapia'''.

===How can I help?===
There many ways to contribute to Wikimapia. [[Adding/editing places]] is already a great help. You can also help translating the interface into your language, report about bugs in [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ reports list] or become an [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#Special_roles advanced user (moderator)] to help other users.

=Help=

===How can I get help using Wikimapia?===
First of all you should read Wikimapia Docs and [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines] carefully. If you still can’t get the answer to your question send a message to an [[Community#Advanced_Users|Advanced User]] or you can also ask for help on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

===Who is an admin?===
Admins are the members of the [[Community#Wikimapia_Team| Wikimapia team]].

===How can I get help from admin?===
First, make sure that a moderator or an advanced user (AU) can not help you. Then send admins a message or email on contact@wikimapia.org

=Wikipedia content=

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikipedia?===
Articles quality on Wikipedia fit Wikimapia demands. So you can certainly use Wikipedia while describing a place or give a link to Wikipedia article.
===Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article into a Wikimapia description box is a great idea, right?===
Giving a link to the article is more than enough, there is no need to repeat things twice.

=Languages=

===Can I add information in my local language in a different language page?===
No. you cannot add languages in a different language page. This restriction applies to wordings added after the proper title. You can only add your language to the corresponding language page by accessing the object's 'Menu' and selecting 'Add another language' in the drop down menu. You may then choose your language from the choices available. You can also access your language page by clicking the two-letter country code (in blue) at the bottom of a tag.

===Someone has added a place in my country and written it in a foreign language. Can I delete it?===
Accurate descriptions in foreign languages are perfectly acceptable as long as they are made in the correct language page. The wilful deletion of tags containing foreign languages is forbidden.
===Can I add the same Wikipedia link to multiple language pages of an object?===
No. You should add the link to the respective language page of the object. Even then it should be confined to the Wikipedia link section in the object's edit window. However, you may include links to secondary Wikipedia articles in the description section.
===I don't understand English. What can I do?===
Wikimapia is a multi-lingual website and supports 101 languages. Though the major discussions are held in English (i.e., on forum), you still can choose your interface language from the list and enjoy Wikimapia.

===How can I see Wikimapia (or mark places) in my own language?===
You need to change the interface language to your language by hovering over two-letter country code at the top menu then clicking 'more languages' and selecting your language.

===Why are some titles and tooltips in a different language?===
This means that there is no translation of these titles or tooltips in your language yet. You can translate them into your language if you like.
===How do I change the interface language?===
To change the interface language to your language, hover over two-letter country code at the top menu, click 'more languages' and select your language.

===How is the default language for my created places determined?===
When open a place tag the system will offer you to see the description on your interface language. If there is no description on your interface language then you'll see the tag on English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian. If there is no description on any of these languages, then you'll see the description on available language.

===When a place is written in several languages, but not mine, how do you determine which one to show me?===
There is a list of most popular languages. If there are several descriptions of one place on different languages the system automatically determines the most popular language among those which are available for that specific place.

===Someone wrote a good description in a place but it's in the wrong language page. What should I do with this?===
You should move the description to the correct language page. You can also translate the good description into your language, if you can.

===Can I remove a place's description in a particular language without deleting the entire place?===
Yes.

===What languages should I translate my place tag into?===
Into whatever you speak from the language list that opens when hover over two-letter country code at the top menu and clicking 'more languages'.

===The place I'm describing has different names in different languages. Which name should I use in my language?===
Proper one for you language. You should find the official name of the place on your language in some other source and use it. If a place has also an unofficial name that locals use, you can also note it in description or in braces near the official name. If a place does not have an official name at all, use its unofficial name as main.

===I found a place described in a language I do not know, but I want to know what was written. What can I do?===
You can try and translate it with Google Translate or any available dictionary.

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them.

===Can I find out how many users use a certain language interface?===
There is no stats on such a case.

===I can see a number of different strange language codes at the bottom right of the object window, but how can I tell what they are?===
Those codes are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO ISO] abbreviations for languages. Is you hover a cursor over them and wait a bit you’ll see the whole language name.

===When I look at the available languages, my language isn't there. What can be done about this?===
In this case you should contact Wikimapia Team. They will either add your language to the language list, or explain to you why it can't be done.

===I have created a description in a new language for an existing place object, but it is not shown in my list of created places although my place tag counter has increased by one. Why?===
Because only the first one who created the place gets it in his list.

===How do I change the language on the map layer?===
You can change the language of your interface at the top menu and the map layer language will change automatically.

=Translations=

===How can I help translate the user interface into my language?===
You can go to [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page] and become an editor.

===How can I find out the translation status of a certain language?===
You can find it on [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page].

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them to the language of your interface.

= Satellite Images =

===Why is the picture of my town/village so bad?===

Because the satellite imagery provided by Google in this area, is bad. We have no impact on it, unfortunately.

===Why can't I zoom in more in a certain area?===
Because the satellite imagery provider has no higher resolution pictures of this area.

===Can you update the map in my location because it is too blurry/low resolution quality?===
No, unfortunately we cannot, as satellite images are provided by Google. This means that we have no idea when Google will update the images. you can monitor the updated images on Google sites, however their help page says that this happens once in "approximately one to three years".

===How can we find out where Google has recently changed their images?===
You can try the [http://www.gearthblog.com blog do Google Earth] (English), where there is a link to the updates of recent images.
===When will the satellite images of my area get more detail?===
See previous
===When will the satellite images of my area be brought up to date?===
See previous
===Can I find out which place tags were most recently added?===
You can use Countries watchlist that you may find in 'tools' for these purpose.
===Why have all the place tags in my area shifted 10 meters to the west?===
Sometimes when Google updates its files, they can not line them up precisely with the old pictures. Take satellite photos of a spherical Earth and match these images on a flat map is not as easy as we would like. So sometimes, there are offsets. On such a case there is 'Satellite images updates list' tool (or Map Shift). It allows to fix those shifts of the map.
===What should I do when all the place tags in a certain area have been shifted 10 metres to the west?===
See previous.
=== I found a place where when I zoomed OUT it said "no imagery"?===
this means that the provider has no higher resolution imagery there.

=Place tools=

==Adding places==

===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?===
It's better to name it just Place or Object.

===How do I add a place?===
Select 'add a place' and a red polygon tool will appear. Draw a [[Tools#Polygons|polygon]], then add other information :
* choose Language carefully.
* Title is the name Wikimapia shows that when we hover over the place. Write something short, but representative.
* Description. For the description, as they say, 2 or 3 lines is already good.
* 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
And click the 'Save'.

* Photo

===Can I add my own house?===
It is undesirable to add a personal house if:
#it does not possess interesting details
#you do not recognise the potential repercussions of disclosing personal details

This aside, you are allowed to mark a building as long as it:
*has an accurate outline
*has a properly assigned category
*possesses a recognizable address. This should be demonstrated by assigning a street name (via the Roads tool) and a building number in the Address section.

===A ship which is anchored or stationed in a fixed location (prepositioning) has drifted slightly from its original position. Can I still mark it?===
Yes you can provided the ship maintains a fixed position near to the original location. For existing objects, if the map updates to indicate an anchored/prepositioned ship has drifted, you should update the change by redrawing the object's outline.

===Which map provider should I use to mark objects?===

You can use any map source provided they are not incorrect nor illegal.

Since its inception in 2006, Wikimapia has always used Google Maps to plot its data layer as it was the only source available for five years. Presently, Wikimapia regards Google Maps imagery the best source in most cases.

Google Maps' satellite view is the default and the most widely used map view to mark objects in Wikimapia. We highly recommended that you use Google Satellite 'old places' view ('Satellite + old places' in Beta and 'Google satellite' with 'old places' checked in New Wikimapia) to ensure you don't duplicate the addition of an already marked object.

Finally, reality governs over all map sources. For example, if a building is demolished in real life, it should be marked as such even though the map may show it to still exist as a building.

===Which places should I tag?===
* Any non-movable place that exists at this particular moment in time.
** Planes, submarines, circuses and other movable objects may be added if they are still for at least a week.
** Permanently still or stationed ships which are moored or anchored can be marked even if they have drifted from an original position.
* A place must have at the very least a properly constructed outline.
* Settlement place tags such as cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods must have a properly assigned category.
* Historical/disappeared places. These '''must''' have the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category assigned to them.
* Newly constructed buildings, which are not visible on the satellite image. Use a different map provider with the latest images to verify the outline. If the newly constructed place is not visible on any map, try your best to mark the outline accurately.

Remember, reality governs over satellite images and map sources. If you can see and visit a place not visible on a map, you can still mark it.

===Which places should I not tag?===
Please think carefully before adding a place tag, there are certain things that are forbidden. Place tags that meet the following deletion criteria should not be added:

* An outline that does not mark any identifiable place.
* A historical/disappeared place without the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category.
* A planned building or road that has not entered the construction phase.
* Movable objects that are still for less than a week.
* A place tag that marks temporary or intangible events such as battles etc.
* A place tag that is a copy of another place tag.
* A personal/private residence that does not contain an address or useful information.


===What information should I provide in a place tag?===
You should provide any information that you find useful and valuable, if only it does not violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===What information should I not provide in a place tag?===
You should not provide any information that violates [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===How big should my place tag be?===
For the description 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.

===Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?===
'''No you should not''', you should use the linear tools to draw on the map. This is found under the '''Edit map''' drop down menu list, which is found at the top-left of the screen.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Edit map drop down menu list]]

===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"?===
No you should not, if you do not know the place then you '''should not''' mark it.

===Should I tag a place that does not show up in the satellite image because it has just been built?===
Yes! Once the image is updated, the site will be there.
===Should we mark places that may be dangerous to visit?===
You can mark dangerous place as any other. You can also caution other users in description that this place is dangerous to visit.

===How do I use the categories section in a place object?===
Click [[User_interface#Categories|here]] for answers.

===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!===
''See also: [[editing_places#Undeleting.2FPlace_restoration|Undeleting/Place restoration]]''

Probably some user has deleted the place tag you've created, if so its best to click on '''Deleted Places''' from the '''Map type''' menu drop down list and check on the map if its been deleted.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Map type menu list, where the 'Deleted places' layer is highlighted.]]

===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?===
You can edit and needs no prompting to any user as well as they do not need to ask permission from you. But add good things and not change one point for a comma to stay with his name on the marker.
===How do I edit a description?===
Move your mouse over the desired location, click the left button in the upper left corner hover over the menu and then click Edit this page. After all done click the save button.
===When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?===
Please see [[Help/FAQ#If_a_business.2C_shop.2C_store_etc.2C_moves_or_is_shut_down.2C_should_I_delete_the_defunct_place_object.3F |here]]

===Some places show users' names at the bottom of an object window, but other places don't have a user's name. Why?===
They were made by unregistered user (UU).

===I found several place tags marking the same place. What do I do?===
Ask for the removal of the most most informative site (or recent and leave the oldest), thus respecting the establishment of the previous location.
A tip: put on the map '''Satellite + old places''' (to avoid a site already created is recreated again).

===Tall buildings in a city sometimes seem to be leaning sideways. How should I mark those locations?===
All buildings should be outlined at their base (ground level), regardless of whether their images appear to be leaning. When the images are from directly or nearly directly overhead, the roof edges may be used to approximate the ground level footprint if they have the same dimensions.

Tall buildings and structures like radio towers appear to "lean" because of the way they have been [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Photography photographed] from the air. For further clarification, please read [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Adding/editing_places#Polygons this].

===Can I add places which do not exist any more?===
You can, but only if you:
*know the precise dimensions
*add the historical layer/disappeared place category
If the above requirements are lacking, you should not add non-existent places.

===Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving?===
To see what area needs improving you can use [[status grid]]. If you are interested in specific map area (ie., cause you are familiar with the area and can improve it better) we recommend you to add a [[Tools#Watchlist |watchlist]], so you can monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, etc) and know whether any new place needs to be improved.

===I found some places near the north/south pole! What is going on?===
Most are the result of vandals. Nevertheless, there is no valid markings indicating settlements and scientific stations.

===I don't know what to write in object description. Can I copy only title in description?===
No. But, if object/place has alternative name, write it.

==Semi-Protection==

===The tag info tells me that the place is 'semi-protected'. What does that mean?===
Some tags are often vandalized and needs protection, this can only be done by [[Advanced Users]]. Registered users and unregistered users can not edit tags at all.

===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 [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 thread]. Only advanced users can put on protective items (tags).

==Polygons==

===Why can't I add more points to a polygon?===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots

===Why can't I create big polygons and why do I get the message: "Too big polygon"?===
There are limitations on the polygon size you can make depending on your [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#User_levels User Level.]

===Can I revert a polygon to the state before it was vandalized?===
Yes you can. You can do this by applying the correct polygon state of a previous revision as current.
===Can I delete a polygon?===
No, this isn't possible. If you think the polygon shape is wrong, you should resize it so that it is correct. If the incorrect polygon has hundreds of dots and you find it too laborious to correct manually, please contact an Advanced User to assist you.
===I don't understand guideline 1.2. "A place must have at least a properly constructed outline"?===
This is a minimum requirement for a place object to be acceptable. A polygon should clearly outline a map object you are marking in the aerial/satellite image. A properly constructed outline means a polygon should never overlap an area that is not part of the object.
A place object should have an accurate outline but it doesn't ''need'' a title or description, although the inclusion of which is preferred for the place object to be useful. If the place object lacks proper details, it is still possible for other users to improve it.
===I tried to add new points to a polygon, but I failed. What is the reason? (150 points limitation)===
Regular users can draw up to 500 dots per polygon. When adding new dots to a polygon you should stick to the same limit, which means that total number of dots (first+added) should not overdraw 500 dots.
===Due to the polygon limit can I add several polygons and use them as "jigsaw pieces" (terrain patches) to construct a larger object?===
No. A polygon should mark an object (named or unnamed) with its own identifiable outline. Using smaller fictitious objects to construct a larger object because of a polygon limitation is not permissible. The practice of "jigsaw piecing" or "terrain patching" does not comply with Wikimapia Guidelines clause 1.2. Furthermore, the deletion of such places becomes necessary as per the deletion clauses 3.1 and 3.2 of the Wikimapia Guidelines.
However, smaller interlocking and tessellating polygons can be marked if they represent recognizable places in their own right.

===I added a polygon for a place but my edit count stayed the same. Why?===
When you add a polygon to a place this reflects in line 'Polygons added to places without a polygon' in profile 'Stats', not in edit count.

===Can I use polygons as arrows or waymarkers to indicate the route or direction of a place?===
No. This is because arrows and waymarkers aren't real places with definable outlines. Polygons should not be manipulated to indicate anything other than the outline of a place.

==Comments==

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

''Also see: [[editing_places#Comments | Comments]]''

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only [[Advanced Users]] can delete comments. If you find a bad comment you think should be deleted you can report it [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 Here]

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
Guests usernames are black, registered users have blue username links, which direct to their profile pages.

==Photos==

===How do I add photos?===
Open place description, hover over ‘menu’ at the top and click ‘add/manage photos’. Here you can upload new photos and delete old ones. '''Remember''': photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place will be deleted.

===How do I know when a photo was taken?===
You can only know who and when uploaded it (it is written below the photo). You may ask a user, who uploaded a photo, when it was taken, but we can not guarantee that he will answer for sure.

===Can I make notes about a photograph?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet. You can only give it a name, when uploading it, and leave a comment with your notes below the photo.

===Which photos should be deleted?===
You should delete those photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place.

As you can upload only 7 photos for every object it is also permited and even encouraged to delete photos of bad quality if only you can replace them with better quality photos.

===How do I delete a bad photo?===
Click on the tag where you have found the bad photo, hover the cursor over '''menu''' at the top and then click on '''add/manage photos'''. In the tab where you see '''Current photos''' hover the cursor over the bad photo, then a '''Delete''' button should appear underneath the photo, click on it and the bad photo will get deleted. It is to be noted, that this is the same place where you can upload a new photo.

===How can I tell which place tags contain photos?===
You can not. But you can filter all places by ‘places '''without''' photos’ category and see which places do not have photos. Therefore all places without red marks contain photos.

===Can I add a video of a place?===
Yes, you can provide a link from youtube.com in place description, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview.

===Under what conditions can I use the "free" images from Wikimedia Commons?===
Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing here] for answers.

===Can I add photos to linear objects: to streets, rivers, railways?===
Yes.

==Deletion==

===How do I delete a place?===
Places can be deleted by selecting 'Delete place' under 'Menu' in the object's window. Please be aware that you may only delete a place as per the deletion reasons (under 3. Deleting tags) of the [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines].

===What actions are acceptable, or even encouraged, when deleting place tags?===
Before deleting an object, read the [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| Wikimapia Policies]] carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. If you have any doubts about deleting a place you can discuss it on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] or ask an [[ Community#Advanced_Users | Advanced User]] for advice.

===I found some places that should be deleted, but I can't delete them since I am only a regular user (RU). What should I do?===
If you can’t delete an object, it might be under an AU protection. You should contact an AU, explain you reasons and ask for help.

===How long does it take for a "deleted" place to actually disappear entirely?===
After you made a request to delete an object the system will inform you in what time the place will be deleted on the place page. Usually it takes five days (if removed by a regular user) and couple of hours (if removed by an AU). Between deletion request and actual disappearance of the object, a user can cancel the deletion by clicking on ‘cancel’ button.

===How do I know if one of my places has been deleted?===
You can check your Stats tab in your profile window. Your created places which are deleted will be shown via the counter next to <tt>'''Deleted from them:'''</tt>
===Do deleted places still show up on my list of created places?===
Yes. If someone deleted your places they still will be written in ‘Places and streets created’ line (and ‘Deleted from them’ line as well), but they will be marked as deleted and you won’t get experience point for them.

===How many places can I delete per day/week?===
It depends on your user level. On the first user level you can delete three places in one hour only. UL 2 - ten objects in ~16 minutes, UL3 - twenty objects in ~13 minutes, UL4 - thirty in 5 minutes, UL5+ - eighty in 2 minutes, AUs can delete 200 objects in 90 seconds.

===In China many place tags are marked ?????(cn). Should I delete them?===
No, you should not delete them. Seeing such symbols simply means that your computer does not maintain Chinese symbols.
===If a business, shop, store etc, moves or is shut down, should I delete the defunct place object?===
If the building still exists, and it hasn't been demolished, it should '''not''' be deleted. We recommend you update the place object's article by describing its present function. It is essential you update its title, description, address and category to reflect the change.
===Why do deleted objects still show up in Google search results?===
Objects put up for deletion will be removed after a specified time. However, Google will continue to display the deleted/outdated information until they update their own search results to show the latest web pages. This is because Google takes 'snapshots' of web pages it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Unfortunately, these stored pages may be outdated until they are updated. You can either be patient until Google removes the outdated data or you can contact them [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz here].

=Linear Tools=

===Can I add extinct or proposed linear works?===
No. You can only add linear features which exist in reality and (in the case of transport linear features) must be functional as a complete thoroughfare or route for pedestrian and/or vehicular conveyance.

==Roads==

===I cannot add roads===
If you are a new user, it is most likely a temporary limitation has been placed on your ability to use the "Road" tool because your experience level is too low. To increase your experience level, you must first add places to the map with the "Add place" tool or edit previously created objects. Please make sure the places you add are accurate and proper. Once you have gained enough experience with the "Add place" tool, you will be allowed to use the "Road" tool.
The restriction is necessary because the "Road" tool has specialized features that new/inexperienced users find difficult to use properly. Adding roads requires skill and so it is only available to experienced users who are familiar with the use of other tools. Click [[Community#User_levels| here]] for more on experience levels.
If you have suddenly lost the ability to add roads then you will need to create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and a bug report [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 here].

===Should I add multiple road segments to mark individual lanes in a road?===
Only if a physical divider is present between those lanes. Otherwise use segment options to set lanes number.

===What road type should I use to mark a road?===
Depending on the type of the road (dirt road, courtyard road, street/low traffic, road/high traffic, highway).

===Am I allowed to enter the zip/post code in the title field along with the road name?===
You should really not, however you may include the zip/post codes in the description field.

==Railroads==
This tool allow you to map the railway segments onto the map page. To have more information about the use of this tool, please see [[Tools#Railroads|Railroads]] section

==Rivers==
===Can I add a polygon for a river whose sides are too complex for the riverside feature?===
No. You cannot add polygons for a river since the river tool is designed for this purpose and only it should be used for linear water bodies. Instead, the riverside feature should be shaped accurately as possible to cover the expanse of the complex river.

The only instance where you may add a polygon on a river is if the river drains into a larger water body such as a lake. Be sure to use the correct category for the water body marked with a polygon.

==Ferry==

===Can I use the ferry tool to mark rivers and vice versa?===
'''No'''. This tool is only for the mapping of genuine ferry routes. To map river you must use the river tool.

=Interface=

==Wikimapia Screen==

===How do I use all those things on the Wikimapia screen?===
Click [[User_interface#About_the_Wikimapia_Main_Screen| here]] for answers.

===When I look at place's description page, there is a line near the top that says, for example, "World/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". What is this telling me?===
This is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_%28navigation%29 breadcrumb] line and shows a list of places according to administrative levels. Please be aware this list is not a precise indication of the place object; it is only to be referred to as an approximation of places near to the place object.

===The breadcrumb navigation is wrong/not showing the correct place name?===
See above.

===What is 'Hotel booking' in the menu under my username?===
‘Hotel booking’ is a useful tool for tourists. If you are planning to visit any specific place in short time, you can find it on the map and click on ‘Hotel booking’ under your username. Afterwards you will see all hotels marked with special icons. This allows you to choose and book a hotel depending on its geographical position. Click on any hotel and see its page on booking.com.

===What is Distance Measure and what can I do with it?===
It is a tool which allows to measure the distance between two points. To do this you need to mark on the map both points or a detailed route from one point to another and the system will calculate its length. Afterwards you may send the link of what you see on the map to your friend by sending URL of the page on the top of your browser.

===What are those buttons underneath the menu bar?===
Those are [[Tools#Adding_place| Add place]], Distance measure (see previous) and [[User_interface#Zoom_Control.2F_Zoom_Levels| Zoom]].

===What are all those options under the 'Map type' menu?===
Those are different map types that you can choose depending on what you are searching for.

===What are all those options under the 'Categories' menu?===
Those are categories that system offers you on default. If you are searching for a category that is not in the list, you need to type it in ‘Search categories’ bar or find it in ‘Categories hierarchy’ in tools.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===What do the red dots under the names of places mean?===
Red dot under an object name means that the object is a city.

===What are the icons in some places and what do they mean?===
These are category icons, they are shown even if you do not using category filter. If you want to know their meaning open ‘Rendering of categories’ in ‘tools’ section.

==User Profile/Account==

===Why should I register?===
While you are an unregistered user of Wikimapia you can use a limited amount of tools and options only. Since you are registered you can gain experience points, advance your user level and get access to new tools. Besides, only registered users can post on forum.

===Do you have any advice for new members?===
Yes, you can read them [[Quick_start#Advice_for_new_users| here]].

===It says in my profile that I created 106 places. But I can only count 82. What happened to the other places I've created?===
Apparently they were deleted, so you can find them in ‘Deleted from them’ line.

===Can I see how many places I have deleted?===
In stats section in your profile you can see the list of all your actions including ‘Places requested to be deleted’ and ‘Place deletion requests cancelled’.

===How do I mark my own location? Why should I?===
To mark your location find ‘Choose your location’ at the top of your profile page. Then choose your location by positioning the map and placing the marker. Location may be approximate for privacy. Your location will be visible to other users, so they could figure out where are you from.

===How do I delete a message someone sent me?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete a message, it will stay permanently in your inbox.

===Is there any way I can change my user name? I hate this one!===
This is not an easy task. You really should have thought of this before registering! If you really have a good reason, you must send an e-mail administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. They may be able to help you. Otherwise, you have two options: 1) Learn to live with it, or 2) abandon the account and start a new, re-registering.
===Someone has stolen my Wikimapia account and password. What can I do?===
Send e-mail to administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. Ask to have your password reset. Remember that the thief may have changed your e-mail, so be prepared to give evidence that you really are the original owner of the account. And be ready to apologize for who the thief might have offended
===I don't want to be part of Wikimapia any more. How do I delete my account?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete your account, alternatively you may want to change your password to something you will not be able to remember easily or you can stop visiting Wikimapia altogether which is even more easier.

==Place Search==

===How do I search for something?===
Type the name of the place you're looking for in the search box in the Wikimapia Menu Bar at the top of your screen, and press the <tt>'''Search'''</tt> button. A list results matching your query shall be returned in the sidebar. You can also tailor your searches by location or coordinates by choosing the respective tabs underneath the search box in the sidebar.

==Categories==

===What are Categories?===
Category filter is a tool that allows you to search for places of one type (ie. bars, hospitals, etc) by their category.

===How do I search for something?===
You just need to hover over ‘Categories’ on the top menu and either choose the category you are looking for (if its shown) or search it in ‘Search categories’ bar. Then you’ll see that all the places on the map that fit your category will we have red marks. To quit a category search click ‘cancel’ on the bottom of the map.

===How can I find, for example, theaters in one city?===
See previous

= User Tools =

==Watchlists==

===How do I create a watchlist?===
To create a watchlist go to [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/ Tools] click on watchlist then click add, outline the area you wish to watch, enter a name and click save. You can navigate back to see your watchlist's this way.

===Is there a limit of watchlist's I can create?===
No, there is not limit to the number of watchlist's you can create.

=Community=

==Forum==

===When can I join in the forum discussions?===
As soon as you are registered.
===Why am I not able to post into the forum?===
Every regular user can post into the forum. If you can not then you are either an unregistered user or you were banned on forum for [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 guidelines of Wikimapia forum] violation.

===Should I ask a question anywhere in the forum, or should I start a new topic? ===
If there is already a topic that refers to your question, you can post your question there. You should start a new thread only if there is no topic alike. Remember: Off-topic posts may be deleted by moderators.
===How can I make sure that someone sees my posting in the forum? (should I post it in all sections?) ===
There is no way to '''guarantee''' that someone will certainly see your posting, but new postings usually appear on the top of the forum page, so users '''might''' see them.
===I posted a message in the forum, but I have changed my mind. Can/should I delete it? ===
You can delete your message only during a short period of time after posting. In other situation you can not delete your messages, only [[Community#Forum_moderators| forum moderators]] have such power. So you can contact one of them and explain the reason why your message needs to be deleted.

===I added a photo to my profile, but my forum posting still shows "no foto"? ===
Wait for a while. It may take some time.
===I remember seeing something discussed in the forum last week, but now I can't find it. Is it possible to find it again? ===
On such a case there is a search bar at the top right corner of the forum page.

===Why do forum messages always run off the right side of my screen?===
The forum is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. If yours is set to less than this, the forum display will be wider than your screen.

===How can I make a text bold, italicize or underline it?===
You will have to use square brackets [][/]

*for bold: [b]text[/b]
*to italicize: [i]text[/i]
*to underline: [u]text[/u]

===How to embed images?===
to embed image: [img]url goes here[/img]

==Other Users==

===How do I find out where another user lives===
If a user marked his\her location you may figure out where is he\she from. Otherwise, you need to ask directly to the user, but be ready for a disappointment, since many users prefer to keep your privacy.

===How can I contact another user?===
Find it (a) in the forum or on a map of users, or the link somewhere that he (a) has described or discussed. Click on your username. This will open the user profile that you want to contact. Click "send message to this user", type your message in the text box and click the "send message". The message you sent is shown above a new text box empty. That's it: do not click the button "send message" again. If you have already sent a message to this user, you name it (a) will be on your list of contacts: open your profile, click on "Messages", find the desired user name and proceed from there.
===How do I contact a user if I only know his username?===
You can find him/her by rank. Find 'Users rank' in a 'tools' section in your profile. In the window that opens, there is a search field 'Search username'. Enter the user name and click 'search'. Note that the name must exactly match the user (no matter, however, if the letters are uppercase or lowercase). If you have trouble finding it, you can ask for help from other users in the forum. Maybe some of us may find the desired user.

===How can I find out the email address linked to a user account?===
You can not. This information is private. You will not find any e-mail here. The only way is to ask the user, by sending him a message.
===I have a disagreement with another user. What should I do?===
Bring the items to the forum. We will mediate the "ceasefire" between you and another user.
===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===What is a sockpuppet?===
English Wikipedia page says: "sockpuppet is an online identity used in order to deceive the other members of a virtual community. In its initial use, a "sockpuppet" was a false identity through which a member of a community on the Internet manifests itself while pretending that it does not, as does a puppeteer manipulating a puppet. In WikiMapia, a "sockpuppet" is someone who has a second account.

===Is it acceptable to have a sockpuppet?===
For most users, no. However, there are users who have higher levels "sockpuppets" for experiments. They are useful in this regard.

==User Levels==

===What is the difference between user levels?===
The higher user level you are the more tools and options are available for you.

===What are the advantages & responsibilities of being an advanced user?===
Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
#Ban tool
#Protection
#Deletion/restoration of comments
#Faster object deletion
#Up to 2.500 points per polygon
#The ability to vote on AU's promotion

Being an Advanced User means you need to look after the map. For example, coordinate and encourage users, help new users, arrange debates, keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.

===How do I become an advanced user?===

There is no a defined formula for becoming an AU. Just contribute to Wikimapia and your efforts will be noted. In practice, recommendations are given of possible AU forum and if there is a consensus, so administrators can choose to promote you. These recommendations are based on the overall quality of their contributions, their visibility in the Forum and its suitability to the ideals of WikiMapia.

===Will a high rank qualify me to become an advanced user?===
A high rank itself can not make you an advanced user. Though the more you contribute to Wikimapia the higher is you rank, so the closer the moment that you may be offered to become an advanced user..
===How many places do I have to mark to become an advanced user?===
All these questions have the same answer: There is no magic number you need to achieve because the promotion AU is a manual process done by administrators, and this is not automatic, regardless of what numbers you have.

===How many good votes do I need to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===How long should one be a regular user to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===Why is my account marked as limited/banned?===
If you were banned you’ll get a notification message, that explains the reasons and proofs of your ban. In addition, you’ll see a red window on the right of your profile page that notifies you about the reasons and details of limitation.

===How can I tell what user level a user is?===
In profile of every user there is a number of his user level.

===Can a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29 sockpuppet] (clone) account apply for AU status?===
No, it cannot. Only a personal account (one account per individual) can apply for AU status if it is eligible for application. This is not applicable to separate accounts belonging to different individuals who live in the same household or use the same IP address.

===Can advanced user test accounts apply for AU status?===
It is strictly forbidden for Advanced user duplicate accounts (openly declared for test purposes) to apply for promotion.

==Vandalism==

===What is vandalism?===
Deliberate actions aimed to corrupt information.
Vandalism can take many forms. For example: removing correct, useful information from place tags, or adding false or offensive information. Deleting correct and useful tags, moving tags away from their correct locations, adding offensive photos, adding/re-shaping polygons so that they depict nonsensical/obscene shapes and replacing a place tag's description with one in a different language (instead of adding the new language), '''deliberately''' creating duplicate place tags, all constitute vandalism. Disrupting the forum is also considered vandalism.

===My place tag has been vandalised. What should I do?===

Post a message with the details in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] Forum WikiMapia. We're here to help.

===How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised?===
Find ‘History’ in ’menu’ in place tag, find the revision that you think is a vandalism and click ‘Undo this revesion’.

===How do restore a vandalized description to what it used to be?===
See previous

===Is is possible to protect articles that are vandalized often?===

Yes. Advanced User can "semiprotect" a place. If you want a place to be semi-protected, then send a request in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] forum.

===Can I undelete a non-compliant place object and re-purpose/convert it into an acceptable one?===

The practice of salvaging a deleted place object and reassigning its identity is forbidden '''if''' the newer object is:
*situated at a different location from the original
*has a completely different function to the original

All objects must be marked with their own outlines and are treated as individual objects. For example, the place object for a jetty (which has rotted away) cannot be converted into a lake or boat house - it must be deleted (unless the jetty is rebuilt). The lake and boat house must be marked separately with their own place object identities.

Recycling obsolete objects and reusing them may seem desirable but ultimately defeats the object of populating Wikimapia's map and database with unique places and overall place count respectively. The exception to this rule is that an existing place can be re-purposed within one day of its creation if a user has marked it erroneously.

The wilful and persistent act of undeleting place objects (including existing place objects) and recycling them into compliant objects is forbidden. In addition, the premeditated act of abusing the aforementioned exception is also forbidden.

==Banning==

===What is a ban?===
A limitation caused by disregarding, violation or misinterpretation of the rules.

===If I am banned and believe that I do not deserve it, What can I do?===
Restrictions and banning are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. Read [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| the policies]] and make sure that you didn't violate any of them. If not, contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban and unblock users, so he/she might help you.

===How can I report a bad user so that he/she is banned quickly?===
You should contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban users, so he/she might help you.

==Voting==

===Why should I vote for a user?===
You should vote for a user if you want to provide a positive feedback about his/her contributions to Wikimapia, to encourage a user.
===How do I vote for a user?===
If you have 2+ user level you can vote for other users. Click on a user profile page, click on ‘votes about user’ and you’ll see a green voting form above a list of users who have already voted for a user.

===When can I start to vote for people?===
As soon as you are 2+ level
===Is there a reason I can't vote for users?===
No, there is no such a reason. You can freely vote for a user if you want.
===Is it proper to ask for votes?===
No. Voting for someone means you want to provide a positive feedback about users contributions to Wikimapia. So asking for votes is poor behavior.
===How can I get more votes?===
The more valuable places and useful information you add the more people would like to vote for you
===Someone gave me a good vote. Should I do the same for her/him?===
If you find that user deserving a good vote for his efforts on Wikimapia. If not - do not vote for a user only just to thank him for his good vote for u.
===How do I remove an unwanted vote?===
You may delete an unwanted vote if open the list of users, who voted for you, in your profile.

===Someone said I voted too frequently. Is there a limit?===
No there is no such a limit. However it is considered bad etiquette to give votes to others just to receive more yourself, only vote for user if you feel they do good work.

===Should I give a good vote to a user who is No.1 in the ranking system?===
If he is No.1 in ranking system then he might add a lot of good information. If do find it good - vote for him, if not - do not vote.

=Error Messages=

==="Sorry, you are doing many actions in a short period of time, please wait a while and retry your action"===
There is a limit on similar actions that a user can do within a certain period of time (i.e. a newly registered user can only delete three places in an hour).

==="Too long polygon"===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots, ~244.14 km²
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots, ~996,006 km²

==="Too big polygon"===
See previous.

==="You cannot change your vote, you started vote, you may only completely unset it"===
This message belongs to a defunct system for ban voting therefore it should not appear. If it does appear, please create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and the bug reports list [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc here]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="You must remove the child objects before deleting the object"===
This message means you can not delete an object as there are child objects that refer to it. You need to delete them first.

==="Wikimapia has just updated! Please reload the page or press shift + ctrl R in order to apply fixes and enjoy new features"===
This message means that Admins have just made some changes in Wikimapia, so you need to reload the page to see the updated version of Wikimapia.

=External=

===Can I see Wikimapia places on Google Earth?===
Yes. You can download Wikimapia layer on Google Earth.

===Can I place part of the map on my own web page?===

Yes! Find the screen you want to place on your page. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" in the upper left corner and select "Map on your page" A popup window will appear with the corners of a rectangle. Just push the corners of the rectangle to resize the box and then copy the html code that is shown and paste it into your page.

===Can I use Wikimapia with a GPS device?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet.

===What browser do you recommend to use with Wikimapia?===

Any modern one, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===How do I make a jpeg or bmp shot of specific part of the map?===
First, check the licence of satellite photos provider, then capture the screen and transfer the picture into whatever format you need.

===I want to send a Wikimapia page to a friend. How do I do that?===
If you want to send a link to a specific area of Wikimapia map use URL of the page on the top of your browser.
===I clicked a Wikimapia link that someone gave me. Why am I seeing all place descriptions in Spanish now?===

The person who sent you the link used Spanish as their language. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" and select "Change language". Select the language you want.

===How can I print the map with the names of the locations (without using another application to overlay the points and names)?===

The best you can do is capture the screen and print it.

=Advertising=

===I own a business. Can I tag it?===
Yes, you can tag it. 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."
===What is the policy on advertising land for sale?===
The advertising of land for sale is not allowed under any circumstances. This means it is forbidden to advertise using Wikimapia's map tools, description and comments sections of place/linear objects, the Forum, the Blog or any other intellectual property belonging to Wikimapia.

{{Back to Main Page}}

Help/FAQ

2013-03-12T22:31:12Z

Antdoghalo: /* What road type should I use to mark a road? */

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
Welcome to FAQ!

If you are a new or inexperienced user, we acknowledge it will take you time to understand the rules and to use Wikimapia's features properly. You may have many questions which need answering or you might need a pointer just to help you get back on track.

We therefore present the FAQ so that it can address your queries as well as covering the essential basics required to make your experience in Wikimapia a well-informed, compliant and pleasant one.
{{TOC limit|3}}
=Basic Philosophy=

===What is Wikimapia for?===
Wikimapia aimed to mark all geographical objects in the world and provide a useful description for them, so that anyone can share his knowledge and freely explore the world.
===Who is Wikimapia for?===
Anyone who is interested in exploring the world or like to share his or her knowledge with everyone who uses Wikimapia.

===What is the basic ideology of Wikimapia?===
To make yourself aware of Wikimapia basic ideology we recommend you to click [[About_Wikimapia| here]].

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikimapia?===
According to Wikimapia [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ License] you may use Wikimapia content as you like (for sharing, recasting, transforming or adapting in any form recognizably derived from the original for any use). We also encourage you to build your work upon Wikimapia data and require its further distribution under the same or similar license to this one.

===Is it WikiMapia or Wikimapia?===
This website is usually more referred to as '''Wikimapia'''.

===How can I help?===
There many ways to contribute to Wikimapia. [[Adding/editing places]] is already a great help. You can also help translating the interface into your language, report about bugs in [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ reports list] or become an [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#Special_roles advanced user (moderator)] to help other users.

=Help=

===How can I get help using Wikimapia?===
First of all you should read Wikimapia Docs and [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines] carefully. If you still can’t get the answer to your question send a message to an [[Community#Advanced_Users|Advanced User]] or you can also ask for help on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

===Who is an admin?===
Admins are the members of the [[Community#Wikimapia_Team| Wikimapia team]].

===How can I get help from admin?===
First, make sure that a moderator or an advanced user (AU) can not help you. Then send admins a message or email on contact@wikimapia.org

=Wikipedia content=

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikipedia?===
Articles quality on Wikipedia fit Wikimapia demands. So you can certainly use Wikipedia while describing a place or give a link to Wikipedia article.
===Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article into a Wikimapia description box is a great idea, right?===
Giving a link to the article is more than enough, there is no need to repeat things twice.

=Languages=

===Can I add information in my local language in a different language page?===
No. you cannot add languages in a different language page. This restriction applies to wordings added after the proper title. You can only add your language to the corresponding language page by accessing the object's 'Menu' and selecting 'Add another language' in the drop down menu. You may then choose your language from the choices available. You can also access your language page by clicking the two-letter country code (in blue) at the bottom of a tag.

===Someone has added a place in my country and written it in a foreign language. Can I delete it?===
Accurate descriptions in foreign languages are perfectly acceptable as long as they are made in the correct language page. The wilful deletion of tags containing foreign languages is forbidden.
===Can I add the same Wikipedia link to multiple language pages of an object?===
No. You should add the link to the respective language page of the object. Even then it should be confined to the Wikipedia link section in the object's edit window. However, you may include links to secondary Wikipedia articles in the description section.
===I don't understand English. What can I do?===
Wikimapia is a multi-lingual website and supports 101 languages. Though the major discussions are held in English (i.e., on forum), you still can choose your interface language from the list and enjoy Wikimapia.

===How can I see Wikimapia (or mark places) in my own language?===
You need to change the interface language to your language by hovering over two-letter country code at the top menu then clicking 'more languages' and selecting your language.

===Why are some titles and tooltips in a different language?===
This means that there is no translation of these titles or tooltips in your language yet. You can translate them into your language if you like.
===How do I change the interface language?===
To change the interface language to your language, hover over two-letter country code at the top menu, click 'more languages' and select your language.

===How is the default language for my created places determined?===
When open a place tag the system will offer you to see the description on your interface language. If there is no description on your interface language then you'll see the tag on English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian. If there is no description on any of these languages, then you'll see the description on available language.

===When a place is written in several languages, but not mine, how do you determine which one to show me?===
There is a list of most popular languages. If there are several descriptions of one place on different languages the system automatically determines the most popular language among those which are available for that specific place.

===Someone wrote a good description in a place but it's in the wrong language page. What should I do with this?===
You should move the description to the correct language page. You can also translate the good description into your language, if you can.

===Can I remove a place's description in a particular language without deleting the entire place?===
Yes.

===What languages should I translate my place tag into?===
Into whatever you speak from the language list that opens when hover over two-letter country code at the top menu and clicking 'more languages'.

===The place I'm describing has different names in different languages. Which name should I use in my language?===
Proper one for you language. You should find the official name of the place on your language in some other source and use it. If a place has also an unofficial name that locals use, you can also note it in description or in braces near the official name. If a place does not have an official name at all, use its unofficial name as main.

===I found a place described in a language I do not know, but I want to know what was written. What can I do?===
You can try and translate it with Google Translate or any available dictionary.

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them.

===Can I find out how many users use a certain language interface?===
There is no stats on such a case.

===I can see a number of different strange language codes at the bottom right of the object window, but how can I tell what they are?===
Those codes are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO ISO] abbreviations for languages. Is you hover a cursor over them and wait a bit you’ll see the whole language name.

===When I look at the available languages, my language isn't there. What can be done about this?===
In this case you should contact Wikimapia Team. They will either add your language to the language list, or explain to you why it can't be done.

===I have created a description in a new language for an existing place object, but it is not shown in my list of created places although my place tag counter has increased by one. Why?===
Because only the first one who created the place gets it in his list.

===How do I change the language on the map layer?===
You can change the language of your interface at the top menu and the map layer language will change automatically.

=Translations=

===How can I help translate the user interface into my language?===
You can go to [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page] and become an editor.

===How can I find out the translation status of a certain language?===
You can find it on [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page].

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them to the language of your interface.

= Satellite Images =

===Why is the picture of my town/village so bad?===

Because the satellite imagery provided by Google in this area, is bad. We have no impact on it, unfortunately.

===Why can't I zoom in more in a certain area?===
Because the satellite imagery provider has no higher resolution pictures of this area.

===Can you update the map in my location because it is too blurry/low resolution quality?===
No, unfortunately we cannot, as satellite images are provided by Google. This means that we have no idea when Google will update the images. you can monitor the updated images on Google sites, however their help page says that this happens once in "approximately one to three years".

===How can we find out where Google has recently changed their images?===
You can try the [http://www.gearthblog.com blog do Google Earth] (English), where there is a link to the updates of recent images.
===When will the satellite images of my area get more detail?===
See previous
===When will the satellite images of my area be brought up to date?===
See previous
===Can I find out which place tags were most recently added?===
You can use Countries watchlist that you may find in 'tools' for these purpose.
===Why have all the place tags in my area shifted 10 meters to the west?===
Sometimes when Google updates its files, they can not line them up precisely with the old pictures. Take satellite photos of a spherical Earth and match these images on a flat map is not as easy as we would like. So sometimes, there are offsets. On such a case there is 'Satellite images updates list' tool (or Map Shift). It allows to fix those shifts of the map.
===What should I do when all the place tags in a certain area have been shifted 10 metres to the west?===
See previous.
=== I found a place where when I zoomed OUT it said "no imagery"?===
this means that the provider has no higher resolution imagery there.

=Place tools=

==Adding places==

===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?===
It's better to name it just Place or Object.

===How do I add a place?===
Select 'add a place' and a red polygon tool will appear. Draw a [[Tools#Polygons|polygon]], then add other information :
* choose Language carefully.
* Title is the name Wikimapia shows that when we hover over the place. Write something short, but representative.
* Description. For the description, as they say, 2 or 3 lines is already good.
* 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
And click the 'Save'.

* Photo

===Can I add my own house?===
It is undesirable to add a personal house if:
#it does not possess interesting details
#you do not recognise the potential repercussions of disclosing personal details

This aside, you are allowed to mark a building as long as it:
*has an accurate outline
*has a properly assigned category
*possesses a recognizable address. This should be demonstrated by assigning a street name (via the Roads tool) and a building number in the Address section.

===A ship which is anchored or stationed in a fixed location (prepositioning) has drifted slightly from its original position. Can I still mark it?===
Yes you can provided the ship maintains a fixed position near to the original location. For existing objects, if the map updates to indicate an anchored/prepositioned ship has drifted, you should update the change by redrawing the object's outline.

===Which map provider should I use to mark objects?===

You can use any map source provided they are not incorrect nor illegal.

Since its inception in 2006, Wikimapia has always used Google Maps to plot its data layer as it was the only source available for five years. Presently, Wikimapia regards Google Maps imagery the best source in most cases.

Google Maps' satellite view is the default and the most widely used map view to mark objects in Wikimapia. We highly recommended that you use Google Satellite 'old places' view ('Satellite + old places' in Beta and 'Google satellite' with 'old places' checked in New Wikimapia) to ensure you don't duplicate the addition of an already marked object.

Finally, reality governs over all map sources. For example, if a building is demolished in real life, it should be marked as such even though the map may show it to still exist as a building.

===Which places should I tag?===
* Any non-movable place that exists at this particular moment in time.
** Planes, submarines, circuses and other movable objects may be added if they are still for at least a week.
** Permanently still or stationed ships which are moored or anchored can be marked even if they have drifted from an original position.
* A place must have at the very least a properly constructed outline.
* Settlement place tags such as cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods must have a properly assigned category.
* Historical/disappeared places. These '''must''' have the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category assigned to them.
* Newly constructed buildings, which are not visible on the satellite image. Use a different map provider with the latest images to verify the outline. If the newly constructed place is not visible on any map, try your best to mark the outline accurately.

Remember, reality governs over satellite images and map sources. If you can see and visit a place not visible on a map, you can still mark it.

===Which places should I not tag?===
Please think carefully before adding a place tag, there are certain things that are forbidden. Place tags that meet the following deletion criteria should not be added:

* An outline that does not mark any identifiable place.
* A historical/disappeared place without the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category.
* A planned building or road that has not entered the construction phase.
* Movable objects that are still for less than a week.
* A place tag that marks temporary or intangible events such as battles etc.
* A place tag that is a copy of another place tag.
* A personal/private residence that does not contain an address or useful information.


===What information should I provide in a place tag?===
You should provide any information that you find useful and valuable, if only it does not violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===What information should I not provide in a place tag?===
You should not provide any information that violates [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===How big should my place tag be?===
For the description 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.

===Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?===
'''No you should not''', you should use the linear tools to draw on the map. This is found under the '''Edit map''' drop down menu list, which is found at the top-left of the screen.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Edit map drop down menu list]]

===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"?===
No you should not, if you do not know the place then you '''should not''' mark it.

===Should I tag a place that does not show up in the satellite image because it has just been built?===
Yes! Once the image is updated, the site will be there.
===Should we mark places that may be dangerous to visit?===
You can mark dangerous place as any other. You can also caution other users in description that this place is dangerous to visit.

===How do I use the categories section in a place object?===
Click [[User_interface#Categories|here]] for answers.

===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!===
''See also: [[editing_places#Undeleting.2FPlace_restoration|Undeleting/Place restoration]]''

Probably some user has deleted the place tag you've created, if so its best to click on '''Deleted Places''' from the '''Map type''' menu drop down list and check on the map if its been deleted.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Map type menu list, where the 'Deleted places' layer is highlighted.]]

===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?===
You can edit and needs no prompting to any user as well as they do not need to ask permission from you. But add good things and not change one point for a comma to stay with his name on the marker.
===How do I edit a description?===
Move your mouse over the desired location, click the left button in the upper left corner hover over the menu and then click Edit this page. After all done click the save button.
===When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?===
Please see [[Help/FAQ#If_a_business.2C_shop.2C_store_etc.2C_moves_or_is_shut_down.2C_should_I_delete_the_defunct_place_object.3F |here]]

===Some places show users' names at the bottom of an object window, but other places don't have a user's name. Why?===
They were made by unregistered user (UU).

===I found several place tags marking the same place. What do I do?===
Ask for the removal of the most most informative site (or recent and leave the oldest), thus respecting the establishment of the previous location.
A tip: put on the map '''Satellite + old places''' (to avoid a site already created is recreated again).

===Tall buildings in a city sometimes seem to be leaning sideways. How should I mark those locations?===
All buildings should be outlined at their base (ground level), regardless of whether their images appear to be leaning. When the images are from directly or nearly directly overhead, the roof edges may be used to approximate the ground level footprint if they have the same dimensions.

Tall buildings and structures like radio towers appear to "lean" because of the way they have been [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Photography photographed] from the air. For further clarification, please read [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Adding/editing_places#Polygons this].

===Can I add places which do not exist any more?===
You can, but only if you:
*know the precise dimensions
*add the historical layer/disappeared place category
If the above requirements are lacking, you should not add non-existent places.

===Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving?===
To see what area needs improving you can use [[status grid]]. If you are interested in specific map area (ie., cause you are familiar with the area and can improve it better) we recommend you to add a [[Tools#Watchlist |watchlist]], so you can monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, etc) and know weather any new place needs to be improved.

===I found some places near the north/south pole! What is going on?===
Most are the result of vandals. Nevertheless, there is no valid markings indicating settlements and scientific stations.

===I don't know what to write in object description. Can I copy only title in description?===
No. But, if object/place has alternative name, write it.

==Semi-Protection==

===The tag info tells me that the place is 'semi-protected'. What does that mean?===
Some tags are often vandalized and needs protection, this can only be done by [[Advanced Users]]. Registered users and unregistered users can not edit tags at all.

===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 [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 thread]. Only advanced users can put on protective items (tags).

==Polygons==

===Why can't I add more points to a polygon?===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots

===Why can't I create big polygons and why do I get the message: "Too big polygon"?===
There are limitations on the polygon size you can make depending on your [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#User_levels User Level.]

===Can I revert a polygon to the state before it was vandalized?===
Yes you can. You can do this by applying the correct polygon state of a previous revision as current.
===Can I delete a polygon?===
No, this isn't possible. If you think the polygon shape is wrong, you should resize it so that it is correct. If the incorrect polygon has hundreds of dots and you find it too laborious to correct manually, please contact an Advanced User to assist you.
===I don't understand guideline 1.2. "A place must have at least a properly constructed outline"?===
This is a minimum requirement for a place object to be acceptable. A polygon should clearly outline a map object you are marking in the aerial/satellite image. A properly constructed outline means a polygon should never overlap an area that is not part of the object.
A place object should have an accurate outline but it doesn't ''need'' a title or description, although the inclusion of which is preferred for the place object to be useful. If the place object lacks proper details, it is still possible for other users to improve it.
===I tried to add new points to a polygon, but I failed. What is the reason? (150 points limitation)===
Regular users can draw up to 500 dots per polygon. When adding new dots to a polygon you should stick to the same limit, which means that total number of dots (first+added) should not overdraw 500 dots.
===Due to the polygon limit can I add several polygons and use them as "jigsaw pieces" (terrain patches) to construct a larger object?===
No. A polygon should mark an object (named or unnamed) with its own identifiable outline. Using smaller fictitious objects to construct a larger object because of a polygon limitation is not permissible. The practice of "jigsaw piecing" or "terrain patching" does not comply with Wikimapia Guidelines clause 1.2. Furthermore, the deletion of such places becomes necessary as per the deletion clauses 3.1 and 3.2 of the Wikimapia Guidelines.
However, smaller interlocking and tessellating polygons can be marked if they represent recognizable places in their own right.

===I added a polygon for a place but my edit count stayed the same. Why?===
When you add a polygon to a place this reflects in line 'Polygons added to places without a polygon' in profile 'Stats', not in edit count.

===Can I use polygons as arrows or waymarkers to indicate the route or direction of a place?===
No. This is because arrows and waymarkers aren't real places with definable outlines. Polygons should not be manipulated to indicate anything other than the outline of a place.

==Comments==

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

''Also see: [[editing_places#Comments | Comments]]''

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only [[Advanced Users]] can delete comments. If you find a bad comment you think should be deleted you can report it [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 Here]

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
Guests usernames are black, registered users have blue username links, which direct to their profile pages.

==Photos==

===How do I add photos?===
Open place description, hover over ‘menu’ at the top and click ‘add/manage photos’. Here you can upload new photos and delete old ones. '''Remember''': photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place will be deleted.

===How do I know when a photo was taken?===
You can only know who and when uploaded it (it is written below the photo). You may ask a user, who uploaded a photo, when it was taken, but we can not guarantee that he will answer for sure.

===Can I make notes about a photograph?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet. You can only give it a name, when uploading it, and leave a comment with your notes below the photo.

===Which photos should be deleted?===
You should delete those photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place.

As you can upload only 7 photos for every object it is also permited and even encouraged to delete photos of bad quality if only you can replace them with better quality photos.

===How do I delete a bad photo?===
Click on the tag where you have found the bad photo, hover the cursor over '''menu''' at the top and then click on '''add/manage photos'''. In the tab where you see '''Current photos''' hover the cursor over the bad photo, then a '''Delete''' button should appear underneath the photo, click on it and the bad photo will get deleted. It is to be noted, that this is the same place where you can upload a new photo.

===How can I tell which place tags contain photos?===
You can not. But you can filter all places by ‘places '''without''' photos’ category and see which places do not have photos. Therefore all places without red marks contain photos.

===Can I add a video of a place?===
Yes, you can provide a link from youtube.com in place description, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview.

===Under what conditions can I use the "free" images from Wikimedia Commons?===
Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing here] for answers.

===Can I add photos to linear objects: to streets, rivers, railways?===
Yes.

==Deletion==

===How do I delete a place?===
Places can be deleted by selecting 'Delete place' under 'Menu' in the object's window. Please be aware that you may only delete a place as per the deletion reasons (under 3. Deleting tags) of the [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines].

===What actions are acceptable, or even encouraged, when deleting place tags?===
Before deleting an object, read the [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| Wikimapia Policies]] carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. If you have any doubts about deleting a place you can discuss it on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] or ask an [[ Community#Advanced_Users | Advanced User]] for advice.

===I found some places that should be deleted, but I can't delete them since I am only a regular user (RU). What should I do?===
If you can’t delete an object, it might be under an AU protection. You should contact an AU, explain you reasons and ask for help.

===How long does it take for a "deleted" place to actually disappear entirely?===
After you made a request to delete an object the system will inform you in what time the place will be deleted on the place page. Usually it takes five days (if removed by a regular user) and couple of hours (if removed by an AU). Between deletion request and actual disappearance of the object, a user can cancel the deletion by clicking on ‘cancel’ button.

===How do I know if one of my places has been deleted?===
You can check your Stats tab in your profile window. Your created places which are deleted will be shown via the counter next to <tt>'''Deleted from them:'''</tt>
===Do deleted places still show up on my list of created places?===
Yes. If someone deleted your places they still will be written in ‘Places and streets created’ line (and ‘Deleted from them’ line as well), but they will be marked as deleted and you won’t get experience point for them.

===How many places can I delete per day/week?===
It depends on your user level. On the first user level you can delete three places in one hour only. UL 2 - ten objects in ~16 minutes, UL3 - twenty objects in ~13 minutes, UL4 - thirty in 5 minutes, UL5+ - eighty in 2 minutes, AUs can delete 200 objects in 90 seconds.

===In China many place tags are marked ?????(cn). Should I delete them?===
No, you should not delete them. Seeing such symbols simply means that your computer does not maintain Chinese symbols.
===If a business, shop, store etc, moves or is shut down, should I delete the defunct place object?===
If the building still exists, and it hasn't been demolished, it should '''not''' be deleted. We recommend you update the place object's article by describing its present function. It is essential you update its title, description, address and category to reflect the change.
===Why do deleted objects still show up in Google search results?===
Objects put up for deletion will be removed after a specified time. However, Google will continue to display the deleted/outdated information until they update their own search results to show the latest web pages. This is because Google takes 'snapshots' of web pages it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Unfortunately, these stored pages may be outdated until they are updated. You can either be patient until Google removes the outdated data or you can contact them [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz here].

=Linear Tools=

===Can I add extinct or proposed linear works?===
No. You can only add linear features which exist in reality and (in the case of transport linear features) must be functional as a complete thoroughfare or route for pedestrian and/or vehicular conveyance.

==Roads==

===I cannot add roads===
If you are a new user, it is most likely a temporary limitation has been placed on your ability to use the "Road" tool because your experience level is too low. To increase your experience level, you must first add places to the map with the "Add place" tool or edit previously created objects. Please make sure the places you add are accurate and proper. Once you have gained enough experience with the "Add place" tool, you will be allowed to use the "Road" tool.
The restriction is necessary because the "Road" tool has specialized features that new/inexperienced users find difficult to use properly. Adding roads requires skill and so it is only available to experienced users who are familiar with the use of other tools. Click [[Community#User_levels| here]] for more on experience levels.
If you have suddenly lost the ability to add roads then you will need to create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and a bug report [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 here].

===Should I add multiple road segments to mark individual lanes in a road?===
Only if a physical divider is present between those lanes. Otherwise use segment options to set lanes number.

===What road type should I use to mark a road?===
Depending on the type of the road (dirt road, courtyard road, street/low traffic, road/high traffic, highway).

===Am I allowed to enter the zip/post code in the title field along with the road name?===
You should really not, however you may include the zip/post codes in the description field.

==Railroads==
This tool allow you to map the railway segments onto the map page. To have more information about the use of this tool, please see [[Tools#Railroads|Railroads]] section

==Rivers==
===Can I add a polygon for a river whose sides are too complex for the riverside feature?===
No. You cannot add polygons for a river since the river tool is designed for this purpose and only it should be used for linear water bodies. Instead, the riverside feature should be shaped accurately as possible to cover the expanse of the complex river.

The only instance where you may add a polygon on a river is if the river drains into a larger water body such as a lake. Be sure to use the correct category for the water body marked with a polygon.

==Ferry==

===Can I use the ferry tool to mark rivers and vice versa?===
'''No'''. This tool is only for the mapping of genuine ferry routes. To map river you must use the river tool.

=Interface=

==Wikimapia Screen==

===How do I use all those things on the Wikimapia screen?===
Click [[User_interface#About_the_Wikimapia_Main_Screen| here]] for answers.

===When I look at place's description page, there is a line near the top that says, for example, "World/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". What is this telling me?===
This is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_%28navigation%29 breadcrumb] line and shows a list of places according to administrative levels. Please be aware this list is not a precise indication of the place object; it is only to be referred to as an approximation of places near to the place object.

===The breadcrumb navigation is wrong/not showing the correct place name?===
See above.

===What is 'Hotel booking' in the menu under my username?===
‘Hotel booking’ is a useful tool for tourists. If you are planning to visit any specific place in short time, you can find it on the map and click on ‘Hotel booking’ under your username. Afterwards you will see all hotels marked with special icons. This allows you to choose and book a hotel depending on its geographical position. Click on any hotel and see its page on booking.com.

===What is Distance Measure and what can I do with it?===
It is a tool which allows to measure the distance between two points. To do this you need to mark on the map both points or a detailed route from one point to another and the system will calculate its length. Afterwards you may send the link of what you see on the map to your friend by sending URL of the page on the top of your browser.

===What are those buttons underneath the menu bar?===
Those are [[Tools#Adding_place| Add place]], Distance measure (see previous) and [[User_interface#Zoom_Control.2F_Zoom_Levels| Zoom]].

===What are all those options under the 'Map type' menu?===
Those are different map types that you can choose depending on what you are searching for.

===What are all those options under the 'Categories' menu?===
Those are categories that system offers you on default. If you are searching for a category that is not in the list, you need to type it in ‘Search categories’ bar or find it in ‘Categories hierarchy’ in tools.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===What do the red dots under the names of places mean?===
Red dot under an object name means that the object is a city.

===What are the icons in some places and what do they mean?===
These are category icons, they are shown even if you do not using category filter. If you want to know their meaning open ‘Rendering of categories’ in ‘tools’ section.

==User Profile/Account==

===Why should I register?===
While you are an unregistered user of Wikimapia you can use a limited amount of tools and options only. Since you are registered you can gain experience points, advance your user level and get access to new tools. Besides, only registered users can post on forum.

===Do you have any advice for new members?===
Yes, you can read them [[Quick_start#Advice_for_new_users| here]].

===It says in my profile that I created 106 places. But I can only count 82. What happened to the other places I've created?===
Apparently they were deleted, so you can find them in ‘Deleted from them’ line.

===Can I see how many places I have deleted?===
In stats section in your profile you can see the list of all your actions including ‘Places requested to be deleted’ and ‘Place deletion requests cancelled’.

===How do I mark my own location? Why should I?===
To mark your location find ‘Choose your location’ at the top of your profile page. Then choose your location by positioning the map and placing the marker. Location may be approximate for privacy. Your location will be visible to other users, so they could figure out where are you from.

===How do I delete a message someone sent me?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete a message, it will stay permanently in your inbox.

===Is there any way I can change my user name? I hate this one!===
This is not an easy task. You really should have thought of this before registering! If you really have a good reason, you must send an e-mail administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. They may be able to help you. Otherwise, you have two options: 1) Learn to live with it, or 2) abandon the account and start a new, re-registering.
===Someone has stolen my Wikimapia account and password. What can I do?===
Send e-mail to administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. Ask to have your password reset. Remember that the thief may have changed your e-mail, so be prepared to give evidence that you really are the original owner of the account. And be ready to apologize for who the thief might have offended
===I don't want to be part of Wikimapia any more. How do I delete my account?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete your account, alternatively you may want to change your password to something you will not be able to remember easily or you can stop visiting Wikimapia altogether which is even more easier.

==Place Search==

===How do I search for something?===
Type the name of the place you're looking for in the search box in the Wikimapia Menu Bar at the top of your screen, and press the <tt>'''Search'''</tt> button. A list results matching your query shall be returned in the sidebar. You can also tailor your searches by location or coordinates by choosing the respective tabs underneath the search box in the sidebar.

==Categories==

===What are Categories?===
Category filter is a tool that allows you to search for places of one type (ie. bars, hospitals, etc) by their category.

===How do I search for something?===
You just need to hover over ‘Categories’ on the top menu and either choose the category you are looking for (if its shown) or search it in ‘Search categories’ bar. Then you’ll see that all the places on the map that fit your category will we have red marks. To quit a category search click ‘cancel’ on the bottom of the map.

===How can I find, for example, theaters in one city?===
See previous

= User Tools =

==Watchlists==

===How do I create a watchlist?===
To create a watchlist go to [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/ Tools] click on watchlist then click add, outline the area you wish to watch, enter a name and click save. You can navigate back to see your watchlist's this way.

===Is there a limit of watchlist's I can create?===
No, there is not limit to the number of watchlist's you can create.

=Community=

==Forum==

===When can I join in the forum discussions?===
As soon as you are registered.
===Why am I not able to post into the forum?===
Every regular user can post into the forum. If you can not then you are either an unregistered user or you were banned on forum for [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 guidelines of Wikimapia forum] violation.

===Should I ask a question anywhere in the forum, or should I start a new topic? ===
If there is already a topic that refers to your question, you can post your question there. You should start a new thread only if there is no topic alike. Remember: Off-topic posts may be deleted by moderators.
===How can I make sure that someone sees my posting in the forum? (should I post it in all sections?) ===
There is no way to '''guarantee''' that someone will certainly see your posting, but new postings usually appear on the top of the forum page, so users '''might''' see them.
===I posted a message in the forum, but I have changed my mind. Can/should I delete it? ===
You can delete your message only during a short period of time after posting. In other situation you can not delete your messages, only [[Community#Forum_moderators| forum moderators]] have such power. So you can contact one of them and explain the reason why your message needs to be deleted.

===I added a photo to my profile, but my forum posting still shows "no foto"? ===
Wait for a while. It may take some time.
===I remember seeing something discussed in the forum last week, but now I can't find it. Is it possible to find it again? ===
On such a case there is a search bar at the top right corner of the forum page.

===Why do forum messages always run off the right side of my screen?===
The forum is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. If yours is set to less than this, the forum display will be wider than your screen.

===How can I make a text bold, italicize or underline it?===
You will have to use square brackets [][/]

*for bold: [b]text[/b]
*to italicize: [i]text[/i]
*to underline: [u]text[/u]

===How to embed images?===
to embed image: [img]url goes here[/img]

==Other Users==

===How do I find out where another user lives===
If a user marked his\her location you may figure out where is he\she from. Otherwise, you need to ask directly to the user, but be ready for a disappointment, since many users prefer to keep your privacy.

===How can I contact another user?===
Find it (a) in the forum or on a map of users, or the link somewhere that he (a) has described or discussed. Click on your username. This will open the user profile that you want to contact. Click "send message to this user", type your message in the text box and click the "send message". The message you sent is shown above a new text box empty. That's it: do not click the button "send message" again. If you have already sent a message to this user, you name it (a) will be on your list of contacts: open your profile, click on "Messages", find the desired user name and proceed from there.
===How do I contact a user if I only know his username?===
You can find him/her by rank. Find 'Users rank' in a 'tools' section in your profile. In the window that opens, there is a search field 'Search username'. Enter the user name and click 'search'. Note that the name must exactly match the user (no matter, however, if the letters are uppercase or lowercase). If you have trouble finding it, you can ask for help from other users in the forum. Maybe some of us may find the desired user.

===How can I find out the email address linked to a user account?===
You can not. This information is private. You will not find any e-mail here. The only way is to ask the user, by sending him a message.
===I have a disagreement with another user. What should I do?===
Bring the items to the forum. We will mediate the "ceasefire" between you and another user.
===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===What is a sockpuppet?===
English Wikipedia page says: "sockpuppet is an online identity used in order to deceive the other members of a virtual community. In its initial use, a "sockpuppet" was a false identity through which a member of a community on the Internet manifests itself while pretending that it does not, as does a puppeteer manipulating a puppet. In WikiMapia, a "sockpuppet" is someone who has a second account.

===Is it acceptable to have a sockpuppet?===
For most users, no. However, there are users who have higher levels "sockpuppets" for experiments. They are useful in this regard.

==User Levels==

===What is the difference between user levels?===
The higher user level you are the more tools and options are available for you.

===What are the advantages & responsibilities of being an advanced user?===
Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
#Ban tool
#Protection
#Deletion/restoration of comments
#Faster object deletion
#Up to 2.500 points per polygon
#The ability to vote on AU's promotion

Being an Advanced User means you need to look after the map. For example, coordinate and encourage users, help new users, arrange debates, keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.

===How do I become an advanced user?===

There is no a defined formula for becoming an AU. Just contribute to Wikimapia and your efforts will be noted. In practice, recommendations are given of possible AU forum and if there is a consensus, so administrators can choose to promote you. These recommendations are based on the overall quality of their contributions, their visibility in the Forum and its suitability to the ideals of WikiMapia.

===Will a high rank qualify me to become an advanced user?===
A high rank itself can not make you an advanced user. Though the more you contribute to Wikimapia the higher is you rank, so the closer the moment that you may be offered to become an advanced user..
===How many places do I have to mark to become an advanced user?===
All these questions have the same answer: There is no magic number you need to achieve because the promotion AU is a manual process done by administrators, and this is not automatic, regardless of what numbers you have.

===How many good votes do I need to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===How long should one be a regular user to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===Why is my account marked as limited/banned?===
If you were banned you’ll get a notification message, that explains the reasons and proofs of your ban. In addition, you’ll see a red window on the right of your profile page that notifies you about the reasons and details of limitation.

===How can I tell what user level a user is?===
In profile of every user there is a number of his user level.

===Can a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29 sockpuppet] (clone) account apply for AU status?===
No, it cannot. Only a personal account (one account per individual) can apply for AU status if it is eligible for application. This is not applicable to separate accounts belonging to different individuals who live in the same household or use the same IP address.

===Can advanced user test accounts apply for AU status?===
It is strictly forbidden for Advanced user duplicate accounts (openly declared for test purposes) to apply for promotion.

==Vandalism==

===What is vandalism?===
Deliberate actions aimed to corrupt information.
Vandalism can take many forms. For example: removing correct, useful information from place tags, or adding false or offensive information. Deleting correct and useful tags, moving tags away from their correct locations, adding offensive photos, adding/re-shaping polygons so that they depict nonsensical/obscene shapes and replacing a place tag's description with one in a different language (instead of adding the new language), '''deliberately''' creating duplicate place tags, all constitute vandalism. Disrupting the forum is also considered vandalism.

===My place tag has been vandalised. What should I do?===

Post a message with the details in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] Forum WikiMapia. We're here to help.

===How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised?===
Find ‘History’ in ’menu’ in place tag, find the revision that you think is a vandalism and click ‘Undo this revesion’.

===How do restore a vandalized description to what it used to be?===
See previous

===Is is possible to protect articles that are vandalized often?===

Yes. Advanced User can "semiprotect" a place. If you want a place to be semi-protected, then send a request in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] forum.

===Can I undelete a non-compliant place object and re-purpose/convert it into an acceptable one?===

The practice of salvaging a deleted place object and reassigning its identity is forbidden '''if''' the newer object is:
*situated at a different location from the original
*has a completely different function to the original

All objects must be marked with their own outlines and are treated as individual objects. For example, the place object for a jetty (which has rotted away) cannot be converted into a lake or boat house - it must be deleted (unless the jetty is rebuilt). The lake and boat house must be marked separately with their own place object identities.

Recycling obsolete objects and reusing them may seem desirable but ultimately defeats the object of populating Wikimapia's map and database with unique places and overall place count respectively. The exception to this rule is that an existing place can be re-purposed within one day of its creation if a user has marked it erroneously.

The wilful and persistent act of undeleting place objects (including existing place objects) and recycling them into compliant objects is forbidden. In addition, the premeditated act of abusing the aforementioned exception is also forbidden.

==Banning==

===What is a ban?===
A limitation caused by disregarding, violation or misinterpretation of the rules.

===If I am banned and believe that I do not deserve it, What can I do?===
Restrictions and banning are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. Read [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| the policies]] and make sure that you didn't violate any of them. If not, contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban and unblock users, so he/she might help you.

===How can I report a bad user so that he/she is banned quickly?===
You should contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban users, so he/she might help you.

==Voting==

===Why should I vote for a user?===
You should vote for a user if you want to provide a positive feedback about his/her contributions to Wikimapia, to encourage a user.
===How do I vote for a user?===
If you have 2+ user level you can vote for other users. Click on a user profile page, click on ‘votes about user’ and you’ll see a green voting form above a list of users who have already voted for a user.

===When can I start to vote for people?===
As soon as you are 2+ level
===Is there a reason I can't vote for users?===
No, there is no such a reason. You can freely vote for a user if you want.
===Is it proper to ask for votes?===
No. Voting for someone means you want to provide a positive feedback about users contributions to Wikimapia. So asking for votes is poor behavior.
===How can I get more votes?===
The more valuable places and useful information you add the more people would like to vote for you
===Someone gave me a good vote. Should I do the same for her/him?===
If you find that user deserving a good vote for his efforts on Wikimapia. If not - do not vote for a user only just to thank him for his good vote for u.
===How do I remove an unwanted vote?===
You may delete an unwanted vote if open the list of users, who voted for you, in your profile.

===Someone said I voted too frequently. Is there a limit?===
No there is no such a limit. However it is considered bad etiquette to give votes to others just to receive more yourself, only vote for user if you feel they do good work.

===Should I give a good vote to a user who is No.1 in the ranking system?===
If he is No.1 in ranking system then he might add a lot of good information. If do find it good - vote for him, if not - do not vote.

=Error Messages=

==="Sorry, you are doing many actions in a short period of time, please wait a while and retry your action"===
There is a limit on similar actions that a user can do within a certain period of time (i.e. a newly registered user can only delete three places in an hour).

==="Too long polygon"===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots, ~244.14 km²
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots, ~996,006 km²

==="Too big polygon"===
See previous.

==="You cannot change your vote, you started vote, you may only completely unset it"===
This message belongs to a defunct system for ban voting therefore it should not appear. If it does appear, please create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and the bug reports list [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc here]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="You must remove the child objects before deleting the object"===
This message means you can not delete an object as there are child objects that refer to it. You need to delete them first.

==="Wikimapia has just updated! Please reload the page or press shift + ctrl R in order to apply fixes and enjoy new features"===
This message means that Admins have just made some changes in Wikimapia, so you need to reload the page to see the updated version of Wikimapia.

=External=

===Can I see Wikimapia places on Google Earth?===
Yes. You can download Wikimapia layer on Google Earth.

===Can I place part of the map on my own web page?===

Yes! Find the screen you want to place on your page. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" in the upper left corner and select "Map on your page" A popup window will appear with the corners of a rectangle. Just push the corners of the rectangle to resize the box and then copy the html code that is shown and paste it into your page.

===Can I use Wikimapia with a GPS device?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet.

===What browser do you recommend to use with Wikimapia?===

Any modern one, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===How do I make a jpeg or bmp shot of specific part of the map?===
First, check the licence of satellite photos provider, then capture the screen and transfer the picture into whatever format you need.

===I want to send a Wikimapia page to a friend. How do I do that?===
If you want to send a link to a specific area of Wikimapia map use URL of the page on the top of your browser.
===I clicked a Wikimapia link that someone gave me. Why am I seeing all place descriptions in Spanish now?===

The person who sent you the link used Spanish as their language. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" and select "Change language". Select the language you want.

===How can I print the map with the names of the locations (without using another application to overlay the points and names)?===

The best you can do is capture the screen and print it.

=Advertising=

===I own a business. Can I tag it?===
Yes, you can tag it. 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."
===What is the policy on advertising land for sale?===
The advertising of land for sale is not allowed under any circumstances. This means it is forbidden to advertise using Wikimapia's map tools, description and comments sections of place/linear objects, the Forum, the Blog or any other intellectual property belonging to Wikimapia.

{{Back to Main Page}}

User:Antdoghalo

2013-02-28T07:06:29Z

Antdoghalo: .

= About me =
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012, 7:00 PM EST
*'''February 12, 2013
*'''Added polygons to all squares in the South: January 19, 2013
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: January 27, 2013, 2:45 PM EST
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

===Pre-registration===
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.

===Registration and 2 year inactivity===
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.

===Finding an unmonitored area===
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
===Clermont, Florida watchlist and the beginning of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)===
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
===Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)===
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
===Project on the South===
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.
===Advanced User===
On December 31st exactly when 2013 began in GMT I was promoted to an advanced user.

== 2013 ==

*''' Added polygons to final square in the South
On Jaunary 19th I added a polygon to the final square in the South.

*'''Place with triangular polygon, outline the rest of the counties in the South.
After outlining the last square in the South I am now improving the outlines of already created counties and creating new ones since the "Too big polygon" issue has been fixed for Advanced Users.

*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.
I will be starting a project to eliminate the squares in these areas soon.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 12 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook, Twitter or any other form of communication and I am not planning to get one.

==Notes about me==
*'''Low number of General votes
I don't give out many votes (normal ones not Advanced User promotion ones) and as a result receiving one from me is a rare occurrence. They are usually given out for very consistent good contributions to the South.
*'''Large number of category edits
I make a large number of category edits in the South because I think that all category edits in my area should not be without including the fixing of a badly drawn polygon, the building box, or a translation to English. I also like to make requests to fix categories. I am probably the closest thing to an American Category Moderator there ever will be as a result (Due to the refusal to promote one).

=Info that might actually be of use to your experience on Wikimapia=
Here are some things that you might want to know to improve your work in Wikimapia
==Tips to a better Wikimapia experience (to be done)==
*'''Building box ("This place is a building")
When creating or editing a place, there is a checkbox labeled "This place is a building" this box is to be checked only if you have outlined the building itself, if you have included anything that is not a building in the outline such as a parking lot or a grassy area then this box should remain unchecked.
*'''Abbreviations
Abbreviations must be avoided in cases such as names of populated places or streets, since Wikimapia is a global site, people halfway around the world may not know what they mean.
*'''Wikimapia awards and ranking
On your user profile there is a number called "Rank" where you are listed based on how many points you have and a box on the right called "Awards" where you have "awards" based on how much of a type of place you added or number of overall edits to places. A common problem with these features is that many users try to speed edit (adding places quickly without caring about quality) their way on racing to get these. A good user ignores these features and instead focuses on adding quality work.

== My avatar ==
My Avatar is almost always a dragon.

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

.

Cộng đồng

2013-02-10T04:51:37Z

Antdoghalo: update

{{Languages|Community}}
{{Navbox user guide}}

Wikimapia người dùng hình thành Cộng đồng. Mặc dù nó là tự tổ chức có [[About_Wikimapia # Chính sách | chính sách]] và nghi thức. Ngoài ra còn có một hệ thống đánh giá đặc biệt cho phép người sử dụng để đạt được mức độ kinh nghiệm mới. Người dùng giao tiếp với nhau bằng tin nhắn và diễn đàn.

== Cấp độ người dùng ==

Điểm kinh nghiệm là một tính năng của Wikimapia giúp tự động xác định mức độ kinh nghiệm. Họ tích luỹ tự động trong tài khoản của bạn dựa trên những đóng góp của bạn cho dự án Wikimapia. Điều này có nghĩa rằng các điểm kinh nghiệm hơn bạn nhận được nhiều nơi hơn và [[Công cụ # Linear_features | tuyến tính tính năng]] bạn tạo hoặc chỉnh sửa.
{| class="wikitable"
! User level
! Experience points
! Tools available
! Polygon dots limit
! Polygon area limit
|-
| 0 Unregistered Users/Guests (UU)
| 0
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, add place/photo
| 200
|~50 km²
|-
| 1 Regular User (RU)
| 0 + register
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, '''edit profile''', add place/ photo, '''edit place/ photo, delete place/ photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, report lists bug/features, use messages'''
write on forum
| 500 dots
|~500 km²
|-
| 2 Regular User
| 5000
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile , '''vote for users''', add place/photo/'''linear feature''', edit place/photo/'''linear feature''', delete place/photo/'''linear feature''', translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, '''Satellite images updates list''', report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
| 500 dots
|~500 km²
|-
| 3 Regular User
| 15000
| use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/ translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
|500 dots
|~750 km²
|-
| 4 Regular User
| 50000
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
| 500 dots
|~1000 km²
|-
| 5 Regular User
| 150000
|search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum, '''mass editing/deleting photos (photo moderation)''', '''Advanced users promotion'''
| 500 dots
|~1250 km²
|-
| 6 Regular User
| 500000
| all
| 500 dots
|~1500 km²
|-
| 7 Regular User
| 1500000
| all
| 500 dots
|~1750 km²
|-
| 8 Regular User
| 5000000
| all
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Forum moderators
| approved by Wikimapia Team
| depending on UL + edit forum
| 500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Categories moderators
| approved by Wikimapia Team
|depending on UL + edit category filter
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Documentors
| approved by Wikimapia Team
|depending on UL + edit Wiki Docs
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Advanced Users (AU)
| approved by Wikimapia Team
|all + make semi-protection on places + write on AU forum + delete comments + ban users + vote on AU's promotion
|2000 dots
|~70000 km²
|}

== Vấn đề chạy theo thứ hạng ==

Wikimapias mục tiêu chính là để giúp mọi người khám phá thế giới và chia sẻ kiến thức của họ. Wikimapia không phải là về cấp bậc hay địa vị xã hội. Mặc dù, là một hệ thống cấp bậc, tự động xác định mức độ kinh nghiệm, mục tiêu duy nhất của nó là giúp đỡ để tổ chức Wikimapia cộng đồng và khuyến khích người dùng đóng góp cho dự án. Tuy nhiên, tất cả các quyết định chính là thúc đẩy tình trạng người dùng cấp cao hoặc nhận bất kỳ vai trò khác đặc biệt ( người điều hành diễn đàn, trình soạn, vv) được thực hiện phụ thuộc vào các chất lượng + (để không nhầm lẫn với số lượng) của đóng góp của người sử dụng và sau khi thảo luận và bỏ phiếu trong số tất cả các thành viên + của Cộng đồng.

Vì nó là bình thường trong các dự án hợp tác khác, Wikimapians chỉ trích gian lận xếp hạng. Tất cả mọi thứ trên Wikimapia được dựa trên sự tin tưởng chỉnh sửa của bạn, mà bạn sẽ mất ngay lập tức ngay sau khi bạn cố gắng để nhận được điểm kinh nghiệm cho những hành động vô ích. Mặc dù nó không phải là cấm một người sử dụng cho các hành động vô dụng (trừ khi nó corrupts thông tin), người dùng có thể được hạ cấp từ AU cho một chất lượng kém của chỉnh sửa hoặc điểm kinh nghiệm của mình sẽ được zeroised bởi quản trị viên.

== Giải thưởng ==
Ngoài điểm kinh nghiệm còn có một hệ thống khen thưởng. [Giải thưởng sao http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/awards/ (một, hai hoặc ba) sẽ được tự động được cấp dựa vào ngưỡng khác nhau (tức là địa điểm hoặc đường, hình ảnh và thiều thứ khác) số liệu thống kê của một người.

== Bỏ phiếu ==
Bầu cử là phương pháp của chúng tôi cung cấp phản hồi tích cực với các bạn về những đóng góp của bạn Wikimapia, và cho bạn để cung cấp thông tin phản hồi tích cực cho người dùng khác về họ. Những người đóng góp tích cực đến Wikimapia ("mô tả thế giới bằng cách tạo ra những nơi hữu ích và cũng được mô tả) xứng đáng được một cuộc bỏ phiếu tích cực.

Không sao giải thưởng, cũng không votes không thể ảnh hưởng trực tiếp cấp độ người dùng của bạn, nhưng sao giải thưởng có hoặc rất nhiều phiếu có nghĩa là bạn đã khá thành công trong việc cải thiện bản đồ hoặc bạn có một tình trạng xã hội cao trên Wikimapia. Rằng, ví dụ, ngoại trừ cho một cảm giác tốt đẹp, có thể giúp đỡ trong trường hợp bạn đã thực hiện một yêu cầu cho một tình trạng Advanced User.

== Vai trò đặc biệt ==
=== Nhóm Wikimapia ===

Đó là những người thay đổi và duy trì trang web. Wikimapia các nhà phát triển luôn luôn bận rộn với Wikimapia cải thiện, vì vậy hãy suy nghĩ hai lần trước khi giải quyết cho mình để họ. Nếu trường hợp của bạn là khẩn cấp, họ sẽ sẵn sàng giúp đỡ bạn. Nhưng nếu AUS cũng có thể giúp bạn với vấn đề này, bạn nên gửi một tin nhắn để AUS đầu tiên.

=== Điều hành diễn đàn ===

Vai trò này cho phép sử dụng các công cụ điều tiết trong diễn đàn Wikimapia. Nó được cấp bởi các thành viên của nhóm Wikimapia.

----

=== Quản lí thể loại ===

Vai trò này cho phép sử dụng các công cụ điều tiết cho các loại Wikimapia. Nó được cấp bởi các thành viên của nhóm Wikimapia.

Dưới đây là một số thông tin cho mod thể loại:

==== Thể loại là gì? ====

Chính xác những gì một thể loại, không? Ví dụ, là "thành phố" một thể loại? Trả lời: Không thực sự. Thể loại A thực sự chỉ là một số ID trong cơ sở dữ liệu loại. Vì vậy, "88" trong loại cơ sở dữ liệu là một thể loại. Ý tưởng cơ bản là thể loại "88" đại diện cho cùng một loại điều ở khắp mọi nơi, không có vấn đề mà đất nước.

Một category có một số tài sản và các tài sản quan trọng nhất là ... tên của nó (bằng tiếng Anh) . Một căn nhà khác sẽ được, ví dụ, tên của nó (bằng tiếng Nga) . Vì vậy, nếu chúng ta cho thể loại "88" một tên "thành phố" trong tiếng Anh, tên của nó ở Nga cũng có nghĩa là "thành phố". Chúng tôi có thể không quyết định để cho một tên Nga "88" có nghĩa là một cái gì đó khác nhau, ví dụ như "ngôi nhà".

Mặc dù "thành phố" là không thực sự một thể loại, cho thuận tiện và vì không ai đã ghi nhớ số ID loại, chúng tôi thường sử dụng tên của category trong dấu ngoặc vuông để đại diện cho các thể loại. Vì vậy, [thành phố] thực sự là loại 88 và [город (ru) cũng là loại 88, nhưng đề cập cụ thể để Nga từ đồng nghĩa / biên dịch.

Chi tiết kỹ thuật nhiều hơn, số lượng được lưu trữ với mỗi thẻ diễn ra trong thực tế, không phải là ID loại, mà là một "id từ đồng nghĩa". Mỗi id từ đồng nghĩa có tên riêng của mình, bạn có thể thấy trên trang "Thể loại danh sách", và đó là những từ đồng nghĩa được cấu trúc để tạo nên hệ thống phân cấp loại. Điều này làm cho nó có thể, ví dụ, bắt đầu với hai loại riêng biệt, sau đó làm cho họ từ đồng nghĩa (như vậy, pha trộn các địa điểm với nhau), và sau đó lùi lại các mối quan hệ từ đồng nghĩa, và kết thúc với hai loại riêng biệt ban đầu một lần nữa, tất cả mà không cần thay đổi bất cứ điều gì trên nơi thẻ cá nhân.

==== Làm thế nào để chúng ta sử dụng các loại? ====

Chúng ta có thể yêu cầu loại câu hỏi của cơ sở dữ liệu thể loại mà chúng tôi muốn thấy được hiển thị trên bản đồ? Dưới đây là một số gợi ý, trình bày như là các mẫu của những gì chúng ta phải nghĩ khi chúng tôi chỉ định một loại thẻ nơi.
# "Nơi này là một thể loại". Ví dụ: [làng], [trường], [cảnh sát], [McDonalds. Nhưng không phải nén.
# "Nơi này là một loại loại chỗ". Ví dụ: [quân sự], [sản xuất].
# "Nơi này được liên kết với / thuộc sở hữu của [loại]." Ví dụ: [roman đế chế], [Long Island Rail Road.
Đó là một số trong những mẫu rõ ràng, nhưng chắc chắn có những người khác cũng sẽ có ích. Xin vui lòng góp ý kiến trong phần 'Chuyên mục dọn dẹp của Diễn đàn!

Nhà văn này nói chung là không ủng hộ của những thứ như:
# "" Nơi này là trong thể loại]''. " Ví dụ: [paris], [Nga], [Châu Phi. Mặc dù vì một lý do nào đó, một những đứa cá nhân! tôi ok với quận tiếng Anh [nottinghamshire] và tiếng Pháp / Ý tỉnh [Lombardy], ví dụ, nhưng không phải Mỹ / Canada tiểu bang / tỉnh california], [ontario] . Đây là những cụ thể [cấp chính quyền đầu tiên nơi - có lẽ lịch sử những người - và chủng loại nên được áp dụng chỉ ở các thành phố và thị trấn.
# "Này được tạo ra bởi [loại]." Ví dụ: [johnsmith].
# "Tôi có thể mua loại ở nơi này." Ví dụ: điện thoại, máy tính, táo. Tên như thế này nên được reworded theo mẫu (1) ở trên: [cửa hàng điện thoại di động], [kinh doanh máy tính / dịch vụ, hàng tạp hóa (chỉ chọn một số suy nghĩ ra khỏi đỉnh đầu của tôi), cung cấp không phải là 'thing' 't ngớ ngẩn, như [cốc].
# "Nơi này" là "[loại]." Ví dụ: [green], [nguy hiểm]. Những lời này thường tính từ, và không phù hợp với tên thể loại.

==== Là hệ thống danh mục được cấu trúc như thế nào? ====

'Mới' (2012) thể loại hệ thống có một cấu trúc cụ thể thêm. Loại bây giờ có thể có 'cha mẹ', 'trẻ em' và 'anh em / chị em'. Một loại có thể có bất kỳ số lượng trẻ em và , bất kỳ số của cha mẹ và bất kỳ số lượng từ đồng nghĩa (anh / chị em). Ý tưởng là những kết quả mà bạn nhận được khi lọc lúc này cũng sẽ bao gồm những nơi có 'con' và 'cháu' loại, và các từ đồng nghĩa của chúng. Vì vậy, nếu bạn lọc [Nhà hàng] nó cũng sẽ tìm thấy những nơi phân loại chỉ như là một nhà hàng Ý], ví dụ (hoặc nó sẽ một lần mối quan hệ chức năng này được kích hoạt trong các chức năng lọc, mà nó không được, lúc đầu). Ngoài ra, khi đầy đủ chức năng được kích hoạt, các thuộc tính vẽ có liên quan với một số loại, như công viên là màu xanh lá cây, cũng sẽ thực hiện thông qua các loại con và cháu.

Nếu bạn đã cố gắng để vẽ này là một sơ đồ (như một cây gia đình), nó có thể nhận được rất phức tạp, với mũi tên mối quan hệ đi khắp nơi. Nó rất linh hoạt. Vì vậy, linh hoạt cho nó thậm chí còn có thể thiết lập liên kết như vậy là 'con' và 'ông' loại đều giống nhau, do đó làm cho một vòng khép kín trong biểu đồ. (Điều này rõ ràng là không một điều tốt để làm, tuy nhiên, do đó, không làm điều đó!)

Khi có từ đồng nghĩa, là một mặc định từ đồng nghĩa. Đây là tên sẽ được hiển thị như tên thể loại chính. Từ đồng nghĩa mặc định trong một ngôn ngữ khác không phải để được giống như trong tiếng Anh.

==== Moderator Thể loại (Quản lí thể loại) dùng để làm gì? ====

'' '<big> Có ba hoạt động chính cho CM: </ big>'''

1. Tổ chức các loại.

Tạo các liên kết cha mẹ / con / từ đồng nghĩa trong cấu trúc mới trong ngôn ngữ chính thức WM (tiếng Anh).
Đây là nhiệm vụ chính ban đầu và để hỗ trợ với điều này, bạn cần phải thông thạo tiếng Anh. Phần này cũng giống như một dự án trong khi chúng tôi tiến sẽ ít hơn và ít còn lại để làm. Tại một số điểm, chúng ta có thể khai báo nó "hoàn thành đủ" và chuyển sang nhiệm vụ bảo trì ngày-to-ngày.

2. Dịch tên thể loại tiếng Anh sang ngôn ngữ khác

Ở đây bạn cũng có phải hiểu những gì tên trong tiếng Anh có nghĩa là trước khi bạn có thể dịch nó. Nếu có một câu hỏi, nó phải được thảo luận "trước khi" làm bất cứ điều gì. Lưu ý rằng nó là bây giờ có thể cho một thể loại không có tên bằng tiếng Anh. Nếu bạn tìm thấy một như thế này, xin vui lòng thêm các bản dịch tiếng Anh.

3. Đang thực hiện bảo trì

Điều này sẽ tiếp tục mãi mãi như những người thực hiện mới (chưa được phê duyệt) loại.

==== Còn những công cụ có sẵn để quản lý loại? ====

Sử dụng bảng dưới đây để tìm thấy những công cụ được mô tả trong phần này:

{{Back to Main Page}}

Community/vi

2013-02-10T04:43:46Z

Antdoghalo: /* Cấp độ người dùng */ update

Community/pt

2013-02-10T04:42:12Z

Antdoghalo: /* Níveis de usuários */ update

{{Languages|Community}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
Os usuários do WikiMapia formam uma Comunidade. Embora tenha uma auto-organização, existem [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia#Políticas|políticas]] e regras. Existe também um sistema de classificação especial que permite que um usuário obtenha novos níveis de experiência. Os usuários podem se comunicar através de mensagens e do fórum.

== Níveis de usuários ==

Pontos de experiência é um recurso do Wikimapia que ajuda a determinar automaticamente os níveis de experiência. Eles acumulam automaticamente em sua conta com base em suas contribuições para o projeto Wikimapia. Isto significa que são somados os pontos experiência sempre que você adiciona ou edita lugares ou [[Ferramentas#Características_lineares| características lineares]].

{| class="wikitable"
! Nível de usuário
! Pontos de experiência
! Ferramentas disponíveis
! Limite de pontos do polígono
! Limite de área do polígono
|-
| 0 Usuário não Registrado/Visitante (UU)
| 0
| pesquisar, usar filtro de categoria, alterar o idioma da interface, escolher o tipo de mapa, adicionar local/foto
| 200
|~ 50 km²
|-
| 1 Usuário Registrado (UR)
| 0 + registro
| pesquisar, usar filtro de categoria, alterar o idioma da interface, escolher o tipo de mapa, '''editar perfil''', adicionar local/ foto, '''editar local/ foto, apagar local/ foto, traduzir tags/traduzir interface, lista de monitoramento, grade de status, relatório de erros/características, usar mensagens'''
escrever no fórum
| 500 pontos
|~ 500 km²
|-
| 2 Usuário Regular
| 5000
| pesquisar, usar filtro de categoria, alterar o idioma da interface, escolher o tipo de mapa, editar perfil, '''votar em usuários''', adicionar local/foto/'''característica linear''', editar local/foto/'''característica linear''', apagar local/foto/'''característica linear''', traduzir tags/traduzir interface, lista de monitoramento, grade de status, '''Imagens de satélite lista de atualizações''', relatório de erros/características, usar mensagens, escrever no fórum
| 500 pontos
|~ 500 km²
|-
| 3 Usuário Regular
| 15000
| usar filtro de categoria, alterar o idioma da interface, escolher o tipo de mapa, editar perfil, votar em usuários, adicionar local/foto/característica linear, editar local/foto/característica linear, apagar local/foto/característica linear, traduzir tags/ traduzir interface, lista de monitoramento, grade de status, Imagens de satélite lista de atualizações, relatório de erros/características, usar mensagens, escrever no fórum
|500 pontos
|~ 750 km²
|-
| 4 Usuário Regular
| 50000
| pesquisar, usar filtro de categoria, alterar o idioma da interface, escolher o tipo de mapa, editar perfil, votar em usuários, adicionar local/foto/característica linear, editar local/foto/característica linear, apagar local/foto/característica linear, traduzir tags/traduzir interface, lista de monitoramento, grade de status, Imagens de satélite lista de atualizações, relatório de erros/características, usar mensagens, escrever no fórum
| 500 pontos
|~ 1000 km²
|-
| 5 Usuário Regular
| 150000
|pesquisar, usar filtro de categoria, alterar o idioma da interface, escolher o tipo de mapa, editar perfil, votar em usuários, adicionar local/foto/característica linear, editar local/foto/característica linear, apagar local/foto/característica linear, traduzir tags/traduzir interface, lista de monitoramento, grade de status, Imagens de satélite lista de atualizações, relatório de erros/características, usar mensagens, escrever no fórum, '''relação de fotos para edição/exclusão (moderação de foto)'''
| 500 pontos
|~ 1250 km²
|-
| 6 Usuário Regular
| 500000
| todos
| 500 pontos
|~ 1500 km²
|-
| 7 Usuário regular
| 1500000
| todos
| 500 pontos
|~ 1750 km²
|-
| 8 Usuário Regular
| 5000000
| todos
|500 pontos
|~ 2000 km²
|-
| Moderadores do Fórum
| aprovado pela Equipe Wikimapia
| dependendo do NU + editar o fórum
| 500 pontos
|~ 2000 km²
|-
| Moderadores de Categorias
| aprovado pela Equipe Wikimapia
|dependendo do NU + editar filtro de categoria
|500 pontos
|~ 2000 km²
|-
| Documentador
| aprovado pela Equipe Wikimapia
|dependendo do NU + editar Wiki Docs
|500 pontos
|~ 2000 km²
|-
| Usuários Avançados (UA)
| aprovado pela Equipe Wikimapia
|todos + semi-proteger locais, ter acesso ao Fórum dos Usuários Avançados, apagar comentários, banir usuários e votar na promoção de UA.
|2000 pontos
|~ 70000 km²
|}

== Rank chasing problem ==

Wikimapia's main goal is to help people exploring the world and sharing their knowledge. Wikimapia is not about rank or social status. Though, there is a rank system, that automatically determines experience levels, its only aim is helping to organize Wikimapia Community and encouraging users to contribute to the project. But all main decisions as promotion to Advanced User status or getting any other special role (forum moderator, documentor, etc) are made depending on the +quality+ (do not confuse with quantity) of users contributions and after discussion and voting among all the members of the Community.

As it is usual in other collaborative projects, Wikimapians criticize rank cheaters. Everything on Wikimapia is based on trust to your edits, which you will loose immediately as soon as you'll try to receive experience points for useless actions. Although it is not possible to ban a user for useless actions (unless it corrupts the information), a user can be demoted from AU for a poor quality of edits or his experience points will be zeroised by the Administrators.

== Prêmios ==
Além de pontos de experiência há um outro sistema de recompensa. [http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/awards/ Estrelas de distinção] (uma, duas ou três) são automaticamente concedidas com base nas estatísticas de vários tipos de edições (ou seja, de locais, de estradas, linhas férreas e rios, além de fotos adicionadas).

== Votação ==
Votação é nosso método de te prover um retorno sobre suas contribuições para o WikiMapia, e para você dar retorno aos outros usuário sobre as contribuições deles. Pessoas que contribuem positivamente pro WikiMapia ("descrevendo o mundo" ao criar locais úteis e bem descritos) são merecedoras de um voto positivo.

Nem estrelas, nem os votos te ajudam ou podem influenciar diretamente o seu nível de usuário, mas as estrelas com premiação ou um monte de votos significa que você tem muito sucesso em melhorar mapa ou você tem um elevado estatuto social na Wikimapia. Que, por exemplo, exceto dando uma sensação agradável, pode ajudar no caso de você fez um pedido de um status de usuário avançado.

== Posições especiais ==
===Equipe Wikimapia===

São eles que fazem mudanças e mantém o site. Eles são os desenvolvedores e estão sempre ocupados, visando a melhoria da Wikimapia. Por favor, pense duas vezes antes de contactá-los. Se o seu caso é urgente, eles terão prazer em ajudá-lo. Usuários Avançados também pode ajudá-lo com o problema, você deve primeiro enviar uma mensagem para estes.

{| class="wikitable"
! Membros da Equipe Wikimapia !! Nome Real
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/7 koriakine]
| Alexandre Koriakine (co-fundador)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/10 jacksav]
| Evgeniy Saveliev (co-fundador)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/1465617 flr]
| Evgeniy Udodov
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/212747 lnklnklnk]
| Alexander Eroshkin
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/743860 mikkey]
| Mikhail Tarbeev
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/589032 w8r]
| Alexander Milevski (engenheiro)
|-
|[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/1563994 gribowsky]
| Tonya Galkina
|-
|}
----

=== Moderador do Fórum ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=2 Lista de Moderador do Fórum]''

Esta função permite o uso de ferramentas de moderador no fórum do WikiMapia. Ela é dada por membros da equipe WikiMapia.

----

=== Moderador de Categorias ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=3 Lista de Moderador de Categorias]''

Esta função permite o uso de ferramentas de moderador para categorias WikiMapia. Ela é dada por membros da equipe WikiMapia.

Aqui estão algumas informações para os Moderadores de Categorias:

==== O que são categorias? ====

What exactly is a category, anyway? For example, is "city" a category? Answer: Not really. A category is really just an ID number in the category database. So "88" in the category database is a category. The basic idea is that category "88" represents the same kind of thing everywhere, no matter which country it is in.

A category has a number of properties, and the most important property is ... its name (in English). Another property would be, for example, its name (in Russian). So if we give category "88" a name of "city" in English, its name in Russian should also mean "city". We can not decide to give a Russian name to category "88" that means something different, for example "house".

Even though "city" isn't really a category, for convenience and because no one has memorized the category ID numbers, we usually use the category name in square brackets to represent the category. So [city] is actually category 88; and [город (ru)] is also category 88, but referring specifically to the Russian synonym/translation.

In even more technical detail, the number that is stored with each place tag is in fact not the category ID, but rather a "synonym id". Each synonym id has its own name, that you can see on the "Category list" page, and it is these synonyms that are structured to make up the category hierarchy. This makes it possible to, for example, start with two separate categories, then make them synonyms (thus blending the places together), and then undo the synonym relation, and end up with the original two categories separate again, all without changing anything on the individual place tags.

==== Como usamos as categorias? ====

What kinds of questions can we ask of the category database that we would like to see displayed on the map? Here are some suggestions, presented as templates of what we should think of when we assign a category to a place tag.
# "This place is a [category]." Examples: [village], [school], [police station], [mcdonalds]. But not [compressor].
# "This place is a [category] type of place." Examples: [military], [production].
# "This place is associated with / owned by [category]." Examples: [roman empire], [Long Island Rail Road].
Those are some of the obvious templates, but surely there are others that would also be useful. Please make suggestions in the 'Category cleanup' section of the Forum!

This writer is generally not in favour of things like:
# "This place ''is in'' [category]." Examples: [paris], [russia], [africa]. Although for some reason, a personal quirk!, I am ok with English counties [nottinghamshire] and French/Italian provinces [lombardy], for example, but not US/Canadian states/provinces [california], [ontario]. These are specific [first level administration] places - perhaps historical ones - and the category should be applied to cities and towns only.
# "This was created by [category]." Example: [johnsmith].
# "I can buy [category] in this place." Examples: [phone], [computer], [apple]. Names like these should be reworded according to template (1) above: [cell phone shop], [computer sales / service], [grocery] (just to pick some thoughts off the top of my head), provided the 'thing' isn't silly, like [coke].
# "This place ''is'' [category]." Examples: [green], [dangerous]. These words are usually adjectives, and are not suitable for category names.

==== Como o sistema de categoria é estruturado ====

The 'new' (2012) category system has a specific structure added. Categories can now have 'parents', 'children' and 'brothers/sisters'. A category can have any number of children and, any number of parents and any number of synonyms (brothers/sisters). The idea is that the results you get when filtering will now also include places with 'child' and 'grandchild' categories, and their synonyms. So if you filter for [restaurant] it will also find places categorized only as [Italian restaurant], for example (or it will once this relationship functionality is enabled in the filtering function, which it is not, at the beginning). In addition, once the full functionality is enabled, the rendering properties that are associated with some categories, like parks being coloured green, will also carry through to their child and grandchild categories.

If you tried to draw this as a diagram (like a family tree), it could get very complex, with relationship arrows going all over the place. It is very flexible. So flexible that it is even possible to set up links such that the 'child' and 'grandfather' categories are the same, thus making a closed loop in the diagram. (This is obviously not a good thing to do, however, so don't do it!)

When there are synonyms, there is one default synonym. This is the name that will be shown as the main category name. The default synonym in a different language does not have to be the same as in English.

==== O que faz um Moderador de Categorias (MC)? ====

'''<big>Existem três principais atividades do MC's:</big>'''

1. Organizar as categorias.

Crie os links de principal/secundário/sinônimo na nova estrutura na língua oficial do WM (inglês).
Esta é a tarefa primária inicial e para ajudar com isso, você precisa ser proficiente em inglês. Esta parte também é mais como um projeto em que vamos proceder haverá cada vez menos restantes para fazer. Em algum momento nós devemos ser capazes de declarar "concluiu suficiente" e passar para as tarefas de manutenção diária.

2. Traduzir os nomes das categorias de Inglês para outras línguas

Aqui também é preciso entender que o nome em Inglês significa antes de poder traduzi-lo. Se há uma questão, deve ser discutida ''antes'', se não há nada a fazer. Note que agora é possível para uma categoria não ter um nome em Inglês. Se você encontrar um assim, por favor, adicione a tradução em Inglês.

3. Manutenção contínua

Isso vai continuar para sempre, como as pessoas fazem novas (ainda não aprovados) categorias.

==== Quais ferramentas estão disponíveis para gerenciar as categorias? ====

Use a tabela abaixo para encontrar as ferramentas que são descritas nesta seção:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Ferramenta / Função !! Onde encontrar
|-
| Criar uma categoria || Editar um local <nowiki>|</nowiki> Adicionar categoria
|-
| Aprovar uma categoria || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> Categorias não aprovadas
|-
| Reprovar uma categoria || Página de informação de categoria
|-
| Renomear uma categoria || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> Lista de categorias
|-
| Modificar a descrição || Página de informação de categoria <nowiki>|</nowiki> Editar categoria
|-
| Faça duas categorias sinônimas || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> Categorias não aprovadas
|-
| Remover um sinônimo || Página de informação de categoria <nowiki>|</nowiki> Editar categoria
|-
| Definir um sinônimo padrão || Página de informação de categoria <nowiki>|</nowiki> Editar categoria
|-
| Adicionar e remover categorias principal/secundária || Página de informação de categoria <nowiki>|</nowiki> Editar categoria
|-
| Adicionar uma tradução (para outro idioma) || Página de informação de categoria <nowiki>|</nowiki> Adicionar tradução
|-
| Remover uma tradução || (não disponível)
|-
| Mesclar categorias (mescla lugares em uma única categoria) || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> Categorias não aprovadas
|-
| Excluir uma categoria || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> categorias não aprovadas
|-
| Pesquisar uma categoria/sinônimo || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> Lista de categorias
|-
| Revisar alterações recentes || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> Listagem global de categorias
|-
| Revisar edições em lugares que utilizem esta categoria || Página de informação de categoria <nowiki>|</nowiki> Ver em lista de monitoramento
|-
| Mudanças de auditoria para esta categoria || Página de informação de categoria <nowiki>|</nowiki> Ver histórico
|-
| Veja a estrutura das categorias || Ferramentas <nowiki>|</nowiki> Hierarquia de categorias
|}

===== Criar uma categoria =====

Esta função deve ser executada por um Moderador da Categorias. Se houver qualquer palavra que você acha que esteja faltando, ou gostaria que fosse criada, entre em contato com um Moderador de Categorias.
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=3 Lista de Moderador de Categorias]''

===== A partir da página "Ferramentas | Categorias não aprovadas", você pode: =====

* Aprovar a categoria. Isto significa que ela já não se encontra mais oculta e pode ser aplicado nas edições. Caso seja uma palavra recém-adicionada, verifique se é uma palavra que faz uma categoria útil ([[#Como_utilizar_as_categorias?|veja acima]]). Você também deve fazer uma versão em Inglês, senão já está em Inglês, e adicionar uma descrição que ajude as pessoas a entender como essa categoria deve ser utilizada.
* Faça um sinônimo de uma categoria existente.
: Note 1: This is useful only for those circumstances where there is no existing place with both categories. If such places exist, you will be informed about which ones they are so you can deal with them manually before retrying the Make a synonym function.
: Note 2: Don't make things synonyms unless they really are the same, and you want to have two different names for the same type of thing. This can be un-done, however, so it's not a disaster if you make a mistake.
: Note 3: The category you start with becomes a synonym of the category you select in the search function (which is the default synonym ).
* Mesclar categorias. A categoria que você mesclar vai desaparecer, ela deve ter apenas um pequeno número de locais associados. Note que isso pode não ser feito, de modo que você deve ter 100% de certeza que estas duas categorias representam exatamente a mesma coisa.
* Excluir uma categoria.
: Nota: De acordo com este novo sistema as categorias nunca são realmente excluídas, elas apenas ficam escondidas quando a sua contagem de uso cai para zero. Então, se alguém posteriormente tenta criar a mesma categoria, novamente, a versão antiga é revivida em vez de criar uma nova.

===== A partir da página de informação de categoria, você pode =====

(Esta é a página com os botões para "Filtrar locais", "Visualizar lista de monitoração", etc.).

* Editar algumas das informações de categoria:
- Modificar a descrição.

- Adicionar e remover categorias principais/secundárias.
:: Note 1: It is appropriate to make a parent/child relationship when you can say that "a <child category> is one kind of <parent category>". For example, "an [Italian restaurant] is one kind of [restaurant]", or "a [McDonalds] is one kind of [fast food (restaurant)]". If you can not make a statement like that, perhaps you should not do this.
:: Nota 2: Adicionando uma principal ou secundária aumenta a "contagem" do número da categoria secundária, enquanto que a remoção de uma principal ou secundária não diminui essa contagem. Esses números são estimativas e fica recalculada automaticamente duas vezes por dia de qualquer maneira.
- Definir o sinônimo padrão ou remover um sinônimo.
:: Nota 1: Quando você remover um sinônimo ele automaticamente se torna não aprovado, então você provavelmente vai querer ir e aprová-lo.
:: Nota 2: O sinônimo padrão não tem de ser o mesmo em cada língua, de modo que você pode mudar o sinônimo padrão em russo sem afetar o padrão em inglês, por exemplo.
* Desaprovar uma categoria. Você deve fazer isso antes da categoria se torna acessível na página de categorias não aprovada (acima).
* Adicionar uma tradução.

===== A partir da página "Ferramentas | Lista de categorias", você pode: =====

* Pesquisa de uma categoria (sinônimo, na verdade) em qualquer idioma. Note-se que a busca da categoria 'normal' retornará apenas resultados que correspondem, em sua linguagem atual ou em inglês. Esta página também mostra o idioma que o nome, bem como o nome em inglês da categoria principal.
* Renomear uma categoria.
: Nota 1: a maioria dos caracteres "especiais" (@#$*...) pode ser incluído em nomes de categoria, mas alguns tem que serem codificados de URL (por exemplo: "&"=%26). Verifique sempre o resultado depois de renomear para verificar se ele funcionou corretamente.

===== A partir página "Ferramentas | Listagem global de categorias." =====
: mostra as alterações feitas na hierarquia e nos nomes das categorias.

==== Outras informações de "Categorias" ====

* When you change the relationships between categories, by adding or deleting parent/child/synonym categories, for example, you should not expect to immediately see the new relationships when filtering for the affected places. Realtime regeneration may be enabled in the future, but at the beginning these data are only regenerated periodically (a few times per day, maybe).

* There are some functions that are only available for "small" categories. This will usually mean that the button to do that function is not there if the category is not "small". The exact definition of "small" is not (yet) decided, but think "fewer than 100", and it can also mean different numbers for different functions.

* You can download a spreadsheet-compatible list of all the categories from http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/categories/?download=1 (note that the field separator is a semicolon). You can use this to, for example, find categories with low usage that are candidates for deletion, or find categories with missing or misleading translations from English into other languages.

----

=== Usuários Avançados ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=4 Lista de Usuários Avançados]''

Qualquer pessoa como usuário de nível 5 ou superior pode fazer um pedido de status de usuário avançado (será oferecido automaticamente) e a candidatura dele/dela será submetida a votação. Se os atuais usuários avançados decidirem que uma pessoa provou ser um editor competente e pode ajudar a Wikimapia, ele/ela será convidado a ingressar no grupo de usuários avançados, tendo responsabilidades acrescidas e poderes.

[[List of Advanced users according languages | Lista de usuários avançados de acordo com o idioma]]

Este [[Codex UA]] é um código de conduta para usuários avançados.
----

=== Documentador ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=26 Lista de Documentador]''

Este regra permite editar WikiMapia Docs. É determinado pelos membros do Wikimapia Team.

== Fórum ==
''Ver também: [[Diretrizes do Fórum]]

O fórum é a área Wikimapia de discussão, onde você pode ler as perguntas de outros usuários e respostas em uma variedade de tópicos, fazer suas próprias perguntas e participar das discussões. As pessoas que freqüentam o fórum são os outros usuários como você, embora os membros da equipe Wikimapia (administradores), também contribuem ocasionalmente.

Para garantir o fluxo de discussões e debates, livremente, sem quaisquer obstáculos, os usuários são obrigados a seguir as diretrizes do fórum publicadas [[Diretrizes do Fórum | aqui]] e
[http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 aqui].

''[http://wikimapia.org/forum/memberlist.php?mode=group&g=31 Lista de Moderador do Fórum]''

== Colaborações ==
Colaborações são projetos criados pela comunidade Wikimapia para fazer tais atividades, um exemplo é a adição de polígonos para lugares sem polígonos. Qualquer usuário registrado de nível 1 ou superior pode criar uma colaboração, a colaboração tem que ser aprovado pela equipe Wikimapia antes de entrar em efeito. O criador da colaboração pode remover usuários ou terminar a colaboração a qualquer momento. Apenas colaborações aprovadas terão o seu tópico no fórum na seção [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=80 Colaborações no fórum] para discutir sobre as colaborações.

Voltar para [[Main Page/pt|página principal]]

Help/FAQ/ru

2013-01-22T02:38:17Z

Antdoghalo: /* Как правильно удалить объект? */ 404 fix

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
'''Справка / Вопросы и ответы'''

Добро пожаловать на страницу ответов на наиболее часто встречающиеся вопросы!

Если вы являетесь новым или неопытным пользователем, мы соглашаемся, что вам потребуется время, чтобы понять Правила и использовать возможности Wikimapia должным образом. У вас может быть много вопросов, которые нуждаются в ответе, или вам, возможно, потребуется просто указатель, чтобы помочь вернуться на правильный путь.

Ниже мы даём ответы на наиболее часто задаваемые вопросы. Эти вопросы-ответы охватывают ключевые принципы, которые необходимо знать, чтобы быть информированным и делать совместную работу с другими пользователями приятной.
{{TOC limit|3}}

=Основы Философии=

===Для чего существует Wikimapia?===
Цель Wikimapia состоит в том, чтобы собрать и упорядочить наиболее полную информацию обо всех географических объектах на Земле и предоставить к ней свободный доступ.

===Для кого существует Wikimapia?===
Для любого, кто заинтересован в изучении мира и хотел бы поделиться своими знаниями со всеми, кто использует Wikimapia.

===Что является основной идеологией Wikimapia?===
Чтобы узнать об идеологии Wikimapia вам надо кликнуть [[About_Wikimapia/ru|здесь]].

===Какие существуют рекомендации по использованию контента Wikimapia?===
Согласно [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ лицензии] Wikimapia вы можете использовать её содержание, как вам пожелаете (для совместного использования, редактирования, преобразования или адаптации в любой узнаваемой форме, полученных на основании оригинала для любого использования). Мы также поощряем вас строить свою работу на данных Wikimapia и требовать её дальнейшее распространение в соответствии с той же самой или подобной лицензией.

===Правильно писать WikiMapia или Wikimapia?===
Этот проект правильнее называть '''Wikimapia'''.

===Чем можно помочь этому проекту?===
Существует много способов внести свой вклад в Wikimapia. [[Quick_start/ru#Добавление_объекта|Добавление объекта]] это уже большая помощь. Вы также можете помочь с переводом интерфейса на свой язык, написать [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ сообщения об ошибках] или стать [[Community/ru#Продвинутые_пользователи|продвинутым пользователем (модератором)]] чтобы помогать другим пользователям.

=Помощь=

===Как можно получить помощь по использованию Wikimapia?===
Прежде всего вы должны внимательно прочитать документацию Wikimapia и [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Правила]. Если вы все ещё не можете получить ответ на свой вопрос, напишите сообщения [[Community/ru#Продвинутые_пользователи|продвинутым пользователям]] или обратитесь за помощью на [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php форум].

===Кто является администрацией?===
Администрацией являются [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE#.D0.A0.D0.B0.D0.B7.D1.80.D0.B0.D0.B1.D0.BE.D1.82.D1.87.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B8_.D0.92.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B8.D0.BC.D0.B0.D0.BF.D0.B8.D0.B8 разработчики Викимапии].

===Как можно получить помощь от администрации?===
Вначале удостоверьтесь, что продвинутые пользователи (модераторы) не могут вам помочь. После этого напишите администрации сообщение или свяжитесь с ними по электронной почте contact@wikimapia.org

=Содержание Wikipedia=

===Каковы рекомендации по использованию контента Википедии?===
Качество статей Википедии отвечает требованиям Wikimapia. Таким образом, можно описывая объект использовать Википедию или просто добавить ссылку на её соответствующую статью.

===Копирование и вставка всей статьи Википедии в окно описания Wikimapia это отличная идея, не так ли?===
Написать ссылку на статью более чем достаточно. Нет необходимости повторять то, что уже написано в Википедии.

=Языки=

===Можно добавить информацию на своём национальном языке в другие языковые страницы-вкладки?===
Нет. Вы не можете добавить текст на своём языке в другие (несоответствующие) языковые страницы. Это ограничение относится к словам, которые некоторые хотят добавить после правильного названия объекта. Вы можете добавить свой язык на соответствующую языковую страницу нажав на «Меню» объекта и выбрав пункт «Править на другом языке» в выпадающем меню. Затем вы можете выбрать любой из доступных языков. Вы также можете получить доступ к языковой странице, нажав двухбуквенный код страны (синий шрифт) в нижней части вкладки.

===Некто добавил объект на территории моей страны и написал информацию о нём на иностранном языке. Можно удалить его?===
Правильные описания на иностранных языках совершенно приемлемы, пока они сделаны в соответствующих языковых страницах. Преднамеренное удаление объектов (правок), содержащих информацию на иностранных языках, запрещено.

===Можно ли добавить одну и ту же веб-ссылку на статью Википедии в разные языковые страницы?===
Нет. Вы должны добавлять ссылки на статьи Википедии лишь в соответствующих языковых страницах. Но вы можете вставить ссылку на иноязычную статью Википедии в описании объекта Wikimapia.

===Я не понимаю английский язык. Что я могу сделать?===
Wikimapia — многоязычный веб-сайт и поддерживает 101 язык. Хотя основные обсуждения проводятся на английском языке (то есть, на форуме), вы все же можете выбрать понятный язык интерфейса из списка и наслаждаться Wikimapia.

===Как можно видеть Wikimapia (или отмечать объекты) на своём собственном языке?===
Вы должны поменять язык интерфейса на свой язык, выбрав двухбуквенный код страны в нижнем правом углу карточки объекта или в главном меню после нажатия «Править на другом языке».

===Почему некоторые названия и подсказки видны на других языках?===
Это означает, что они не переведены на ваш язык. Если хотите, вы можете сделать это сами.

===Как изменить язык интерфейса?===
Чтобы изменить язык интерфейса на свой язык, нажмите на двухбуквенный код страны в главном меню с последующим выбором нужного языка.

===Какой язык по умолчанию определяется для созданных мною объектов?===
В открытой информационной карточке объекта система предложит вам увидеть описание на языке интерфейса. Если нет описания на языке интерфейса, то вы увидите, что описание на английском, испанском, французском, немецком, итальянском, португальском, польском, финском, норвежском, русском языках. Если нет описания на любом из этих языков, то вы увидите описание на доступном языке.

===Когда место описано на нескольких языках, но не моём, как определяется показываемый язык?===
Существует список наиболее популярных языков. Если есть несколько описаний одного места на различных языках, система автоматически определяет самый популярный язык среди тех, которые доступны для этого определенного места.

===Некто написал хорошее описание объекта, но в несоответствующей языковой странице. Что можно сделать?===
Вы должны переместить описание в правильную языковую страницу. Вы также можете перевести это описание на свой язык, если умеете.

===Можно ли удалить описание объекта, сделанное на определённом языке, не удаляя сам объект? ===
Да.

===На какие языки можно перевести название/описание создаваемого объекта?===
На любой язык, которым вы владеете, и который присутствует в списке языков в главном меню при нажатии на ссылку «Другие языки» (отображается двухбуквенным кодом).

===Объект, который я описываю, имеет различные названия на разных языках. Какое название могу использовать на своём языке? ===
Выберете одно название на своём языке. Вы должны найти официальное название объекта на своём языке в различных источниках чтобы написать его. Если у объекта есть также неофициальное название, используемое местными жителями, вы можете отметить его в описании или в скобах около официального названия. Если у места нет официального названия, используйте неофициальное в качестве основного.

===Я нашел объект с описанием на незнакомом языке, но я хочу знать то, что там написано. Что можно сделать?===
Вы можете попытаться перевести его с помощью переводчика Google или любого доступного словаря.

===Я использую неанглоязычный интерфейс Wikimapia, но некоторые слова и фразы вижу на английском языке. Как это исправить?===
Вы можете перевести их на свой язык.

===Можно узнать, сколько пользователей использует определенный языковой интерфейс?===
Такой статистики не существует.

===Я вижу ряд различных странных кодов языков в нижнем правом углу карточки объекта. Что они означают?===
Эти коды [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO ISO]. Если вы наведете курсор над ними и немного подождёте, то увидите полные названия языков.

===Я смотрю на список доступных языков, и не вижу своего языка. Что может быть сделано в этом случае?===
В этом случае вы должны связаться с Разработчиками Викимапии. Они или добавят ваш язык к языковому списку или объяснят, почему это не может быть сделано.

===Я создал описание на новом языке для существующего объекта, но он не показывается в моем списке созданных объектов, хотя количество правок увеличилось на одну единицу. Почему?===
Потому что только первый, кто нанёс объект, является его создателем.

===Как изменить язык слоя карты?===
Вы можете изменить язык интерфейса в главном меню и язык слоя карты изменится автоматически.

=Переводы=

===Как можно помочь перевести пользовательский интерфейс на свой язык?===
Вы можете перейти на страницу [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ Перевод интерфейса] и стать редактором.

===Как узнать статус перевода определенного языка?===
Вы можете узнать это на странице [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ Перевод интерфейса].

===Я использую неанглоязычный интерфейс Wikimapia, но некоторые слова и фразы вижу на английском языке. Как это исправить?===
Вы можете перевести их на свой язык.

= Спутниковые снимки =

===Почему космоснимок моего населённого пункта такой некачественный?===
Спутниковые снимки этой области предоставляются сервисом Google. К сожалению, мы не можем оказать на него влияние.

===Почему я не могу увеличить масштаб (зум) на определенной территории?===
Потому, что у поставщика спутниковых снимков нет фотографий этой территории с более высоким качеством.

===Вы можете улучшить космоснимок моего населённого пункта, поскольку существующий слишком расплывчатый (имеет низкое качество разрешения)?===
Нет, к сожалению мы это не можем, поскольку спутниковые изображения предоставляются сервисом Google. Это означает, что мы понятия не имеем, когда Google обновит изображения. Но вы можете контролировать улучшение изображения на сайте Google, однако они пишут, что это происходит примерно раз в «приблизительно один-три года».

===Как мы можем узнать, где Google недавно изменил свои спутниковые фотографии?===
Вы можете попробовать узнать в [http://www.gearthblog.com блоге Google Earth] (только на английском языке), где есть ссылки на последние обновлённые космоснимки.

===Когда спутниковое изображение моей области будет более детальное/чёткое?===
Читайте ответ на предыдущий вопрос.

===Когда спутниковые изображения моей области будут обновлены?===
Читайте ответ на предыдущий вопрос.

===Можно ли узнать, какие объекты недавно были добавлены?===
Вы можете воспользоваться функцией «Списки наблюдений по странам», которую можете найти в меню «Инструменты».

===Почему все объекты в наблюдаемой области смещены на 10 метров западнее?===
Иногда, когда Google обновляет свои файлы, они не могут совместить их точно со старыми. Сделать спутниковые фотографии сферической Земли и разместить эти изображениям на плоской карте, не так легко, как мы хотели бы. Иногда появляются погрешности. В таком случае надо воспользоваться специальным инструментом в «Списке обновлений спутниковых снимков» (Map Shift). Это позволяет исправить сдвиги карты.

===Что можно сделать в случае, когда все объекты в наблюдаемой области смещены на 10 метров западнее?===
Читайте ответ на предыдущий вопрос.

===При попытке увидеть определённое место при большом приближении (зуме) появились надписи «Изображений нет». Почему?===
Это означает, что у поставщика космоснимков нет фотографий с более высоким качеством.

=Инструментарий=

==Добавление объекта==

===Что означает слово «объект»?===
Этот термин в WikiMapia подразумевает место, которое отмечено контуром и имеет название, описание и т.п.

===Англоязычные пользователи Wikimapia используют различные слова для обозначения объекта: "tag", "place mark, "place" и т.д. Какие слова предпочтительные?===
Правильнее будет использовать слова Place и Object.

===Как добавить/создать объект?===
Нажмите на «Добавить объект» и появится инструмент «Создание контура». Создайте [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8B#.D0.94.D0.BE.D0.B1.D0.B0.D0.B2.D0.BB.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8.D0.B5_.D0.BE.D0.B1.D1.8A.D0.B5.D0.BA.D1.82.D0.B0 полигон]] и после его сохранения добавьте информацию об объекте:
* выберете правильный язык.
* Название объекта Wikimapia показывает, когда курсор мыши наводится на контур. Напишите короткое, но правильное название.
* Описание. Если описание будет содержать две-три строки текста, то это уже хорошо.
* Наличие вэб-ссылкок приветствуется, но помните, что начинаться она должна с "http://". Ссылки на сайты должны находиться в конце основного текста описания, поскольку являются вторичной информацией.
* Категории.
Нажмите «Сохранить».
* После сохранения вы можете загрузить фотографии.

===Можно ли добавить свой частный дом?===
Нежелательно добавлять свой частный дом:

#если это ничем непримечательное здание,
#если вы не желаете раскрытия своих личных данных.

Вы имеете право отметить свой частный дом, если он:

#имеет точный контур,
#имеет правильно присвоенную категорию,
#обладает распознаваемым адресом. Это должно быть продемонстрировано путем добавления в раздел «Адрес» названия улицы (с помощью инструмента «Дороги, улицы») и номера здания.

===Какие объекты можно отмечать?===
* Любой неподвижный объект, который существует в данный момент времени. Исторические/исчезнувшие объекты могут быть добавлены, но у них должна быть категория «исторический слой / исчезнувший объект».
* Объект должен иметь, по крайней мере, аккуратно отрисованный контур и быть расположен в нужном месте.
* При добавлении населённых пунктов, таких как города, посёлки, деревни и пр., этим объектам должны быть присвоены соответствующие категории.
* Самолёты, подводные лодки, цирки-шапито и другие подвижные объекты могут быть добавлены лишь в том случае, если они не перемещались, по крайней мере, в течение недели, и по-прежнему находятся в указанном месте на момент создания объекта.

===Какие объекты нельзя отмечать?===
Пожалуйста, будьте внимательны прежде, чем добавить объект, поскольку добавление некоторых запрещено. Объекты, которые соответствуют следующим критериям удаления, не должны быть добавлены:

* Если созданный контур невозможно идентифицировать ни с одним рядом находящимся объектом.
* Исторический/исчезнувший объект без категории «исторический слой / исчезнувший объект».
* Проектируемый объект (здание, дорога), строительство которого ещё не начато.
* Движущийся объект, транспортное средство: автобус, автомобиль, паром, самолёт, корабль, и т.п.; кроме случаев, описанных в п. 1.4 [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Правил].
* Объекты, которыми отмечает временные или неосязаемые события, такие как сражения и т.п.
* Объект. который является дубликатом существующего объекта.
* Частный жилой дом без указания адреса или другой полезной информации.


===Какую информацию можноо добавлять в карточку объекта?===
Вы можете добавить любую информацию, которую считаете полезной и ценной, если только она не нарушает [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%9E_Wikimapia#.D0.9F.D0.BE.D0.BB.D0.B8.D1.82.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B0 Правила Wikimapia].

===Какую информацию нельзя добавлять в карточку объекта?===
Нельзя добавлять информацию, которая нарушает [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%9E_Wikimapia#.D0.9F.D0.BE.D0.BB.D0.B8.D1.82.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B0 Правила Wikimapia].

===Насколько объёмным должно быть описание создаваемого мною объекта?===
Как правило, 2–3 строк будет вполне достаточно. Если указано короткое название объекта, то в описании можно привести дополнительную информацию. Если вы добавляете всем известный объект, например, кофейню Sratbucks, то описание можно оставить пустым (всем известно, что такое Starbucks, особенно если для объекта указана корректная категория в соответствующей строке под описанием), однако будет лучше, если вы всё же укажете дополнительную информацию для тех, кто, возможно, этого не знает. Не копируйте и не вставляйте большие фрагменты текста с других веб-страниц — вместо этого просто дайте ссылку на этот сайт. Если, к примеру, вы описываете аэропорт, не нужно копировать и вставлять всю посвящённую этому аэропорту статью из Википедии с перечислением всех авиакомпаний и городов, который он обслуживает. Никто не будет читать статью такого объёма, да и найти, скажем, Найроби, в подобном описании амстердамского аэропорта будет непросто.

===Можно ли добавлять дороги, железные дороги, реки или даже маршруты паромов в виде объектов с контурами?===
'''Нет, не можете'''. Для этого вы должны использовать специальные инструменты для создания линейных объектов. Они находятся в меню '''Редактирование''', которое находится в левом верхнем углу экрана.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|Выпадающее меню «Редактирование»]]

===Я нашел нечто на спутниковом снимке и хочу узнать, что это. Я могу отметить место и назвать его «Что это?»===
Нет вы не должны это делать. Если вы не знаете ничего о месте, вы '''не должны''' отмечать его.

===Правильно ли отмечать объект, который не видно на спутниковых снимках, потому что он появился недавно?===
Да! Как только космоснимок будет обновлен, объект будет виден.

===Можно отмечать объекты, которые могут быть опасными для посещения?===
Вы можете отметить опасное место как и любой другой объект. Вы можете также предостеречь других пользователей, написав в описании, что это место опасно для посещения.

===Как использовать категории в карточке объекта?===
Нажмите [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%84%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8F#.D0.9A.D0.B0.D1.82.D0.B5.D0.B3.D0.BE.D1.80.D0.B8.D0.B8 здесь] для ответа.

===Я добавил несколько объектов пару дней назад, но зарегистрировался только сегодня. Могу я получить сейчас баллы за те объекты?===
Извините, но нет такой возможности. И после того, как вы добавите и многие другие объекты, вы не пропустите баллы за те старые объекты.

===Мои объекты исчезли!===
''Смотрите также: [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8B#.D0.A3.D0.B4.D0.B0.D0.BB.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8.D0.B5_.D0.BE.D0.B1.D1.8A.D0.B5.D0.BA.D1.82.D0.B0 Удаление/восстановление объекта].''

Вероятно, какой-нибудь пользователь удалил объект, который вы создали. Чтобы об этом узнать, надо нажать на '''Удалённые объекты''' в выпадающем меню '''Режим просмотра''' и проверить на карте, был ли объект удалён.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|«Удалённые объекты» в меню «Режим просмотра».]]

===Можно ли редактировать объекты, созданные другими пользователями? Могут ли другие пользователи редактировать мои объекты? Если это так, нужно ли мне сообщать/спрашивать разрешения на это?===
Вы можете редактировать и не нуждаетесь ни в каком разрешении от пользователей, так же как и они не должны спрашивать разрешение от вас. Но делайте полезные добавления и не изменяйте, к примеру, точку на запятую, только для того, чтобы ваш ник был виден в карточке объекта.

===Как редактировать описание объекта?===
Наведите курсор на нужный объект, нажмите на него левой кнопкой мыши и в левом верхнем углу наведите курсор на «Меню», а затем нажмите на «Редактировать». После редактирования описания нажмите кнопку «Сохранить».

===Когда объект изменился, то есть он переместился или прекратил деятельность, лучше написать об этом или просто удалить сам объект?===
Для получения ответа нажмите [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%89%D1%8C/FAQ#.D0.95.D1.81.D0.BB.D0.B8_.D1.84.D0.B8.D1.80.D0.BC.D0.B0.2C_.D0.BC.D0.B0.D0.B3.D0.B0.D0.B7.D0.B8.D0.BD_.D0.B8_.D1.82..D0.B4..2C_.D0.BF.D0.B5.D1.80.D0.B5.D0.BC.D0.B5.D1.89.D0.B0.D0.B5.D1.82.D1.81.D1.8F_.D0.B8.D0.BB.D0.B8_.D0.B7.D0.B0.D0.BA.D1.80.D1.8B.D0.B2.D0.B0.D0.B5.D1.82.D1.81.D1.8F.2C_.D1.8F_.D0.BC.D0.BE.D0.B3.D1.83_.D1.83.D0.B4.D0.B0.D0.BB.D0.B8.D1.82.D1.8C_.D0.BD.D0.B5.D1.81.D1.83.D1.89.D0.B5.D1.81.D1.82.D0.B2.D1.83.D1.8E.D1.89.D0.B8.D0.B9_.D0.BE.D0.B1.D1.8A.D0.B5.D0.BA.D1.82.3F здесь], пожалуйста.

===В некоторых объектах отображаются ники пользователей в нижней части окна объекта, а другие объекты не имеют ников пользователей. Почему?===
Такие объекты были созданы незарегистрированными пользователями (UU).

===Найдено несколько объектов, отмечающих одно и то же место. Что следует сделать?===
Поставьте на удаление наименее информативные объекты (или удалите новые и оставьте самый старый), удаляя таким образом дубликаты.
Совет: включите режим карты '''Вид со спутника + объекты без контура''' (чтобы избежать создания дубликатов).

===Высотные здания в городе иногда кажутся наклоненными (видны сбоку). Как отмечать их местоположения?===
Все здания должны быть отмечены по их основанию (фундаменту), независимо от того, что их изображения кажутся наклоняющимися. Когда очертания объекта видны сверху, краях крыши могут быть использованы вместо основания здания если они имеют одинаковые размеры.

Высокие здания и структуры как радиомачты, кажутся «наклонеными» из-за способа, которым они были [http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D1%8D%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%8A%D1%91%D0%BC%D0%BA%D0%B0 сфотографированы] спутниками. Для дальнейшего разъяснения, пожалуйста, нажмите [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%8A%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B0#.D0.9A.D0.BE.D0.BD.D1.82.D1.83.D1.80 здесь].

===Можно ли добавить объекты, которые больше не существуют?===
Можете, но только если вы:
*знаете точные размеры
*добавите категорию «исторический слой / исчезнувший объект».
Если вышеупомянутые требования не выполняются, не стоит добавлять несуществующие места.

===Есть ли наиболее легкий способ найти область на карте, которая нуждается в улучшении?===
Чтобы увидеть какие области нуждаются в улучшениях, можно использовать [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8B#.D0.A1.D1.82.D0.B0.D1.82.D1.83.D1.81.D0.BD.D0.B0.D1.8F_.D1.81.D0.B5.D1.82.D0.BA.D0.B0 статусную сетку]. Если вы интересуетесь определенной областью карты (то есть, вы знакомы с этой областью и можете улучшить её), мы рекомендуем добавить эту область в [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8B#.D0.A1.D0.BF.D0.B8.D1.81.D0.BA.D0.B8_.D0.BD.D0.B0.D0.B1.D0.BB.D1.8E.D0.B4.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8.D0.B9 список наблюдений], таким образом контролируя изменения (новые объекты, редактирования, удаления, и т.д.), чтобы всегда видеть новые объекты, которые могут быть улучшены.

===Найдено несколько мест вблизи северного/южного полюса! Почему они там находятся?===
Большинство из этих объектов — результат деятельности вандалов. Однако, некоторые объекты указывают на поселения и научные станции.

===Что следует написать в описании объекта. Можно ли скопировать его название в описание?===
Нет. Но если объект имеет альтернативное название, можете написать его в описании.

==Временная защита объекта==

===В информационной карточке написано, что «для этого объекта установлена защита». Что это означает?===
Некоторые объекты часто редактируются вандалами и нуждаются в защите. Это может быть сделано только [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE#.D0.9F.D1.80.D0.BE.D0.B4.D0.B2.D0.B8.D0.BD.D1.83.D1.82.D1.8B.D0.B5_.D0.BF.D0.BE.D0.BB.D1.8C.D0.B7.D0.BE.D0.B2.D0.B0.D1.82.D0.B5.D0.BB.D0.B8 продвинутыми пользователями]. Зарегистрированные пользователи и гости не могут редактировать защищённые объекты.

===Когда я могу защитить объект?===
Если объект стал жертвой вандалов, то лучший способ попросить о временной защите на форуме: [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 англоязычная тема форума] или [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=84 ветка русскоязычного форума]. Только продвинутые пользователи могут защищать объекты.

==Контуры==

===Почему не получается добавить в контур больше точек?===
Есть ограничения на общее количество точек контура, которые вы можете добавить в зависимости от своего уровня пользовательского:

*'''Уровень 0''': 200 точек
*'''Уровни 1-8''': 500 точек
*'''Продвинутый пользователь''': 2,500 точек

===Почему не создаются большие контуры и почему приходит сообщение: «Контур слишком большой»?===
Есть ограничения на размер контура, который вы можете создать в зависимости от своего уровня пользователя.

*'''Уровень 0 ''':
*'''Уровни 1-8''':
*'''Продвинутый пользователь''':

===Можно ли восстановить контур в тот вид, который он имел до того, как был совершен акт вандализма?===
Да, можете. Вы можете сделать это, восстановив предыдущее состояние путём отмены вандального редактирования.

===Можно удалить контур?===
Нет, это не возможно. Если вы думаете, что форма контура неправильная, вы можете изменить его размеры так, чтобы считаете нужным. Если у неправильного контура есть сотни точек и вы считаете слишком трудоемким исправление вручную, пожалуйста, свяжитесь с продвинутым пользователем для помощи.

===Что подразумевается в пункте 1.2 Правил: "Объект должен иметь, по крайней мере, аккуратно отрисованный контур и быть расположен в нужном месте"?===
Это — минимальное требование для приемлемого контура объекта. Контур должен ясно обрисовать объект карты, который вы отмечаете по космоснимку. «Аккуратно отрисованный контур» означает, что контур никогда не должен накладываться на область, которая не является частью объекта. У объекта должен быть точный контур и, хотя, объект ''не нуждается'' в названии и/или описании, добавление их предпочтительно и полезно. Если объект испытывает недостаток в надлежащих деталях, другие пользователи всегда могут улучшить его.

===Не получается добавить новые точки в контур. Можно добавить лишь 150 точек. В чём причина?===
Обычные пользователи могут создать контур, имеющий не более 500 точек. Добавляя новые точки к контуру вы должны придерживаться того же самого лимита, что означает, что общее количество точек (имеющиеся+добавленные) не должно превышать 500 точек.

===Я добавил контур к объекту, но моя статистика «Отредактировано контуров объектов» осталась прежней. Почему?===
Когда вы добавляете контур к объекту, это отражается в статистике «Добавлено контуров к объектам с рамками», а не в «Отредактировано контуров объектов».

===Я могу использовать контур в виде стрелок или указателей, чтобы показать направление или привлечь внимание к (другому) объекту?===
Нет. Стрелки и указатели не являются реальными местами с определенными очертаниями. Контур объекта должен показывать очертания этого же объекта и ничего более.

==Комментарии==

===Я свободен писать какие-либо комментарии?===
Вы свободны добавить комментарии, если они не нарушают Правила (неоскорбительные и не непристойные) и не направлены на другого пользователя.

''Прочитайте также: [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%94%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%8A%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B0#Comments «Комментарии»]''.

===Как удалить плохой комментарий?===
Только [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE#.D0.9F.D1.80.D0.BE.D0.B4.D0.B2.D0.B8.D0.BD.D1.83.D1.82.D1.8B.D0.B5_.D0.BF.D0.BE.D0.BB.D1.8C.D0.B7.D0.BE.D0.B2.D0.B0.D1.82.D0.B5.D0.BB.D0.B8 продвинутые пользователи] могут удалять комментарии.

===Почему ники авторов некоторых комментариев представляют собой ссылки синего цвета, а ники авторов других комментариев имеют чёрный цвет?===
Ники незарегистрированных пользователей отображаются чёрным цветом, ники же зарегистрированных пользователей имеют синий цвет и представляют из себя ссылки на их профили.

==Фотографии==

===Как добавить фотографию?===
Откройте карточку объекта, наведите курсор на «Меню» и нажмите «Загрузить/удалить фотографии». Здесь вы можете загрузить новые фотографии и удалить старые. Помните: будут удалены фотографии, которые нарушают [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%9E_Wikimapia#.D0.9F.D0.BE.D0.BB.D0.B8.D1.82.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B0_.D0.B2_.D0.BE.D1.82.D0.BD.D0.BE.D1.88.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8.D0.B8_.D1.84.D0.BE.D1.82.D0.BE.D0.B3.D1.80.D0.B0.D1.84.D0.B8.D0.B9 политику в отношении фотографий] или просто не относятся к месту.

===Как узнать дату, когда была сделана фотография?===
Вы можете узнать только дату загрузки фотографии и ник пользователя, который загрузил её (об этом написано под фотографией). Вы можете спросить пользователя, загрузившего фотографию, когда она была сделана, но мы не можем гарантировать, что он ответит.

===Можно сделать примечания к фотографии?===
К сожалению эта особенность не доступна. Вы можете присвоить называние файлу при загрузке и оставить комментарий к фотографии.

===Какие фотографии должны быть удалены?===
Вы должны удалить те фотографии, которые нарушают [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%9E_Wikimapia#.D0.9F.D0.BE.D0.BB.D0.B8.D1.82.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B0_.D0.B2_.D0.BE.D1.82.D0.BD.D0.BE.D1.88.D0.B5.D0.BD.D0.B8.D0.B8_.D1.84.D0.BE.D1.82.D0.BE.D0.B3.D1.80.D0.B0.D1.84.D0.B8.D0.B9 политику в отношении фотографий] или просто не относятся к месту.

Поскольку возможно загрузить только семь фотографий для каждого объекта, разрешено и даже поощряется удалять фотографии плохого качества только если есть возможность заменить их фотографиями лучшего качества.

===Как удалить плохую фотографию?===
Нажмите на контур, который имеет плохую фотографию, наведите курсор на «Меню» объекта и затем нажмите «Добавить/удалить фотографии». Вы увидите имеющиеся фотографии. Наведите курсор на плохую фотографию и нажмите на кнопку «Удалить», которая появится под фотографией. Плохая фотография будет удалена. В этом же окне вы можете загрузить новую фотографию.

===Можно ли увидеть список объектов, которые содержат фотографии?===
Это невозможно. Но вы можете фильтровать все места при помощи категории ''объект без фотографий'' и видеть у каких мест нет фотографий. Все места без красных маркеров содержат фотографии.

===Можно добавить видео в объект?===
Да. Вы можете добавить вэб-ссылку на youtube.com в описании объекта. Будет показано превью видеоролика и ссылка на YouTube.

===При каких условиях я могу использовать «свободные» изображения с Викисклада?===
Нажмите [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:%D0%9B%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B7%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5 здесь] для ответа.

===Можно ли добавлять фотографии в линейные объекты: дороги/улицы, реки, железные дороги?===
Да.

==Удаление объектов==

===Как удалить объект?===
Места можно удалить, выбрав пункт «Удалить объект» в разделе «Меню» карточки объекта. Помните, что удалять можно лишь по причинам, перечисленным в разделе 3 [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Правил].

===Как правильно удалить объект?===
Перед удалением объекта ознакомьтесь с [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%9E_Wikimapia#.D0.9F.D0.BE.D0.BB.D0.B8.D1.82.D0.B8.D0.BA.D0.B0 политикой] Wikimapia, чтобы убедиться, что вы всё делаете правильно. Если у вас есть какие-либо сомнения по поводу удаления объекта, вы можете обсудить это на [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php форуме] или спросить совета у любого [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE#.D0.9F.D1.80.D0.BE.D0.B4.D0.B2.D0.B8.D0.BD.D1.83.D1.82.D1.8B.D0.B5_.D0.BF.D0.BE.D0.BB.D1.8C.D0.B7.D0.BE.D0.B2.D0.B0.D1.82.D0.B5.D0.BB.D0.B8 продвинутого пользователя].

===Я нашел несколько объектов, которые должны быть удалены, но я не могу это сделать, так как я — только обычный пользователь. Что делать?===
Если вы не можете удалить объект, то он наверняка находится под под временной защитой защитой какого-нибудь продвинутого пользователя. Вы должны связаться с ним и объяснить ему свои намерения.

===Сколько времени потребуется, чтобы отмеченный на удаление объект был полностью удалён?===
После того как вы сделали запрос на удаление объекта, система будет проинформирует вас о том, через сколько времени объект будет удалены. Обычно это занимает два часа, если объект отметил на удаление продвинутый пользователь, или пять дней, если отметил на удаление обычный пользователь. В период между подачей запроса на удаление и полным исчезновением объекта пользователь может отменить удаление нажав на кнопку «Отмена».

===Как узнать, был ли удалён какой-нибудь из моих объектов?===
Вы можете проверить это во вкладке «Статистика» своего профиля. Количество удалённых объектов, которые вы создали ранее, будет отражено в строке <tt>'''Из них удалено:'''</tt>

===Мои объекты, которые были удалены, будут показываться в статистике созданных мною объектов?===
Да. Если кто-то удалил ваши объекты, они всё будут записаны в строке «Создано объектов:» (и в строке «Из них удалено:» также), но они будут отмечены как удалённые и вы не будете получать за них баллы опыта.

===Сколько объектов можно удалить в день/неделю?===
Это зависит от вашего уровня пользователя. На первом уровне пользователя, вы можете удалить только три объекта в течение одного часа.
На втором уровне — десять объектов примерно за 16 минут, на третьем — двадцать объектов примерно за 13 минут, на четвёртом — тридцать за 5 минут, на пятом и выше — восемьдесят в течение 2 минут. Продвинутые пользователи могут удалять 200 объектов в 90 секунд.

===На карте территории Китая множество объектов имеют название ?????(cn). Можно их удалить?===
Нет, вы не должны удалять их. Если вы видите такие знаки, это означает, что ваш компьютер не поддерживают отображение китайских иероглифов.

===Если фирма, магазин и т.д., перемещается или закрывается, можно удалить несуществующий объект?===
Если само здание всё ещё существует и оно не разрушено, такой объект '''не''' должен быть удалён. Мы рекомендуем вам обновить информационную карточку объекта, описав его нынешнее состояние. Очень важно обновить название, описание, адрес и категорию, чтобы отразить изменения.

===Почему удаленные объекты по-прежнему отображаются в результатах поиска Google?===
Объекты отмеченные на удаление будут удалене по истечении определённого времени. Тем не менее, Google будет продолжать отображать удаленные/устаревшие данные, пока они не обновляют свои собственные результаты поиска, чтобы показать последние версии веб-страниц. Google кэширует «снимки» интернет-сайтов для того, чтобы расширить полезные результаты поиска по новым и прежним версиям. Когда этот кэш в очередной раз обновляется, то прежняя устаревшая информация не выводится для поиска. Вам надо терпеливо подождать очередное обновление или связаться с Google [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=ru&hlrm=en&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz&ctx=cb&answer=164734&src=cb здесь].

=Инструменты линейных объектов=

==Дороги, улицы==

===Я не могу добавить дороги, улицы===
Если Вы — новый пользователь, наиболее вероятно, что ваша неспособность использовать инструмент «Дороги, улицы» обусловлена временным ограничением, потому что ваш уровень опыта слишком низок. Чтобы увеличить свой уровень опыта, вы должны сначала добавлять объекты на карте при помощи инструмента «Добавить объект» или редактировать уже существующие объекты. Пожалуйста, убедитесь, что объекты, которые вы будете добавлять точны и информация о них правильна. Как только вы получите достаточно опыта при создании/редактировании контурных объектов, вам разрешат использовать инструмент «Дороги, улицы».
Ограничение необходимо, потому что этот инструмент имеет определённые особенности, которые новые/неопытные пользователи считают трудными для использования должным образом. Добавление дорог требует умения и, таким образом, доступно только достаточно опытным пользователям, которые знакомы с использованием других инструментов. Нажмите [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%89%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE#.D0.A3.D1.80.D0.BE.D0.B2.D0.BD.D0.B8_.D0.BF.D0.BE.D0.BB.D1.8C.D0.B7.D0.BE.D0.B2.D0.B0.D1.82.D0.B5.D0.BB.D1.8F здесь] для получения большей информации о возможностях пользователей с разным уровнем опыта. Если же вы внезапно потеряли существовавшую способность добавлять дороги, тогда вам следует создать соответствующую тему на [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=86 форуме] и/или написать [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 сообщение об ошибке].

===Нужно ли отмечать у дороги каждую полосу движения отдельно?===
Лишь в том случае, если полосы физически разделены. В остальных случаях количество полос указывается в опциях к дороге.

===Какой тип дороги использовать при её создании/редактировании?===
В зависимости от типа дороги (грунтовая дорога, внутриквартальный проезд, улица со слабым движением, дорога с интенсивным движением, автомагистраль).

===Можно ли написать код дороги/улицы рядом с её названием?===
Нет, но вы можете написать код дороги/улицы в её описании.

==Железные дороги==
Этот инструмент позволяет создавать/редактировать сегменты железных дорог на карте. Чтобы получить более подробную информацию об использовании этого инструмента см. раздел [http://wikimapia.org/docs/%D0%98%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%8B#.D0.96.D0.B5.D0.BB.D0.B5.D0.B7.D0.BD.D1.8B.D0.B5_.D0.B4.D0.BE.D1.80.D0.BE.D0.B3.D0.B8 «Железные дороги»].

==Реки==

==Паромные переправы==

===Можно ли использовать инструмент «Паромные переправы», чтобы отмечать реки и наоборот?===
'''Нет'''. Это инструмент предназначен только для отображения маршрутов паромов. Чтобы отмечать реки необходимо использовать инструмент «Реки».

=Интерфейс=

==Основное окно Wikimapia==

===Как работать с основным окном Wikimapia?===
Нажмите [[User_interface/ru#Основное_окно_Wikimapia| здесь]] для ответа.

===В верхней части информационной карточки объекта написано "Word/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". Что это означает?===
Эта [http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B0 цепочка] административных уровней в порядке уменьшения. Имейте в виду, этот список не является точным указанием места объекта, это только указания на ближайшие административные центры.

===Что означает «Бронирование гостиниц», находящееся под моим ником пользователя в основном меню интерфейса?===

«Бронирование гостиницы» — полезный инструмент для туристов. Если вы планируете посетить какое-либо определенное место в короткий промежуток времени, вы можете найти это место на карте и нажать на «Бронирование гостиницы», находящееся в выпадающем меню под вашим ником пользователя. В итоге вы будете видеть все отели, отмеченные со специальными символами. Это позволит вам выбирать и заказывать отель в зависимости от его географического положения. Нажмите на любой отель и см. его страницу на booking.com.

===Что такое «Измерение расстояния» и как с ним работать?===
Это инструмент, который позволяет измерять расстояние между двумя пунктами. Для этого нужно пометить отметить на карте расстояние от двух пунктов (или подробный маршрут от одного пункта до другого) и система вычислит его длину. Впоследствии вы можете послать вэб-ссылку на то, что вы видите на карте, своему другу, копируя URL страницы в адресной строке браузера.

===Что означают кнопки под основным меню интерфейса?===
Это [[Tools/ru#Добавление объекта|Добавить объект]], Измерение расстояния (см. пред. вопрос) и [[User_interface/ru#Масштабирование_/_приближение и удаление|Уровни приближения]].

===What are all those options under the 'Map type' menu?===
Those are different map types that you can choose depending on what you are searching for.

===What are all those options under the 'Categories' menu?===
Those are categories that system offers you on default. If you are searching for a category that is not in the list, you need to type it in ‘Search categories’ bar or find it in ‘Categories hierarchy’ in tools.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===Что означают красные точки на карте, которые видны рядом с названиями некоторых мест?===
Красная точка рядом с названием объекта означает, что этот объект является городом.

===В некоторых местах видны иконки/символы. Что они означают?===
Это символы категорий. Они видны, даже если вы не используете фильтр по категориям. Чтобы узнать их значение, откройте «Отображение категорий» во вкладке «Инструменты».

==Профиль пользователя / Аккаунт==

===Какая существует необходимость в регистрации?===
Пока вы незарегистрированный пользователь, вы можете использовать только ограниченное количество инструментов и возможностей. После регистрации, вы можете получать очки опыта, повышать свой уровень пользователя и получать доступ к новым инструментам. Кроме того, только зарегистрированные пользователи могут писать на форуме.

===Существуют ли советы для новых пользователей?===
Да, эти советы можно прочитать [[Quick_start/ru#Советы_новым_пользователям|здесь]].

===В «Статистике» моего профиля написано, что я создал 106 объектов. Но я вижу только 82. Что случилось с другими объектами, которые я создал?===
Очевидно они были удалены, таким образом, вы можете найти их количество в строке «Из них удалено».

===Можно ли увидеть количество удалённых пользователем объектов?===
В разделе «Статистика» профиля любого пользователя можно увидеть все совершённые действия, включая «Подано запросов на удаление объектов» и «Отменено запросов на удаление объектов».

===Как отметить свое местоположение? Зачем это нужно делать?===
Чтобы отметить своё местоположение, нажмите «Указать свое местонахождение» в верхней части страницы своего профиля. Выберите своё местоположение, двигая карту и помещая маркер в центр. Местоположение может иметь отношение к месту, где вы проживаете. Ваше местоположение будет видимо другим пользователям, таким образом, они могут понять откуда вы.

===Можно ли удалить полученное сообщение?===
Невозможно удалять входящие сообщения.

===Может ли пользователь изменить свой ник по причине его неблагозвучности?===
Это не так просто. Пользователь должен был подумать об этом перед регистрацией! Если действительно имеется серьезное основание, можно написать на электронную почту администрации WikiMapia@gmail.com. Возможно, они сделают необходимые изменения. В противном случае, имеются два варианта: 1) Заходить на проект с этим ником, или 2) забросить свою учётную запись и зарегистрироваться повторно.

===Что делать при краже учётной записи в результате взлома пароля?===
Пошлите электронное письмо администрации на адрес WikiMapia@gmail.com. Попросите прислать новый пароль. Помните, что вор, возможно, изменил адрес вашей электронную почту, и будьте готовы подтвердить, что вы действительно первоначальный владелец аккаунта. И будьте готовы извиниться перед теми пользователями, кого, возможно, оскорбил вор.

===Может ли пользователь сам удалить свою учётную запись?===
Это невозможно. Как вариант решения проблемы, пользователь может изменить свой пароль на другой, который он не будет в состоянии вспомнить. Проще прекратить посещать Wikimapia вообще, что даже легче.

==Place Search==

===How do I search for something?===
Type the name of the place you're looking for in the search box in the Wikimapia Menu Bar at the top of your screen, and press the <tt>'''Search'''</tt> button. A list results matching your query shall be returned in the sidebar. You can also tailor your searches by location or coordinates by choosing the respective tabs underneath the search box in the sidebar.

==Categories==

===What are Categories?===
Category filter is a tool that allows you to search for places of one type (ie. bars, hospitals, etc) by their category.

===How do I search for something?===
You just need to hover over ‘Categories’ on the top menu and either choose the category you are looking for (if its shown) or search it in ‘Search categories’ bar. Then you’ll see that all the places on the map that fit your category will we have red marks. To quit a category search click ‘cancel’ on the bottom of the map.

===How can I find, for example, theaters in one city?===
See previous

=Сообщество=

==Форум==

===С какого момента можно участвовать в обсуждениях на форуме?===
Сразу после регистрации.

===Почему не получается писать сообщения на форуме?===
Каждый зарегистрированный пользователь может писать сообщения на форуме. Если это не получается, значит пользователь не зарегистрирован или же у зарегистрированного пользователя заблокирована возможность отправлять сообщения, в связи нарушением им [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=9589 Правила поведения на форуме].

===Можно ли писать свой вопрос в любом месте форума или же необходимо создать для этого новую тему? ===
Если уже есть тема, которая рассматривает схожий вопрос, можно задать свой вопрос там. Новую тему можно создавать только тогда, когда нет подходящей темы. Помните: Сообщение, не имеющее прямого отношения к поднятой теме, может быть удалено модераторами.

===How can I make sure that someone sees my posting in the forum? (should I post it in all sections?) ===
There is no way to '''guarantee''' that someone will certainly see your posting, but new postings usually appear on the top of the forum page, so users '''might''' see them.
===I posted a message in the forum, but I have changed my mind. Can/should I delete it? ===
You can delete your message only during a short period of time after posting. In other situation you can not delete your messages, only [[Community#Forum_moderators| forum moderators]] have such power. So you can contact one of them and explain the reason why your message needs to be deleted.

===Почему не отображается на форуме добавленная в профиль пользователя его фотография (аватар)?===
Требуется некоторое время для отображения аватара на форуме.

===Что можно предпринять, чтобы найти то или иное обсуждение на форуме? ===
Для этого существует окно поиска в правом вернем углу страницы форума.

===Why do forum messages always run off the right side of my screen?===
The forum is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. If yours is set to less than this, the forum display will be wider than your screen.

===How can I make a text bold, italicize or underline it?===
You will have to use square brackets [][/]

*for bold: [b]text[/b]
*to italicize: [i]text[/i]
*to underline: [u]text[/u]

===How to embed images?===
to embed image: [img]url goes here[/img]

==Другие пользователи==

===Как узнать местонахождение того или иного пользователя?===
Это можно узнать, если интересующий пользователь сам отметил своё местонахождение. Иначе, придётся спрашивать его об этом лично, но следует быть готовым к отрицательному результату, поскольку пользователи часто предпочитают скрывать свои личные данные.

===How can I contact another user?===
Find it (a) in the forum or on a map of users, or the link somewhere that he (a) has described or discussed. Click on your username. This will open the user profile that you want to contact. Click "send message to this user", type your message in the text box and click the "send message". The message you sent is shown above a new text box empty. That's it: do not click the button "send message" again. If you have already sent a message to this user, you name it (a) will be on your list of contacts: open your profile, click on "Messages", find the desired user name and proceed from there.
===How do I contact a user if I only know his username?===
You can find him/her by rank. Find 'Users rank' in a 'tools' section in your profile. In the window that opens, there is a search field 'Search username'. Enter the user name and click 'search'. Note that the name must exactly match the user (no matter, however, if the letters are uppercase or lowercase). If you have trouble finding it, you can ask for help from other users in the forum. Maybe some of us may find the desired user.

===How can I find out the email address linked to a user account?===
You can not. This information is private. You will not find any e-mail here. The only way is to ask the user, by sending him a message.
===Что делать в случае разногласий с каким-либо пользователем?===
Следует написать об этом на форуме. Другие пользователи смогут попытаться помочь в разрешении конфликта.

===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===What is a sockpuppet?===
English Wikipedia page says: "sockpuppet is an online identity used in order to deceive the other members of a virtual community. In its initial use, a "sockpuppet" was a false identity through which a member of a community on the Internet manifests itself while pretending that it does not, as does a puppeteer manipulating a puppet. In WikiMapia, a "sockpuppet" is someone who has a second account.

===Is it acceptable to have a sockpuppet?===
For most users, no. However, there are users who have higher levels "sockpuppets" for experiments. They are useful in this regard.

==Уровни пользователей==

===What is the difference between user levels?===
The higher user level you are the more tools and options are available for you.

===What are the advantages & responsibilities of being an advanced user?===
Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
#Ban tool
#Protection
#Deletion/restoration of comments
#Faster object deletion
#Up to 2.500 points per polygon
Beeing an Advanced User means you need to look after the map. For example, coordinate and encourage users, help new users, arrange debates, keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.

===How do I become an advanced user?===

There is no a defined formula for becoming an AU. Just contribute to Wikimapia and your efforts will be noted. In practice, recommendations are given of possible AU forum and if there is a consensus, so administrators can choose to promote you. These recommendations are based on the overall quality of their contributions, their visibility in the Forum and its suitability to the ideals of WikiMapia.

===Will a high rank qualify me to become an advanced user?===
A high rank itself can not make you an advanced user. Though the more you contribute to Wikimapia the higher is you rank, so the closer the moment that you may be offered to become an advanced user..
===How many places do I have to mark to become an advanced user?===
All these questions have the same answer: There is no magic number you need to achieve because the promotion AU is a manual process done by administrators, and this is not automatic, regardless of what numbers you have.

===How many good votes do I need to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===How long should one be a regular user to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===Why is my account marked as limited/banned?===
If you were banned you’ll get a notification message, that explains the reasons and proofs of your ban. In addition, you’ll see a red window on the right of your profile page that notifies you about the reasons and details of limitation.

===How can I tell what user level a user is?===
In profile of every user there is a number of his user level.

==Вандализм==

===Что является вандализмом?===
Это преднамеренные действия, направленные на порчу информации.
Вандализм может иметь различные формы. Например: удаление правильной, полезной информации из информационной карточки объекта;добавление ложной или агрессивной/оскорбительной информации.
Вандализм обычно принимает следующие формы:
*удаление правильной и полезной информации,
*перемещение контура объектов от его правильного местоположения,
*добавление оскорбительных фотографий,
*добавление/изменение контуров так, чтобы они изображали бессмысленные/непристойные формы,
*изменение информации об объекте, написанной на одном языке, на текст на другом языке (вместо того, чтобы написать информацию в соответствующей языковой вкладке),
*'''намеренное''' создание дубликатов объектов.

Нарушение Правил поведения на форуме также считается вандализмом.

===My place tag has been vandalised. What should I do?===

Post a message with the details in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] Forum WikiMapia. We're here to help.

===How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised?===
Find ‘History’ in ’menu’ in place tag, find the revision that you think is a vandalism and click ‘Undo this revesion’.

===How do restore a vandalized description to what it used to be?===
See previous

===Is is possible to protect articles that are vandalized often?===

Yes. Advanced User can "semiprotect" a place. If you want a place to be semi-protected, then send a request in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] forum.

==Banning==

===What is a ban?===
A limitation caused by disregarding, violation or misinterpretation of the rules.

===If I am banned and believe that I do not deserve it, What can I do?===
Restrictions and banning are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. Read [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| the policies]] and make sure that you didn't violate any of them. If not, contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban and unblock users, so he/she might help you.

===How can I report a bad user so that he/she is banned quickly?===
You should contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban users, so he/she might help you.

==Voting==

===Why should I vote for a user?===
You should vote for a user if you want to provide a positive feedback about his/her contributions to Wikimapia, to encourage a user.
===How do I vote for a user?===
If you have 2+ user level you can vote for other users. Click on a user profile page, click on ‘votes about user’ and you’ll see a green voting form above a list of users who have already voted for a user.

===When can I start to vote for people?===
As soon as you are 2+ level
===Is there a reason I can't vote for users?===
No, there is no such a reason. You can freely vote for a user if you want.
===Is it proper to ask for votes?===
No. Voting for someone means you want to provide a positive feedback about users contributions to Wikimapia. So asking for votes is poor behavior.
===How can I get more votes?===
The more valuable places and useful information you add the more people would like to vote for you
===Someone gave me a good vote. Should I do the same for her/him?===
If you find that user deserving a good vote for his efforts on Wikimapia. If not - do not vote for a user only just to thank him for his good vote for u.
===How do I remove an unwanted vote?===
You may delete an unwanted vote if open the list of users, who voted for you, in your profile.

===Someone said I voted too frequently. Is there a limit?===
No there is no such a limit.
===Should I give a good vote to a user who is No.1 in the ranking system?===
If he is No.1 in ranking system then he might add a lot of good information. If do find it good - vote for him, if not - do not vote.

=Error Messages=

==="Sorry, you are doing many actions in a short period of time, please wait a while and retry your action"===
There is a limit on similar actions that a user can do within a certain period of time (i.e. a regular user can only delete three places in an hour).

==="Too long polygon"===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots, ~244.14 km²
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots, ~996,006 km²

==="Too big polygon"===
See previous.

==="You cannot change your vote, you started vote, you may only completely unset it"===
This message belongs to a defunct system for ban voting therefore it should not appear. If it does appear, please create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and the bug reports list [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc here]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="You must remove the child objects before deleting the object"===
This message means you can not delete an object as there are child objects that refer to it. You need to delete them first.

==="Wikimapia has just updated! Please reload the page or press shift + ctrl R in order to apply fixes and enjoy new features"===
This message means that Admins have just made some changes in Wikimapia, so you need to reload the page to see the updated version of Wikimapia.

=External=

===Can I see Wikimapia places on Google Earth?===
Yes. You can download Wikimapia layer on Google Earth.

===Can I place part of the map on my own web page?===

Yes! Find the screen you want to place on your page. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" in the upper left corner and select "Map on your page" A popup window will appear with the corners of a rectangle. Just push the corners of the rectangle to resize the box and then copy the html code that is shown and paste it into your page.

===Can I use Wikimapia with a GPS device?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet.

===What browser do you recommend to use with Wikimapia?===

Any modern one, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===How do I make a jpeg or bmp shot of specific part of the map?===
First, check the licence of satellite photos provider, then capture the screen and transfer the picture into whatever format you need.

===I want to send a Wikimapia page to a friend. How do I do that?===
If you want to send a link to a specific area of Wikimapia map use URL of the page on the top of your browser.
===I clicked a Wikimapia link that someone gave me. Why am I seeing all place descriptions in Spanish now?===

The person who sent you the link used Spanish as their language. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" and select "Change language". Select the language you want.

===How can I print the map with the names of the locations (without using another application to overlay the points and names)?===

The best you can do is capture the screen and print it.

=Advertising=

====I own a business. Can I tag it?====
Yes, you can tag it. 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."

[http://wikimapia.org/docs/Main_Page/ru На основную страницу]

Help/FAQ/pt

2013-01-22T02:35:46Z

Antdoghalo: /* Que ações são aceitáveis, ou mesmo encorajada, ao excluir locais? */ 404 fix

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}

Bem-vindo a FAQ!

Se você é um usuário novo ou inexperiente, reconhecemos que levará tempo para entender as regras e usar os recursos do Wikimapia corretamente. Você pode ter muitas perguntas que precisam de respostas ou você pode precisar apenas de um ponto de partida para retomar o caminho.

Portanto apresentamos a FAQ (de Frequently Asked Questions - Perguntas Mais Frequentes), para que ela possa tirar suas dúvidas. Ela abrange os princípios essenciais necessários para mantê-lo bem-informado e tornar seu trabalho na Wikimapia compatível com o dos demais usuários e agradável.

=Filosofia Básica=

===Para que serve a Wikimapia?===
Wikimapia tem como objetivo marcar todos os objetos geográficos do mundo e fornecer uma descrição útil para eles, de modo que qualquer pessoa possa compartilhar seu conhecimento e explorar livremente o mundo.

===Para quem foi feita a Wikimapia?===
Para quem estiver interessado em explorar o mundo ou gostar de compartilhar seu conhecimento com todos aqueles que usam a Wikimapia.

===Qual é a ideologia básica da Wikimapia?===
Para entender a ideologia básica da Wikimapia recomendamos que você clique [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia|aqui]].

===Quais são as diretrizes para usar o conteúdo da Wikimapia?===
De acordo com a [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Licença] Wikimapia, você pode usar o conteúdo da Wikimapia como você desejar (reformulando, partilhando, transformando ou adaptando em qualquer forma reconhecidamente derivada do original para qualquer uso). Nós também encorajamos você a construir o seu trabalho através da Wikimapia e exigir a sua posterior distribuição sob a mesma licença ou semelhante a esta.

===O nome é Wikimapia ou WikiMapia?===
Este site é usualmente chamado de Wikimapia.

===Como posso ajudar?===
Há muitas maneiras de contribuir para a Wikimapia. [[Adicionando/editando locais]] já é uma grande ajuda. Você também pode ajudar a traduzir a interface para o seu idioma, informar sobre erros em [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ listagem específica] ou tornar-se um [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Comunidade#Posições_especiais usuário avançado (moderador)] para ajudar outros usuários.

=Ajuda=

===Como posso obter ajuda para usar Wikimapia?===
Primeiramente você deve ler a Documentação e as [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Diretrizes] da Wikimapia cuidadosamente. Caso não encontre a resposta para a sua pergunta, envie uma mensagem para um [[Comunidade#Usuários_Avançados|usuário avançado]] ou você também pode pedir ajuda no [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php fórum].

===O que é um administrador?===
Administradores são os membros da [[Comunidade#Equipe_Wikimapia| Equipe Wikimapia]].

===Como posso obter ajuda através do administrador?===
Primeiro, certifique-se de que um moderador ou um usuário avançado (UA) não possa te ajudar. Em seguida, envie para os administradores uma mensagem ou um e-mail para contact@wikimapia.org

==O conteúdo da Wikipédia==

===Quais são as diretrizes para usar o conteúdo da Wikipedia?===
Artigos de qualidade da Wikipedia podem ser utilizados nos trabalhos da Wikimapia. Então, certamente você pode usar a Wikipedia ao descrever um lugar ou adicionar o link para o artigo da Wikipedia.

===Copiar e colar um artigo da Wikipedia inteiro em uma caixa de descrição do Wikimapia é uma ótima ideia, certo?===
Colocar o link para o artigo é mais que suficiente, não é necessário repetir as coisas.

=Idiomas=

===Posso adicionar informações no meu idioma em uma página de outro idioma?===
Não. Você não pode adicionar idiomas em uma página de outro idioma. Esta restrição aplica-se a formulações adicionadas após o título apropriado. Você só pode adicionar seu idioma para a página correspondente de língua, acessando o 'Menu' do local e selecionar 'Adicionar outro idioma' no drop-down menu. Então você pode escolher seu idioma entre as opções disponíveis. Você também pode acessar a página do seus idioma clicando no código de país de duas letras (em azul) na parte inferior de uma local.

===Alguém adicionou um lugar no meu país escrevendo em uma língua estrangeira. Posso exclui-lo?===
Descrições precisas em línguas estrangeiras são perfeitamente aceitáveis, como eles são feitos na página do idioma correto. A exclusão voluntária de etiquetas contendo idiomas estrangeiros é proibida.

===Pode adicionar o mesmo link da Wikipédia para várias páginas de linguagem de um local?===
Não. Você deve adicionar o link para a página do respectivo idioma do local. Mesmo assim, ela deve limitar-se a seção de links da Wikipédia na janela de edição do local. No entanto, você pode incluir links para artigos da Wikipédia secundários na seção da descrição.

===Eu não entendo inglês. O que posso fazer?===
WikiMapia é um site multilingue e suporta 101 idiomas. Embora as principais discussões são realizadas em inglês (ou seja, no fórum), você ainda pode escolher o idioma da interface da lista e desfrutar a Wikimapia.

===Como posso ver a Wikimapia (ou marcar locais) na minha própria língua?===
Você precisa mudar o idioma da interface para o seu idioma alterando o código de duas letras no menu superior (ao lado do seu nome de login), clicando em 'mais idiomas' e selecionando seu idioma.

===Por que alguns títulos e dicas de ferramentas estão em idiomas diferentes?===
Isso significa que não há nenhuma tradução desses títulos ou dicas de ferramentas no seu idioma ainda. Você pode traduzi-los em seu idioma se quiser.

===Como faço para mudar o idioma da interface?===
Para alterar o idioma da interface para sua língua, passe o mouse sobre o código de país de duas letras no menu superior, clique em 'mais idiomas' e selecione o idioma.

===Como é determinada a linguagem padrão para os lugares criados?===
Quando é criado um lugar, o sistema permitirá ver a descrição sobre o idioma da interface. Se ainda não há descrição sobre o idioma da interface, então você vai ver a marca em Inglês, Espanhol, Francês, Alemão, Italiano, Português, Polonês, Finlandês, Norueguês, Russo. Se ainda não há descrição em qualquer uma dessas línguas, então você vai ver a descrição no idioma que estiver disponível.

===Quando um lugar está escrito em várias línguas, mas não a minha, como o sistema determina qual delas me mostrar?===
Há uma lista dos idiomas mais populares. Se existem várias descrições de um local em diferentes línguas o sistema determina automaticamente a linguagem mais popular entre aqueles que estão disponíveis para aquele local específico.

===Alguém escreveu uma boa descrição em um local, mas na página do idioma errado. O que devo fazer com isso?===
Você deve mover a descrição para a página do idioma correto. Você também pode traduzir uma boa descrição em seu idioma, se você souber.

===Pode remover a descrição de um local em um determinado idioma sem excluir o local?===
Sim.

===Quais idiomas eu deveria traduzir minha marca em um local?===
Tudo o que você falar na lista de idiomas que se abre ao passar o mouse sobre código de duas letras de um país no menu superior e clicar em 'mais idiomas'.

===O local que eu estou descrevendo tem diferentes nomes em diferentes idiomas. Que nome devo usar no meu idioma?===
Um nome adequado para você no seu idioma. Você deve encontrar o nome oficial do local de sua língua, de alguma outra fonte e usá-lo. Se um local também tem um nome não-oficial que os usuários usam, você também pode observá-lo na descrição ou chaves perto do nome oficial. Se em um todo, o local não tem um nome oficial, use o seu nome não-oficial como principal.

===Eu encontrei um local descrito em uma linguagem que não sei, mas eu quero saber o que foi escrito. O que posso fazer?===
Você pode tentar traduzi-lo com o google tradutor ou qualquer dicionário disponível.

===Estou usando uma interface de idioma diferente do inglês na Wikimapia, mas algumas palavras e frases são em inglês. O que pode ser feito===
Você pode traduzi-los.

===Posso descobrir quantos usuários usam uma determinada linguagem da interface?===
Não há estatísticas sobre caso.

===Eu posso ver um número de diferentes códigos de linguagem estranhos na parte inferior direita da janela do objeto, mas como posso saber o é?===
Esses códigos são [http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organiza%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Internacional_para_Padroniza%C3%A7%C3%A3o ISO] abreviaturas para as línguas. É você passar o cursor sobre eles e espere um pouco você vai ver o nome do idioma inteiro.

===Quando olho para os idiomas disponíveis, meu idioma não está lá. O que pode ser feito sobre isso?===
Neste caso você deve contactar a Equipe Wikimapia. Eles vão adicionar seu idioma à lista de idiomas, ou explicar-lhe porque ele não pode ser feito.

===Eu criei uma descrição em um novo idioma para um local existente, mas não é mostrado na minha lista de lugares criados, embora meus lugares criados (em estatísticas) tenha aumentado em um. Por quê?===
Porque só a primeira edição criada é acrescentada em sua lista.

===Como posso alterar o idioma na camada mapa===
Você pode alterar o idioma da sua interface no menu superior e a língua de camada de mapa mudará automaticamente.

=Traduções=

===Como posso ajudar a traduzir a interface de usuário para o meu idioma?===
Você pode ir para [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ página de tradução] e tornar-se um editor.

===Como posso descobrir o status de tradução de um determinado idioma?===
Você pode encontrá-lo na [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ página de tradução].

===Estou usando uma interface de idioma diferente do inglês na Wikimapia, mas algumas palavras e frases são em inglês. O que pode ser feito?===
Você pode traduzi-los para o idioma da sua interface.

= Imagens de satélites =

===Porque a imagem da minha cidade/vila é tão ruim?===

Porque as imagens de satélite desta área são fornecidas pelo Google. Nós não temos nenhum impacto sobre ele, infelizmente.

===Por que não posso aumentar mais o zoom em uma determinada área?===
Porque o provedor de imagens de satélite não tem imagens de alta resolução desta área.

===Você pode atualizar o mapa da minha localização, porque é muito embaçado/qualidade de baixa resolução?===

Não, infelizmente não podemos, porque as imagens de satélite são fornecidos pela Google. Isso significa que não temos ideia de quando o Google vai atualizar as imagens. Mas você pode monitorar a atualização das imagens no site do Google, no entanto a sua página de ajuda diz que isso acontece uma vez entre "cerca de um a três anos".

===Como podemos descobrir onde o Google recentemente atualizou imagens?===
Você pode tentar o [http://www.gearthblog.com Blog do Google Earth] (em Inglês), onde há um link para as atualizações recentes das imagens.

===Quando as imagens de satélite da minha área terá mais detalhes?===
Ver anterior
===Quando as imagens de satélite da minha área estarão atualizadas?===
Ver anterior

===Posso descobrir que locais foram adicionadas mais recentemente?===
Você pode usar a lista de monitoramento de países que você encontra em "ferramentas" para esses fins.
===Por que todos os locais marcados na minha região estão deslocados 10 metros para o oeste?===
Algumas vezes, quando o Google finalmente atualiza suas imagens, eles não conseguem alinhá-las precisamente com as imagens antigas. Tirar fotos de satélite de uma Terra esférica e adequar essas imagens em um mapa plano não é tão fácil quanto gostaríamos que fosse. Então, às vezes, ocorrem deslocamentos. Nesse caso há uma ferramenta 'Imagens de satélite lista de atualizações' (ou mapa de deslocamento). Essa ferramenta permite corrigir os locais deslocados.
===O que eu devo fazer quando todos locais marcados em uma determinada área estão deslocados 10 metros para o oeste?===
Ver anterior.
=== Eu encontrei um lugar onde, diz "sentimos muito, mas não temos imagens daqui". O que significa?===
Isso quer dizer que o Google não tem imagens disponíveis neste nível de zoom.

=Ferramentas de localização=

==Adicionando locais==

===O que é uma "marcação"?===
No WikiMapia, uma marcação é a palavra normalmente usada para se referir a um local marcado, isto é, o retângulo com o título, a descrição etc. Em inglês, é usada a palavra "tag", como forma reduzida de "place tag". Em inglês, "tag" pode também significar o campo destinado a palavras-chave.
===Já vi diferentes nomes usado para um local, por exemplo, "marca", "marcação, "objeto local" e etc. Que nome devo usar?===
É melhor citar apenas local ou objeto.

===Como faço para adicionar um local?===
Selecione 'Adicionar local' e uma ferramenta na forma de um polígono vermelho aparecerá. Desenhe os [[Ferramentas# Polígonos|polígonos]], em seguida, adicione outras informações:
* Escolha o idioma com cuidado.
* O Título é o nome que a Wikimapia mostra quando passamos o mouse sobre o local. Escreva algo curto, mas representativo.
* Descrição - Para a descrição, como dizem, duas ou três linhas já está bom.
* Links são uma ótima ideia, mas lembre-se de começar com "http://". lembre-se que os Links devem vir ao final do texto, porque são consideradas fontes secundárias de informações.
* Adicione uma Categoria
E clique em 'Salvar'.

* Foto

===Posso adicionar a minha própria casa?===
Não se deve adicionar uma casa pessoal se:
#Não possui detalhes interessantes que devam ser levados a público;
#Você não entende as potenciais repercussões ao divulgar dados pessoais.

Por outro lado, você está autorizado a marcar um edifício, desde que:
*Tenha um contorno preciso;
*Possa atribuir uma categoria adequada;
*Possua um endereço reconhecível. Isto deve ser demonstrado através da atribuição de um nome de rua (por meio da ferramenta linear Estradas) e um número do edifício na seção de endereços.

===Que locais devo marcar===
* Any non-movable place that exists at this particular moment in time. Historical/disappeared places can be added but they '''must''' have the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category.
* A place must have at the very least a properly constructed outline.
* Settlement place tags such as cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods must have a properly assigned category.
* Planes, submarines, circuses and other movable objects may be added if they are still for at least a week.

===Que locais que eu não devo marcar===
Por favor, pense com cuidado antes de adicionar uma marca de local, existem certas coisas que são proibidas. Locais que preencham os seguintes critérios de exclusão não devem ser adicionados:

* Não há local marcado por este contorno.
* O local não existe, mesmo que tenha existido no passado.
* Local ou estrada planejada, mas cuja construção ainda não se iniciou.
* Objeto móvel ou veículo: ônibus, carro, balsa, avião, navio etc.
* Local inexistente onde algum evento aconteceu.
* Local duplicado.
* Casa particular sem endereço ou qualquer informação útil ou interesse geral.


===Quais informações devo fornecer em um local?===
Você deve fornecer todas as informações que você achar útil e valioso, só apenas não viole as [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia#Políticas |diretrizes da Wikimapia]].

===Quais informações não devo fornecer em um local?===
Você não deve fornecer qualquer informação que viole as [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia#Políticas |diretrizes da Wikimapia]].

===How big should my place tag be?===
For the description 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.

===Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?===
'''No you should not''', you should use the linear tools to draw on the map. This is found under the '''Edit map''' drop down menu list, which is found at the top-left of the screen.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|Lista do menu Editar mapa]]

===Eu encontrei algo sobre a imagem de satélite, eu quero saber o que é. Devo marcar o lugar, e chamá-lo de "O que é isso"?===
Não, você não deve, se você não conhece o lugar, então você '''não deve''' marcá-lo.

===Devo marcar um local que não aparece na imagem de satélite, pois acaba de ser construído?===
Sim! Uma vez que a imagem for atualizada, o local vai estar lá.

===Devemos marcar locais que podem ser perigosos para visitar?===
Você pode marcar locais perigosos como qualquer outro. Você também pode advertir outros usuários na descrição que este local é perigoso para visitar.

===Como posso usar a seção de categorias em um objeto local?===
Clique [[Interface_com_o_usuário#Categorias|aqui]] para a resposta.

===Eu adicionei alguns locais 2 dias atrás, mas apenas me registrei hoje. Como eu consigo os créditos pelas marcações anteriores??===
Desculpe, mas não há como. E após adicionar muitos outros, você não irá sentir falta daqueles poucos de qualquer forma.

===Meu local desapareceu!===
''Ver também: [[editing_places#Undeleting.2FPlace_restoration|Recuperando locais/Restaurando]]''

Provavelmente algum usuário tenha apagado o seu local que você criou, vá no menu suspenso em '''Tipo de mapa''' em '''Locais apagados''' e veja se o seu local foi apagado.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Lista do menu Tipo de Mapa onde mostra "Locais apagados"]]

===Posso editar locais, criados por outros usuários? Podem outros usuários editar meus locais? Se assim for, eu preciso informar/pedir permissão antes de fazê-lo?===
Você pode editar e não precisa perguntar para qualquer usuário, assim como eles não precisam pedir permissão a você. Mas acrescente coisas boas e não mude um ponto por uma vírgula para ficar com o seu nome no marcador.

===Como faço para editar uma descrição?===
Mova o mouse sobre o local desejado, clique com o botão esquerdo no canto superior esquerdo pare sobre o menu e clique em Editar está página. Depois de tudo pronto, clique no botão Salvar.

===When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?===
Please see [[Help/FAQ#If_a_business.2C_shop.2C_store_etc.2C_moves_or_is_shut_down.2C_should_I_delete_the_defunct_place_object.3F |here]]

===Alguns lugares mostram os nomes de usuários na parte inferior de uma janela de um local, mas outros lugares não tem um nome de usuário. Por que?===
Elas foram feitas pelo usuário não registrado (UU).

===Eu encontrei várias marcas, marcando o mesmo local. O que eu faço?===
Em muitas áreas, há locais duplicados. Os locais mais antigos devem ser preservados. Consequentemente, o mais atual precisa ser excluído.

Use o tipo de mapa: "Satélite + locais antigos", a fim de não duplicar locais.

===Edifício altos em uma cidade às vezes parecem estar inclinado para o lado. Como devo marcar esses locais?===
Todos os edifícios devem ser descritas em sua base (nível do solo), independentemente de suas imagens parecerem estar inclinada. Quando as imagens são diretamente ou quase diretamente por cima, as extremidades de telhado podem ser usadas para aproximar pegada nível do solo, se tiverem as mesmas dimensões.

Edifícios altos e estruturas como torres de rádio parecem "inclinar-se" por causa da maneira como eles foram [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Photography fotografados] a partir do ar. Para mais esclarecimentos, por favor leia [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Adicionando/editando_locais#Polígonos isso].

===Posso adicionar lugares que não existem mais?===
You can, but only if you:
*know the precise dimensions
*add the historical layer/disappeared place category
If the above requirements are lacking, you should not add non-existent places.

===Existe uma maneira mais fácil de encontrar uma área no mapa que precisa melhorar?===
Para ver qual área precisa de melhorar você pode usar [[grade de status]]. Se você está interessado na área do mapa específico (ou seja, fazer com que você está familiarizado com a área e poder melhorá-la melhor), recomendamos que você adicione uma [[Ferramentas#Lista de monitoramento |lista de monitoramento]], de modo que você possa monitorar a atividade (novos locais, alterações, exclusões, etc) e conhecer qualquer local novo em tempo e que precisa ser melhorado.

===Eu encontrei alguns locais próximos ao polo sul/norte! O que está acontecendo?===
Na maioria, são resultados de vândalos. Apesar disso, há marcações válidas lá, indicando assentamentos e estações científicas.

===Não sei o que escrever na descrição do local. Posso copiar somente o título na descrição?===
Não. Mas, se o objeto/local tem nome alternativo, pode escrevê-lo.

==Semiproteção==

===A informação de um local me diz que é "semiprotegido". O que isso significa?===
Algumas marcas são frequentemente vandalizadas e precisam de proteção, isso só pode ser feito por [[Comunidade#Usuários_Avançados |usuários avançados]]. Usuários registrados e usuários não registrados não podem editar locais em um todo.

===Quando devo semiproteger um artigo??===
Se um local foi vítima de vandalismo o melhor lugar para pedir proteção é no fórum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 aqui]. Somente usuários avançados podem colocar itens de proteção.

==Polígonos==

===Por que não posso adicionar mais pontos em um polígono?===
Há limitações sobre o número total de pontos do polígono que você pode adicionar, dependendo do seu nível de usuário:

*'''Nível de usuários 0''': 200 pontos
*'''Nível de usuários 1-8''': 500 pontos
*'''Usuários Avançados''': 2.500 pontos

===Por que não posso criar polígonos grandes e por que eu recebo a mensagem: "polígono muito grande"?===
Há limitações no tamanho do polígono que você pode fazer, dependendo do seu nível de usuário..

*'''Nível 0 usuários''':
*'''Nível 1-8 usuários''':
*'''Usuários Avançados''':

===Posso reverter um polígono para o estado antes de ser vandalizado?===
Sim, você pode. Você pode fazer isso aplicando o estado correto de polígono de uma revisão anterior como atual.
===Posso apagar um polígono?===
Não, isto não é possível. Se você acha que a forma do polígono é errado, você deve redimensioná-lo de modo que é correto. Se o polígono incorreto tem centenas de pontos e acha que é muito trabalhoso para corrigir manualmente, por favor, entre em contato com um usuário avançado para ajudá-lo.
===Eu não entendo a diretriz 1.2. "Um local deve ter ao menos um contorno construído apropriadamente"?===
This is a minimum requirement for a place object to be acceptable. A polygon should clearly outline a map object you are marking in the aerial/satellite image. A properly constructed outline means a polygon should never overlap an area that is not part of the object.
A place object should have an accurate outline but it doesn't ''need'' a title or description, although the inclusion of which is preferred for the place object to be useful. If the place object lacks proper details, it is still possible for other users to improve it.
===Eu tentei adicionar novos pontos de um polígono, mas não consegui. Qual é a razão? (limitação de 150 pontos)===
Usuários registrados podem desenhar até 500 pontos por polígono. Ao adicionar novos pontos de um polígono, você deve manter o mesmo limite, o que significa que o número total de pontos (primeiros + adicionados) não deve passar de 500 pontos.

===Eu adicionei um polígono para um local, mas minha contagem de edição permaneceu o mesmo. Por quê?===
Quando você adiciona um polígono para um local isso reflete na linha 'polígonos adicionados a locais sem um polígono' no perfil 'Estatísticas', não na contagem de edição.

===Posso usar polígonos como setas ou Almargem para indicar a rota ou a direção de um lugar?===
Não. Isso porque as setas e Almargem não são lugares reais com contornos definidos. Polígonos não devem ser usados para indicar outra coisa senão o contorno de um local.

==Comentários==

===Eu sou livre para fazer algum comentário?===
Você é livre para adicionar comentários desde que sejam mantidos nas regras (sem linguagem profana ou obscena), e não são dirigidos a outro usuário.

''Ver também: [[Editando_locais#Comentários | Comentários]]''

===Como faço para excluir um comentário ruim?===
Somente [[Comunidade#Usuários_Avançados |usuários avançados]] podem excluir comentários.

===Por que os autores de alguns comentários são mostrados em links azuis, e outros em preto?===
Ultimamente comentários com links em pretos nao existem mais. Somente links na cor azul serao mostrados. Isso vai diferenciar se é um usuário registrado, usuário avancado ou visitante. Para saber clique no link.

==Fotos==

===Como faço para adicionar fotos?===
Em um determinado local, passe o mouse sobre 'menu' na parte superior e clique em ‘Adicionar/gerenciar fotos’. Lá você pode fazer upload de fotos novas e apagar as antigas. '''Lembre-se''': as fotos que violam as [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia#Políticas| políticas de fotos]] ou que simplesmente não se referem ao lugar serão apagados.

===Como faço para saber quando uma foto foi tirada?===
Você só pode saber quem e quando fizer o upload (está escrito abaixo da foto). Você pode perguntar a um usuário, que carregou uma foto, quando ela foi tirada, mas não podemos com certeza garantir que ele vai responder.

===Posso fazer anotações sobre uma fotografia?===
Não, infelizmente este recurso não está disponível ainda. Só pode dar-lhe um nome, quando carregá-lo e deixar um comentário com suas anotações abaixo da foto.

===Quais fotos devem ser apagadas===
Você deve excluir as fotos que violam as [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia#Políticas| políticas de fotos]] ou que simplesmente não se referem ao lugar serão apagados.

Como você pode carregar apenas 7 fotos para cada local também é permitido e até mesmo incentivado para excluir fotos de má qualidade, você só apenas pode substituí-los com fotos de melhor qualidade.

===Como para excluir uma foto ruim?===
Clique na etiqueta onde você encontrou a foto ruim, passe o cursor sobre '''menu''' no topo e, em seguida, clique em '''Adicionar/gerenciar fotos'''. Na aba onde você pode ver fotos atuais passe o cursor sobre a foto ruim, então um botão '''Excluir''' deve aparecer abaixo da foto, clique sobre ele e a foto ruim será excluído. É de notar, que este é o mesmo lugar onde você pode fazer upload de uma nova foto.

===Como posso saber quais marcas contêm fotos?===
Você não pode. Mas você pode filtrar todos os lugares em categorias por ‘Locais '''sem''' fotos’ e ver quais lugares não têm fotos. Portanto, todos os lugares sem marcas vermelhas contêm fotos.

===Posso adicionar um vídeo de um lugar?===
Sim, você pode fornecer um link do youtube.com na descrição do local, ele será mostrado com um player incorporado do YouTube e um preview.

===Em que condições posso usar as imagens de "livres" do Wikimedia Commons?===
Clique [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing aqui] para obter a resposta.

===Pode adicionar fotos de objetos lineares: estradas, balsas, rios, ferrovias?===
Sim.

==Exclusão==

===Como faço para excluir um local?===
Lugares podem ser excluídos, selecionando 'Apagar local' no 'Menu' na janela do objeto. Lembre-se de que você só pode excluir um local de acordo com os motivos de exclusão (em 3. Apagando etiquetas) das [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/ diretrizes].

===Que ações são aceitáveis, ou mesmo encorajada, ao excluir locais?===
Antes de excluir um local, leia [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia#Políticas| Políticas Wikimapia]] cuidadosamente para ter certeza de que está fazendo tudo certo. Se você tem alguma dúvida sobre a exclusão de um lugar que você pode discutir isso no [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php fórum] ou perguntar a um [[Comunidade#Usuários_Avançados | usuário avançado]] para te dar o conselho.

===Eu encontrei alguns lugares que devem ser apagados, mas não posso excluí-los, porque sou apenas um usuário registrado (UR). O que devo fazer?===
Se você não pode excluir um objeto, ele pode estar sobre a proteção de UA. Você deve contatar um UA, pedir ajuda e explicar-lhe as razões.

===Quanto tempo leva para um local ser "excluído" e desaparecer inteiramente?===
Depois que você fez uma solicitação para excluir um local o sistema irá informá-lo o tempo que tempo o local será apagado na página do local. Normalmente demora cinco dias (se for removido por um usuário registrado) e algumas horas (se for removido por um UA). Entre solicitação de exclusão e desaparecimento real da marcação, o usuário pode cancelar a exclusão clicando no botão 'cancelar'.

===Como faço para saber se um dos meus locais foi apagado?===
Você pode verificar na guia Estatísticas na janela do seu perfil. Seus locais criados que são excluídos serão mostrados na linha abaixo <tt>'''Apagados destes:'''</tt>
===Do deleted places still show up on my list of created places?===
Yes. If someone deleted your places they still will be written in ‘Places and streets created’ line (and ‘Deleted from them’ line as well), but they will be marked as deleted and you won’t get experience point for them.

===Quantos locais posso excluir por dia / semana?===
Isso depende do seu nível de usuário. O primeiro nível de usuário, só pode excluir três lugares em uma hora apenas. UL 2 - 10 locais em 16 minutos, UL3 - 20 locais em 13 minutos, UL4 - 30 locais em 5 minutos, UL5 ou superior - 80 locais em 2 minutos, UA pode excluir 200 locais em 90 segundos.

===Na China, muitos locais são marcados como ??????(cn). Devo apagá-los??===
Não! Quando você vê pontos de interrogação como esses, isto quase sempre significa que foi escrito em um alfabeto com um conjunto de caracteres que não é suportado pelo seu computador. E há outro ponto importante a ser observado aqui: Se você não entende a marcação, então não deve apagá-la.
===If a business, shop, store etc, moves or is shut down, should I delete the defunct place object?===
If the building still exists, and it hasn't been demolished, it should '''not''' be deleted. We recommend you update the place object's article by describing its present function. It is essential you update its title, description, address and category to reflect the change.
===Why do deleted objects still show up in Google search results?===
Objects put up for deletion will be removed after a specified time. However, Google will continue to display the deleted/outdated information until they update their own search results to show the latest web pages. This is because Google takes 'snapshots' of web pages it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Unfortunately, these stored pages may be outdated until they are updated. You can either be patient until Google removes the outdated data or you can contact them [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz here].

=Ferramentas lineares=

==Estradas==

===Não consigo adicionar estradas===
If you are a new user, it is most likely a temporary limitation has been placed on your ability to use the "Road" tool because your experience level is too low. To increase your experience level, you must first add places to the map with the "Add place" tool or edit previously created objects. Please make sure the places you add are accurate and proper. Once you have gained enough experience with the "Add place" tool, you will be allowed to use the "Road" tool.
The restriction is necessary because the "Road" tool has specialized features that new/inexperienced users find difficult to use properly. Adding roads requires skill and so it is only available to experienced users who are familiar with the use of other tools. Click [[Community#User_levels| here]] for more on experience levels.
If you have suddenly lost the ability to add roads then you will need to create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and a bug report [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 here].

===Devo adicionar vários segmentos de estrada para marcar faixas individuais em uma estrada?===
Only if a physical divider is present between those lanes. Otherwise use segment options to set lanes number.

===Que tipo de estrada que eu deveria usar para marcar uma estrada?===
Depending on the type of the road (dirt road, courtyard road, street/lowt raffic, road/high traffic, highway).

===Am I allowed to enter the zip/post code in the title field along with the road name?===
You should really not, however you may include the zip/post codes in the description field.

==Ferrovias==
Esta ferramenta permite a você mapear os segmentos ferroviários para a página do mapa. Para ter mais informações sobre o uso desta ferramenta, consulte na seção [[Ferramentas#Ferrovias|Ferrovias]].

==Rios==

==Ferry==

===Can I use the ferry tool to mark rivers and vice versa?===
'''No'''. This tool is only for the mapping of genuine ferry routes. To map river you must use the river tool.

=Interface=

==Wikimapia Tela==

===Como faço para usar todas essas coisas na tela Wikimapia?===
Clique [[Interface_com_o_usuário#Sobre_a_tela_principal_da_Wikimapia| aqui]] para sua resposta.

===When I look at place's description page, there is a line near the top that says, for example, "World/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". What is this telling me?===
This is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_%28navigation%29 breadcrumb] line and shows a list of places according to administrative levels. Please be aware this list is not a precise indication of the place object; it is only to be referred to as an approximation of places near to the place object.

===O que é "Registro de Hotel" no menu sob o meu nome de usuário??===
'Registro de Hotel' é uma ferramenta útil para os turistas. Se você está planejando visitar qualquer lugar específico em curto espaço de tempo, você pode encontrá-lo no mapa, clique em 'Registro de Hotel' sob o seu nome de usuário. Depois você vai ver todos os hotéis marcados com ícones especiais. Isso permite você escolher e reservar um hotel em função da sua posição geográfica. Clique em qualquer hotel em seguida abrirá a página booking.com.

===O que é Medição de distância e que eu posso fazer com ele?===
É um instrumento que permite medir a distância entre dois pontos. Para fazer isso você precisa marcar no mapa os pontos ou uma rota detalhada de um ponto a outro e o sistema irá calcular o seu comprimento. Depois disso, você pode enviar o link do que você vê no mapa para o seu amigo enviando URL da página no topo do seu navegador.

===O que são esses botões abaixo da barra do menu?===
São eles [[Ferramentas#Adicionando_locais| adicionar local]], Medição de distância (ver anterior) e [[Interface_com_o_usuário#Controle_do_Zoom.2FNíveis_do_Zoom| Zoom]].

===O que são todas essas opções no menu 'Tipo de mapa'?===
São tipos de mapas diferentes que você pode escolher, dependendo do que você está procurando.

===O que são todas essas opções no menu 'Categorias'?===
São categorias que o sistema oferece em padrão. Se você está à procura de uma categoria que não está na lista, você precisa digitá-lo na barra de 'pesquisa de categoria' ou encontrá-las em 'Hierarquia de categorias' em ferramentas.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===O que significa pontos vermelhos sobre os nomes dos locais?===
Pontos vermelhos sobre um nome de local significa que o objeto é uma cidade.

===O que são os ícones em alguns lugares e o que eles significam?===
Estes são os ícones da categoria, eles são mostrados, mesmo se você não usar o filtro de categoria. Se você quer saber o seu significado vá em ‘Fazendo Categorias’ na seção ‘Ferramentas’.

==Perfil de Usuário/Conta==

===Por que devo me registrar?===
Enquanto você é um usuário não registrado do Wikimapia você pode usar apenas um número limitado de ferramentas e opções. Desde que você está inscrito, você pode ganhar pontos de experiência, avançar o seu nível de usuário e obter acesso a novas ferramentas. Além disso, apenas os usuários registrados podem ler e postar no fórum.

===Você tem algum conselho para os novos membros?===
Sim, você pode lê-los [[Primeiros_passos#Conselhos_para_novos_usuários| aqui]].

===Diz no meu perfil que eu criei 106 locais. Mas só posso ver 82. O que aconteceu com os outros locais que eu criei?===
Aparentemente, eles foram excluídos, de modo que você pode encontrá-los na linha em ‘Apagados destes’.

===É possível ver quantos locais eu apaguei?===
Na seção estatísticas em seu perfil você pode ver a lista de todas as suas ações, incluindo ‘Locais pedidos para apagar’ e ‘Cancelamento de pedidos de apagamento de locais’.

===Como posso marcar minha própria localização? Por que deveria?===
To mark your location find ‘Choose your location’ at the top of your profile page. Then choose your location by positioning the map and placing the marker. Location may be approximate for privacy. Your location will be visible to other users, so they could figure out where are you from.

===Como faço para excluir uma mensagem que alguém me enviou?===
Infelizmente, você não pode apagar nenhuma mensagem, ela vai ficar permanentemente na sua caixa de entrada.

===Há alguma forma de mudar meu nome de usuário? Eu detesto esse!===
Esta não é uma tarefa fácil. Você realmente deveria ter pensado nisso antes de se inscrever! Se você realmente tem uma boa razão, você deve enviar um e-mail para os administradores em WikiMapia@gmail.com. Eles podem ser capazes de ajudá-lo. Caso contrário, você tem duas opções: 1) Aprenda a viver com ele, ou 2) abandonar a conta e começar uma nova reconfiguração.

===Alguém roubou minha conta e senha do WikiMapia. O que eu posso fazer?===
Envie e-mail para os administradores, em WikiMapia@gmail.com. Peça para ter sua senha reiniciada. Lembre-se que o ladrão pode também ter mudado seu endereço de e-mail, então prepare-se para dar provas de que você realmente é o proprietário original da conta. E esteja pronto para se desculpar de quem o ladrão possa ter ofendido.

===Eu não quero mais participar do Wikimapia. Como eu apago minha conta?===
Infelizmente, você não pode excluir a sua conta, alternativamente, então mude sua senha para algo que você não irá se lembrar ou pare de visitar completamente o site da Wikimapia.

==Pesquisar local==

===Como eu procuro por alguma coisa?===
Digite o nome do local que você está procurando na caixa de pesquisa na barra do menu no topo da tela da Wikimapia, e pressionar o botão <tt>'''Pesquisar'''</tt>. Uma lista de resultados correspondentes à sua pesquisa será devolvido na barra lateral. Você também pode personalizar suas buscas por localização ou coordenadas, escolhendo as respectivas guias abaixo da caixa de pesquisa na barra lateral.

==Categorias==

===O que são categorias===
Filtro de categoria é uma ferramenta que permite pesquisar tipos de locais (ex: bares, hospitais, etc) por categoria.

===Como pesquiso alguma coisa===
Você só precisa passar o mouse sobre 'Categorias' no menu superior e/ou escolher a categoria que você está procurando (se estiver mostrando) ou procure-o na barra de "categorias de pesquisa". Então você verá todos os locais com pontos vermelhos no mapa que se encaixam na sua categoria. Para sair de uma pesquisa de categoria clique em 'cancelar' na parte inferior do mapa.

===Como posso encontrar, por exemplo, cinemas em uma cidade?===
Ver anterior

=Comunidade=

==Fórum==

===Quando posso participar das discussões do fórum?===
Assim que você estiver registrado.
===Por que não posso postar no fórum?===
Cada usuário regular pode postar no fórum. Se você não pode, então, você é um usuário não registrado ou foi proibido no fórum por violar [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 as diretrizes do fórum da Wikimapia].

===Se eu fizer uma pergunta em qualquer lugar do fórum, eu devo iniciar um novo tópico?===
Se já existe um tópico que se refere à sua pergunta, você pode postar sua pergunta lá. Você deve iniciar um novo tópico somente se não houver nenhum tópico semelhante. Lembre-se: Off-topic mensagens podem ser apagados pelos moderadores.
===Como posso ter certeza de que alguém vê minha postagem no fórum? (devo publicá-la em todas as seções)? ===
Não há maneira de '''garantir''' que alguém certamente vai ver sua postagem, mas novas postagens geralmente aparecem no topo da página do fórum, para que os usuários '''possam''' vê-las.

===Eu postei uma mensagem no fórum, mas eu mudei de ideia. Posso/devo apagá-la? ===
Você pode excluir a mensagem apenas durante um curto período de tempo após a postagem. Em outra situação você não pode apagar suas mensagens, apenas [[Comunidade#Moderador_do_Fórum| moderadores do fórum]] tem esse poder. Então você pode entrar em contato com um deles e explicar a razão pela qual a sua mensagem precisa ser excluída.

===Eu adicionei uma foto no meu perfil, mas minhas mensagens no fórum ainda mostram a imagem com "no foto". Por quê?===
Aguarde um pouco. Pode levar algum tempo.

===Eu lembro de ter visto algo discutido no fórum semana passada, mas agora não consigo encontrá-lo. É possível encontrá-lo novamente? ===
Em tal caso, há uma barra de busca no canto superior direito da página do fórum.

===Por que as mensagens no fórum sempre excedem o lado direito da minha tela??===
O fórum foi projetado para uma resolução de tela de 1024x768. Se a sua está configurada para menos que isso, o fórum será mostrado maior do que sua tela.

===Como posso fazer um texto em negrito, itálico ou sublinhado?===
Você vai ter que usar colchetes [][/]

*para negrito: [b]texto[/b]
*para itálico: [i]texto[/i]
*para sublinhar: [u]texto[/u]

===Como inserir imagens?===
para inserir imagem: [img]url vai aqui[/img]

==Outros Usuários==

===Como eu descubro onde outro usuário mora?===
Se ele tem sua localização definida no seu perfil, apenas clique no nome do país que é mostrado em "Localização:" (se houver algum). Você será levado ao local exato marcado pelo usuário. Caso contrário, você precisará perguntar diretamente ao usuário. Mas esteja pronto para uma decepção, pois muitos usuários preferem manter sua privacidade.

===Como eu posso entrar em contato com um outro usuário?===
Encontre-o(a) no fórum ou no mapa de usuários, ou ainda no link em algum local que ele(a) tenha descrito ou comentado. Clique no seu nome de usuário. Isso abrirá o perfil do usuário que você quer contatar. Clique em "enviar mensagem para este usuário", digite sua mensagem na caixa de texto e clique no botão "enviar mensagem". A mensagem que você enviou será mostrada acima de uma nova caixa de texto, vazia. É só isso: não clique no botão "enviar mensagem" de novo. Se você já enviou alguma mensagem a este usuário, o nome dele(a) estará na sua lista de contatos: abra seu perfil, clique em "Mensagens", encontre o nome do usuário desejado e prossiga daí.
===Como eu entro em contato com um usuário se eu só sei seu nome de usuário?===
Você pode encontrá-lo pelo '''Rank'''. No seu perfil de usuário, clique sobre sua posição no rank. Na janela que abre, há um campo de busca, onde está escrito '''Search username'''. Digite o nome do usuário e clique em '''search'''. Observe que o nome deve coincidir exatamente com o do usuário (não importando, porém, se as letras são minúsculas ou maiúsculas). Caso ainda tenha dificuldade em encontrá-lo, você pode pedir ajuda a outros usuários no fórum. Talvez alguns de nós possamos achar o usuário desejado.

===Como posso descobrir o endereço de e-mail associado a uma conta de usuário?===
Você não pode. Essa informação é privada. Você não encontrará nenhum endereço de e-mail aqui. A única maneira é pedir ao usuário, enviando-lhe uma mensagem.
===Eu tenho pontos de discordância com um outro usuário. O que eu devo fazer?===
Traga os pontos ao fórum. Nós iremos mediar o "cessar fogo" entre você e o outro usuário.
===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===O que é um sockpuppet?===
Traduzindo da página em inglês da Wikipédia: "Sockpuppet é uma identidade virtual usada com objetivo de enganar os demais membros de uma comunidade virtual. Em seu uso inicial, um "sockpuppet" era uma identidade falsa através da qual um membro de uma comunidade na Internet se manifesta enquanto finge que não o faz, como faz um titereiro manipulando um fantoche. No Wikimapia, um "sockpuppet" é quem tem uma segunda conta.

===É aceitável ter um sockpuppet?===
Para a maioria dos usuários, não. Existem, porém, usuários de níveis mais altos que têm "sockpuppets" para experimentos. Eles são úteis nesse sentido.

==Níveis de usuários==

===Qual é a diferença entre os níveis de usuário?===

===Quais são as vantagens e responsabilidades de ser um usuário avançado?===
Recebendo o status de usuário avançado você irá conceder acesso a ferramentas e privilégios que são os seguintes:
#Ferramenta Banimento
#Proteção
#Exclusão/Restauração dos comentários
#Exclusão de um objeto mais rápido
#Até 2.500 pontos por polígono
Sendo um usuário avançado significa que você precisa cuidar do mapa. Por exemplo, coordenar e incentivar os usuários, ajudar novos usuários, organizar debates, acompanhar as mudanças no mapa, ou seja, editar ou apagar objetos e comentários, definir a proteção temporária em objetos em caso de guerras de edição.

===Como eu me torno um usuário avançado?===

A partir do nível 5 em diante você receberá um pedido automático de candidatura para se tornar usuário avançado. Sendo aceito o seu pedido, outros usuários avançados de todo o mundo julgará se você tem plenas condições de ser um usuário avançado, este julgamento será com base nos seus trabalhos. A candidatura será feita por meio de votação que será de 7 dias, nesses sete dias você poderá acompanhar se está sendo promovido ou não. A qualquer momento (durante os sete dias) você poderá cancelar sua candidatura.

===Uma alta classificação me qualifica para se tornar um usuário avançado?===
Uma alta classificação em si não pode fazer de você um usuário avançado. Embora quanto mais você contribuir para a Wikimapia o mais elevado você será no rank, então quanto mais alto for sua classificação você poderá se tornar um usuário avançado. Mas faça um trabalho sério sem pensar na classificação.
===Quantos locais eu devo marcar para me tornar um usuário avançado?===
Todas essas perguntas tem a mesma resposta: Não há números mágicos que você precisa alcançar porque a promoção para UA é um processo manual, feito pelos administradores, e isso não é automático, independente de que números você tiver.
===Quantos votos positivos eu preciso para me tornar um usuário avançado?===
Ver anterior
===Quanto tempo leva para um usuário registrado se tornar um usuário avançado?===
Ver anterior
===Por que a minha conta está marcada como banida?===
Se você foi banido você receberá uma mensagem de notificação, o que explica as razões e as provas de sua proibição. Além disso, você verá uma janela vermelha à direita da sua página de perfil que notifica você sobre os motivos e detalhes da proibição.

===Como posso saber qual o nível de um usuário?===
No perfil de cada usuário existe um número que mostra o nível do usuário.

==Vandalismo==

===O que é vandalismo?===
'''Vandalismo''' pode assumir muitas formas. Por exemplo: remover informações corretas e úteis dos locais marcados, ou adicionar informação falsa ou ofensiva. Apagar marcações corretas e úteis, mover locais de sua localização correta, adicionar fotos ou polígonos ofensivos e substituir a descrição de um local por uma em idioma errado (em vez de adicionar um novo idioma): tudo isso é vandalismo. Perturbar o fórum também é considerado vandalismo.

===Minha marcação de um local foi vandalizada. O que eu devo fazer?===

Poste uma mensagem com os detalhes na seção [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] do fórum do WikiMapia. Nós estamos aqui para ajudar.

===Como eu restauro uma descrição vandalizada, retornando ao que estava antes?===
Vá no local desejado em seguida ‘Menu’ depois ‘Histórico’, encontre a revisão que você acha que é um vandalismo e clique em ‘desfazer esta revisão’.

===Como eu restauro uma descrição vandalizada?===
Ver anterior

===É possível proteger artigos que são vandalizados frequentemente?===

Sim. Usuários avançados podem "semiproteger" um local. Se você quer que um local seja semiprotegido, envie uma mensagem na seção [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] do fórum.

==Proibição==

===O que é uma proibição?===
Uma limitação causada pelo desrespeito, violação ou má interpretação das regras.

===Se eu for banido e acredito que eu não mereço isso. O que posso fazer?===
Restrições e proibição são aplicáveis aos usuários que violem as políticas da Wikimapia. Leia [[Sobre_a_Wikimapia#Políticas| as políticas]] e certifique-se de que você não violou nenhuma delas. Se não, entre em contato com um UA e explique suas razões. AUs têm o poder de proibir e desbloquear usuários, então ele/ela pode ajudá-lo.

===Como posso denunciar um mau usuário para que ele/ela possa ser banido(a) rapidamente?===
Você deve entrar em contato com um UA e explicar suas razões. UAs têm o poder de banir usuários, então ele/ela pode ajudá-lo.

==Votação==

===Por que eu deveria votar para um usuário?===
Se um usuário criou locais úteis, fez boas contribuições para a Wikimapia, então dê-lhe um voto para incentivar um usuário. Será pedido algum motivo para seu voto e você deve aproveitar a oportunidade para explicar brevemente o porquê da sua opção de voto.
===Como faço para votar em um usuário?===
Se você tem nível de usuário 2 em diante você pode votar para outros usuários. Clique na página de perfil do usuário, clique em 'votos sobre o usuário' e você verá um formulário de votação verde acima uma lista de usuários que já tenham votado para o usuário.

===Quando posso começar a votar===
A partir do nível de usuário 2 em diante
===Existe uma razão pela qual eu não posso votar para usuários?===
Não, não há nenhuma razão. Você pode votar livremente para um usuário, se quiser.
===É apropriado pedir votos?===
Não. Pedir votos é um mau comportamento.
===Como posso conseguir mais votos?===
Primeiro: Crie locais úteis. Segundo: tendo feito isso, você precisa ser observado. Seja uma pessoa útil e você será recompensado.
===Alguém me deu um voto bom. Devo fazer o mesmo para ele(a)?===
Se você acha que o usuário merece uma boa votação por seus esforços na Wikimapia, sim. Se não - não vote para um usuário apenas agradeça pela sua boa votação.
===Como faço para remover um voto indesejado?===
Você pode excluir um voto indesejado se abrir a lista de usuários, que votaram em você, em seu perfil.

===Alguém disse que eu voto demais. Há um limite?===
Não, mas uma vez que votos são supostamente baseados no que você acha sobre a contribuição dos outros ao WikiMapia - o que não é algo que pode ser avaliado tão rapidamente - dar muitos votos de uma vez significa que seus votos não são bem avaliados. Alguém que os veja no futuro, talvez pensando em te dar um voto bom, verá seu estilo de votação e provavelmente decidirá por não te dar um voto positivo.
===Devo dar uma boa votação para um usuário que é Nº 1 no sistema de ranking??===
Se ele é Nº 1 no sistema de ranking, então, ele pode ter adicionado um monte de boas informações. Se acha que é bom - vote nele, se não - não vote.

=Mensagens de Erros=

==="Desculpe, você está fazendo muitas ações em um curto período de tempo, por favor, espere um pouco e tente novamente mais tarde"===
Há um limite em ações semelhantes que um usuário pode fazer dentro de um determinado período de tempo (ou seja, um usuário comum só pode excluir três lugares em uma hora).

==="Polígono muito longo"===
Há limitações sobre o número total de pontos do polígono que pode adicionar dependendo do seu nível de usuário:

*'''Nível usuários 0''': 200 pontos, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level usuários 1-8''': 500 pontos, ~244.14 km²
*'''Usuários avançados''': 2,500 pontos, ~996,006 km²

==="Polígono muito grande"===
Ver anterior.

==="Você não pode mudar seu voto, você começou a votação, você só pode remover completamente ele"===
Esta mensagem pertence a um sistema extinto para a proibição de voto, portanto, não deve aparecer. Se ele aparecer, por favor crie um tópico do relatório no fórum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 aqui] e a lista de relatórios de bug [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc aqui]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="Você deve remover os objetos filho antes de excluir o objeto"===
Esta mensagem significa que você não pode excluir um objeto, pois há objetos secundários que se referem a ele. Você precisa eliminá-los primeiro.

==="Wikimapia acabou de atualizar! Por favor, recarregue a mudança de página ou pressione Shift + Ctrl+R, a fim de aplicar correções e desfrutar de novos recursos"===
Essa mensagem significa que os administradores fizeram algumas mudanças no Wikimapia, então você precisa recarregar a página para ver a versão atualizada do Wikimapia.

=Externo=

===Eu posso ver os locais da Wikimapia no Google Earth?===
Sim. Você pode baixar a camada Wikimapia no Google Earth.

===Eu posso colocar parte do mapa do WikiMapia na minha página web?===

Sim. Encontre a tela que você quer colocar na sua página. Coloque o mouse sobre "WikiMapia" no canto superior esquerdo e selecione "Mapa em sua página" Uma janela aparecerá com os cantos de um retângulo. Apenas carregue os cantos do retângulo para redimensionar a caixa e então copie o código html que é mostrado e cole na sua página.

===Eu posso usar o WikiMapia com um dispositivo com GPS?===
Não, infelizmente esse recurso ainda não está disponível.

===Qual navegador que você recomendaria para usar com a Wikimapia?===

Qualquer um moderno, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===Como eu pego uma imagem jpeg ou bmp de um mapa?===
Primeiro, verifique a licença de provedor de satélite fotos, em seguida, capturar a tela e transferir a imagem em qualquer formato que você precisa.

===Eu quero enviar uma página da Wikimapia para um amigo. Como eu faço isso===
Se você deseja enviar um link para uma área específica do mapa da Wikimapia use a URL da página no topo de seu navegador.
===Eu cliquei num link do WikiMapia que alguém me deu. Por que eu estou vendo as descrições em espanhol agora?===

A pessoa que te mandou o link usava o espanhol como idioma. Coloque o mouse sobre "Wikimapia" e selecione "Mudar idioma". Selecione o idioma que desejar.

===Como eu imprimo o mapa com o nome dos locais marcados (sem usar outra aplicação para sobrepor os pontos e os nomes)?===

O melhor que você pode fazer é capturar a tela e imprimi-lo.

=Propaganda=

====Eu tenho um negócio. Posso marcá-lo?====
Sim, você pode marcar. Você pode dar informações factuais: o nome da empresa, o endereço, o que você faz ou vende, quanto tempo tem a empresa, um link pra sua página na internet; esse tipo de coisa. Você não deve incluir material promocional ("melhor na cidade", "bons preços", preços de forma geral...), que '''é considerado propaganda'''. Por outro lado, você pode dizer: "Consulte minha página a disponibilidade e os preços."

Voltar para [[Main Page/pt|página principal]]

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-22T01:50:56Z

Antdoghalo: /* My avatar */

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Added polygons to all squares in the South: January 19, 2013
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA, 2013
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==

=== Added polygons to final square in the South ===
On Jaunary 19th I added a polygon to the final square in the South.

*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one.
== My avatar ==
My Avatar is almost always a dragon.

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

=.=
{{User Profiles}}

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-22T01:45:07Z

Antdoghalo:

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-21T09:05:36Z

Antdoghalo:

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Added polygons to all squares in the South: January 19, 2013
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA, 2013
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==

=== Added polygons to final square in the South ===
On Jaunary 19th I added a polygon to the final square in the South.

*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 23 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one.
== My avatar ==
My Avatar is almost always a dragon.

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

{{User Profiles}}

Help/FAQ

2013-01-19T03:47:54Z

Antdoghalo: /* What actions are acceptable, or even encouraged, when deleting place tags? */ Fixed 404 link

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
Welcome to FAQ!

If you are a new or inexperienced user, we acknowledge it will take you time to understand the rules and to use Wikimapia's features properly. You may have many questions which need answering or you might need a pointer just to help you get back on track.

We therefore present the FAQ so that it can address your queries as well as covering the essential basics required to make your experience in Wikimapia a well-informed, compliant and pleasant one.
{{TOC limit|3}}
=Basic Philosophy=

===What is Wikimapia for?===
Wikimapia aimed to mark all geographical objects in the world and provide a useful description for them, so that anyone can share his knowledge and freely explore the world.
===Who is Wikimapia for?===
Anyone who is interested in exploring the world or like to share his or her knowledge with everyone who uses Wikimapia.

===What is the basic ideology of Wikimapia?===
To make yourself aware of Wikimapia basic ideology we recommend you to click [[About_Wikimapia| here]].

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikimapia?===
According to Wikimapia [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ License] you may use Wikimapia content as you like (for sharing, recasting, transforming or adapting in any form recognizably derived from the original for any use). We also encourage you to build your work upon Wikimapia data and require its further distribution under the same or similar license to this one.

===Is it WikiMapia or Wikimapia?===
This website is usually more referred to as '''Wikimapia'''.

===How can I help?===
There many ways to contribute to Wikimapia. [[Adding/editing places]] is already a great help. You can also help translating the interface into your language, report about bugs in [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ reports list] or become an [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#Special_roles advanced user (moderator)] to help other users.

=Help=

===How can I get help using Wikimapia?===
First of all you should read Wikimapia Docs and [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines] carefully. If you still can’t get the answer to your question send a message to an [[Community#Advanced_Users|Advanced User]] or you can also ask for help on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

===Who is an admin?===
Admins are the members of the [[Community#Wikimapia_Team| Wikimapia team]].

===How can I get help from admin?===
First, make sure that a moderator or an advanced user (AU) can not help you. Then send admins a message or email on contact@wikimapia.org

=Wikipedia content=

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikipedia?===
Articles quality on Wikipedia fit Wikimapia demands. So you can certainly use Wikipedia while describing a place or give a link to Wikipedia article.
===Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article into a Wikimapia description box is a great idea, right?===
Giving a link to the article is more than enough, there is no need to repeat things twice.

=Languages=

===Can I add information in my local language in a different language page?===
No. you cannot add languages in a different language page. This restriction applies to wordings added after the proper title. You can only add your language to the corresponding language page by accessing the object's 'Menu' and selecting 'Add another language' in the drop down menu. You may then choose your language from the choices available. You can also access your language page by clicking the two-letter country code (in blue) at the bottom of a tag.

===Someone has added a place in my country and written it in a foreign language. Can I delete it?===
Accurate descriptions in foreign languages are perfectly acceptable as long as they are made in the correct language page. The wilful deletion of tags containing foreign languages is forbidden.
===Can I add the same Wikipedia link to multiple language pages of an object?===
No. You should add the link to the respective language page of the object. Even then it should be confined to the Wikipedia link section in the object's edit window. However, you may include links to secondary Wikipedia articles in the description section.
===I don't understand English. What can I do?===
Wikimapia is a multi-lingual website and supports 101 languages. Though the major discussions are held in English (i.e., on forum), you still can choose your interface language from the list and enjoy Wikimapia.

===How can I see Wikimapia (or mark places) in my own language?===
You need to change the interface language to your language by hovering over two-letter country code at the top menu then clicking 'more languages' and selecting your language.

===Why are some titles and tooltips in a different language?===
This means that there is no translation of these titles or tooltips in your language yet. You can translate them into your language if you like.
===How do I change the interface language?===
To change the interface language to your language, hover over two-letter country code at the top menu, click 'more languages' and select your language.

===How is the default language for my created places determined?===
When open a place tag the system will offer you to see the description on your interface language. If there is no description on your interface language then you'll see the tag on English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian. If there is no description on any of these languages, then you'll see the description on available language.

===When a place is written in several languages, but not mine, how do you determine which one to show me?===
There is a list of most popular languages. If there are several descriptions of one place on different languages the system automatically determines the most popular language among those which are available for that specific place.

===Someone wrote a good description in a place but it's in the wrong language page. What should I do with this?===
You should move the description to the correct language page. You can also translate the good description into your language, if you can.

===Can I remove a place's description in a particular language without deleting the entire place?===
Yes.

===What languages should I translate my place tag into?===
Into whatever you speak from the language list that opens when hover over two-letter country code at the top menu and clicking 'more languages'.

===The place I'm describing has different names in different languages. Which name should I use in my language?===
Proper one for you language. You should find the official name of the place on your language in some other source and use it. If a place has also an unofficial name that locals use, you can also note it in description or in braces near the official name. If a place does not have an official name at all, use its unofficial name as main.

===I found a place described in a language I do not know, but I want to know what was written. What can I do?===
You can try and translate it with Google Translate or any available dictionary.

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them.

===Can I find out how many users use a certain language interface?===
There is no stats on such a case.

===I can see a number of different strange language codes at the bottom right of the object window, but how can I tell what they are?===
Those codes are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO ISO] abbreviations for languages. Is you hover a cursor over them and wait a bit you’ll see the whole language name.

===When I look at the available languages, my language isn't there. What can be done about this?===
In this case you should contact Wikimapia Team. They will either add your language to the language list, or explain to you why it can't be done.

===I have created a description in a new language for an existing place object, but it is not shown in my list of created places although my place tag counter has increased by one. Why?===
Because only the first one who created the place gets it in his list.

===How do I change the language on the map layer?===
You can change the language of your interface at the top menu and the map layer language will change automatically.

=Translations=

===How can I help translate the user interface into my language?===
You can go to [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page] and become an editor.

===How can I find out the translation status of a certain language?===
You can find it on [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page].

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them to the language of your interface.

= Satellite Images =

===Why is the picture of my town/village so bad?===

Because the satellite imagery provided by Google in this area, is bad. We have no impact on it, unfortunately.

===Why can't I zoom in more in a certain area?===
Because the satellite imagery provider has no higher resolution pictures of this area.

===Can you update the map in my location because it is too blurry/low resolution quality?===
No, unfortunately we cannot, as satellite images are provided by Google. This means that we have no idea when Google will update the images. you can monitor the updated images on Google sites, however their help page says that this happens once in "approximately one to three years".

===How can we find out where Google has recently changed their images?===
You can try the [http://www.gearthblog.com blog do Google Earth] (English), where there is a link to the updates of recent images.
===When will the satellite images of my area get more detail?===
See previous
===When will the satellite images of my area be brought up to date?===
See previous
===Can I find out which place tags were most recently added?===
You can use Countries watchlist that you may find in 'tools' for these purpose.
===Why have all the place tags in my area shifted 10 meters to the west?===
Sometimes when Google updates its files, they can not line them up precisely with the old pictures. Take satellite photos of a spherical Earth and match these images on a flat map is not as easy as we would like. So sometimes, there are offsets. On such a case there is 'Satellite images updates list' tool (or Map Shift). It allows to fix those shifts of the map.
===What should I do when all the place tags in a certain area have been shifted 10 metres to the west?===
See previous.
=== I found a place where when I zoomed OUT it said "no imagery"?===
this means that the provider has no higher resolution imagery there.

=Place tools=

==Adding places==

===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?===
It's better to name it just Place or Object.

===How do I add a place?===
Select 'add a place' and a red polygon tool will appear. Draw a [[Tools#Polygons|polygon]], then add other information :
* choose Language carefully.
* Title is the name Wikimapia shows that when we hover over the place. Write something short, but representative.
* Description. For the description, as they say, 2 or 3 lines is already good.
* 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
And click the 'Save'.

* Photo

===Can I add my own house?===
It is undesirable to add a personal house if:
#it does not possess interesting details
#you do not recognise the potential repercussions of disclosing personal details

This aside, you are allowed to mark a building as long as it:
*has an accurate outline
*has a properly assigned category
*possesses a recognizable address. This should be demonstrated by assigning a street name (via the Roads tool) and a building number in the Address section.

===A ship which is anchored or stationed in a fixed location (prepositioning) has drifted slightly from its original position. Can I still mark it?===
Yes you can provided the ship maintains a fixed position near to the original location. For existing objects, if the map updates to indicate an anchored/prepositioned ship has drifted, you should update the change by redrawing the object's outline.

===Which map provider should I use to mark objects?===

You can use any map source provided they are not incorrect nor illegal.

Since its inception in 2006, Wikimapia has always used Google Maps to plot its data layer as it was the only source available for five years. Presently, Wikimapia regards Google Maps imagery the best source in most cases.

Google Maps' satellite view is the default and the most widely used map view to mark objects in Wikimapia. We highly recommended that you use Google Satellite 'old places' view ('Satellite + old places' in Beta and 'Google satellite' with 'old places' checked in New Wikimapia) to ensure you don't duplicate the addition of an already marked object.

Finally, reality governs over all map sources. For example, if a building is demolished in real life, it should be marked as such even though the map may show it to still exist as a building.

===Which places should I tag?===
* Any non-movable place that exists at this particular moment in time.
** Planes, submarines, circuses and other movable objects may be added if they are still for at least a week.
** Permanently still or stationed ships which are moored or anchored can be marked even if they have drifted from an original position.
* A place must have at the very least a properly constructed outline.
* Settlement place tags such as cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods must have a properly assigned category.
* Historical/disappeared places. These '''must''' have the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category assigned to them.
* Newly constructed buildings, which are not visible on the satellite image. Use a different map provider with the latest images to verify the outline. If the newly constructed place is not visible on any map, try your best to mark the outline accurately.

Remember, reality governs over satellite images and map sources. If you can see and visit a place not visible on a map, you can still mark it.

===Which places should I not tag?===
Please think carefully before adding a place tag, there are certain things that are forbidden. Place tags that meet the following deletion criteria should not be added:

* An outline that does not mark any identifiable place.
* A historical/disappeared place without the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category.
* A planned building or road that has not entered the construction phase.
* Movable objects that are still for less than a week.
* A place tag that marks temporary or intangible events such as battles etc.
* A place tag that is a copy of another place tag.
* A personal/private residence that does not contain an address or useful information.


===What information should I provide in a place tag?===
You should provide any information that you find useful and valuable, if only it does not violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===What information should I not provide in a place tag?===
You should not provide any information that violates [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===How big should my place tag be?===
For the description 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.

===Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?===
'''No you should not''', you should use the linear tools to draw on the map. This is found under the '''Edit map''' drop down menu list, which is found at the top-left of the screen.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Edit map drop down menu list]]

===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"?===
No you should not, if you do not know the place then you '''should not''' mark it.

===Should I tag a place that does not show up in the satellite image because it has just been built?===
Yes! Once the image is updated, the site will be there.
===Should we mark places that may be dangerous to visit?===
You can mark dangerous place as any other. You can also caution other users in description that this place is dangerous to visit.

===How do I use the categories section in a place object?===
Click [[User_interface#Categories|here]] for answers.

===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!===
''See also: [[editing_places#Undeleting.2FPlace_restoration|Undeleting/Place restoration]]''

Probably some user has deleted the place tag you've created, if so its best to click on '''Deleted Places''' from the '''Map type''' menu drop down list and check on the map if its been deleted.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Map type menu list, where the 'Deleted places' layer is highlighted.]]

===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?===
You can edit and needs no prompting to any user as well as they do not need to ask permission from you. But add good things and not change one point for a comma to stay with his name on the marker.
===How do I edit a description?===
Move your mouse over the desired location, click the left button in the upper left corner hover over the menu and then click Edit this page. After all done click the save button.
===When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?===
Please see [[Help/FAQ#If_a_business.2C_shop.2C_store_etc.2C_moves_or_is_shut_down.2C_should_I_delete_the_defunct_place_object.3F |here]]

===Some places show users' names at the bottom of an object window, but other places don't have a user's name. Why?===
They were made by unregistered user (UU).

===I found several place tags marking the same place. What do I do?===
Ask for the removal of the most most informative site (or recent and leave the oldest), thus respecting the establishment of the previous location.
A tip: put on the map '''Satellite + old places''' (to avoid a site already created is recreated again).

===Tall buildings in a city sometimes seem to be leaning sideways. How should I mark those locations?===
All buildings should be outlined at their base (ground level), regardless of whether their images appear to be leaning. When the images are from directly or nearly directly overhead, the roof edges may be used to approximate the ground level footprint if they have the same dimensions.

Tall buildings and structures like radio towers appear to "lean" because of the way they have been [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Photography photographed] from the air. For further clarification, please read [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Adding/editing_places#Polygons this].

===Can I add places which do not exist any more?===
You can, but only if you:
*know the precise dimensions
*add the historical layer/disappeared place category
If the above requirements are lacking, you should not add non-existent places.

===Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving?===
To see what area needs improving you can use [[status grid]]. If you are interested in specific map area (ie., cause you are familiar with the area and can improve it better) we recommend you to add a [[Tools#Watchlist |watchlist]], so you can monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, etc) and know weather any new place needs to be improved.

===I found some places near the north/south pole! What is going on?===
Most are the result of vandals. Nevertheless, there is no valid markings indicating settlements and scientific stations.

===I don't know what to write in object description. Can I copy only title in description?===
No. But, if object/place has alternative name, write it.

==Semi-Protection==

===The tag info tells me that the place is 'semi-protected'. What does that mean?===
Some tags are often vandalized and needs protection, this can only be done by [[Advanced Users]]. Registered users and unregistered users can not edit tags at all.

===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 [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 thread]. Only advanced users can put on protective items (tags).

==Polygons==

===Why can't I add more points to a polygon?===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots

===Why can't I create big polygons and why do I get the message: "Too big polygon"?===
There are limitations on the polygon size you can make depending on your [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#User_levels User Level.]

===Can I revert a polygon to the state before it was vandalized?===
Yes you can. You can do this by applying the correct polygon state of a previous revision as current.
===Can I delete a polygon?===
No, this isn't possible. If you think the polygon shape is wrong, you should resize it so that it is correct. If the incorrect polygon has hundreds of dots and you find it too laborious to correct manually, please contact an Advanced User to assist you.
===I don't understand guideline 1.2. "A place must have at least a properly constructed outline"?===
This is a minimum requirement for a place object to be acceptable. A polygon should clearly outline a map object you are marking in the aerial/satellite image. A properly constructed outline means a polygon should never overlap an area that is not part of the object.
A place object should have an accurate outline but it doesn't ''need'' a title or description, although the inclusion of which is preferred for the place object to be useful. If the place object lacks proper details, it is still possible for other users to improve it.
===I tried to add new points to a polygon, but I failed. What is the reason? (150 points limitation)===
Regular users can draw up to 500 dots per polygon. When adding new dots to a polygon you should stick to the same limit, which means that total number of dots (first+added) should not overdraw 500 dots.

===I added a polygon for a place but my edit count stayed the same. Why?===
When you add a polygon to a place this reflects in line 'Polygons added to places without a polygon' in profile 'Stats', not in edit count.

===Can I use polygons as arrows or waymarkers to indicate the route or direction of a place?===
No. This is because arrows and waymarkers aren't real places with definable outlines. Polygons should not be manipulated to indicate anything other than the outline of a place.

==Comments==

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

''Also see: [[editing_places#Comments | Comments]]''

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only [[Advanced Users]] can delete comments. If you find a bad comment you think should be deleted you can report it [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 Here]

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
Guests usernames are black, registered users have blue username links, which direct to their profile pages.

==Photos==

===How do I add photos?===
Open place description, hover over ‘menu’ at the top and click ‘add/manage photos’. Here you can upload new photos and delete old ones. '''Remember''': photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place will be deleted.

===How do I know when a photo was taken?===
You can only know who and when uploaded it (it is written below the photo). You may ask a user, who uploaded a photo, when it was taken, but we can not guarantee that he will answer for sure.

===Can I make notes about a photograph?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet. You can only give it a name, when uploading it, and leave a comment with your notes below the photo.

===Which photos should be deleted?===
You should delete those photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place.

As you can upload only 7 photos for every object it is also permited and even encouraged to delete photos of bad quality if only you can replace them with better quality photos.

===How do I delete a bad photo?===
Click on the tag where you have found the bad photo, hover the cursor over '''menu''' at the top and then click on '''add/manage photos'''. In the tab where you see '''Current photos''' hover the cursor over the bad photo, then a '''Delete''' button should appear underneath the photo, click on it and the bad photo will get deleted. It is to be noted, that this is the same place where you can upload a new photo.

===How can I tell which place tags contain photos?===
You can not. But you can filter all places by ‘places '''without''' photos’ category and see which places do not have photos. Therefore all places without red marks contain photos.

===Can I add a video of a place?===
Yes, you can provide a link from youtube.com in place description, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview.

===Under what conditions can I use the "free" images from Wikimedia Commons?===
Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing here] for answers.

===Can I add photos to linear objects: to streets, rivers, railways?===
Yes.

==Deletion==

===How do I delete a place?===
Places can be deleted by selecting 'Delete place' under 'Menu' in the object's window. Please be aware that you may only delete a place as per the deletion reasons (under 3. Deleting tags) of the [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines].

===What actions are acceptable, or even encouraged, when deleting place tags?===
Before deleting an object, read the [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| Wikimapia Policies]] carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. If you have any doubts about deleting a place you can discuss it on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] or ask an [[ Community#Advanced_Users | Advanced User]] for advice.

===I found some places that should be deleted, but I can't delete them since I am only a regular user (RU). What should I do?===
If you can’t delete an object, it might be under an AU protection. You should contact an AU, explain you reasons and ask for help.

===How long does it take for a "deleted" place to actually disappear entirely?===
After you made a request to delete an object the system will inform you in what time the place will be deleted on the place page. Usually it takes five days (if removed by a regular user) and couple of hours (if removed by an AU). Between deletion request and actual disappearance of the object, a user can cancel the deletion by clicking on ‘cancel’ button.

===How do I know if one of my places has been deleted?===
You can check your Stats tab in your profile window. Your created places which are deleted will be shown via the counter next to <tt>'''Deleted from them:'''</tt>
===Do deleted places still show up on my list of created places?===
Yes. If someone deleted your places they still will be written in ‘Places and streets created’ line (and ‘Deleted from them’ line as well), but they will be marked as deleted and you won’t get experience point for them.

===How many places can I delete per day/week?===
It depends on your user level. On the first user level you can delete three places in one hour only. UL 2 - ten objects in ~16 minutes, UL3 - twenty objects in ~13 minutes, UL4 - thirty in 5 minutes, UL5+ - eighty in 2 minutes, AUs can delete 200 objects in 90 seconds.

===In China many place tags are marked ?????(cn). Should I delete them?===
No, you should not delete them. Seeing such symbols simply means that your computer does not maintain Chinese symbols.
===If a business, shop, store etc, moves or is shut down, should I delete the defunct place object?===
If the building still exists, and it hasn't been demolished, it should '''not''' be deleted. We recommend you update the place object's article by describing its present function. It is essential you update its title, description, address and category to reflect the change.
===Why do deleted objects still show up in Google search results?===
Objects put up for deletion will be removed after a specified time. However, Google will continue to display the deleted/outdated information until they update their own search results to show the latest web pages. This is because Google takes 'snapshots' of web pages it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Unfortunately, these stored pages may be outdated until they are updated. You can either be patient until Google removes the outdated data or you can contact them [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz here].

=Linear Tools=

==Roads==

===I cannot add roads===
If you are a new user, it is most likely a temporary limitation has been placed on your ability to use the "Road" tool because your experience level is too low. To increase your experience level, you must first add places to the map with the "Add place" tool or edit previously created objects. Please make sure the places you add are accurate and proper. Once you have gained enough experience with the "Add place" tool, you will be allowed to use the "Road" tool.
The restriction is necessary because the "Road" tool has specialized features that new/inexperienced users find difficult to use properly. Adding roads requires skill and so it is only available to experienced users who are familiar with the use of other tools. Click [[Community#User_levels| here]] for more on experience levels.
If you have suddenly lost the ability to add roads then you will need to create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and a bug report [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 here].

===Should I add multiple road segments to mark individual lanes in a road?===
Only if a physical divider is present between those lanes. Otherwise use segment options to set lanes number.

===What road type should I use to mark a road?===
Depending on the type of the road (dirt road, courtyard road, street/lowt raffic, road/high traffic, highway).

===Am I allowed to enter the zip/post code in the title field along with the road name?===
You should really not, however you may include the zip/post codes in the description field.

==Railroads==
This tool allow you to map the railway segments onto the map page. To have more information about the use of this tool, please see [[Tools#Railroads|Railroads]] section

==Rivers==

==Ferry==

===Can I use the ferry tool to mark rivers and vice versa?===
'''No'''. This tool is only for the mapping of genuine ferry routes. To map river you must use the river tool.

=Interface=

==Wikimapia Screen==

===How do I use all those things on the Wikimapia screen?===
Click [[User_interface#About_the_Wikimapia_Main_Screen| here]] for answers.

===When I look at place's description page, there is a line near the top that says, for example, "World/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". What is this telling me?===
This is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_%28navigation%29 breadcrumb] line and shows a list of places according to administrative levels. Please be aware this list is not a precise indication of the place object; it is only to be referred to as an approximation of places near to the place object.

===The breadcrumb navigation is wrong/not showing the correct place name?===
See above.

===What is 'Hotel booking' in the menu under my username?===
‘Hotel booking’ is a useful tool for tourists. If you are planning to visit any specific place in short time, you can find it on the map and click on ‘Hotel booking’ under your username. Afterwards you will see all hotels marked with special icons. This allows you to choose and book a hotel depending on its geographical position. Click on any hotel and see its page on booking.com.

===What is Distance Measure and what can I do with it?===
It is a tool which allows to measure the distance between two points. To do this you need to mark on the map both points or a detailed route from one point to another and the system will calculate its length. Afterwards you may send the link of what you see on the map to your friend by sending URL of the page on the top of your browser.

===What are those buttons underneath the menu bar?===
Those are [[Tools#Adding_place| Add place]], Distance measure (see previous) and [[User_interface#Zoom_Control.2F_Zoom_Levels| Zoom]].

===What are all those options under the 'Map type' menu?===
Those are different map types that you can choose depending on what you are searching for.

===What are all those options under the 'Categories' menu?===
Those are categories that system offers you on default. If you are searching for a category that is not in the list, you need to type it in ‘Search categories’ bar or find it in ‘Categories hierarchy’ in tools.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===What do the red dots under the names of places mean?===
Red dot under an object name means that the object is a city.

===What are the icons in some places and what do they mean?===
These are category icons, they are shown even if you do not using category filter. If you want to know their meaning open ‘Rendering of categories’ in ‘tools’ section.

==User Profile/Account==

===Why should I register?===
While you are an unregistered user of Wikimapia you can use a limited amount of tools and options only. Since you are registered you can gain experience points, advance your user level and get access to new tools. Besides, only registered users can post on forum.

===Do you have any advice for new members?===
Yes, you can read them [[Quick_start#Advice_for_new_users| here]].

===It says in my profile that I created 106 places. But I can only count 82. What happened to the other places I've created?===
Apparently they were deleted, so you can find them in ‘Deleted from them’ line.

===Can I see how many places I have deleted?===
In stats section in your profile you can see the list of all your actions including ‘Places requested to be deleted’ and ‘Place deletion requests cancelled’.

===How do I mark my own location? Why should I?===
To mark your location find ‘Choose your location’ at the top of your profile page. Then choose your location by positioning the map and placing the marker. Location may be approximate for privacy. Your location will be visible to other users, so they could figure out where are you from.

===How do I delete a message someone sent me?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete a message, it will stay permanently in your inbox.

===Is there any way I can change my user name? I hate this one!===
This is not an easy task. You really should have thought of this before registering! If you really have a good reason, you must send an e-mail administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. They may be able to help you. Otherwise, you have two options: 1) Learn to live with it, or 2) abandon the account and start a new, re-registering.
===Someone has stolen my Wikimapia account and password. What can I do?===
Send e-mail to administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. Ask to have your password reset. Remember that the thief may have changed your e-mail, so be prepared to give evidence that you really are the original owner of the account. And be ready to apologize for who the thief might have offended
===I don't want to be part of Wikimapia any more. How do I delete my account?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete your account, alternatively you may want to change your password to something you will not be able to remember easily or you can stop visiting Wikimapia altogether which is even more easier.

==Place Search==

===How do I search for something?===
Type the name of the place you're looking for in the search box in the Wikimapia Menu Bar at the top of your screen, and press the <tt>'''Search'''</tt> button. A list results matching your query shall be returned in the sidebar. You can also tailor your searches by location or coordinates by choosing the respective tabs underneath the search box in the sidebar.

==Categories==

===What are Categories?===
Category filter is a tool that allows you to search for places of one type (ie. bars, hospitals, etc) by their category.

===How do I search for something?===
You just need to hover over ‘Categories’ on the top menu and either choose the category you are looking for (if its shown) or search it in ‘Search categories’ bar. Then you’ll see that all the places on the map that fit your category will we have red marks. To quit a category search click ‘cancel’ on the bottom of the map.

===How can I find, for example, theaters in one city?===
See previous

= User Tools =

==Watchlists==

===How do I create a watchlist?===
To create a watchlist go to [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/ Tools] click on watchlist then click add, outline the area you wish to watch, enter a name and click save. You can navigate back to see your watchlist's this way.

===Is there a limit of watchlist's I can create?===
No, there is not limit to the number of watchlist's you can create.

=Community=

==Forum==

===When can I join in the forum discussions?===
As soon as you are registered.
===Why am I not able to post into the forum?===
Every regular user can post into the forum. If you can not then you are either an unregistered user or you were banned on forum for [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 guidelines of Wikimapia forum] violation.

===Should I ask a question anywhere in the forum, or should I start a new topic? ===
If there is already a topic that refers to your question, you can post your question there. You should start a new thread only if there is no topic alike. Remember: Off-topic posts may be deleted by moderators.
===How can I make sure that someone sees my posting in the forum? (should I post it in all sections?) ===
There is no way to '''guarantee''' that someone will certainly see your posting, but new postings usually appear on the top of the forum page, so users '''might''' see them.
===I posted a message in the forum, but I have changed my mind. Can/should I delete it? ===
You can delete your message only during a short period of time after posting. In other situation you can not delete your messages, only [[Community#Forum_moderators| forum moderators]] have such power. So you can contact one of them and explain the reason why your message needs to be deleted.

===I added a photo to my profile, but my forum posting still shows "no foto"? ===
Wait for a while. It may take some time.
===I remember seeing something discussed in the forum last week, but now I can't find it. Is it possible to find it again? ===
On such a case there is a search bar at the top right corner of the forum page.

===Why do forum messages always run off the right side of my screen?===
The forum is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. If yours is set to less than this, the forum display will be wider than your screen.

===How can I make a text bold, italicize or underline it?===
You will have to use square brackets [][/]

*for bold: [b]text[/b]
*to italicize: [i]text[/i]
*to underline: [u]text[/u]

===How to embed images?===
to embed image: [img]url goes here[/img]

==Other Users==

===How do I find out where another user lives===
If a user marked his\her location you may figure out where is he\she from. Otherwise, you need to ask directly to the user, but be ready for a disappointment, since many users prefer to keep your privacy.

===How can I contact another user?===
Find it (a) in the forum or on a map of users, or the link somewhere that he (a) has described or discussed. Click on your username. This will open the user profile that you want to contact. Click "send message to this user", type your message in the text box and click the "send message". The message you sent is shown above a new text box empty. That's it: do not click the button "send message" again. If you have already sent a message to this user, you name it (a) will be on your list of contacts: open your profile, click on "Messages", find the desired user name and proceed from there.
===How do I contact a user if I only know his username?===
You can find him/her by rank. Find 'Users rank' in a 'tools' section in your profile. In the window that opens, there is a search field 'Search username'. Enter the user name and click 'search'. Note that the name must exactly match the user (no matter, however, if the letters are uppercase or lowercase). If you have trouble finding it, you can ask for help from other users in the forum. Maybe some of us may find the desired user.

===How can I find out the email address linked to a user account?===
You can not. This information is private. You will not find any e-mail here. The only way is to ask the user, by sending him a message.
===I have a disagreement with another user. What should I do?===
Bring the items to the forum. We will mediate the "ceasefire" between you and another user.
===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===What is a sockpuppet?===
English Wikipedia page says: "sockpuppet is an online identity used in order to deceive the other members of a virtual community. In its initial use, a "sockpuppet" was a false identity through which a member of a community on the Internet manifests itself while pretending that it does not, as does a puppeteer manipulating a puppet. In WikiMapia, a "sockpuppet" is someone who has a second account.

===Is it acceptable to have a sockpuppet?===
For most users, no. However, there are users who have higher levels "sockpuppets" for experiments. They are useful in this regard.

==User Levels==

===What is the difference between user levels?===
The higher user level you are the more tools and options are available for you.

===What are the advantages & responsibilities of being an advanced user?===
Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
#Ban tool
#Protection
#Deletion/restoration of comments
#Faster object deletion
#Up to 2.500 points per polygon
#The ability to vote on AU's promotion

Being an Advanced User means you need to look after the map. For example, coordinate and encourage users, help new users, arrange debates, keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.

===How do I become an advanced user?===

There is no a defined formula for becoming an AU. Just contribute to Wikimapia and your efforts will be noted. In practice, recommendations are given of possible AU forum and if there is a consensus, so administrators can choose to promote you. These recommendations are based on the overall quality of their contributions, their visibility in the Forum and its suitability to the ideals of WikiMapia.

===Will a high rank qualify me to become an advanced user?===
A high rank itself can not make you an advanced user. Though the more you contribute to Wikimapia the higher is you rank, so the closer the moment that you may be offered to become an advanced user..
===How many places do I have to mark to become an advanced user?===
All these questions have the same answer: There is no magic number you need to achieve because the promotion AU is a manual process done by administrators, and this is not automatic, regardless of what numbers you have.

===How many good votes do I need to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===How long should one be a regular user to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===Why is my account marked as limited/banned?===
If you were banned you’ll get a notification message, that explains the reasons and proofs of your ban. In addition, you’ll see a red window on the right of your profile page that notifies you about the reasons and details of limitation.

===How can I tell what user level a user is?===
In profile of every user there is a number of his user level.

==Vandalism==

===What is vandalism?===
Deliberate actions aimed to corrupt information.
Vandalism can take many forms. For example: removing correct, useful information from place tags, or adding false or offensive information. Deleting correct and useful tags, moving tags away from their correct locations, adding offensive photos, adding/re-shaping polygons so that they depict nonsensical/obscene shapes and replacing a place tag's description with one in a different language (instead of adding the new language), '''deliberately''' creating duplicate place tags, all constitute vandalism. Disrupting the forum is also considered vandalism.

===My place tag has been vandalised. What should I do?===

Post a message with the details in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] Forum WikiMapia. We're here to help.

===How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised?===
Find ‘History’ in ’menu’ in place tag, find the revision that you think is a vandalism and click ‘Undo this revesion’.

===How do restore a vandalized description to what it used to be?===
See previous

===Is is possible to protect articles that are vandalized often?===

Yes. Advanced User can "semiprotect" a place. If you want a place to be semi-protected, then send a request in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] forum.

===Can I undelete a non-compliant place object and re-purpose/convert it into an acceptable one?===

The practice of salvaging a deleted place object and reassigning its identity is forbidden '''if''' the newer object is:
*situated at a different location from the original
*has a completely different function to the original

All objects must be marked with their own outlines and are treated as individual objects. For example, the place object for a jetty (which has rotted away) cannot be converted into a lake or boat house - it must be deleted (unless the jetty is rebuilt). The lake and boat house must be marked separately with their own place object identities.

Recycling obsolete objects and reusing them may seem desirable but ultimately defeats the object of populating Wikimapia's map and database with unique places and overall place count respectively. The exception to this rule is that an existing place can be re-purposed within one day of its creation if a user has marked it erroneously.

The wilful and persistent act of undeleting place objects (including existing place objects) and recycling them into compliant objects is forbidden. In addition, the premeditated act of abusing the aforementioned exception is also forbidden.

==Banning==

===What is a ban?===
A limitation caused by disregarding, violation or misinterpretation of the rules.

===If I am banned and believe that I do not deserve it, What can I do?===
Restrictions and banning are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. Read [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| the policies]] and make sure that you didn't violate any of them. If not, contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban and unblock users, so he/she might help you.

===How can I report a bad user so that he/she is banned quickly?===
You should contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban users, so he/she might help you.

==Voting==

===Why should I vote for a user?===
You should vote for a user if you want to provide a positive feedback about his/her contributions to Wikimapia, to encourage a user.
===How do I vote for a user?===
If you have 2+ user level you can vote for other users. Click on a user profile page, click on ‘votes about user’ and you’ll see a green voting form above a list of users who have already voted for a user.

===When can I start to vote for people?===
As soon as you are 2+ level
===Is there a reason I can't vote for users?===
No, there is no such a reason. You can freely vote for a user if you want.
===Is it proper to ask for votes?===
No. Voting for someone means you want to provide a positive feedback about users contributions to Wikimapia. So asking for votes is poor behavior.
===How can I get more votes?===
The more valuable places and useful information you add the more people would like to vote for you
===Someone gave me a good vote. Should I do the same for her/him?===
If you find that user deserving a good vote for his efforts on Wikimapia. If not - do not vote for a user only just to thank him for his good vote for u.
===How do I remove an unwanted vote?===
You may delete an unwanted vote if open the list of users, who voted for you, in your profile.

===Someone said I voted too frequently. Is there a limit?===
No there is no such a limit. However it is considered bad etiquette to give votes to others just to receive more yourself, only vote for user if you feel they do good work.

===Should I give a good vote to a user who is No.1 in the ranking system?===
If he is No.1 in ranking system then he might add a lot of good information. If do find it good - vote for him, if not - do not vote.

=Error Messages=

==="Sorry, you are doing many actions in a short period of time, please wait a while and retry your action"===
There is a limit on similar actions that a user can do within a certain period of time (i.e. a newly registered user can only delete three places in an hour).

==="Too long polygon"===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots, ~244.14 km²
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots, ~996,006 km²

==="Too big polygon"===
See previous.

==="You cannot change your vote, you started vote, you may only completely unset it"===
This message belongs to a defunct system for ban voting therefore it should not appear. If it does appear, please create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and the bug reports list [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc here]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="You must remove the child objects before deleting the object"===
This message means you can not delete an object as there are child objects that refer to it. You need to delete them first.

==="Wikimapia has just updated! Please reload the page or press shift + ctrl R in order to apply fixes and enjoy new features"===
This message means that Admins have just made some changes in Wikimapia, so you need to reload the page to see the updated version of Wikimapia.

=External=

===Can I see Wikimapia places on Google Earth?===
Yes. You can download Wikimapia layer on Google Earth.

===Can I place part of the map on my own web page?===

Yes! Find the screen you want to place on your page. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" in the upper left corner and select "Map on your page" A popup window will appear with the corners of a rectangle. Just push the corners of the rectangle to resize the box and then copy the html code that is shown and paste it into your page.

===Can I use Wikimapia with a GPS device?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet.

===What browser do you recommend to use with Wikimapia?===

Any modern one, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===How do I make a jpeg or bmp shot of specific part of the map?===
First, check the licence of satellite photos provider, then capture the screen and transfer the picture into whatever format you need.

===I want to send a Wikimapia page to a friend. How do I do that?===
If you want to send a link to a specific area of Wikimapia map use URL of the page on the top of your browser.
===I clicked a Wikimapia link that someone gave me. Why am I seeing all place descriptions in Spanish now?===

The person who sent you the link used Spanish as their language. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" and select "Change language". Select the language you want.

===How can I print the map with the names of the locations (without using another application to overlay the points and names)?===

The best you can do is capture the screen and print it.

=Advertising=

===I own a business. Can I tag it?===
Yes, you can tag it. 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."
===What is the policy on advertising land for sale?===
The advertising of land for sale is not allowed under any circumstances. This means it is forbidden to advertise using Wikimapia's map tools, description and comments sections of place/linear objects, the Forum, the Blog or any other intellectual property belonging to Wikimapia.

{{Back to Main Page}}

Status grid

2013-01-19T03:23:31Z

Antdoghalo: minor spelling correction

{{Languages|Status grid}}

Status grid is a powerful tool to help in monitoring and improving the map. You can find it on the [[Tools]] page, it is available for all registered users. The grid is a colorized layer over the map which collects and shows basic statistics about places for each grid cell. It should be helpful in finding badly described areas and tags. The status grid works at zoom levels between 5 and 15.

[[File:Statusgrid1.png|thumb|247px|Status grid view]]

== Status grid cell information ==

The first three lines present common grid cell statistics: total number of places, number of road segments and their length. Below that are information deficiencies in the selected cell grouped by importance. The most important criteria are: how many places don't have a [[polygon]] or have a triangular polygon. Less critical are: places without [[categories]], a description or buildings without an address. The final and not critical deficiency is lack of photos. Each group of values has its measure (factor) of influence on the summary percent (in left top corner) and color of the grid cell. (Each group of values affects the summary quality percentage of the cell and its color differently.) The best areas are colored green and have summary statistics percent about 100, the worst have 0% and are colored red. Significant deficiencies (like triangular polygons) render the grid cell red much faster than the others (like a lack of photos). You can see the formula for calculating the summary percent here [here would be a link to the post about Status grid formula, the main text of it is located below in this topic].
Each of those 6 lines is an active link to the category layer which shows all places with the selected deficiency located in the current grid cell, for example:

[[File:Statusgrid2.jpg|thumb|247px|Status grid tile highlighting]]

== Interaction ==

The lines with basic info are not clickable, but they will help you make your own quality assessment of this grid cell. For example, a cell with no objects in it will be green and has 100% summary percent because it has no bad places in it. Such cells are fine somewhere in the ocean, but in the middle of the city it is the opposite: nobody has created any objects here yet, and this area needs attention. The same thing with the roads: the statistics just shows you how many road segments are in the grid cell, but it doesn't affect the color of the cell.

== Update rate and special categories ==

In most cases the statistics of the cell updates just after you save an object in it, but sometimes it could take a while, so don't worry if it doesn't update immediately. Please note: Status grid categories are system categories and they can’t be added or removed manually. These categories are used only in the Status grid and are not shown on a place page.
To help and improve the coordination, we added a link icon to each cell of the grid - you can send this in a PM or IM and work on the cell together.

== Status grid formula ==

If you are interested in how the Grid works and analyses the map join the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8900 Status Grid Formula discussion].

Quick start

2013-01-19T03:04:40Z

Antdoghalo: /* Exploring the map */

{{Languages|Quick_start}}

{{Navbox user guide}}

This page is for those who want to jump right into Wikimapia. Here you can find some advice and a simple manual to the main Wikimapia functions - exploring the map and place adding. Although there are a lot more other features on Wikimapia, adding places is what a new user might use first. Besides, there are some features like adding linear features that are available only for 2+ [[Community#User levels|User levels]]. For more information about Wikimapia features read [[Tools]] section.

<center>{{#ev:youtube|X01_V-h24jU}}</center>

== Advice for new users ==

1. Wikimapia is not a very complicated thing to understand, so you could probably figure out everything just during its usage. If you face anything that may seem obscure, please read this manual carefully (you don’t need to memorize it but you'll see how it helps to know what topics are covered here) and don’t be afraid to ask more experienced users for help. Use messages and [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] to communicate.

2. Add local places, as many as you want, all information (outline, title, description, etc.) must be accurate, useful and organized. Remember that the number of places created is not really important, to create more and more places should not be your goal. It is MUCH more important that you create local places (tags) with QUALITY: Places that will be of interest to others, that will help people learn about the world.

3. Familiarize yourself with [[About_Wikimapia#Policies|Wikimapia policies and guidelines]], so you’ll be aware of unpleasant situations, like being banned because of accidentally violating the rules or deletion of your tags.

4. Think twice before you edit or delete a particular location created by another user. Someone added it and had reasons to make it the way it is, so be ready to argue your editing/deletion and refer to Documentation as an official manual. If you have any doubts we recommend you to send the user a message with your suggestions first.

5. Be patient, be good, and be co-operative with other Wikimapia users. Remember: you are representing yourself, your family, your community and your country. Try to give a good impression of them all.

== Exploring the map ==
''Main article: [[User interface]]''

Wikimapia provides a lot of data, you just need to know how to get it.

*First of all you can choose how to "view" the map. Different map types can give you "different views" and information. See [[User_interface#Map_type|Map types]] for details.

*You can search for a particular place. Just type keywords, its address or coordinates in search bar. You can also search type of places through categories filter. See [[User_interface#Categories|User interface:Categories]] for more details.

*You can learn about a particular place by clicking on its title. In tag window you can see place information: description, address, Wikipedia link, categories, photos and its nested places.

*Every city has its own page called cityguide. Every cityguide (ie, [http://rio-de-janeiro.wikimapia.org/en rio-de-janeiro.wikimapia.org] ) contains an overview of the city, lists of all streets, categories, tags and photos.

== Adding place ==

First of all, we recommend to use ‘Satellite + old places’ map type (choose it at the top menu) for adding new places, this will prevent creating duplicates. Find the place you would like to tag and make sure this wasn't done already. Then, select "Add Place" from the Menu at the top of the screen. You may have to zoom in some more. Using the tool that appears, outline the place. When you are done, click the "Save" button.

Another window with the form should pop up, in which you can describe the place you've added:

===Language===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Language|Language]]''

This selects a language for your new place. This field is required.

===Title===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Title|Title]]''

The first text box is labeled "'''Title'''." Enter a title for your new place. This field is required.
Keep in mind that "CAPS LOCK" should be avoided, because this is web lingo for someone shouting, and it doesn't make your tag more important.

===Description===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Description|Description]]''

The next box is titled "'''Description'''." Type something that describes the place. It can be anything about the place - history, what makes it special, etc.. Place's description is what makes a tag useful. Try to be correct, [[About_Wikimapia#NPOV|neutral]], and avoid [[About_Wikimapia#Advertising|advertising]].

===Addresses===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Address|Address]]''

The next two boxes are labeled "'''Street'''" and "'''Building Number'''."

The "'''Street'''" is the name of the street the place is located on. Sometimes, a scrolling menu is here; this means that there are streets nearby that were created. For instance, a building might have a postal address of "Main Street". Note that the street field is optional.
Please remember that adding a street name must be the exact street's name not the whole address. For the same reason it is not necessary to enter the zip code/postal code of the street into this field. Instead put the whole address at the Description Field and whenever you search it, the search engine will find it accurately.

The "'''Building Number'''" is the number of the building. For example, in this address: '''215 South Main Street, Rochester, MI, USA''', 215 is the building number. This field is optional.

===Category===
''Main article [[Adding_places#Categories|Categories]]''

There is a [http://wikimapia.org/#lat=50.8111027&lon=-7.8152405&z=2&l=0&m=b&show=/user/tools/categories/?page=1 list of categories] that you can choose for your new place. To make things easier, there's a search box. Categories are ''very important'', always add them to your tags, if possible. Basically, they allow you to define the type of the place you've added and others to find it among the similar tags.

===Wikipedia Link===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Wikipedia_link|Wikipedia link]]''

If your new place has a Wikipedia entry, it goes here. If your new place does '''not''' have a Wikipedia entry, don't invent one just so you can put it in this field. This field is optional.

If a valid Wikipedia article has a more pertinent title than its Wikimapia counterpart, it is preferable you update the Wikimapia article's title so that the Wikipedia entry and the Wikimapia entry are the same.

Wikipedia articles not directly associated with the Wikimapia article should be included in the description section below the description text instead.

===Saving the place you've created===
When you are all done, click the "Save" button (You might have to scroll down a little bit to see it). Voila! You have just created a place in Wikimapia.

=More=

Read more detailed description of [[Tools|tools]] and explanation of [[About_Wikimapia|guidelines and policies]]. If you didn't find answers to your questions, they could be in our [[Help/FAQ|FAQ]].
{{Back to Main Page}}

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-19T03:03:03Z

Antdoghalo: /* . */

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==
*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 23 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one. If you have questions message me or post it in the appropriate topic on the
[http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia forum].

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

= . =

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-19T02:57:05Z

Antdoghalo: /* Other */

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==
*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 23 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one. If you have questions message me or post it in the appropriate topic on the
[http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia forum].

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

= . =
{{User Profiles}}

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-19T02:47:29Z

Antdoghalo:

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==
*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 23 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one. If you have questions message me or post it in the appropriate topic on the
[http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia forum].

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

{{User Profiles}}

Banning Guidelines

2013-01-12T07:08:32Z

Antdoghalo:

{{Languages|Banning_Guidelines}}

== Analysis ==

Before using the banning tool it is important to distinguish between the types of Wikimapia guideline violations being committed:
# Deliberate vandalism (any deliberate action intended to corrupt information). Examples: inserting spam, porn images, deleting information which complies with Wikimapia guidelines, intentional adding of nonsense/false information to Wikimapia etc.
# Mistakes made by newcomers and/or inexperienced users due to misunderstandings about Wikimapia guidelines, tools and wiki concept. Examples: first experiments with “Add place” tool by a newcomer, drawing roads with polygons and etc.

You have to distinguish between these two types of violations. Try not to ban newcomers, teach them instead.

== Recommendations for using banning system ==

#Punishment is not always necessary. Sometimes you can just correct the problem, and contact user with explanations.
#Assume good faith that every user is here to improve Wikimapia.
#Use common sense.
#Avoid extreme formalism and bureaucracy.
#Avoid preventive measures. A user cannot be punished if he/she has not violated the Guidelines, no matter what your experience tells you
#Do not ban without sorting out the case.
#If in doubt - discuss the case in the forum.

== Banning procedure explanation ==

To start a ban you have to fill following fields:

'''1. Ban reason''' - In this field you must provide detailed reason for ban according to the guidelines. Note that the reason will be visible to the banned user. Try to explain it as clear as possible so user could understand it and avoid such actions in the future. Must be filled in English, translation may be also added here.

'''2. Proof links''' to user actions with explanation - Links to history revisions, user comments, forum posts or public messages that proofs user’s violations. Must be filled in English.

'''3. Link(s)''' to public warnings with explanation - Provide links to the warnings sent to the user personally or to discussion in the forum, where his violations were brought up for him. In case the user performs mass actions so quickly that he needs to be stopped immediately without prior warnings, you can leave this field blank. Must be filled in English.

'''4. Ban type''' - There are 3 types of ban:
*Edit map - the user is blocked from making changes on the map (adding and editing places, roads etc.)

*PMs and forum posts - the user is blocked from posting on the forum, sending personal messages and leaving comments.

*Full - the combination of previous two types, total restriction of all activities on the site and forum.

'''5. Ban length''' - There are five ban lengths:
*6 hours
*1 day
*1 week
*1 month
*permanent

'''6. Confirmation'''

After you have pressed “Start ban” button, you will be redirected to the confirmation page. In case you have made some mistake you can go back and correct it.
Once you have pressed “Start ban” button on the confirmation page, the user will be blocked immediately.

'''7. Expiration'''

Upon the expiration of the period you specified the user will be automatically unblocked.

== Ban overriding ==

You may override an existing ban with another one. To override an existing ban, you must perform the same actions as the initial ban procedure.
Overriding a ban means the cancellation of a previous one and starting of a new one. Example:

“''A user is banned for a week. Two days later, this ban is overridden by another one with the length of one month. The previous ban of a week has stopped and the new one of a month has started immediately. This means the user is now blocked for a month because of the overriding operation''.”

The time that a user has been blocked for during the cancelled ban will not count. Only the new ban duration will count.

Policies

2013-01-12T06:35:30Z

Antdoghalo: /* Wikimapia Guidelines */Guidelines link lead to 404

== Wikimapia Guidelines ==
The [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Wikimapia Guidelines] is the '''official legislation''' for Wikimapia and should be adhered to and regarded as the official regulations enactment in addition to the Terms of Reference.

== Terms of Reference ==
The [http://wikimapia.org/terms_reference.html Terms of Reference] is an agreement notice which one must accept to abide by in order to use Wikimapia and its services. It also covers the Terms of Use, Copyright Notice and Privacy Notice in greater detail.

== Forum Guidelines ==
The [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 Forum guidelines] is a set of community rules which must be adhered to by users participating in Wikimapia's [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

== Photo policies ==
A photo (or photos, photograph(s)) are images that assist in describing places in Wikimapia that words cannot accurately express. We encourage you to upload photos that will help describe places, and make Wikimapia tags even more worthwhile. However, we do have some rules, mainly because Wikimapia does not wish to, nor allow its users to violate copyrights; nor should photographs and images be used to bypass Wikimapia's philosophy of [[Neutral Point of View]].

At present the photos in Wikimapia stand by themselves, and there is no method to associate them with notes, nor with any associated copyright information. If you wish to add notes, then the best you can do is to add a comment that describes the photo and write your notes there. Note, however, that if you are a registered user then your name will be displayed beside the photo when it is enlarged (click on it), so that makes it a little easier to associate a photo with a comment.

=== Photo uploading ===
You are free to upload any photo you took yourself. If you want to contribute a photo you found on the web, however, you must first determine whether it is protected by copyright. If the website you got the photo from states that their content is copyrighted, you must gain permission to use that photo, or follow their usage guidelines. once you have uploaded a photo you grant WikiMapia license to use and distribute it according to the Wikimapia Terms of Reference.

=== Photo deletion ===
Personal photos (in close up), images hurtful to someone's feelings, pictures inciting national, religious or political discord, pornographic images, pictures advertising goods or services as well as images that are not relevant to the place itself should be deleted.

== Comments deletion policies ==
'''Offensive''', '''meaningless''', '''talk between users''', or '''unrelated comments''' will be removed by the Advanced Users or by the Wikimapia Team. If you find any comments that falls into this category, please report them for removal in this [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 thread] of the Wikimapia forum, providing a link to the place where you found the inappropriate comments.

== Restrictions/banning policies ==

Restrictions and banning policies are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. For the purpose of simplicity, a user who commits violations shall be called an [[infringer]].

Banning is the act of restricting an infringer's account, and therefore the privileges it offers, by [[Advanced Users]] and [[Wikimapia Administrators]]. Although, Wikimapia Administrators reserve the right to ban any user, Advanced Users can only ban an infringer as per the ban reasons listed under section 4. of the Wikimapia Guidelines.

The Restrictions/banning policy comprises of four core modules:
* Wikimapia Guidelines
* Terms of Reference
* Banning Guidelines
* Ban Moderation

=== Banning Guidelines ===
The [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7688 Banning Guidelines] is provided by the Wikimapia Administration to guide Advanced Users on the process of determining and banning an infringer.

=== Banning Moderation ===
[[Ban Moderation]] is a corrective procedure that must be followed closely by Advanced Users in order to ensure an infringer is afforded exhaustive resources for rehabilitation before a permanent ban is considered. Ban Moderation comprises of four actions, they are: Guidance, Warning, Temporary ban and Permanent ban.

== AU Codex ==
This [[AU Codex]] is a code of conduct for Advanced Users.

== Interpretation issues ==
Please note, the interpretation of Policies should be literal (i.e. as is written) and not subjective. With this said however, there is no sure way to apply an absolute definition to the wordings of any legislative document and so there will always be a margin of vagueness or ambiguity involved. In situations where you are unsure about an interpretation, you should:
*use sound judgement
*discuss the point with Advanced Users
*contact the Wikimapia Administration

Community

2013-01-12T06:10:30Z

Antdoghalo: Wikimapia's,

{{Languages|Community}}
{{Navbox user guide}}

Wikimapia users form the Community. Though it is self-organising there are [[About_Wikimapia#Policies|policies]] and etiquette. There is also a special rating system that permits a user to gain new experience levels. Users communicate with each other by means of messages and forum.

== User levels ==

Experience points is a feature of Wikimapia that helps automatically determine Experience levels. They accrue automatically in your account based on your contributions to the Wikimapia project. This means that the more experience points you get the more places and [[Tools#Linear_features| Linear features]] you create or edit.

{| class="wikitable"
! User level
! Experience points
! Tools available
! Polygon dots limit
! Polygon area limit
|-
| 0 Unregistered Users/Guests (UU)
| 0
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, add place/photo
| 200
|~50 km²
|-
| 1 Regular User (RU)
| 0 + register
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, '''edit profile''', add place/ photo, '''edit place/ photo, delete place/ photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum'''
| 500 dots
|~500 km²
|-
| 2 Regular User
| 5000
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile , '''vote for users''', add place/photo/'''linear feature''', edit place/photo/'''linear feature''', delete place/photo/'''linear feature''', translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, '''Satellite images updates list''', report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
| 500 dots
|~500 km²
|-
| 3 Regular User
| 15000
| use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/ translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
|500 dots
|~750 km²
|-
| 4 Regular User
| 50000
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
| 500 dots
|~1000 km²
|-
| 5 Regular User
| 150000
|search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum, '''mass editing/deleting photos (photo moderation)''', '''Advanced users promotion'''
| 500 dots
|~1250 km²
|-
| 6 Regular User
| 500000
| all
| 500 dots
|~1500 km²
|-
| 7 Regular User
| 1500000
| all
| 500 dots
|~1750 km²
|-
| 8 Regular User
| 5000000
| all
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Forum moderators
| approved by Wikimapia Team
| depending on UL + edit forum
| 500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Categories moderators
| approved by Wikimapia Team
|depending on UL + edit category filter
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Documentors
| approved by Wikimapia Team
|depending on UL + edit Wiki Docs
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Advanced Users (AU)
| approved by other Advanced Users
|all + make semi-protection on places + write on AU forum + delete comments + ban users + vote on AU's promotion
|2000 dots
|~3000 km²
|}

== Rank chasing problem ==

Wikimapia's main goal is to help people exploring the world and sharing their knowledge. Wikimapia is not about rank or social status. Though, there is a rank system, that automatically determines experience levels, its only aim is helping to organize Wikimapia Community and encouraging users to contribute to the project. But all main decisions as promotion to Advanced User status or getting any other special role (forum moderator, documentor, etc) are made depending on the +quality+ (do not confuse with quantity) of users contributions and after discussion and voting among all the members of the Community.

As it is usual in other collaborative projects, Wikimapians criticize rank cheaters. Everything on Wikimapia is based on trust to your edits, which you will loose immediately as soon as you'll try to receive experience points for useless actions. Although it is not possible to ban a user for useless actions (unless it corrupts the information), a user can be demoted from AU for a poor quality of edits or his experience points will be zeroised by the Administrators.

== Awards ==
In addition to experience points there is another reward system. [http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/awards/ Award stars] (one, two or three) are automatically granted based on various thresholds (i.e. place or road creation, photos addition) of one's stats.

== Voting ==
Voting is our method of providing positive feedback to you about your contributions to Wikimapia, and for you to provide positive feedback to other users about theirs. People who make a positive contribution to Wikimapia ("describing the world" by creating useful and well-described places) are deserving a positive vote.

Neither award stars, nor votes can not influence directly your user level, but having award stars or a lot of votes means you have quite succeeded in map improving or you have a high social status on Wikimapia. That, for example, except giving a nice feeling, can help in case you made a request for an Advanced User status.

== Special roles ==
===Wikimapia Team===

It is them who make changes and maintain the site. Wikimapia developers are always busy with Wikimapia improvement, so please think twice before addressing yourself to them. If your case is urgent they will gladly help you. But if AUs can also help you with the issue, you should send a message to AUs first.

{| class="wikitable"
! Wikimapia Team members !! Real name
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/7 koriakine]
| Alexandre Koriakine (co-founder)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/10 jacksav]
| Evgeniy Saveliev (co-founder)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/1465617 flr]
| Evgeniy Udodov
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/212747 lnklnklnk]
| Alexander Eroshkin
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/589032 w8r]
| Alexander Milevski (front-end engineer)
|-
|[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/1563994 gribowsky]
| Tonya Galkina
|-
|}
----

=== Forum moderators ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=2 List of forum Moderators]''

This role allows the use of moderator tools in the Wikimapia forum. It is granted by Wikimapia Team members.

----

=== Categories moderators ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=3 List of categories Moderators]''

This role allows the use of moderator tools for Wikimapia categories. It is granted by Wikimapia Team members.

Here is some information for Categories moderators:

==== What are categories? ====

What exactly is a category, anyway? For example, is "city" a category? Answer: Not really. A category is really just an ID number in the category database. So "88" in the category database is a category. The basic idea is that category "88" represents the same kind of thing everywhere, no matter which country it is in.

A category has a number of properties, and the most important property is ... its name (in English). Another property would be, for example, its name (in Russian). So if we give category "88" a name of "city" in English, its name in Russian should also mean "city". We can not decide to give a Russian name to category "88" that means something different, for example "house".

Even though "city" isn't really a category, for convenience and because no one has memorized the category ID numbers, we usually use the category name in square brackets to represent the category. So [city] is actually category 88; and [город (ru)] is also category 88, but referring specifically to the Russian synonym/translation.

In even more technical detail, the number that is stored with each place tag is in fact not the category ID, but rather a "synonym id". Each synonym id has its own name, that you can see on the "Category list" page, and it is these synonyms that are structured to make up the category hierarchy. This makes it possible to, for example, start with two separate categories, then make them synonyms (thus blending the places together), and then undo the synonym relation, and end up with the original two categories separate again, all without changing anything on the individual place tags.

==== How do we use categories? ====

What kinds of questions can we ask of the category database that we would like to see displayed on the map? Here are some suggestions, presented as templates of what we should think of when we assign a category to a place tag.
# "This place is a [category]." Examples: [village], [school], [police station], [mcdonalds]. But not [compressor].
# "This place is a [category] type of place." Examples: [military], [production].
# "This place is associated with / owned by [category]." Examples: [roman empire], [Long Island Rail Road].
Those are some of the obvious templates, but surely there are others that would also be useful. Please make suggestions in the 'Category cleanup' section of the Forum!

This writer is generally not in favour of things like:
# "This place ''is in'' [category]." Examples: [paris], [russia], [africa]. Although for some reason, a personal quirk!, I am ok with English counties [nottinghamshire] and French/Italian provinces [lombardy], for example, but not US/Canadian states/provinces [california], [ontario]. These are specific [first level administration] places - perhaps historical ones - and the category should be applied to cities and towns only.
# "This was created by [category]." Example: [johnsmith].
# "I can buy [category] in this place." Examples: [phone], [computer], [apple]. Names like these should be reworded according to template (1) above: [cell phone shop], [computer sales / service], [grocery] (just to pick some thoughts off the top of my head), provided the 'thing' isn't silly, like [coke].
# "This place ''is'' [category]." Examples: [green], [dangerous]. These words are usually adjectives, and are not suitable for category names.

==== How is the category system structured? ====

The 'new' (2012) category system has a specific structure added. Categories can now have 'parents', 'children' and 'brothers/sisters'. A category can have any number of children and, any number of parents and any number of synonyms (brothers/sisters). The idea is that the results you get when filtering will now also include places with 'child' and 'grandchild' categories, and their synonyms. So if you filter for [restaurant] it will also find places categorized only as [Italian restaurant], for example (or it will once this relationship functionality is enabled in the filtering function, which it is not, at the beginning). In addition, once the full functionality is enabled, the rendering properties that are associated with some categories, like parks being coloured green, will also carry through to their child and grandchild categories.

If you tried to draw this as a diagram (like a family tree), it could get very complex, with relationship arrows going all over the place. It is very flexible. So flexible that it is even possible to set up links such that the 'child' and 'grandfather' categories are the same, thus making a closed loop in the diagram. (This is obviously not a good thing to do, however, so don't do it!)

When there are synonyms, there is one default synonym. This is the name that will be shown as the main category name. The default synonym in a different language does not have to be the same as in English.

==== What does a Category Moderator (CM) do? ====

'''<big>There are three main activities for CM's:</big>'''

1. Organize the categories.

Create the parent/child/synonym links in the new structure in the official WM language (English).
This is the initial primary task and in order to assist with this you need to be proficient in English. This part is also more like a project in that as we proceed there will be less and less remaining to do. At some point we should be able to declare it "completed enough" and move on to the day-to-day maintenance tasks.

2. Translate the English category names into other languages

Here also you must understand what the name in English means before you can translate it. If there is a question, it must be discussed ''before'' doing anything. Note that it is now possible for a category to not have a name in English. If you find one like this, please add the English translation.

3. Ongoing maintenance

This will continue forever as people make new (not-yet-approved) categories.

==== What tools are available to manage categories? ====

Use the table below to find the tools that are described in this section:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Tool / Function !! Where to find it
|-
| Create a category || Edit a place <nowiki>|</nowiki> Add category
|-
| Approve a category || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Unapprove a category || Category info page
|-
| Rename a category || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Category list
|-
| Modify the description || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Make two existing categories synonymous || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Remove a synonym || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Set the default synonym || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Add and remove child/parent categories || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Add a translation (to another language) || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Add translation
|-
| Remove a translation || (not available)
|-
| Merge categories (merges places into a single category) || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Delete a category || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Search for a category/synonym || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Category list
|-
| Audit recent changes || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Global categories watchlist
|-
| Audit edits to places with this category || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> View watchlist
|-
| Audit changes to this category || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> View history
|-
| Look at category structure || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Category hierarchy
|}

===== Create a category =====

This function has to be performed by a Category Moderator. If there is any category word you think is lacking or you would like a category created, please contact a Category Moderator. ''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=3 List of categories Moderators]''

===== From the "Tools | Unapproved categories" page you can: =====

* Approve the category. This means it is no longer hidden, and can be applied to place tags. If this is a newly added word, please check that it is a word that makes for a good category ([[#How_do_we_use_categories?|see above]]). You should also make an English version, if it's not already in English, and add a description that helps people understand how this category should be used.
* Make a synonym for an existing category.
: Note 1: This is useful only for those circumstances where there is no existing place with both categories. If such places exist, you will be informed about which ones they are so you can deal with them manually before retrying the Make a synonym function.
: Note 2: Don't make things synonyms unless they really are the same, and you want to have two different names for the same type of thing. This can be un-done, however, so it's not a disaster if you make a mistake.
: Note 3: The category you start with becomes a synonym of the category you select in the search function (which is the default synonym ).
* Merge categories. The category you merge from, which is thus going to disappear, must have only a small number of associated places. Note that this can not be un-done, so you must be 100% sure that these two categories represent the exact same type of thing.
* Delete a category.
: Note: Under this new system that categories are never actually deleted, they just become hidden when their usage count drops to zero. So if someone subsequently tries to create the same category again, the old version is just revived instead of creating a new one.

===== From the Category info page you can: =====

This is the page with buttons for "Filter places", "View watchlist", etc.).

* Edit some of the category info:
- Modify the description.

- Add and remove child/parent categories.
:: Note 1: It is appropriate to make a parent/child relationship when you can say that "a <child category> is one kind of <parent category>". For example, "an [Italian restaurant] is one kind of [restaurant]", or "a [McDonalds] is one kind of [fast food (restaurant)]". If you can not make a statement like that, perhaps you should not do this.
:: Note 2: Adding a child or parent increases the "count" number of the parent category, whereas removing a child or parent does not decrease that count. These numbers are really estimates and will get recalculated automatically twice a day anyway.
- Set the default synonym or remove a synonym.
:: Note 1: When you remove a synonym it automatically becomes Unapproved, so you will probably want to go and approve it.
:: Note 2: The default synonym does not have to be the same in each language, so you can change the default synonym in Russian without affecting the English default, for example.
* Unapprove a category. You must do this first before the category becomes accessible on the Unapproved categories page (above).
* Add a translation.

===== From the "Tools | Category list" page you can: =====

* Search for a category (synonym, actually) in any language. Note that the 'normal' category search will only return results that match in your current language or in English. This page also shows the language that the name is in, as well as the English name of the main category.
* Rename a category.
: Note 1: Most "special" characters (@#$*...) can be included in category names, but some may have to be url-encoded (eg: "&"=%26). Always check the result after renaming to verify it worked properly.

===== The "Tools | Global category watchlist" page =====
: shows changes made to the hierarchy and category names.

==== Other "Categories" info ====

* When you change the relationships between categories, by adding or deleting parent/child/synonym categories, for example, you should not expect to immediately see the new relationships when filtering for the affected places. Realtime regeneration may be enabled in the future, but at the beginning these data are only regenerated periodically (a few times per day, maybe).

* There are some functions that are only available for "small" categories. This will usually mean that the button to do that function is not there if the category is not "small". The exact definition of "small" is not (yet) decided, but think "fewer than 100", and it can also mean different numbers for different functions.

* You can download a spreadsheet-compatible list of all the categories from http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/categories/?download=1 (note that the field separator is a semicolon). You can use this to, for example, find categories with low usage that are candidates for deletion, or find categories with missing or misleading translations from English into other languages.

----

=== Advanced Users ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=4 List of Advanced Users]''

Anyone with 5+ user level can make a request for Advanced User Status (it will be offered automatically) and his/her candidacy will be put to vote. If current Advanced Users decide that a person has approved him/herself as a competent editor and can help Wikimapia by taking additional responsibilities and powers he/she will be invited in Advanced Users group.

[[List of Advanced users according languages]]

This [[AU Codex]] is a code of conduct for Advanced Users.
----

=== Documentors ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=26 List of documentors]''

This role allows to edit the Wikimapia Documentation (This Documentation). It is granted by Wikimapia Team members.

== Forum ==
''See also: [[Forum Guidelines]]''

The [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] is Wikimapia's discussion area, where you can read other users' questions and answers on a variety of topics, ask your own questions and join in the discussions. The people who frequent the forum are other users just like you, although the Wikimapia Team Members (admins) do occasionally contribute as well.

To ensure discussions and debates flow freely without any hindrances, users are obliged to adhere to the forum guidelines published [[Forum Guidelines | here]] and [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 here].

''[http://wikimapia.org/forum/memberlist.php?mode=group&g=31 List of Forum moderators]''

== Collaborations ==

Collaborations are projects created by the Wikimapia community to do such activities, an example is adding polygons to places without polygons. Any registered user 1+ level can create a collaboration.

1. To create a collaboration open your profile page, find Tools tab and click on Collaborations. Choose Create a Collaboration. Add a title, its brief description and a country, if needed.

2. Send first 20 invitations to your group. For example, choose 20 users from your recent Messages.

3. When your collaboration reaches more than 20 participants, you can invite more 980 users. But choose carefully. Analyse your watch list or history list on the map to decide, who may be interested in your collaboration.

4. When creating a collaboration, a topic in [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=80 Collaborations section of the forum] with the same title appears automatically. Communicate with other participants of the group and write about your recent results here!

[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/collaborations/?display=0 List of collaborations]

{{Back to Main Page}}

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-12T01:21:46Z

Antdoghalo: /* Other */

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==
*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 23 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one. If you have questions message me or post it in the appropriate topic on the
[http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia forum].

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-12T01:17:31Z

Antdoghalo: /* Other */

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==
*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 23 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one. If you have questions message me or post it in the appropriate topic on the
[http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia forum].

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

{{User Profiles}}

User:Antdoghalo

2013-01-12T01:09:10Z

Antdoghalo: Created page with "== About me == *'''Joined: November 1, 2008 *'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010 *'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012 *'''Became Docum..."

== About me ==
*'''Joined: November 1, 2008
*'''Became active on Wikimapia: December 27, 2010
*'''Started project to clean up the Southern US: January 6, 2012
*'''Became Documentor: February 9, 2012
*'''Began to have watch over entire Southern US: July 4, 2012
*'''Became Advanced User: December 31, 2012
*'''Reached 100,000 Edits: TBA
*'''Nationality: USA
*'''Watch Area: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia.
*'''Every edit there is being watched by me and sometimes other users do NOT fool around!

= My history on Wikimapia =

==2008-2010==

*'''Pre-registration
I first found Wikimapia in mid 2008, Initially I didn't have time (or a computer available to me 24/7) to do much on Wikimapia. I created places here and there such as lakes or volcanic features as a guest.
*'''Registration and 2 year inactivity
On November 1st 2008 I decided to register on Wikimapia, due to not having an available computer 24/7 until 2010 my edits were sporadic for the next 2 years, in December 2010 that was about to change when I got my first computer.
*'''Finding an unmonitored area
In December 2010 I started to go around many areas like Canada and adding polygons to squares on very large lakes. In Mid January I got into a couple disagreements with a couple advanced users on a few edits and noticed some users had a specific area they monitored, I noticed that my favorite place Clermont was not monitored by anyone and I wanted to map out the unusually hilly Florida town, and that's how my first project began.

== 2011 ==
*'''Clermont, Florida watchlist and the birth of a new major Wikimapia user (late January-September 2011)
I began to map out the roads, subdivisions, parks, stores and everything in Clermont, this began to expand outward and eventually cover a large portion of Lake County, Florida, by the time I got done mapping out the area I wanted to map I had made over 10000 places and 40000 edits. I had this idea to watch over a place and choose to start watching over north Florida in September 2011 (no one had a watchlist there).
*'''Catching first speed-tagger, plan to start project in South (October 2011-December 2011)
Soon after making the Florida watchlist I caught my first speed editor in Tallahassee in October (and banned him after negligence to listen to multiple warnings) and in December I noticed that beyond the Florida's border lay the entire Southern US, unwatched since Wikimapia was founded and filled with the results of vandalism, speed editing, and spam. The annoyance of seeing such negligence on an area I have been interested in for the last few years convinced me to make it my 2012 project.
Meanwhile I was finding many bugs or ideas on Wikimapia and I began to report news events on the forum.

== 2012 ==
*'''Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi (January-February 2012)
On the sixth of January I created watchlists for Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. One thing I noticed were the numerous squares without polygons and I began a project to eliminate them, meanwhile I began to teach new users about how to use Wikimapia.
*'''Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (March 2012)
In March I created watchlists for Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. I also began a collaboration to improve the Southern US which I monitor to ensure only users who have made edits in the South join it.
*'''Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia(May 2012)
In May I created watchlists for Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia.
*'''Oklahoma and Texas (June 2012)
In June I created watchlists for Oklahoma and Texas.
*'''South Florida(July 2012)
In July I added a watchlist for South Florida and have since acted as the guardian of the Southern US.

== 2013 ==
*'''Places without polygon in South Arizona, South Florida, Missouri, South New Mexico, Virginia portion of Delmarva, North panhandle of West Virginia.

== Promotion to Documenter Status ==
Years ago Wikimapia had a tutorial for it's functions called "User Guide". In 2011 developing difficulty's in editing the user guide along with a Russian interface contrary to English being the main Forum language caused the user guide to become obsolete. In February, 2012 a new tutorial for Wikimapia was announced named "Documentation" with calls for users to volunteer in editing it and further developing it. I decided to join on February 9th and became a Documentor along with 23 other users.

== Promotion to Advanced User Status ==
On December 31st (January 1st for GMT east) I was promoted to Advanced User status as the last advanced user of 2012 or the first of 2013. I prefer to be labeled as the last Advanced User of 2012 because I use EST (Eastern Standard Time) which in the Western Hemisphere was still in 2012.

=Projects=

== Major Projects ==

*''' 2011 Clermont, Florida

*''' 2012 Add polygons to squares in the entire South (Southern US).

*''' 2013 ???

== Minor Projects ==

These are minor projects that I may work on a little bit every now and then.

*'''Ocklawaha Watershed

In this I am drawing tributaries of the Ocklawaha River in Florida

*'''Tibesti

The volcanic Tibesti Mountains lie in an area of the Sahara Desert that is almost entirely devoid of edits by other users even when compared to the rest of the desert. I map out a feature of the volcanoes every now and then when I feel like taking a break from work in the US.

= Other =
I prefer to be contacted through WM messaging, use private only if you have a conflict with another user that needs to be resolved. I don't have a Facebook or Twitter and I am not planning to get one.

__----~~-~~-~~-~~------___
. . ~~//====...... __--~ ~~
-. \_|// |||\\ -~~-~~::::... /~
___-==_ _-~o~ \/ ||| \\ _/~~-
__---~-~.==~||\=_ -_--~/_-~|- |\\ \\ _/~
_-~~ .=~ | \\-_ '-~7 /- / || \ /
.~ .~ | \\ -_ / /- / || \ /
/ ____ / | \\ ~-_/'-/|- _/ .|| \ /
|~~ ~~|--~-~~--_ \ ~==-/ | \~--===~~ .\
' ~-| /|'--'|-~\~~ __--~~
|-~~-_/ | | ~\_ _-~ /\
/ \'--' \__ \/~ \__
_--~ _/ | .-~~____--~-/ ~~==.
((->/~ '.|||' -_| ~~-/ , . _||
-_ __- ~\ ~~---l__i__i__i--~~_/
_-~-__ ~) \--______________--~~
//.-~-~-~_--~- |-------~~-~~-~~
//.-~-~--\

{{User Profiles}}

Help/FAQ

2012-12-12T07:22:04Z

Antdoghalo: spelling Chinese and correction casing in Google Translate

{{Languages|Help/FAQ}}
{{Navbox user guide}}
Welcome to FAQ!

If you are a new or inexperienced user, we acknowledge it will take you time to understand the rules and to use Wikimapia's features properly. You may have many questions which need answering or you might need a pointer just to help you get back on track.

We therefore present the FAQ so that it can address your queries as well as covering the essential basics required to make your experience in Wikimapia a well-informed, compliant and pleasant one.
{{TOC limit|3}}
=Basic Philosophy=

===What is Wikimapia for?===
Wikimapia aimed to mark all geographical objects in the world and provide a useful description for them, so that anyone can share his knowledge and freely explore the world.
===Who is Wikimapia for?===
Anyone who is interested in exploring the world or like to share his or her knowledge with everyone who uses Wikimapia.

===What is the basic ideology of Wikimapia?===
To make yourself aware of Wikimapia basic ideology we recommend you to click [[About_Wikimapia| here]].

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikimapia?===
According to Wikimapia [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ License] you may use Wikimapia content as you like (for sharing, recasting, transforming or adapting in any form recognizably derived from the original for any use). We also encourage you to build your work upon Wikimapia data and require its further distribution under the same or similar license to this one.

===Is it WikiMapia or Wikimapia?===
This website is usually more referred to as '''Wikimapia'''.

===How can I help?===
There many ways to contribute to Wikimapia. [[Adding/editing places]] is already a great help. You can also help translating the interface into your language, report about bugs in [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ reports list] or become an [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#Special_roles advanced user (moderator)] to help other users.

=Help=

===How can I get help using Wikimapia?===
First of all you should read Wikimapia Docs and [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines] carefully. If you still can’t get the answer to your question send a message to an [[Community#Advanced_Users|Advanced User]] or you can also ask for help on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

===Who is an admin?===
Admins are the members of the [[Community#Wikimapia_Team| Wikimapia team]].

===How can I get help from admin?===
First, make sure that a moderator or an advanced user (AU) can not help you. Then send admins a message or email on contact@wikimapia.org

=Wikipedia content=

===What are the guidelines for using content from Wikipedia?===
Articles quality on Wikipedia fit Wikimapia demands. So you can certainly use Wikipedia while describing a place or give a link to Wikipedia article.
===Cutting and pasting an entire Wikipedia article into a Wikimapia description box is a great idea, right?===
Giving a link to the article is more than enough, there is no need to repeat things twice.

=Languages=

===Can I add information in my local language in a different language page?===
No. you cannot add languages in a different language page. This restriction applies to wordings added after the proper title. You can only add your language to the corresponding language page by accessing the object's 'Menu' and selecting 'Add another language' in the drop down menu. You may then choose your language from the choices available. You can also access your language page by clicking the two-letter country code (in blue) at the bottom of a tag.

===Someone has added a place in my country and written it in a foreign language. Can I delete it?===
Accurate descriptions in foreign languages are perfectly acceptable as long as they are made in the correct language page. The wilful deletion of tags containing foreign languages is forbidden.
===Can I add the same Wikipedia link to multiple language pages of an object?===
No. You should add the link to the respective language page of the object. Even then it should be confined to the Wikipedia link section in the object's edit window. However, you may include links to secondary Wikipedia articles in the description section.
===I don't understand English. What can I do?===
Wikimapia is a multi-lingual website and supports 101 languages. Though the major discussions are held in English (i.e., on forum), you still can choose your interface language from the list and enjoy Wikimapia.

===How can I see Wikimapia (or mark places) in my own language?===
You need to change the interface language to your language by hovering over two-letter country code at the top menu then clicking 'more languages' and selecting your language.

===Why are some titles and tooltips in a different language?===
This means that there is no translation of these titles or tooltips in your language yet. You can translate them into your language if you like.
===How do I change the interface language?===
To change the interface language to your language, hover over two-letter country code at the top menu, click 'more languages' and select your language.

===How is the default language for my created places determined?===
When open a place tag the system will offer you to see the description on your interface language. If there is no description on your interface language then you'll see the tag on English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian. If there is no description on any of these languages, then you'll see the description on available language.

===When a place is written in several languages, but not mine, how do you determine which one to show me?===
There is a list of most popular languages. If there are several descriptions of one place on different languages the system automatically determines the most popular language among those which are available for that specific place.

===Someone wrote a good description in a place but it's in the wrong language page. What should I do with this?===
You should move the description to the correct language page. You can also translate the good description into your language, if you can.

===Can I remove a place's description in a particular language without deleting the entire place?===
Yes.

===What languages should I translate my place tag into?===
Into whatever you speak from the language list that opens when hover over two-letter country code at the top menu and clicking 'more languages'.

===The place I'm describing has different names in different languages. Which name should I use in my language?===
Proper one for you language. You should find the official name of the place on your language in some other source and use it. If a place has also an unofficial name that locals use, you can also note it in description or in braces near the official name. If a place does not have an official name at all, use its unofficial name as main.

===I found a place described in a language I do not know, but I want to know what was written. What can I do?===
You can try and translate it with Google Translate or any available dictionary.

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them.

===Can I find out how many users use a certain language interface?===
There is no stats on such a case.

===I can see a number of different strange language codes at the bottom right of the object window, but how can I tell what they are?===
Those codes are [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO ISO] abbreviations for languages. Is you hover a cursor over them and wait a bit you’ll see the whole language name.

===When I look at the available languages, my language isn't there. What can be done about this?===
In this case you should contact Wikimapia Team. They will either add your language to the language list, or explain to you why it can't be done.

===I have created a description in a new language for an existing place object, but it is not shown in my list of created places although my place tag counter has increased by one. Why?===
Because only the first one who created the place gets it in his list.

===How do I change the language on the map layer?===
You can change the language of your interface at the top menu and the map layer language will change automatically.

=Translations=

===How can I help translate the user interface into my language?===
You can go to [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page] and become an editor.

===How can I find out the translation status of a certain language?===
You can find it on [http://wikimapia.org/translate/ translation page].

===I'm using a non-English language interface in Wikimapia, but some words and phrases are in English. What can be done?===
You can translate them to the language of your interface.

= Satellite Images =

===Why is the picture of my town/village so bad?===

Because the satellite imagery provided by Google in this area, is bad. We have no impact on it, unfortunately.

===Why can't I zoom in more in a certain area?===
Because the satellite imagery provider has no higher resolution pictures of this area.

===Can you update the map in my location because it is too blurry/low resolution quality?===
No, unfortunately we cannot, as satellite images are provided by Google. This means that we have no idea when Google will update the images. you can monitor the updated images on Google sites, however their help page says that this happens once in "approximately one to three years".

===How can we find out where Google has recently changed their images?===
You can try the [http://www.gearthblog.com blog do Google Earth] (English), where there is a link to the updates of recent images.
===When will the satellite images of my area get more detail?===
See previous
===When will the satellite images of my area be brought up to date?===
See previous
===Can I find out which place tags were most recently added?===
You can use Countries watchlist that you may find in 'tools' for these purpose.
===Why have all the place tags in my area shifted 10 meters to the west?===
Sometimes when Google updates its files, they can not line them up precisely with the old pictures. Take satellite photos of a spherical Earth and match these images on a flat map is not as easy as we would like. So sometimes, there are offsets. On such a case there is 'Satellite images updates list' tool (or Map Shift). It allows to fix those shifts of the map.
===What should I do when all the place tags in a certain area have been shifted 10 metres to the west?===
See previous.
=== I found a place where when I zoomed OUT it said "no imagery"?===
this means that the provider has no higher resolution imagery there.

=Place tools=

==Adding places==

===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?===
It's better to name it just Place or Object.

===How do I add a place?===
Select 'add a place' and a red polygon tool will appear. Draw a [[Tools#Polygons|polygon]], then add other information :
* choose Language carefully.
* Title is the name Wikimapia shows that when we hover over the place. Write something short, but representative.
* Description. For the description, as they say, 2 or 3 lines is already good.
* 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
And click the 'Save'.

* Photo

===Can I add my own house?===
It is undesirable to add a personal house if:
#it does not possess interesting details
#you do not recognise the potential repercussions of disclosing personal details

This aside, you are allowed to mark a building as long as it:
*has an accurate outline
*has a properly assigned category
*possesses a recognizable address. This should be demonstrated by assigning a street name (via the Roads tool) and a building number in the Address section.

===A ship which is anchored or stationed in a fixed location (prepositioning) has drifted slightly from its original position. Can I still mark it?===
Yes you can provided the ship maintains a fixed position near to the original location. For existing objects, if the map updates to indicate an anchored/prepositioned ship has drifted, you should update the change by redrawing the object's outline.

===Which map provider should I use to mark objects?===

You can use any map source provided they are not incorrect nor illegal.

Since its inception in 2006, Wikimapia has always used Google Maps to plot its data layer as it was the only source available for five years. Presently, Wikimapia regards Google Maps imagery the best source in most cases.

Google Maps' satellite view is the default and the most widely used map view to mark objects in Wikimapia. We highly recommended that you use Google Satellite 'old places' view ('Satellite + old places' in Beta and 'Google satellite' with 'old places' checked in New Wikimapia) to ensure you don't duplicate the addition of an already marked object.

Finally, reality governs over all map sources. For example, if a building is demolished in real life, it should be marked as such even though the map may show it to still exist as a building.

===Which places should I tag?===
* Any non-movable place that exists at this particular moment in time.
** Planes, submarines, circuses and other movable objects may be added if they are still for at least a week.
** Permanently still or stationed ships which are moored or anchored can be marked even if they have drifted from an original position.
* A place must have at the very least a properly constructed outline.
* Settlement place tags such as cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods must have a properly assigned category.
* Historical/disappeared places. These '''must''' have the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category assigned to them.
* Newly constructed buildings, which are not visible on the satellite image. Use a different map provider with the latest images to verify the outline. If the newly constructed place is not visible on any map, try your best to mark the outline accurately.

Remember, reality governs over satellite images and map sources. If you can see and visit a place not visible on a map, you can still mark it.

===Which places should I not tag?===
Please think carefully before adding a place tag, there are certain things that are forbidden. Place tags that meet the following deletion criteria should not be added:

* An outline that does not mark any identifiable place.
* A historical/disappeared place without the 'historical layer / disappeared object' category.
* A planned building or road that has not entered the construction phase.
* Movable objects that are still for less than a week.
* A place tag that marks temporary or intangible events such as battles etc.
* A place tag that is a copy of another place tag.
* A personal/private residence that does not contain an address or useful information.


===What information should I provide in a place tag?===
You should provide any information that you find useful and valuable, if only it does not violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===What information should I not provide in a place tag?===
You should not provide any information that violates [[About_Wikimapia#Policies |Wikimapia guidelines]].

===How big should my place tag be?===
For the description 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.

===Can I add roads, railroads, rivers or even ferry routes with the place tool?===
'''No you should not''', you should use the linear tools to draw on the map. This is found under the '''Edit map''' drop down menu list, which is found at the top-left of the screen.
[[File:Edit map .jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Edit map drop down menu list]]

===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"?===
No you should not, if you do not know the place then you '''should not''' mark it.

===Should I tag a place that does not show up in the satellite image because it has just been built?===
Yes! Once the image is updated, the site will be there.
===Should we mark places that may be dangerous to visit?===
You can mark dangerous place as any other. You can also caution other users in description that this place is dangerous to visit.

===How do I use the categories section in a place object?===
Click [[User_interface#Categories|here]] for answers.

===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!===
''See also: [[editing_places#Undeleting.2FPlace_restoration|Undeleting/Place restoration]]''

Probably some user has deleted the place tag you've created, if so its best to click on '''Deleted Places''' from the '''Map type''' menu drop down list and check on the map if its been deleted.
[[File:Map type menu.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Map type menu list, where the 'Deleted places' layer is highlighted.]]

===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?===
You can edit and needs no prompting to any user as well as they do not need to ask permission from you. But add good things and not change one point for a comma to stay with his name on the marker.
===How do I edit a description?===
Move your mouse over the desired location, click the left button in the upper left corner hover over the menu and then click Edit this page. After all done click the save button.
===When places change, ie. they move or discontinue business, is it best to indicate that or delete the place tag?===
Please see [[Help/FAQ#If_a_business.2C_shop.2C_store_etc.2C_moves_or_is_shut_down.2C_should_I_delete_the_defunct_place_object.3F |here]]

===Some places show users' names at the bottom of an object window, but other places don't have a user's name. Why?===
They were made by unregistered user (UU).

===I found several place tags marking the same place. What do I do?===
Ask for the removal of the most most informative site (or recent and leave the oldest), thus respecting the establishment of the previous location.
A tip: put on the map '''Satellite + old places''' (to avoid a site already created is recreated again).

===Tall buildings in a city sometimes seem to be leaning sideways. How should I mark those locations?===
All buildings should be outlined at their base (ground level), regardless of whether their images appear to be leaning. When the images are from directly or nearly directly overhead, the roof edges may be used to approximate the ground level footprint if they have the same dimensions.

Tall buildings and structures like radio towers appear to "lean" because of the way they have been [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Photography photographed] from the air. For further clarification, please read [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Adding/editing_places#Polygons this].

===Can I add places which do not exist any more?===
You can, but only if you:
*know the precise dimensions
*add the historical layer/disappeared place category
If the above requirements are lacking, you should not add non-existent places.

===Is there an easier way to find an area on the map which needs improving?===
To see what area needs improving you can use [[status grid]]. If you are interested in specific map area (ie., cause you are familiar with the area and can improve it better) we recommend you to add a [[Tools#Watchlist |watchlist]], so you can monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, etc) and know weather any new place needs to be improved.

===I found some places near the north/south pole! What is going on?===
Most are the result of vandals. Nevertheless, there is no valid markings indicating settlements and scientific stations.

===I don't know what to write in object description. Can I copy only title in description?===
No. But, if object/place has alternative name, write it.

==Semi-Protection==

===The tag info tells me that the place is 'semi-protected'. What does that mean?===
Some tags are often vandalized and needs protection, this can only be done by [[Advanced Users]]. Registered users and unregistered users can not edit tags at all.

===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 [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 thread]. Only advanced users can put on protective items (tags).

==Polygons==

===Why can't I add more points to a polygon?===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots

===Why can't I create big polygons and why do I get the message: "Too big polygon"?===
There are limitations on the polygon size you can make depending on your [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#User_levels User Level.]

===Can I revert a polygon to the state before it was vandalized?===
Yes you can. You can do this by applying the correct polygon state of a previous revision as current.
===Can I delete a polygon?===
No, this isn't possible. If you think the polygon shape is wrong, you should resize it so that it is correct. If the incorrect polygon has hundreds of dots and you find it too laborious to correct manually, please contact an Advanced User to assist you.
===I don't understand guideline 1.2. "A place must have at least a properly constructed outline"?===
This is a minimum requirement for a place object to be acceptable. A polygon should clearly outline a map object you are marking in the aerial/satellite image. A properly constructed outline means a polygon should never overlap an area that is not part of the object.
A place object should have an accurate outline but it doesn't ''need'' a title or description, although the inclusion of which is preferred for the place object to be useful. If the place object lacks proper details, it is still possible for other users to improve it.
===I tried to add new points to a polygon, but I failed. What is the reason? (150 points limitation)===
Regular users can draw up to 500 dots per polygon. When adding new dots to a polygon you should stick to the same limit, which means that total number of dots (first+added) should not overdraw 500 dots.

===I added a polygon for a place but my edit count stayed the same. Why?===
When you add a polygon to a place this reflects in line 'Polygons added to places without a polygon' in profile 'Stats', not in edit count.

===Can I use polygons as arrows or waymarkers to indicate the route or direction of a place?===
No. This is because arrows and waymarkers aren't real places with definable outlines. Polygons should not be manipulated to indicate anything other than the outline of a place.

==Comments==

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

''Also see: [[editing_places#Comments | Comments]]''

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only [[Advanced Users]] can delete comments. If you find a bad comment you think should be deleted you can report it [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 Here]

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
Guests usernames are black, registered users have blue username links, which direct to their profile pages.

==Photos==

===How do I add photos?===
Open place description, hover over ‘menu’ at the top and click ‘add/manage photos’. Here you can upload new photos and delete old ones. '''Remember''': photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place will be deleted.

===How do I know when a photo was taken?===
You can only know who and when uploaded it (it is written below the photo). You may ask a user, who uploaded a photo, when it was taken, but we can not guarantee that he will answer for sure.

===Can I make notes about a photograph?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet. You can only give it a name, when uploading it, and leave a comment with your notes below the photo.

===Which photos should be deleted?===
You should delete those photos that violate [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| photo policies]] or just do not refer to the place.

As you can upload only 7 photos for every object it is also permited and even encouraged to delete photos of bad quality if only you can replace them with better quality photos.

===How do I delete a bad photo?===
Click on the tag where you have found the bad photo, hover the cursor over '''menu''' at the top and then click on '''add/manage photos'''. In the tab where you see '''Current photos''' hover the cursor over the bad photo, then a '''Delete''' button should appear underneath the photo, click on it and the bad photo will get deleted. It is to be noted, that this is the same place where you can upload a new photo.

===How can I tell which place tags contain photos?===
You can not. But you can filter all places by ‘places '''without''' photos’ category and see which places do not have photos. Therefore all places without red marks contain photos.

===Can I add a video of a place?===
Yes, you can provide a link from youtube.com in place description, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview.

===Under what conditions can I use the "free" images from Wikimedia Commons?===
Click [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing here] for answers.

===Can I add photos to linear objects: to streets, rivers, railways?===
Yes.

==Deletion==

===How do I delete a place?===
Places can be deleted by selecting 'Delete place' under 'Menu' in the object's window. Please be aware that you may only delete a place as per the deletion reasons (under 3. Deleting tags) of the [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Guidelines].

===What actions are acceptable, or even encouraged, when deleting place tags?===
Before deleting an object, read the [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| Wikimapia Policies]] carefully to make sure you are doing everything right. If you have any doubts about deleting a place you can discuss it on the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php| forum] or ask an [[ Community#Advanced_Users | Advanced User]] for advice.

===I found some places that should be deleted, but I can't delete them since I am only a regular user (RU). What should I do?===
If you can’t delete an object, it might be under an AU protection. You should contact an AU, explain you reasons and ask for help.

===How long does it take for a "deleted" place to actually disappear entirely?===
After you made a request to delete an object the system will inform you in what time the place will be deleted on the place page. Usually it takes five days (if removed by a regular user) and couple of hours (if removed by an AU). Between deletion request and actual disappearance of the object, a user can cancel the deletion by clicking on ‘cancel’ button.

===How do I know if one of my places has been deleted?===
You can check your Stats tab in your profile window. Your created places which are deleted will be shown via the counter next to <tt>'''Deleted from them:'''</tt>
===Do deleted places still show up on my list of created places?===
Yes. If someone deleted your places they still will be written in ‘Places and streets created’ line (and ‘Deleted from them’ line as well), but they will be marked as deleted and you won’t get experience point for them.

===How many places can I delete per day/week?===
It depends on your user level. On the first user level you can delete three places in one hour only. UL 2 - ten objects in ~16 minutes, UL3 - twenty objects in ~13 minutes, UL4 - thirty in 5 minutes, UL5+ - eighty in 2 minutes, AUs can delete 200 objects in 90 seconds.

===In China many place tags are marked ?????(cn). Should I delete them?===
No, you should not delete them. Seeing such symbols simply means that your computer does not maintain Chinese symbols.
===If a business, shop, store etc, moves or is shut down, should I delete the defunct place object?===
If the building still exists, and it hasn't been demolished, it should '''not''' be deleted. We recommend you update the place object's article by describing its present function. It is essential you update its title, description, address and category to reflect the change.
===Why do deleted objects still show up in Google search results?===
Objects put up for deletion will be removed after a specified time. However, Google will continue to display the deleted/outdated information until they update their own search results to show the latest web pages. This is because Google takes 'snapshots' of web pages it examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up. The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your query. Unfortunately, these stored pages may be outdated until they are updated. You can either be patient until Google removes the outdated data or you can contact them [http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164734&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=-1lfw27a3ux1tz here].

=Linear Tools=

==Roads==

===I cannot add roads===
If you are a new user, it is most likely a temporary limitation has been placed on your ability to use the "Road" tool because your experience level is too low. To increase your experience level, you must first add places to the map with the "Add place" tool or edit previously created objects. Please make sure the places you add are accurate and proper. Once you have gained enough experience with the "Add place" tool, you will be allowed to use the "Road" tool.
The restriction is necessary because the "Road" tool has specialized features that new/inexperienced users find difficult to use properly. Adding roads requires skill and so it is only available to experienced users who are familiar with the use of other tools. Click [[Community#User_levels| here]] for more on experience levels.
If you have suddenly lost the ability to add roads then you will need to create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and a bug report [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0 here].

===Should I add multiple road segments to mark individual lanes in a road?===
Only if a physical divider is present between those lanes. Otherwise use segment options to set lanes number.

===What road type should I use to mark a road?===
Depending on the type of the road (dirt road, courtyard road, street/lowt raffic, road/high traffic, highway).

===Am I allowed to enter the zip/post code in the title field along with the road name?===
You should really not, however you may include the zip/post codes in the description field.

==Railroads==
This tool allow you to map the railway segments onto the map page. To have more information about the use of this tool, please see [[Tools#Railroads|Railroads]] section

==Rivers==

==Ferry==

===Can I use the ferry tool to mark rivers and vice versa?===
'''No'''. This tool is only for the mapping of genuine ferry routes. To map river you must use the river tool.

=Interface=

==Wikimapia Screen==

===How do I use all those things on the Wikimapia screen?===
Click [[User_interface#About_the_Wikimapia_Main_Screen| here]] for answers.

===When I look at place's description page, there is a line near the top that says, for example, "World/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz". What is this telling me?===
This is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadcrumb_%28navigation%29 breadcrumb] line and shows a list of places according to administrative levels. Please be aware this list is not a precise indication of the place object; it is only to be referred to as an approximation of places near to the place object.

===The breadcrumb navigation is wrong/not showing the correct place name?===
See above.

===What is 'Hotel booking' in the menu under my username?===
‘Hotel booking’ is a useful tool for tourists. If you are planning to visit any specific place in short time, you can find it on the map and click on ‘Hotel booking’ under your username. Afterwards you will see all hotels marked with special icons. This allows you to choose and book a hotel depending on its geographical position. Click on any hotel and see its page on booking.com.

===What is Distance Measure and what can I do with it?===
It is a tool which allows to measure the distance between two points. To do this you need to mark on the map both points or a detailed route from one point to another and the system will calculate its length. Afterwards you may send the link of what you see on the map to your friend by sending URL of the page on the top of your browser.

===What are those buttons underneath the menu bar?===
Those are [[Tools#Adding_place| Add place]], Distance measure (see previous) and [[User_interface#Zoom_Control.2F_Zoom_Levels| Zoom]].

===What are all those options under the 'Map type' menu?===
Those are different map types that you can choose depending on what you are searching for.

===What are all those options under the 'Categories' menu?===
Those are categories that system offers you on default. If you are searching for a category that is not in the list, you need to type it in ‘Search categories’ bar or find it in ‘Categories hierarchy’ in tools.

===Why is the tooltip (when I hover over a place) not always the same as its title?===
Actually, they should be the same. If they are not, please, [http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ report] about it.

===What do the red dots under the names of places mean?===
Red dot under an object name means that the object is a city.

===What are the icons in some places and what do they mean?===
These are category icons, they are shown even if you do not using category filter. If you want to know their meaning open ‘Rendering of categories’ in ‘tools’ section.

==User Profile/Account==

===Why should I register?===
While you are an unregistered user of Wikimapia you can use a limited amount of tools and options only. Since you are registered you can gain experience points, advance your user level and get access to new tools. Besides, only registered users can post on forum.

===Do you have any advice for new members?===
Yes, you can read them [[Quick_start#Advice_for_new_users| here]].

===It says in my profile that I created 106 places. But I can only count 82. What happened to the other places I've created?===
Apparently they were deleted, so you can find them in ‘Deleted from them’ line.

===Can I see how many places I have deleted?===
In stats section in your profile you can see the list of all your actions including ‘Places requested to be deleted’ and ‘Place deletion requests cancelled’.

===How do I mark my own location? Why should I?===
To mark your location find ‘Choose your location’ at the top of your profile page. Then choose your location by positioning the map and placing the marker. Location may be approximate for privacy. Your location will be visible to other users, so they could figure out where are you from.

===How do I delete a message someone sent me?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete a message, it will stay permanently in your inbox.

===Is there any way I can change my user name? I hate this one!===
This is not an easy task. You really should have thought of this before registering! If you really have a good reason, you must send an e-mail administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. They may be able to help you. Otherwise, you have two options: 1) Learn to live with it, or 2) abandon the account and start a new, re-registering.
===Someone has stolen my Wikimapia account and password. What can I do?===
Send e-mail to administrators in WikiMapia@gmail.com. Ask to have your password reset. Remember that the thief may have changed your e-mail, so be prepared to give evidence that you really are the original owner of the account. And be ready to apologize for who the thief might have offended
===I don't want to be part of Wikimapia any more. How do I delete my account?===
Unfortunately you cannot delete your account, alternatively you may want to change your password to something you will not be able to remember easily or you can stop visiting Wikimapia altogether which is even more easier.

==Place Search==

===How do I search for something?===
Type the name of the place you're looking for in the search box in the Wikimapia Menu Bar at the top of your screen, and press the <tt>'''Search'''</tt> button. A list results matching your query shall be returned in the sidebar. You can also tailor your searches by location or coordinates by choosing the respective tabs underneath the search box in the sidebar.

==Categories==

===What are Categories?===
Category filter is a tool that allows you to search for places of one type (ie. bars, hospitals, etc) by their category.

===How do I search for something?===
You just need to hover over ‘Categories’ on the top menu and either choose the category you are looking for (if its shown) or search it in ‘Search categories’ bar. Then you’ll see that all the places on the map that fit your category will we have red marks. To quit a category search click ‘cancel’ on the bottom of the map.

===How can I find, for example, theaters in one city?===
See previous

= User Tools =

==Watchlists==

===How do I create a watchlist?===
To create a watchlist go to [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/ Tools] click on watchlist then click add, outline the area you wish to watch, enter a name and click save. You can navigate back to see your watchlist's this way.

===Is there a limit of watchlist's I can create?===
No, there is not limit to the number of watchlist's you can create.

=Community=

==Forum==

===When can I join in the forum discussions?===
As soon as you are registered.
===Why am I not able to post into the forum?===
Every regular user can post into the forum. If you can not then you are either an unregistered user or you were banned on forum for [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 guidelines of Wikimapia forum] violation.

===Should I ask a question anywhere in the forum, or should I start a new topic? ===
If there is already a topic that refers to your question, you can post your question there. You should start a new thread only if there is no topic alike. Remember: Off-topic posts may be deleted by moderators.
===How can I make sure that someone sees my posting in the forum? (should I post it in all sections?) ===
There is no way to '''guarantee''' that someone will certainly see your posting, but new postings usually appear on the top of the forum page, so users '''might''' see them.
===I posted a message in the forum, but I have changed my mind. Can/should I delete it? ===
You can delete your message only during a short period of time after posting. In other situation you can not delete your messages, only [[Community#Forum_moderators| forum moderators]] have such power. So you can contact one of them and explain the reason why your message needs to be deleted.

===I added a photo to my profile, but my forum posting still shows "no foto"? ===
Wait for a while. It may take some time.
===I remember seeing something discussed in the forum last week, but now I can't find it. Is it possible to find it again? ===
On such a case there is a search bar at the top right corner of the forum page.

===Why do forum messages always run off the right side of my screen?===
The forum is designed for a screen resolution of 1024x768 or higher. If yours is set to less than this, the forum display will be wider than your screen.

===How can I make a text bold, italicize or underline it?===
You will have to use square brackets [][/]

*for bold: [b]text[/b]
*to italicize: [i]text[/i]
*to underline: [u]text[/u]

===How to embed images?===
to embed image: [img]url goes here[/img]

==Other Users==

===How do I find out where another user lives===
If a user marked his\her location you may figure out where is he\she from. Otherwise, you need to ask directly to the user, but be ready for a disappointment, since many users prefer to keep your privacy.

===How can I contact another user?===
Find it (a) in the forum or on a map of users, or the link somewhere that he (a) has described or discussed. Click on your username. This will open the user profile that you want to contact. Click "send message to this user", type your message in the text box and click the "send message". The message you sent is shown above a new text box empty. That's it: do not click the button "send message" again. If you have already sent a message to this user, you name it (a) will be on your list of contacts: open your profile, click on "Messages", find the desired user name and proceed from there.
===How do I contact a user if I only know his username?===
You can find him/her by rank. Find 'Users rank' in a 'tools' section in your profile. In the window that opens, there is a search field 'Search username'. Enter the user name and click 'search'. Note that the name must exactly match the user (no matter, however, if the letters are uppercase or lowercase). If you have trouble finding it, you can ask for help from other users in the forum. Maybe some of us may find the desired user.

===How can I find out the email address linked to a user account?===
You can not. This information is private. You will not find any e-mail here. The only way is to ask the user, by sending him a message.
===I have a disagreement with another user. What should I do?===
Bring the items to the forum. We will mediate the "ceasefire" between you and another user.
===Someone keeps editing my places!===
If you have a dispute, please notify the fellow user and moderators in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php Wikimapia Forum]. They'll try to resolve issues, but only if parties are willing to discuss their sides of the issue accurate and fairly.

===What is a sockpuppet?===
English Wikipedia page says: "sockpuppet is an online identity used in order to deceive the other members of a virtual community. In its initial use, a "sockpuppet" was a false identity through which a member of a community on the Internet manifests itself while pretending that it does not, as does a puppeteer manipulating a puppet. In WikiMapia, a "sockpuppet" is someone who has a second account.

===Is it acceptable to have a sockpuppet?===
For most users, no. However, there are users who have higher levels "sockpuppets" for experiments. They are useful in this regard.

==User Levels==

===What is the difference between user levels?===
The higher user level you are the more tools and options are available for you.

===What are the advantages & responsibilities of being an advanced user?===
Receiving Advanced User Status will grant you access to following tools and privileges:
#Ban tool
#Protection
#Deletion/restoration of comments
#Faster object deletion
#Up to 2.500 points per polygon
#The ability to vote on AU's promotion

Being an Advanced User means you need to look after the map. For example, coordinate and encourage users, help new users, arrange debates, keep track of changes on the map, i. e. editing or deleting objects and comments, set temporary protection on objects in case of edit wars.

===How do I become an advanced user?===

There is no a defined formula for becoming an AU. Just contribute to Wikimapia and your efforts will be noted. In practice, recommendations are given of possible AU forum and if there is a consensus, so administrators can choose to promote you. These recommendations are based on the overall quality of their contributions, their visibility in the Forum and its suitability to the ideals of WikiMapia.

===Will a high rank qualify me to become an advanced user?===
A high rank itself can not make you an advanced user. Though the more you contribute to Wikimapia the higher is you rank, so the closer the moment that you may be offered to become an advanced user..
===How many places do I have to mark to become an advanced user?===
All these questions have the same answer: There is no magic number you need to achieve because the promotion AU is a manual process done by administrators, and this is not automatic, regardless of what numbers you have.

===How many good votes do I need to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===How long should one be a regular user to become an advanced user?===
See previous
===Why is my account marked as limited/banned?===
If you were banned you’ll get a notification message, that explains the reasons and proofs of your ban. In addition, you’ll see a red window on the right of your profile page that notifies you about the reasons and details of limitation.

===How can I tell what user level a user is?===
In profile of every user there is a number of his user level.

==Vandalism==

===What is vandalism?===
Deliberate actions aimed to corrupt information.
Vandalism can take many forms. For example: removing correct, useful information from place tags, or adding false or offensive information. Deleting correct and useful tags, moving tags away from their correct locations, adding offensive photos, adding/re-shaping polygons so that they depict nonsensical/obscene shapes and replacing a place tag's description with one in a different language (instead of adding the new language), '''deliberately''' creating duplicate place tags, all constitute vandalism. Disrupting the forum is also considered vandalism.

===My place tag has been vandalised. What should I do?===

Post a message with the details in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 User behaviour and vandalism] Forum WikiMapia. We're here to help.

===How can I revert the tag to the state before it was vandalised?===
Find ‘History’ in ’menu’ in place tag, find the revision that you think is a vandalism and click ‘Undo this revesion’.

===How do restore a vandalized description to what it used to be?===
See previous

===Is is possible to protect articles that are vandalized often?===

Yes. Advanced User can "semiprotect" a place. If you want a place to be semi-protected, then send a request in the section [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=3&sid=f802b804ce555a2827b8ac22ae804645 Correction support] forum.

===Can I undelete a non-compliant place object and re-purpose/convert it into an acceptable one?===

The practice of salvaging a deleted place object and reassigning its identity is forbidden '''if''' the newer object is:
*situated at a different location from the original
*has a completely different function to the original

All objects must be marked with their own outlines and are treated as individual objects. For example, the place object for a jetty (which has rotted away) cannot be converted into a lake or boat house - it must be deleted (unless the jetty is rebuilt). The lake and boat house must be marked separately with their own place object identities.

Recycling obsolete objects and reusing them may seem desirable but ultimately defeats the object of populating Wikimapia's map and database with unique places and overall place count respectively. The exception to this rule is that an existing place can be re-purposed within one day of its creation if a user has marked it erroneously.

The wilful and persistent act of undeleting place objects (including existing place objects) and recycling them into compliant objects is forbidden. In addition, the premeditated act of abusing the aforementioned exception is also forbidden.

==Banning==

===What is a ban?===
A limitation caused by disregarding, violation or misinterpretation of the rules.

===If I am banned and believe that I do not deserve it, What can I do?===
Restrictions and banning are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. Read [[About_Wikimapia#Policies| the policies]] and make sure that you didn't violate any of them. If not, contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban and unblock users, so he/she might help you.

===How can I report a bad user so that he/she is banned quickly?===
You should contact an AU and explain your reasons. AUs have the power to ban users, so he/she might help you.

==Voting==

===Why should I vote for a user?===
You should vote for a user if you want to provide a positive feedback about his/her contributions to Wikimapia, to encourage a user.
===How do I vote for a user?===
If you have 2+ user level you can vote for other users. Click on a user profile page, click on ‘votes about user’ and you’ll see a green voting form above a list of users who have already voted for a user.

===When can I start to vote for people?===
As soon as you are 2+ level
===Is there a reason I can't vote for users?===
No, there is no such a reason. You can freely vote for a user if you want.
===Is it proper to ask for votes?===
No. Voting for someone means you want to provide a positive feedback about users contributions to Wikimapia. So asking for votes is poor behavior.
===How can I get more votes?===
The more valuable places and useful information you add the more people would like to vote for you
===Someone gave me a good vote. Should I do the same for her/him?===
If you find that user deserving a good vote for his efforts on Wikimapia. If not - do not vote for a user only just to thank him for his good vote for u.
===How do I remove an unwanted vote?===
You may delete an unwanted vote if open the list of users, who voted for you, in your profile.

===Someone said I voted too frequently. Is there a limit?===
No there is no such a limit. However it is considered bad etiquette to give votes to others just to receive more yourself, only vote for user if you feel they do good work.

===Should I give a good vote to a user who is No.1 in the ranking system?===
If he is No.1 in ranking system then he might add a lot of good information. If do find it good - vote for him, if not - do not vote.

=Error Messages=

==="Sorry, you are doing many actions in a short period of time, please wait a while and retry your action"===
There is a limit on similar actions that a user can do within a certain period of time (i.e. a newly registered user can only delete three places in an hour).

==="Too long polygon"===
There are limitations on the total number of polygon dots you can add depending on your user level:

*'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots, ~31.64 km²
*'''Level 1-8 users''': 500 dots, ~244.14 km²
*'''Advanced users''': 2,500 dots, ~996,006 km²

==="Too big polygon"===
See previous.

==="You cannot change your vote, you started vote, you may only completely unset it"===
This message belongs to a defunct system for ban voting therefore it should not appear. If it does appear, please create a report topic in the forum [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 here] and the bug reports list [http://wikimapia.org/special_pages/user_reports/?action=list&type=0&order=edit_date__desc here]

The message used to indicate that a ban initiator could not unset his/her vote if others voted after him/her. This restrictive procedure was necessary to stop a ban initiator from withdrawing him/herself from a ban he/she was responsible for starting.

==="You must remove the child objects before deleting the object"===
This message means you can not delete an object as there are child objects that refer to it. You need to delete them first.

==="Wikimapia has just updated! Please reload the page or press shift + ctrl R in order to apply fixes and enjoy new features"===
This message means that Admins have just made some changes in Wikimapia, so you need to reload the page to see the updated version of Wikimapia.

=External=

===Can I see Wikimapia places on Google Earth?===
Yes. You can download Wikimapia layer on Google Earth.

===Can I place part of the map on my own web page?===

Yes! Find the screen you want to place on your page. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" in the upper left corner and select "Map on your page" A popup window will appear with the corners of a rectangle. Just push the corners of the rectangle to resize the box and then copy the html code that is shown and paste it into your page.

===Can I use Wikimapia with a GPS device?===
No, unfortunately this feature is not available yet.

===What browser do you recommend to use with Wikimapia?===

Any modern one, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.6+, IE9+, Opera, Safari.

===How do I make a jpeg or bmp shot of specific part of the map?===
First, check the licence of satellite photos provider, then capture the screen and transfer the picture into whatever format you need.

===I want to send a Wikimapia page to a friend. How do I do that?===
If you want to send a link to a specific area of Wikimapia map use URL of the page on the top of your browser.
===I clicked a Wikimapia link that someone gave me. Why am I seeing all place descriptions in Spanish now?===

The person who sent you the link used Spanish as their language. Place your mouse over "WikiMapia" and select "Change language". Select the language you want.

===How can I print the map with the names of the locations (without using another application to overlay the points and names)?===

The best you can do is capture the screen and print it.

=Advertising=

===I own a business. Can I tag it?===
Yes, you can tag it. 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."
===What is the policy on advertising land for sale?===
The advertising of land for sale is not allowed under any circumstances. This means it is forbidden to advertise using Wikimapia's map tools, description and comments sections of place/linear objects, the Forum, the Blog or any other intellectual property belonging to Wikimapia.

{{Back to Main Page}}

Community

2012-12-12T07:10:11Z

Antdoghalo: Spelling correction of "analyse"

{{Languages|Community}}
{{Navbox user guide}}

Wikimapia users form the Community. Though it is self-organising there are [[About_Wikimapia#Policies|policies]] and etiquette. There is also a special rating system that permits a user to gain new experience levels. Users communicate with each other by means of messages and forum.

== User levels ==

Experience points is a feature of Wikimapia that helps automatically determine Experience levels. They accrue automatically in your account based on your contributions to the Wikimapia project. This means that the more experience points you get the more places and [[Tools#Linear_features| Linear features]] you create or edit.

{| class="wikitable"
! User level
! Experience points
! Tools available
! Polygon dots limit
! Polygon area limit
|-
| 0 Unregistered Users/Guests (UU)
| 0
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, add place/photo
| 200
|~50 km²
|-
| 1 Regular User (RU)
| 0 + register
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, '''edit profile''', add place/ photo, '''edit place/ photo, delete place/ photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum'''
| 500 dots
|~500 km²
|-
| 2 Regular User
| 5000
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile , '''vote for users''', add place/photo/'''linear feature''', edit place/photo/'''linear feature''', delete place/photo/'''linear feature''', translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, '''Satellite images updates list''', report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
| 500 dots
|~500 km²
|-
| 3 Regular User
| 15000
| use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/ translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
|500 dots
|~750 km²
|-
| 4 Regular User
| 50000
| search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum
| 500 dots
|~1000 km²
|-
| 5 Regular User
| 150000
|search, use category filter, change interface language, choose map type, edit profile, vote for users, add place/photo/linear feature, edit place/photo/linear feature, delete place/linear feature/photo, translate tags/translate interface, watchlist, status grid, Satellite images updates list, report lists bug/features, use messages, write on forum, '''mass editing/deleting photos (photo moderation)''', '''Advanced users promotion'''
| 500 dots
|~1250 km²
|-
| 6 Regular User
| 500000
| all
| 500 dots
|~1500 km²
|-
| 7 Regular User
| 1500000
| all
| 500 dots
|~1750 km²
|-
| 8 Regular User
| 5000000
| all
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Forum moderators
| approved by Wikimapia Team
| depending on UL + edit forum
| 500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Categories moderators
| approved by Wikimapia Team
|depending on UL + edit category filter
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Documentors
| approved by Wikimapia Team
|depending on UL + edit Wiki Docs
|500 dots
|~2000 km²
|-
| Advanced Users (AU)
| approved by other Advanced Users
|all + make semi-protection on places + write on AU forum + delete comments + ban users + vote on AU's promotion
|2000 dots
|~3000 km²
|}

== Rank chasing problem ==

Wikimapias main goal is to help people exploring the world and sharing their knowledge. Wikimapia is not about rank or social status. Though, there is a rank system, that automatically determines experience levels, its only aim is helping to organize Wikimapia Community and encouraging users to contribute to the project. But all main decisions as promotion to Advanced User status or getting any other special role (forum moderator, documentor, etc) are made depending on the +quality+ (do not confuse with quantity) of users contributions and after discussion and voting among all the members of the Community.

As it is usual in other collaborative projects, Wikimapians criticize rank cheaters. Everything on Wikimapia is based on trust to your edits, which you will loose immediately as soon as you'll try to receive experience points for useless actions. Although it is not possible to ban a user for useless actions (unless it corrupts the information), a user can be demoted from AU for a poor quality of edits or his experience points will be zeroised by the Administrators.

== Awards ==
In addition to experience points there is another reward system. [http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/awards/ Award stars] (one, two or three) are automatically granted based on various thresholds (i.e. place or road creation, photos addition) of one's stats.

== Voting ==
Voting is our method of providing positive feedback to you about your contributions to Wikimapia, and for you to provide positive feedback to other users about theirs. People who make a positive contribution to Wikimapia ("describing the world" by creating useful and well-described places) are deserving a positive vote.

Neither award stars, nor votes can not influence directly your user level, but having award stars or a lot of votes means you have quite succeeded in map improving or you have a high social status on Wikimapia. That, for example, except giving a nice feeling, can help in case you made a request for an Advanced User status.

== Special roles ==
===Wikimapia Team===

It is them who make changes and maintain the site. Wikimapia developers are always busy with Wikimapia improvement, so please think twice before addressing yourself to them. If your case is urgent they will gladly help you. But if AUs can also help you with the issue, you should send a message to AUs first.

{| class="wikitable"
! Wikimapia Team members !! Real name
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/7 koriakine]
| Alexandre Koriakine (co-founder)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/10 jacksav]
| Evgeniy Saveliev (co-founder)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/1465617 flr]
| Evgeniy Udodov
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/212747 lnklnklnk]
| Alexander Eroshkin
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/589032 w8r]
| Alexander Milevski (front-end engineer)
|-
|[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/1563994 gribowsky]
| Tonya Galkina
|-
|}
----

=== Forum moderators ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=2 List of forum Moderators]''

This role allows the use of moderator tools in the Wikimapia forum. It is granted by Wikimapia Team members.

----

=== Categories moderators ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=3 List of categories Moderators]''

This role allows the use of moderator tools for Wikimapia categories. It is granted by Wikimapia Team members.

Here is some information for Categories moderators:

==== What are categories? ====

What exactly is a category, anyway? For example, is "city" a category? Answer: Not really. A category is really just an ID number in the category database. So "88" in the category database is a category. The basic idea is that category "88" represents the same kind of thing everywhere, no matter which country it is in.

A category has a number of properties, and the most important property is ... its name (in English). Another property would be, for example, its name (in Russian). So if we give category "88" a name of "city" in English, its name in Russian should also mean "city". We can not decide to give a Russian name to category "88" that means something different, for example "house".

Even though "city" isn't really a category, for convenience and because no one has memorized the category ID numbers, we usually use the category name in square brackets to represent the category. So [city] is actually category 88; and [город (ru)] is also category 88, but referring specifically to the Russian synonym/translation.

In even more technical detail, the number that is stored with each place tag is in fact not the category ID, but rather a "synonym id". Each synonym id has its own name, that you can see on the "Category list" page, and it is these synonyms that are structured to make up the category hierarchy. This makes it possible to, for example, start with two separate categories, then make them synonyms (thus blending the places together), and then undo the synonym relation, and end up with the original two categories separate again, all without changing anything on the individual place tags.

==== How do we use categories? ====

What kinds of questions can we ask of the category database that we would like to see displayed on the map? Here are some suggestions, presented as templates of what we should think of when we assign a category to a place tag.
# "This place is a [category]." Examples: [village], [school], [police station], [mcdonalds]. But not [compressor].
# "This place is a [category] type of place." Examples: [military], [production].
# "This place is associated with / owned by [category]." Examples: [roman empire], [Long Island Rail Road].
Those are some of the obvious templates, but surely there are others that would also be useful. Please make suggestions in the 'Category cleanup' section of the Forum!

This writer is generally not in favour of things like:
# "This place ''is in'' [category]." Examples: [paris], [russia], [africa]. Although for some reason, a personal quirk!, I am ok with English counties [nottinghamshire] and French/Italian provinces [lombardy], for example, but not US/Canadian states/provinces [california], [ontario]. These are specific [first level administration] places - perhaps historical ones - and the category should be applied to cities and towns only.
# "This was created by [category]." Example: [johnsmith].
# "I can buy [category] in this place." Examples: [phone], [computer], [apple]. Names like these should be reworded according to template (1) above: [cell phone shop], [computer sales / service], [grocery] (just to pick some thoughts off the top of my head), provided the 'thing' isn't silly, like [coke].
# "This place ''is'' [category]." Examples: [green], [dangerous]. These words are usually adjectives, and are not suitable for category names.

==== How is the category system structured? ====

The 'new' (2012) category system has a specific structure added. Categories can now have 'parents', 'children' and 'brothers/sisters'. A category can have any number of children and, any number of parents and any number of synonyms (brothers/sisters). The idea is that the results you get when filtering will now also include places with 'child' and 'grandchild' categories, and their synonyms. So if you filter for [restaurant] it will also find places categorized only as [Italian restaurant], for example (or it will once this relationship functionality is enabled in the filtering function, which it is not, at the beginning). In addition, once the full functionality is enabled, the rendering properties that are associated with some categories, like parks being coloured green, will also carry through to their child and grandchild categories.

If you tried to draw this as a diagram (like a family tree), it could get very complex, with relationship arrows going all over the place. It is very flexible. So flexible that it is even possible to set up links such that the 'child' and 'grandfather' categories are the same, thus making a closed loop in the diagram. (This is obviously not a good thing to do, however, so don't do it!)

When there are synonyms, there is one default synonym. This is the name that will be shown as the main category name. The default synonym in a different language does not have to be the same as in English.

==== What does a Category Moderator (CM) do? ====

'''<big>There are three main activities for CM's:</big>'''

1. Organize the categories.

Create the parent/child/synonym links in the new structure in the official WM language (English).
This is the initial primary task and in order to assist with this you need to be proficient in English. This part is also more like a project in that as we proceed there will be less and less remaining to do. At some point we should be able to declare it "completed enough" and move on to the day-to-day maintenance tasks.

2. Translate the English category names into other languages

Here also you must understand what the name in English means before you can translate it. If there is a question, it must be discussed ''before'' doing anything. Note that it is now possible for a category to not have a name in English. If you find one like this, please add the English translation.

3. Ongoing maintenance

This will continue forever as people make new (not-yet-approved) categories.

==== What tools are available to manage categories? ====

Use the table below to find the tools that are described in this section:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Tool / Function !! Where to find it
|-
| Create a category || Edit a place <nowiki>|</nowiki> Add category
|-
| Approve a category || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Unapprove a category || Category info page
|-
| Rename a category || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Category list
|-
| Modify the description || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Make two existing categories synonymous || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Remove a synonym || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Set the default synonym || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Add and remove child/parent categories || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Edit category
|-
| Add a translation (to another language) || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> Add translation
|-
| Remove a translation || (not available)
|-
| Merge categories (merges places into a single category) || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Delete a category || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Unapproved categories
|-
| Search for a category/synonym || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Category list
|-
| Audit recent changes || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Global categories watchlist
|-
| Audit edits to places with this category || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> View watchlist
|-
| Audit changes to this category || Category info page <nowiki>|</nowiki> View history
|-
| Look at category structure || Tools <nowiki>|</nowiki> Category hierarchy
|}

===== Create a category =====

This function has to be performed by a Category Moderator. If there is any category word you think is lacking or you would like a category created, please contact a Category Moderator. ''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=3 List of categories Moderators]''

===== From the "Tools | Unapproved categories" page you can: =====

* Approve the category. This means it is no longer hidden, and can be applied to place tags. If this is a newly added word, please check that it is a word that makes for a good category ([[#How_do_we_use_categories?|see above]]). You should also make an English version, if it's not already in English, and add a description that helps people understand how this category should be used.
* Make a synonym for an existing category.
: Note 1: This is useful only for those circumstances where there is no existing place with both categories. If such places exist, you will be informed about which ones they are so you can deal with them manually before retrying the Make a synonym function.
: Note 2: Don't make things synonyms unless they really are the same, and you want to have two different names for the same type of thing. This can be un-done, however, so it's not a disaster if you make a mistake.
: Note 3: The category you start with becomes a synonym of the category you select in the search function (which is the default synonym ).
* Merge categories. The category you merge from, which is thus going to disappear, must have only a small number of associated places. Note that this can not be un-done, so you must be 100% sure that these two categories represent the exact same type of thing.
* Delete a category.
: Note: Under this new system that categories are never actually deleted, they just become hidden when their usage count drops to zero. So if someone subsequently tries to create the same category again, the old version is just revived instead of creating a new one.

===== From the Category info page you can: =====

This is the page with buttons for "Filter places", "View watchlist", etc.).

* Edit some of the category info:
- Modify the description.

- Add and remove child/parent categories.
:: Note 1: It is appropriate to make a parent/child relationship when you can say that "a <child category> is one kind of <parent category>". For example, "an [Italian restaurant] is one kind of [restaurant]", or "a [McDonalds] is one kind of [fast food (restaurant)]". If you can not make a statement like that, perhaps you should not do this.
:: Note 2: Adding a child or parent increases the "count" number of the parent category, whereas removing a child or parent does not decrease that count. These numbers are really estimates and will get recalculated automatically twice a day anyway.
- Set the default synonym or remove a synonym.
:: Note 1: When you remove a synonym it automatically becomes Unapproved, so you will probably want to go and approve it.
:: Note 2: The default synonym does not have to be the same in each language, so you can change the default synonym in Russian without affecting the English default, for example.
* Unapprove a category. You must do this first before the category becomes accessible on the Unapproved categories page (above).
* Add a translation.

===== From the "Tools | Category list" page you can: =====

* Search for a category (synonym, actually) in any language. Note that the 'normal' category search will only return results that match in your current language or in English. This page also shows the language that the name is in, as well as the English name of the main category.
* Rename a category.
: Note 1: Most "special" characters (@#$*...) can be included in category names, but some may have to be url-encoded (eg: "&"=%26). Always check the result after renaming to verify it worked properly.

===== The "Tools | Global category watchlist" page =====
: shows changes made to the hierarchy and category names.

==== Other "Categories" info ====

* When you change the relationships between categories, by adding or deleting parent/child/synonym categories, for example, you should not expect to immediately see the new relationships when filtering for the affected places. Realtime regeneration may be enabled in the future, but at the beginning these data are only regenerated periodically (a few times per day, maybe).

* There are some functions that are only available for "small" categories. This will usually mean that the button to do that function is not there if the category is not "small". The exact definition of "small" is not (yet) decided, but think "fewer than 100", and it can also mean different numbers for different functions.

* You can download a spreadsheet-compatible list of all the categories from http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/categories/?download=1 (note that the field separator is a semicolon). You can use this to, for example, find categories with low usage that are candidates for deletion, or find categories with missing or misleading translations from English into other languages.

----

=== Advanced Users ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=4 List of Advanced Users]''

Anyone with 5+ user level can make a request for Advanced User Status (it will be offered automatically) and his/her candidacy will be put to vote. If current Advanced Users decide that a person has approved him/herself as a competent editor and can help Wikimapia by taking additional responsibilities and powers he/she will be invited in Advanced Users group.

[[List of Advanced users according languages]]

This [[AU Codex]] is a code of conduct for Advanced Users.
----

=== Documentors ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=26 List of documentors]''

This role allows to edit the Wikimapia Documentation (This Documentation). It is granted by Wikimapia Team members.

== Forum ==
''See also: [[Forum Guidelines]]''

The [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] is Wikimapia's discussion area, where you can read other users' questions and answers on a variety of topics, ask your own questions and join in the discussions. The people who frequent the forum are other users just like you, although the Wikimapia Team Members (admins) do occasionally contribute as well.

To ensure discussions and debates flow freely without any hindrances, users are obliged to adhere to the forum guidelines published [[Forum Guidelines | here]] and [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 here].

''[http://wikimapia.org/forum/memberlist.php?mode=group&g=31 List of Forum moderators]''

== Collaborations ==

Collaborations are projects created by the Wikimapia community to do such activities, an example is adding polygons to places without polygons. Any registered user 1+ level can create a collaboration.

1. To create a collaboration open your profile page, find Tools tab and click on Collaborations. Choose Create a Collaboration. Add a title, its brief description and a country, if needed.

2. Send first 20 invitations to your group. For example, choose 20 users from your recent Messages.

3. When your collaboration reaches more than 20 participants, you can invite more 980 users. But choose carefully. Analyse your watch list or history list on the map to decide, who may be interested in your collaboration.

4. When creating a collaboration, a topic in [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=80 Collaborations section of the forum] with the same title appears automatically. Communicate with other participants of the group and write about your recent results here!

[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/collaborations/?display=0 List of collaborations]

{{Back to Main Page}}

Tools

2012-12-12T07:00:17Z

Antdoghalo: Correct to "undelete place"

{{Languages|Tools}}

{{Navbox user guide}}

Wikimapia gives you an opportunity not only to use its data but also to improve it. When you first decide to add or edit a place tag you start using tools. This manual is designed to help you exploring all functions that Wikimapia can offer you for changing and improving the map.

== Editing the map ==

=== Adding places ===

''Main article: [[Adding places]]''

'''Adding places''' to Wikimapia is what makes it happen; the cornerstone of a wiki that attempts to describe the entire Earth is that all places in it are based entirely on user input. Any user can contribute to Wikimapia. Below are some hints and suggestions to get you started on Wikimapia. But not all things are permitted; unwelcome and unhelpful additions will be deleted.

Adding a place is easy; just select 'edit map' on the tool bar and then further select 'add a place' from the pull-down menu and a red polygon tool will appear.

Once you have finished outlining your place, a box will appear in which you can write information about the place. Choose the language of your tag, write place title, description, address, Wikipedia link, choose place category and add photos.

You can also make a comment about a tagged object.

To mark places that are located inside larger places use Parent & child tags.

===Hints and tips===
# If the maximum zoom is insufficient to accurately place the lines of your polygon then an additional, digital, zoom level is available. To obtain it, roll your mouse wheel very very slowly forward. It sometimes takes two or three attempts to get this to work.
# If you have the patience to add places (polygons) of buildings, carefully outline only the shape of the building, take care to set the "This is a building" box and then save your work. If the building plot is a large area such as a university campus, industrial estate, commercial development etc., and you want to add this as well take care this time not to tick the building box and again save your work. The advantage of doing this will become obvious when you take a look at the Wikimapia map layer, this contains only the Wikimapia data and ticked appropriately you can distinguish between buildings and the plot on which they sit in different shades.

=== Editing places ===
'''Editing Places''' is the process in which existing tag|tags are modified. Editing places is a fundamental part of Wikimapia, since our physical world is always subject to change. However, editing should be done in a careful and responsible manner, and in accordance with Wikimapia's philosophy of [[Neutral Point of View]].

Wikimapia's aim is to provide a useful reference tool that supplies usable information for all its visitors, we therefore encourage you to make continuous improvement so that the information is up-to-date. You can add whatever information that is relevant to the place; this can be anything from correcting spelling or grammatical errors, to making wholesale changes to an otherwise bland or uninformative article.

====How to edit a place====
* When you select a tag, click on the red "Edit" label on the top-left corner.
* Choose "Edit this Page", and make your changes as necessary.
* Choose "Save" when you are done.

====Understanding the Editing Process====
If somebody has edited an article you have created or edited, do not worry! That is a normal consequence of a wiki: Anyone can edit it. A Wikimapia article can be improved, but only if there is relevant, verifiable, and useful information to add to it.

====What Is Not Permitted====
Occasionally, there may be places in Wikimapia that may be lacking information, or contain too much information! Please feel free to edit appropriately, but please leave these out of our Wikimapia titles and/or descriptions.

* Non-neutral point of view
* Vulgarity
* Slander/insult
* Invasion of privacy
* Editing wars (continually editing for the sake of ruining an article)
* Spam/advertising
* False information
* Boasting/bragging
* Using Wikimapia articles as a forum for opinions and viewpoints, specifically religion and politics.

No member "owns" the tags they create; no tag is free from editing just because they created it, or because they live in the area. ''Ownership of articles is not a function of Wikimapia'', which means that if you do not intend to have your information edited, we recommend you '''not''' to submit it to Wikimapia!

=== Deleting Places ===
Some place tags in Wikimapia are not satisfactory because they do not contain useful or interesting information. Again, there are other place tags, which do not describe places or are offensive, defamatory or hurtful in nature. If you encounter place tags like these, you should always attempt to correct them first. If they cannot be corrected, and they meet the deletion criteria of the [[Wikimapia Guidelines]], they should be deleted.

To delete a place tag, select 'Menu' > 'Delete place' in the place tag's window. You will be prompted to choose a deletion reason; it is important to note that you are obligated to confirm deletion only for the reason chosen. The place tag will enter a deletion period, after which it shall be deleted. The duration of the deletion period varies and depends on your user level.

Remember, always delete a place tag if it cannot be reclaimed into something acceptable bearing in mind, though, that willful deletion of a good place tag is forbidden.

==== Undeleting/Place restoration ====
If you think if a tag has been wrongfully been deleted, you can restore the tag by undeleting it. You'd first need to select 'Deleted places' option from the [[User_interface#Map_type|Map type]] menu, the Map type menu is situated at the top-left of the screen, when you click on the Map type menu a drop down list will appear. The 'Deleted places' option will appear on the tenth row, select it and deleted places will start to appear on the map in square boxes.

When you find the tag which has been deleted, click on the tag and hover the mouse arrow on the 'Menu' text and it will show a drop down menu. When you see the text 'Undelete place; click on it and it will give you the option to write a brief explanation as to why the tag was wrongfully deleted, but this is '''''optional'''''. It is recommended however to write one as to clear up any misunderstandings, then you can go ahead by pressing the 'Undelete place' button which is situated at the bottom left of the tag. It takes about 2-3 minutes for a tag to be restored on the map.

====What kinds of place tags are most often deleted?====
If none of the above considerations are relevant, how do you determine whether to delete a place tag? The vast majority of deletable place tags fall into one of the following categories:

# “My house”, “I live here” - For personal houses, the thing to remember is that local conditions are different from place to place. In the US and Canada all personal homes are to be deleted, unless they meet the full criteria in the Adding section of this User Guide. In places like India, properly sized homes that have a person's full name and/or instructions on how to find their house are not deleted. [On the other hand, we would delete a place like "Nandini's House" because we assume that there's more than one woman named Nandini in India.]
# Too big – the rectangle is MUCH too large for something that claims to be a single building, and there is no way to tell which specific building inside the rectangle is intended to be the actual described place.
# Duplicates - Two or more tags for the same place. One of them should be edited and improved (if possible) and the other(s) deleted. The newer tag is the one that should be deleted. Edit the older tag as needed to bring it up to the information level of the newer tag - then delete the newer one.
# Inappropriate language - Places with offensive or abusive language.
# Advertising or spam.
# Political or religious content that cannot be effectively removed by editing - e.g. the whole tag is a partisan statement.

If there is any other problem with the place tag, don't hesitate to bring it up in the Forum. The forum's [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1440 Place Deletion Requests thread] is a long and ongoing thread about deletion discussions.

=== Protection ===
If a place tag has been the target of vandalism (e.g. a genuine article is repeatedly placed for unjustified deletion), you can request its protection by contacting an [[Advanced Users|Advanced User]]. You can request protection in this forum topic ([http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 Request for Semi-protection]) or you can contact an Advanced User directly through PM. Only advanced users can enable protection on place tags.

=== History ===
The history shows all edits made to an object since it was created. Each saved edit is known as a revision, and each revision is stored as a version number with a brief overview of the editor's name, edits made and date of edits in the history.

To access an object's history select 'Menu' > 'History' in the object's window.
=== Linear features ===

''Main article: [[Linear features]]''

Linear tools is a completely different method of marking map objects compared to the 'Add place' tool. Where the sole purpose of the 'Add place' tool lies in marking static areas with a precise outline, the purpose of the Linear tools is to mark map objects whose dimensions aren't defined by static areas but by extensive lengths. With this in mind, the tool has been specifically designed to mark roads, rivers, railway lines (railroads) and ferry routes. This is accomplished by using elastic segments, as opposed to polygons, to mark the linear nature of the mentioned map objects.

==== Roads ====
Roads is a Wikimapia feature wherein you can mark out roads by adding points. These successive points are joined (automatically as you go on marking them) by road segments.

==== Railroads ====
Railroads is a Wikimapia feature wherein you can mark out railway lines by adding points. Once you anchor a point and move the cursor, a segment will automatically extend from it. A segment can only be established when another point is fixed to a location. These segments and points should be aligned accurately with the linear image of the railroad on the map.

==== Ferry ====
What constitute a Ferry ? A scheduled public passenger/car/rail transport service that travels over water on a set regular, frequent, seasonal, return services route. At least the ends of the ferry line must be named and information about the route and sailing times must be presented. In other words, a ferry route should have a predictable route and a provable route. Links to its schedules and sailings are also to be provided where available.

This clearly rules out Touring Vessels, Cruise Ships, Ocean Liners, Cargo Vessels, ocean tramps, fishing vessels etc. And other charter vessels not engaged in the above-defined service also are not to be marked

Creating New and Editing Existing Ferry Routes:

Click on "Edit map" and then select "Ferry" in the menu. If you are viewing a coastal ferry port, you may see some ferry lines highlighted with red boxes in the style of place outlines. You can edit an existing ferry or add a new line. See the documentation for the other linear features (Example : Rivers) for more information. It is more or less akin to river markings except that ferry do not have “ferrysides”

In "Satellite" view the ferry route is depicted as a blue dashed line . In "Map" view the ferry route is shown as a light blue dashed line.

==== Rivers ====
Rivers is a linear tool wherein you can mark waterways such as rivers, canals, streams etc. The marking of rivers is done by adding points and segments. Segments form the main "body" or "line" of the linear tool, while points link segments to each other. Points also enable segments to be laid in different directions.

== Watchlist ==
If you want to monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, ...) in one or more specific areas, you can do that with the Watchlist tool, which is available on the '''Tools''' tab on your profile page.

To add a watchlist you click the Watchlist link on your profile page and then click the background map (closing the profile page and revealing the watchlist sidebar). Click the "add" button, type a name of your choice where it says "Watchlist name", size the rectangle to cover the area you are interested in and save it. After that you can click the name you chose and it will show all recent changes in that region. "Old" changes are on a gray background, while "new" changes are on a white background. When you have finished examining the new changes you can click the "mark as viewed" button to bring the gray background all the way to the top of the list.

== Status grid ==
''Main article: [[Status grid]]''

Status grid is a powerful tool to help in monitoring and improving the map. You can find it on the Tools page, it is available for all registered users. The grid is a colorized layer over the map which collects and shows basic statistics about places for each grid cell. It should be helpful in finding badly described areas and tags. The status grid works at zoom levels between 5 and 15.

== Map shift ==
''Main article: [[Satellite_images_updates_list|Satellite images updates list(Map shift)]]''

Every month or so Google updates their satellite imagery and sometimes as a result of it the outline positions of Wikimapia objects in some areas become out of sync.
Such areas need to be fixed. To avoid doing this for each object individually, we have designed a special tool, which allows simply to update the whole areas, where this problem occurs.
You may be familiar with it, it is called "Map shift" and is accessible from the user tools page in the top menu or user profile page and via direct link: http://wikimapia.org/#m=b&show=/user/tools/mapshift/.
Now we are releasing a new version of it and making it available to more users than before.

== Reports list: Bug/features ==
[http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ Reports list]

Wikimapia has an issue tracker supposed to collect and process bug reports and feature requests. It is the only right way to report a problem or a bug.

== Interface translation ==
''[http://wikimapia.org/translate Translation page]''

Whole Wikimapia interface is being translated by users. Anyone can sign up to translate the interface phrases into his language. The tool provides the list of phrases in English (with description of what they mean and where are they used) along with possibility to translate them into your language. A history of changes is maintained to avoid vandalism.
{{Back to Main Page}}

Quick start

2012-08-29T18:37:53Z

Antdoghalo: .

{{Navbox user guide}}

This page is for those who want to jump right into Wikimapia. Here you can find some advice and a simple manual to the main Wikimapia functions - exploring the map and place adding. Although there are a lot more other features on Wikimapia, adding places is what a new user might use first. Besides, there are some features like adding linear features that are available only for 2+ [[Community#User levels|User levels]]. For more information about Wikimapia features read [[Tools]] section.

== Advice for new users ==

1. Wikimapia is not a very complicated thing to understand, so you could probably figure out everything just during its usage. If you face anything that may seem obscure, please read this manual carefully (you don’t need to memorize it but you'll see how it helps to know what topics are covered here) and don’t be afraid to ask more experienced users for help. Use messages and [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] to communicate.

2. Add local places, as many as you want, all information (outline, title, description, etc.) must be accurate, useful and organized. Remember that the number of places created is not really important, to create more and more places should not be your goal. It is MUCH more important that you create local places (tags) with QUALITY: Places that will be of interest to others, that will help people learn about the world.

3. Familiarize yourself with [[About_Wikimapia#Policies|Wikimapia policies and guidelines]], so you’ll be aware of unpleasant situations, like being banned because of accidentally violating the rules or deletion of your tags.

4. Think twice before you edit or delete a particular location created by another user. Someone added it and had reasons to make it the way it is, so be ready to argue your editing/deletion and refer to Documentation as an official manual. If you have any doubts we recommend you to send the user a message with your suggestions first.

5. Be patient, be good, and be co-operative with other Wikimapia users. Remember: you are representing yourself, your family, your community and your country. Try to give a good impression of them all.

== Exploring the map ==
''Main article: [[User interface]]''

Wikimapia provides a lot of data, you just need to know how to get it.

*First of all you can choose how to "view" the map. Different map types can give you "different views" and information. See [[User_interface#Map_type|Map types]] for details.

*You can search for a particular place. Just type keywords, its address or coordinates in search bar. You can also search type of places through categories filter. See [[User_interface#Categories|User interface:Categories]] for more details.

*You can learn about a particular place by clicking on its title. In tag window you can see place information: description, address, Wikipedia link, categories, photos and its nested places.

*Every city has its own page called cityguide. Every cityguide (ie, [http://rio-de-janeiro.wikimapia.org/ rio-de-janeiro.wikimapia.org] ) contains an overview of the city, lists of all streets, categories, tags and photos.

== Adding place ==

First of all, we recommend to use ‘Satellite + old places’ map type (choose it at the top menu) for adding new places, this will prevent creating duplicates. Find the place you would like to tag and make sure this wasn't done already. Then, select "Add Place" from the Menu at the top of the screen. You may have to zoom in some more. Using the tool that appears, outline the place. When you are done, click the "Save" button.

Another window with the form should pop up, in which you can describe the place you've added:

===Language===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Language|Language]]''

This selects a language for your new place. This field is required.

===Title===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Title|Title]]''

The first text box is labeled "'''Title'''." Enter a title for your new place. This field is required.
Keep in mind that "CAPS LOCK" should be avoided, because this is web lingo for someone shouting, and it doesn't make your tag more important.

===Description===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Description|Description]]''

The next box is titled "'''Description'''." Type something that describes the place. It can be anything about the place - history, what makes it special, etc.. Place's description is what makes a tag useful. Try to be correct, [[About_Wikimapia#NPOV|neutral]], and avoid [[About_Wikimapia#Advertising|advertising]].

===Addresses===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Address|Address]]''

The next two boxes are labeled "'''Street'''" and "'''Building Number'''."

The "'''Street'''" is the name of the street the place is located on. Sometimes, a scrolling menu is here; this means that there are streets nearby that were created. For instance, a building might have a postal address of "Main Street". Note that the street field is optional.
Please remember that adding a street name must be the exact street's name not the whole address. For the same reason it is not necessary to enter the zip code/postal code of the street into this field. Instead put the whole address at the Description Field and whenever you search it, the search engine will find it accurately.

The "'''Building Number'''" is the number of the building. For example, in this address: '''215 South Main Street, Rochester, MI, USA''', 215 is the building number. This field is optional.

===Category===
''Main article [[Adding_places#Categories|Categories]]''

There is a [http://wikimapia.org/#lat=50.8111027&lon=-7.8152405&z=2&l=0&m=b&show=/user/tools/categories/?page=1 list of categories] that you can choose for your new place. To make things easier, there's a search box. Categories are ''very important'', always add them to your tags, if possible. Basically, they allow you to define the type of the place you've added and others to find it among the similar tags.

===Wikipedia Link===
''Main article: [[Adding_places#Wikipedia_link|Wikipedia link]]''

If your new place has a Wikipedia entry, it goes herback to [[Main Page]]. If your new place does '''not''' have a Wikipedia entry, don't invent one just so you can put it in this field. This field is optional. When the place has a valid Wikipedia page in that language with an appropriate title, update the Wikimapia title so that the Wikipedia entry and the Wikimapia entry are the same.

===Saving the place you've created===
When you are all done, click the "Save" button (You might have to scroll down a little bit to see it). Voila! You have just created a place in Wikimapia.

=More=

Read more detailed description of [[Tools|tools]] and explanation of [[About_Wikimapia|guidelines and policies]]. If you didn't find answers to your questions, they could be in our [[Help/FAQ|FAQ]].

Main Page

2012-07-04T07:54:14Z

Antdoghalo: spelling correction

__NOTOC__

'''This Documentation is an introduction to Wikimapia and an official reference manual of how to use Wikimapia features.'''

You can see links to the Documentation sections below. Clicking on any of the links therein will take you to its respective section.

=[[Quick start]]=

=[[About Wikimapia]]=

=[[Tools]]=

=[[User interface]]=

=[[User profile/account]]=

=[[Community]]=

=[[Help/FAQ]]=

User interface

2012-06-09T22:00:33Z

Antdoghalo:

When opening Wikimapia you see the default page of the site with the map and menu on the top. The interface of the site is quite clear, though it has its peculiarities.

== About the Wikimapia Main Screen ==
This is a description of the features you can see and which are available from the main screen.

1. At the very top, your browser's title bar shows the Wikimapia motto "Let's describe the whole world!".

2. If you have the browser's address bar displayed it shows the latitude and longitude (#lat=49.009276&lon=2.548485) as well as some other stuff.

3. In the main window you can see a view of the world. These are satellite images, sometimes aerial photography, and sometimes no image at all (close-ups over the oceans, for example). The images are supplied by Google and are in fact the same images as are used by Google Maps. Wikimapia has NO control over their quality or their age. That bears repeating: Wikimapia has NO control over the quality of the satellite images or how old they are. Google does update their images periodically, but they do so on their own schedule and when they see fit.

4. You will also see country names, and (at higher zoom level) city names overlaid on the satellite image. These are also supplied 100% by Google, not Wikimapia.

5. At higher zoom levels there are rectangular boxes (place tags) on top of the satellite images. These tooltips show places titles, and (if it exists) their polygonal shape. These place tags belong to Wikimapia and have been created by Wikimapians like you and me. If you click on the tooltip, you can look at its contents: a description, maybe a photo, a Wikipedia link, and people's comments - in one or more language pages. And according to wiki principles, if you see something incorrect or you want to expand on it, you to can edit it. You can read more about what should be in a place tag in the section [[Tools#Adding_places| Adding Places]] in this Documentation.

6. Along the top edge there are four items in bold red font: Edit map, Map type, Categories, and code of two letters - abbreviation for language. If you have registered and logged in you will also see your username.

6a. "Edit map" is a menu, containing Add place and Transport (means linear features) road, railroad, ferry, river.

6b. "Map type" determines how you see Wikimapia map. Click [[User_interface#Map_type|here]] for details.

6c. [[User_interface#Categories |Categories]].

6d."Your user name" is a link to your own user profile. You can read about this in [[User_profile/account|User profile]] section of this manual.

6e. EN (or other ISO code) - language of your interface

7. Near the left-hand edge there is a zoom tool (click the [+] or [-] boxes, click along the bar, or drag the slider), but you can also change the zoom level with the wheel on your mouse. Above the zoom tool is a navigation tool for moving east, west, north or south, and you can also click and drag the map itself. If you double-click on an empty (un-tagged) spot the screen view will be recentered to that location.

You can also use the following keyboard shortcuts to zoom and pan (just remember to click on the map first to activate them):
+ zooms in, - zooms out, the 4 arrow keys pan in their direction, Home pans one screen west, End pans one screen east, PgUp pans one screen north and PgDn pans one screen south.

All these navigation commands are the same as you have in Google Maps.

8. At the top right corner there is a gray input box and a red "search" button. Please the [[User_interface#Search|Searching]] section of this manual.

9. At the bottom left of the screen is the word Google, which provides a link to Google Maps for this location.

10. At the bottom right of the screen there is a "Terms of Use" link to Google Maps Terms and Conditions, where you can read the basic legal rules that we have to operate under, and “Wikimapia CC-By-SA” link, that tells about Wikimapia terms reference and Creative Commons license.

== Edit map ==
This is where it all starts, to add a place on the map, select 'Add place'. To draw linear features on the map is also situated here, you can select [[Tools#Linear_features| Road, Railroad, Ferry or River]] from this list.

== Map type ==
As a registered user there are ten map layers to choose from they are:

* Map - Wikimapia map layer
Viewing this answers many of the questions one might have about how to map features shown on the satellite imagery. When beta was introduced, Wikimapia administration provided two comprehensive examples: [http://wikimapia.org/beta/#lat=47.0214613&lon=28.8525009&z=13&l=0&m=w&v=1] & [http://wikimapia.org/beta/#lat=56.9538798&lon=24.119947&z=16&l=0&m=w&v=1]

The colours used on the map layer include the following (square brackets denote categories):
{| class="wikitable"
| Blue with border || [lake], [water]
|-
| Blue without border || [river], river drawing
|-
| Blue dotted line || ferry line drawing
|-
| Green with border || not used?
|-
| Green without border || [park], [garden]
|-
| Light-grey with border || [other ordinary tags]
|-
| Light-grey without border || [village], [city], [town]
|-
| Dark-grey with border || [building],
|-
| Dark-grey without border || not used?
|-
| White background || land
|-
| White without border || [island]
|-
| Black/white || Railroad drawing
|-
| Yellow || Road drawing
|-
| Pale-yellow || Tunnels in road drawing
|-
| Invisible with border || [draw only border]
|-
| Invisible without border || [invisible]
|}

* Satellite - Google's satellite imagery with Wikimapia's places, roads, railways and rivers superimposed. Excludes places without polygons from Wikimapia Classic (see "Satellite + old places" below).

* Satellite + Old places (rectangular tags without polygon outlines )
Due to a change in Wikimapia's service, all place tags without polygon outlines are not visible in the default view of the newer system. However, the older place tags are still viewable as squares and rectangles in the 'Satellite + old places' map view and the 'Wikimapia Classic' map view.
Before adding a place tag please choose 'Satellite + old places' as your main map view for place tagging. Click on 'Map type' > 'Satellite + old places'. The 'Satellite + old places' map view will show places that are already marked. If you find an older place tag, please convert it by clicking "Add outline" under the square/rectangle. Do not duplicate an existing place tag.

'''Alternative sources'''

* Google Map - Google's map layer.

* Google Hybrid - Google's satellite imagery with Google roads and Google place names superimposed.

* Google Satellite - The raw Google satellite imagery with nothing superimposed.

* Google Terrain - Google's terrain layer shows contours, shaded relief, Google place names and major rivers.

* Google Panoramio - Google's satellite imagery photographs from Google [http://www.panoramio.com/ Panoramio] superimposed.

* Openstreetmap

'''Other'''

* Deleted Places

* Wikimapia Classic

'''''It should be noted that unregistered users do not have access to the 'Deleted Places' layer.'''''

'''Notes'''
* Places, roads, railways, ferries, rivers and terrain can be added to any of the map types.
* ''Google satellite'' is useful if you temporarily need an uncluttered view eg in the middle of mapping a place, road, etc some detail is obscured by other mapped features.

== Categories ==

=== What are categories ===

Categories are words or short phrases that are used to describe a place in some manner. Categories classify place objects according to their place type or function. You can add one or a few categories to any place tag. Categories enrich place objects visually by displaying icons and/or different polygon colours.

=== What are categories for ===

The main thing, some would even say the only thing, that categories are for is to enable us to filter for places. In other words, to '''show their locations on the map'''. Do you want to see where the schools are? where the train stations are? where the churches / museums / gas stations / hospitals / police stations / fire stations / cemeteries / hotels / restaurants / whatever are? Wikimapia has the answer!

=== How do we interact with categories? ===
# We see them on a place tag's info page (and we find them in Google's search results).
# We can add or delete them to a place tag. This helps in describing the place, but should not replace writing something in the <tt>description</tt> field.
# We can filter for them. Using the dropdown menu on the main screen, select one of the displayed categories or enter a word in the search box at its top to find others, and the locations of places with this category will be shown with a red dot on the map.
# They can give information about how to draw the place on the map layer, ie. 'draw only border' or or 'invisible' categories (see below). Some categories also imply a specific colour in the map layer.

=== Special categories ===
There are some special categories that can not only help to determine the type of the object, but also can give information about how to draw the place on the map layer.
# invisible - this category is applied in case of adding a large object like a block or a district that has a lot of nested objects, so the object won’t be shown on default site mode not to complicate the map, but it will be highlighted when you hover over it.
# draw only border - this category is very much alike with the previous, but the objects from this category are shown as perimeters without color fill.
# lake, river, water - objects with polygons filled with blue color
# park, garden - polygons are filled with green color
# town, village, city - light grey polygon
# do not draw title - objects without a title, it is useful when drawing a forest or a field, because they often just don’t have any names, though you can still type just ‘forest’ or ‘field’ and it will be shown in a tooltip when hover your mouse over the object.
# historical layer / disappeared object - special category for those objects that do not exist anymore in reality. Using this filter allows you to explore how the area looked like in the past. You may find this category a bit confusing, as it said in [http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines/ Wikimapia guidelines] that tags should be deleted if they refer to a “non-existent place, even if it was there in the past”. To clarify a probable misunderstanding, we should say that non-existent places can be deleted from the map if they do not seem valuable for a moderator or a user, who delete the object, though if any person consider disappeared place was important\interesting, then it’s better to move it to ‘historical layer’ category.

=== History or Why are there so many crazy categories? ===

In the beginning there were no categories. Instead there was a field called "keywords" that people could write into. The idea was that they would write useful keywords, like "school" and "airport", but instead many people simply copied the place title or wrote comments like
"we got married in this church". If the writer was French, they wrote in French ("nous nous sommes mariйs dans cette йglise"), if German, then in German ("wir wurden in dieser Kirche geheiratet"). Then categories were created, and it was decided to build the initial category database from the keywords. In most cases the categories created were assumed to be in English. So we had categories for school and airport, but also many like: got, married, this, church, nous, sommes, maries, dans, cette, eglise, wir, wurden, dieser, kirche, geheiratet. We got some useful categories, but also quite a lot that were less than useful. In addition, we had words from different languages that all meant the same thing (church, eglise, kirche) that were assigned separate categories in English.

There was also a period when it was really easy to choose the most popular categories, just by clicking in some boxes on the edit screen. Unfortunately, many people thought they could make their creations more popular by choosing all these categories, so they did. The real result, of course, is that when we now find places categorized with all of [village], [school], [city], [restaurant], [park], [hospital], etc. everyone just says "nonsense".

=== Deleting categories from places ===

You must realize that every category was added to a place for a reason. The reason may be silly, or as a result of a misunderstanding, or as a joke, or it was inherited from the original keywords, for example. But there is always a reason. If you want to delete a category and you understand the reason for it being there, then go ahead and delete it. If, however, you do not understand the reason, then please take a few moments to think about this some more before you destroy someone's work.

=== Other "Categories" info ===

* If the search function in the main screen's "Categories" menu doesn't show enough results, you can find more using the "Tools | Categories hierarchy" page (accessible from the dropdown menu under your login name). This is for searching the category hierarchy tree, so you can also see parent and child relationships here. Note that this search function returns results in all languages, not just the one you are using.

* When filtering for a category that has many associated places, then displaying them all, especially at the "whole world" zoom level, is not feasible, so only the 100 largest are shown. If you zoom in a bit, a different 100 may be shown, depending on the area you have on your screen. Similarly, if you delete one of the 100, the previously 101'st biggest will now be shown.

* A category can be translated into any of the supported languages, so that (for example) Russian users see category words that are meaningful to them.

* A category can have parent, child and synonym (brother/sister) categories.

* A category has a description field. When you are in 'filtering' mode, click on the category name at the bottom of the screen to see its description and its parent/child categories. If you are unsure of what the category means, this is the place to look for an explanation.

* You can read more in-depth information on the [[Community#Categories_moderators| Categories for Category Moderators]] page.

== User profile ==
Your account/profile is also the place where you can see how many places you have created, how many you have edited, how many comments you have made. You can vote for other users: give them a good vote if you like what they have done, and where you can get feedback on what others think about your own work.

You can access your profile by simply hovering over on your username at the top menu and clicking 'profile'.

== Language selection ==
This gives you the option to change the interface language. It also changes the preferred place description, map labels and tooltip language.

== Search ==
There are three things you can do with Wikimapia Search: you can search for places (the default), you can search for cities, and you can find locations via their geographic coordinates (longitude and latitude). All search functions are accessed via the text box and red Search button at the top right of the main Wikimapia screen. Just type one or more keywords into the box and click on Search. Your search results will be displayed in the window that opens, and you can then click on one of those, or check the next page of results if there are more.

The search results are presented in order of their distance from the map location you currently have on screen, although sometimes a few major cities are placed at the very top if they match what you searched for.

If you enter two or more search terms, you will find results where ALL those terms are present, so if you search for Santa Monica this means you will find locations where Santa AND Monica are present. It is not possible to search for places with Santa OR Monica. Nor is it possible to search for the entire string "Santa Monica", the quote signs are simply ignored and the results will be the same as if you entered Santa Monica (or Monica Santa). Capitalization is not important either, Monica and mOnIcA will produce the same results.

If you know the longitude and latitude of some place you can use Search to go directly there. Just enter the coordinates in the search box and then click on the "Go to this location:" that comes up. You can enter the coordinates as either decimals or degrees, minutes, seconds; so "50.5" and "50 30" are equivalent. The one thing you MUST include is the letters E/W and N/S after the numerical part, to specify whether it is East or West, and North or South. Two examples that are equivalent:

'''74.044w 40.689n'''

'''40 41 21 North 74 2 39 WEST'''

== Zoom Control/ Zoom Levels ==
'''Zoom''' or '''Zooming''' is a basic feature of interactive maps. On the upper left side of Wikimapia's display is a set of boxes with arrows (for scrolling), and below that is a slide bar with a plus symbol [+] at the top and a minus symbol [-] at the bottom. By clicking on the plus symbol [+], you can magnify the view by a factor of two. By clicking on the minus symbol [-], you can pull out by a factor of two.

If you want to jump to a higher or lower zoom level faster, you can click directly on the hatch marks on the slide bar. If your mouse has a mouse wheel, you can also zoom in and out with it; unlike the slide bar, which zooms in and out from the cross hair at center of the screen, zooming with the mouse wheel is centered on your cursor. Double-clicking on the map only re-centers the map on that point, unlike Google's interface, where double-clicking zooms in.

'''Zoom Levels'''
----
Wikimapia follows Google's zoom system, which runs from zoom level 0, which is so far out that the world appears multiple times, to zoom level 23, which is so close one can make out individual tree leaves. The zoom level or zoom number is displayed in the url (the web address) at the top of your browser. For example, in [http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=36.8835339&lon=30.6899643&z=13&l=0&m=a this view of the city of Antalya] in Turkey, your url should read <tt><nowiki>http://www.wikimapia.org/</nowiki>#lat=36.8835339&lon=30.6899643&z=13&l=0&m=a</tt>. After the latitude and longitude numbers, the zoom level is given after <tt>z=</tt> (in this example, <tt>z=13</tt>). 
Place polygons appear(glow yellow) on mouse-over, only if the zoom level is low enough to allow the entire polygon (rectangle in the old wikimapia) to fit in a full screen window, even if only a part of it is showing at the edge of the screen. So if a place does not glow on mouse-over, you might need to zoom-out.

== Coordinates ==
== Wikimapia's URL ==
Advanced users may occasionally find it useful to know how to decode the variables in '''Wikimapia's URL'''.

'''Primary URL'''
----

An example Wikimapia URL is http://wikimapia.org/#lat=53.9560855&lon=-1.9335937&z=3&l=0&m=a&v=2. The purpose of each of the variables is:

{| class="wikitable"
! Variable !! Purpose
|-
| lat= || The latitude of the centre cross in decimal degrees
|-
| lon= || The longitude of the centre cross in decimal degrees
|-
| z= || The [[zoom level]]. The closest available tends to be the range z=14 to z=18 but there are exceptions such as the oceans or major cities.
|-
| l= || A numerical id for the language
|-
| m= || The map type: w=Wikimapia map, b=Satellite/Satellite + old places, m=Google map, h=Google hybrid, s=Google satellite, t=Google terrain), a= automatic (deprecated in beta).
|-
| v= || The option selected in the view menu: 0=All places, 1=No places, 2=All places, 3=User map, 5=Roads view (deprecated in beta), 4=Deleted places, 6=Roads edit (will not be activated just by linking).
|-
| search= || Some text to place in the search window (and search on).
|-
| show= || An internal document to be displayed.
|-
|}

Note: In most cases, the URL includes the '#' sign. If this is the case and you only change something to the right of the #, you need to refresh the page after having made your modification and hitting enter. The '#' actually points to an "anchor" named like what follows it inside the page. Despite the fact that this anchor does not really exist, the browser "believes" that it has to stay at the same page.

'''Geotools URL'''
----

Take as an example: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=-15.7747435&lon=-47.9143596&z=16&l=9&m=a&v=2&gz=0;-479177713;-157770563;29611;0;0;1033;0;58439

The parameters before "&gz=" are a regular Wikimapia URL as described above.

The parameters following "&gz=" are:
# type (0=distance measure; 1=area measure)
# longitude of origin point (the westernmost longitude of all your points)
# latitude of origin point (the southernmost latitude of all your points)
# degrees longitude between 1st point and origin
# degrees latitude between 1st point and origin
# degrees longitude between 2nd point and origin
# degrees latitude between 2nd point and origin
# degrees longitude between 3rd point and origin
# degrees latitude between 3rd point and origin
# etc.

Notes:
* The degree parameters should be read as if they have 7 decimal places. For example, 109899353 is really 10.9899353.
* The origin may not be a point in your geotools measurement list since its longitude and latitude may come from different points in your list. The reason for using this point as the origin may be so that all location offsets from it are guaranteed to be positive.
* The order of the position entries is different to the lat/long in the URL. This is probably because in a graph a position is usually indicated by (x,y), ie a horizontal (x) and vertical (y) pair.

'''Place URL'''
----
Places in Wikimapia have internal id numbers like an SSN, starting at 1. For instance, place #1 is a supermarket in a southern suburb of Moscow: http://wikimapia.org/1/Auchan-Kommunarka-hypermarket . You can also shorten this to just http://wikimapia.org/1/ if the title is not desired. Since no lat/long is provided in the URL, the page will show up with a small satellite image of the place in red and you can click on the red place to see the regular wiki page and the satellite image centered on that place and zoomed appropriately.

back to [[Main Page]]

Quick start

2012-06-09T21:57:24Z

Antdoghalo: /* Title */ labelled

This page is for those who want to jump right into Wikimapia. Here you can find some advice and a simple manual to the main Wikimapia functions - exploring the map and place adding. Though there a lot of other features on Wikimapia, adding places is what a new user might use first. Besides, there are some features like adding linear features that are available only for 2+ [[Community#User levels|User levels]]. For more information about Wikimapia features read [[Tools]] section.

== Advice for new users ==

1. Wikimapia is not a very complicated thing to understand, so you could probably figure out everything just during its usage. Though if you face anything that may seem obscure, please read this manual carefully (you don’t need to memorize it but you'll see how it helps to know what topics are covered here) and don’t be afraid to ask more experienced users for help. Use messages and forum to communicate.

2. Add local places, as many as you want, all information (outline, title, description, etc.) must be accurate, useful and organized. Remember that the number of places created is not really important, to create more and more places should not be your goal. It is MUCH more important that you create local places (tags) with QUALITY: Places that will be of interest to others, that will help people learn about the world.

3. Familiarize yourself with [[About_Wikimapia#Policies|Wikimapia policies and guidelines]], so you’ll be aware of unpleasant situations, like being banned because of accidentally violating the rules or deletion of your tags.

4. Think twice before you edit or delete a particular location created by another user. Someone added it and had reasons to make it the way it is, so be ready to argue your editing/deletion and refer to Documentation as an official manual. If you have any doubts we recommend you to send the user a message with your suggestions first.

5. Be patient, be good, and be co-operative with other Wikimapia users. Remember: you are representing yourself, your family, your community and your country. Try to give a good impression of them all.

== Exploring the map ==
''Main article: [[User interface]]''

Wikimapia provides a lot of data, you just need to know how to get it.

*Fist of all you can choose how to watch the map. Different map types can give you different information. See [[User_interface#Map_type|Map types]] for details.

*You can search for a particular place. Just type keywords, its address or coordinates in search bar. You can also search type of places through categories filter. See [[User_interface#Categories|User interface:Categories]] for more details.

*You can learn about a particular place by clicking on its title. In tag window you can see place information: description, address, Wikipedia link, categories, photos and its child objects.

*Every city has its own page called cityguide. Every cityguide (ie, [http://rio-de-janeiro.wikimapia.org/ rio-de-janeiro.wikimapia.org] ) contains an overview of the city, lists of all streets, categories, tags and photos.

== Adding place ==

First of all, we recommend to use ‘Satelite + old places’ map type (choose it at the top menu) for adding new places, this will prevent creating duplicates. Find the place you would like to tag and make sure this wasn't done already. Then, select "Add Place" from the Menu at the top of the screen. You may have to zoom in some more. Using the tool that appears, outline the place. When you are done, click the "Save" button.

Another window with the form should pop up, in which you can describe the place you've added:

===Language===
''Main article: [[Tools#Language|Language]]''

This selects a language for your new place. This field is required.

===Title===
''Main article: [[Tools#Title|Title]]''

The first text box is labelled "'''Title'''." Enter a title for your new place. This field is required.
Keep in mind that "CAPS LOCK" should be avoided, because this is web lingo for someone shouting, and it doesn't make your tag more important.

===Description===
''Main article: [[Tools#Description|Description]]''

The next box is titled "'''Description'''." Type something that describes the place. It can be anything about the place - history, what makes it special, etc.. Place's description is what makes a tag useful. Try to be correct, [[About_Wikimapia#NPOV|neutral]], and avoid [[About_Wikimapia#Advertising|advertising]].

===Addresses===
''Main article: [[Tools#Address|Address]]''

The next two boxes are labeled "'''Street'''" and "'''Building Number'''."

The "'''Street'''" is the name of the street the place is located on. Sometimes, a scrolling menu is here; this means that there are streets nearby that were created. For instance, a building might have a postal address of "Main Street". Note that the street field is optional.
Please remember that adding a street name must be the exact street's name not the whole address. For the same reason it is not necessary to enter the zip code/postal code of the street into this field. Instead put the whole address at the Description Field and whenever you search it, the search engine will find it accurately.

The "'''Building Number'''" is the number of the building. For example, in this address: '''215 South Main Street, Rochester, MI, USA''', 215 is the building number. This field is optional.

===Category===
''Main article [[Tools#Categories|Categories]]''

There is a list of categories that you can choose for your new place. To make things easier, there's a search box. Categories are ''very important'', always add them to your tags, if possible. Basically, they allow you to define the type of the place you've added and others to find it among the similar tags.

===Wikipedia Link===
''Main article: [[Tools#Wikipedia_link|Wikipedia link]]''

If your new place has a Wikipedia entry, it goes herback to [[Main Page]]e. If your new place does '''not''' have a Wikipedia entry, don't invent one just so you can put it in this field. This field is optional. When the place has a valid Wikipedia page in that language with an appropriate title, update the Wikimapia title so that the Wikipedia entry and the Wikimapia entry are the same.

===Saving the place you've created===
When you are all done, click the "Save" button (You might have to scroll down a little bit to see it). Voila! You have just created a place in Wikimapia.

=More=

Read more detailed description of [[Tools|tools]] and explanation of [[About_Wikimapia|guidelines and policies]]. If you didn't find answers to your questions, they could be in our [[Help/FAQ|FAQ]].

Tools

2012-06-09T21:51:24Z

Antdoghalo: Most users write it like that nowadays

Wikimapia gives you an opportunity not only to use its data but also to improve it. When you first decide to add or edit a place tag you start using tools. This manual is designed to help you exploring all functions that Wikimapia can offer you for changing and improving the map.

== Editing the map ==

=== Adding places ===

'''Adding places''' to Wikimapia is what makes it happen; the cornerstone of a wiki that attempts to describe the entire Earth is that all places in it are based entirely on user input. Any user can contribute to Wikimapia. Below are some hints and suggestions to get you started on Wikimapia. But not all things are permitted; unwelcome and unhelpful additions will be deleted.

Adding a place is easy; just select 'edit map' on the tool bar and then further select 'add a place' from the pull-down menu and a red polygon tool will appear. Read below how to make a proper polygon.

====Polygons====
A polygon is a multi-sided shape that can be used to define a place in detail. Polygons are made up of sides and points. There is a limitation on the number of points you can add to a polygon depending on [[Community#User_levels|user level]]. Each corner of the polygon is shown as a little red square when you are in edit mode. When you want to make a new polygon first be doubly sure that a 'new' polygon is needed (see [[User_interface#Map_type| Map type section]] for advice). Then from the "Edit Map" pull-down menu, select "Add Place". This generates a little red cross, next to your cursor arrow, and a black box with red writing appears at the base of the screen, with two options “save” (not yet available of course) and “cancel”, whose functions are pretty obvious. There is also a “help” link which takes you to this very Guidance on adding places should you need it.

Move the red cross to a specific point on the edge of the outline you want to make and click your mouse-button (typically left-click). This generates a small red box in place of the cross and represents your first 'polygon point'. (Note: when creating detailed polygons that might involve say more than just a few points, it is a good idea to always start generating your polygons in the same general relative place, such as at the 12 O’clock point as on a clock-face. This way you know where in general you are on the outline, as you progress through the process. When you move the cursor again another red cross will appear next to it and when you mouse-click again you will generate your second polygon point. Finally, a third red cross will automatically occur as you move your mouse and naturally a further mouse-click will generate a third polygon point. You have now generated a triangle which is the simplest polygon possible, but do try to carry on and avoid a simple triangular polygon, if possible, as most outlines are not normally triangular in shape.

From here on as you need to add further points, in order to accurately plot your polygon, you simply drag your cursor slowly across the line of the polygon side nearest to where you wish to add a further point, and you will see the red cross appear again. Simply place this cross carefully over where the next point in the polygon is needed and mouse-click again to generate further polygon points. If a point is in the wrong place don't worry, you can always move it by clicking on it with your mouse while holding down the mouse key, then move the cursor to the spot you want it, and then release the mouse key. This is called "dragging". To create points that are some distance away, you will want to create the point first and then drag it to where you want it.

To delete an unwanted point, click on it and release. A box with the word "remove" will appear. Click on this box once, and wait for the point to disappear, which may take a moment if your polygon has many points. Be aware that the system will never permit polygon lines to cross over or intersect each other. So that as you move your red cross about, whenever a straight line drawn from it would cross over an existing line, the red cross simply disappears thereby preventing an 'intersecting' point from being generated. Equally, if deleting an existing point would cause existing lines to cross a message appears telling why you cannot delete that point.

You should ensure a polygon only outlines the immediate area of the place you are marking. Never overlap an adjacent area that is not part of the place. For example, you can tightly mark the outline of a building's structure or you could mark the outline of the building's surrounding property (e.g. grounds, car parking, footpaths etc.), this should always depend on what you are marking. Always ensure a place is marked clearly and accurately so it can be distinguishable as an independent place tag.

Satellite/aerial images typically show places photographed at something of an angle because they present three-dimensional (3D) information. Since Wikimapia's mapping system is only two-dimensional (2D), it is unavoidable that you can only add polygons that are 2D in nature. This means you should plot the image only as if viewing it from directly above [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthophoto "orthorectify"] so that you outline its ground level footprint or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadir nadir]. Try to avoid marking 3D elements of the obliquely photographed object, such as the perspective projection of its sides and summit. This is especially important when plotting out tall buildings, like skyscrapers, where the visible perspective of its sides in a photograph might be very pronounced.

Once you have finished outlining your place, click on the "save" button at the bottom of the screen and a box will appear in which you can write information about the place. Although this all sounds quite involved after the first few polygons you make it will all become second nature. Just try your best and don't worry if it's not perfect first time, as it will always be possible to come back and refine it later.

====Place information====

'''Remember''': Titles and descriptions should be written clearly, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthography without errors], according to national [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy language rules]. Titles should be written in the language which corresponds to the language page chosen.
For languages which use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_case case distinction], titles should be begin with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization capital letter] but must not end with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop full stop or period] (e.g. London). In some languages proper names should have [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark quotation mark]. Wrong titles and descriptions should be edited.

[[File:Place inf.jpg|right|600px]]

=====Language=====
There is a reason for it to come first: it is very important to get right. This field is mandatory.
Note that the default language is shown in the box. Please make sure the language you chose is the same language you intended to create your tag in. For example, do not select English as the language choice and enter your created place or description in Dutch, French or any other languages.

If you want to add a language to an already created place, you can select 'Menu' > 'Add another language' in a place window, or you can select 'edit info in other language >>' in a place edit window. Choose your desired language from the list of over a hundred choices available and proceed to add your language generally.

=====Title=====
Enter a title for your newly created place. This field is mandatory, but please note that ''address'' can be used instead of title. In this case, you have to leave 'Title' field '''blank''' and data from address field will be used automatically as a title. Choose your title carefully as this is what will appear when someone hovers their mouse over the place tag. You should always add the officially recognized name of the place you are marking, and if by chance this is not apparent, you may add the most popular or widely used name for the title. Anything which is not part of a place's name should be included in the description section instead.

Using known abbreviations (preferably those meeting [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbreviation abbreviation convention]) instead of several words is supposed. Other words should be written completely.

Keep in mind that "CAPS LOCK" should be avoided because this is the web convention for someone shouting. It is better to type in mixed caps.

Note that if you are adding a private residence, it is often best to simply provide the address as the title rather than the name of the person who lives there. This is also true for apartment buildings that have no business name.

=====Description=====
Type something that describes the place. It can be anything about the place: its history, its strangeness, etc. This is an optional field but a place's description is what makes a tag useful or interesting.

You will be prompted with: '''Please provide a place information (be good, don't write bad words)'''.

You can provide URL's in the text. You may find on testing the URL that you have to "URL encode" as percent-hexnum-hexnum some punctuation characters before the link works properly, and you must always ensure that it begins with the hyper-text protocol prefix "http://" in any event. If you provide a YouTube link, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview, as well as the plan link.

===== Address =====

* '''Street''' is a special feature which links a place tag to a road object. Therefore, both object types will share a common association much like the address of a building with its street. Road objects linked to place tags can be viewed in the place tag's window and place tag linked to road objects can be viewed in the road object's window. Use the arrow to the right of the field to see if your street has already been entered. If it has, select it. If not, scroll to the bottom of the list, select "Another..." and type the name of your street into the new field labelled "enter name". For example, in the address '''210 Banks Road, Swingville, USA''' Banks Road is the street. This field is optional.

* '''Building number''' is the number of your place from its address. For example, in the address '''210 Banks Road, Swingville, USA''', 210 is the building number. Nothing else should be entered in this box, for example, name of the building. Sometimes some buildings do not have number but only the name of the building, in case like that, the name should appear in the title, and this box to be leave blank. This field is optional.

Be aware that each city or other jurisdiction generally has a system of street naming and addressing that should be followed. In some cases, the cardinal direction is an integral part of the street name, so that "South Brown Street" is different from "North Brown Street". In other naming conventions, the street is just "Brown Street" and North and South are considered to be part of a building's number, such as "501 N." If you are not familiar with the local naming convention, assume that the direction belongs in the Building number field and '''don't''' include it in the Street field.

When you open an addressed place tag, you can click on the street name, opening the street info page. There, you can edit its name, add another language or just see the list of address numbers along this street. Addresses with the '''building number''' field that don't start with a number are displayed as '''0''' in this list. The numbers are links for their related place tags. You can also reach this info page, in '''street edit''' mode, if there is a street associated to this address.

Full address systems usually require more fields to define a place exactly. But, if you want to provide a complete address, including city, neighborhood, zip code, you should put this information in the description field. If you do this, don't forget to put street name and number in the correct address fields, so that Wikimapia can understand that information as an address. References to nearby places ("next to...") or other street names (in corners, for example) also should be only in description, not in the address field.

In some cases, you may know only the street name, but not the building number. If it occurs, you can leave the building number empty, so that you can fill in after finding out the correct number or anyone else can complete this information. It's not necessary to put '0', or '-' in the number field if you don't know it.

Note that not every place is an addressable object. For example, cities and neighborhoods usually don't have a specific address. So, you should leave their address fields empty. Don't put the name of an important street name in that region if it's not really the address of the place tag.
====== Languages ======
As the place tags, streets also can be described in multiple languages. This allows the street name to appear in every place tag info page, in every language it's described. And the street will appears in each page according to the language. Once a language page has an address, you will not be able to choose names from a list in other languages. It happens because the street name in these other languages should correspond to the translated version with respect to the language page that has already an address. You can provide this translations by two ways:
* By the street info page, that you can reach by clicking on the street name, on any place tag in this street (in the language this street name is already stored). In this street info page, you can select option '''Add another language''' under menu and then select the language.
* If there is a place in this street that is already described in the language you want to add, you can choose to edit the place tag in this language. This way, you'll see a text field after '''Street''' (instead of a list), where you can type the translated version.

====== Duplicated names ======
Since November 2008, Wikimapia has a system to check for duplicated entries in the address system. It tries to avoid creation of duplicated entries, with the same name, referring to the same street. The same system also allows an automatic detection when you want to name a street where there is already an addressed place tag or another nearby homonymic street, associating these entries, making them a unique one.

The system detects duplication in address editions and while naming new streets. But it doesn't detect duplications when users type a new address direct in the address field of a place tag. That's why it's important to check the street names list before choosing '''Other...''' and typing a new name. Pay attention also when crating places in a language other than English.

The system is not case sensitive. So '''Sun street''' or '''SUN STREET''' are considered duplicated entries for '''Sun Street''' (which is the recommended form). The checking is made by language. so, if we add a '''Moon Street''' in English, there will be no duplication detection if there is already a '''Moon Street''' registered in another language (if it doesn't have '''Moon Street''' as its English version too, of course).

When the system detects you tried to provide a duplicated entry, a message appears saying "Sorry, there is already a street with the name you entered." and the info page of the existent street opens. In order to do what you attempt or, you should:

* If you were editing an address when received the message, edit the place again and select the correct street name from the list. Remember that, in this case, only this place will be corrected (while editing an address would allow you to correct many places with a unique action). So, to correct all places with the wrong address, you should repeat this process for all of them.

* If you were correcting (editing) a street name in the '''street edit''' mode: You should select all segments you want to receive this new, correct name, and then choose the option ''''clear (unset) name'''. Save. Select the segments again and, when naming, choose ''' choose street names from nearest street''' and check for the name in this list. If it's there and you know there is part of the street already named, select it and save. If there is no part of the street already named, there is probably a homonymic street in the nearby region (read the last paragraph of this section). If the street name is not there, the duplication was caused by a street name from the address system. In this case, you can write the street name in the title and save. The street and the address system will be associated automatically.

Since street names in different cities (or neighborhoods, in some cases) can have the same name in the real life, Wikimapia checks for duplicated names in a 2 km range only. But there are cases when different streets are homonymic and they are closer than 2 km. There is no final solution to this problem yet. We suggest that you choose one of the streets to put a '.' in the end of the name.

====== Exceptions ======
In some regions or cities, the address is not described by a street name and a number. In these cases, try to find an experienced user in this region and ask him/her how you should write the address of these places, adapting the real addressing system to the Wikimapia's one. If you can't find such experienced user, you can follow some examples. If they are not satisfactory, ask the forum and propose your own standard to adapt this local address system.

=====Wikipedia link=====
If the place you have described or are editing has a corresponding [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] article to assist in the description or to provide a understanding of a place, then feel free to add the entire URL of the Wikipedia article in this location. But you should remember that Wikipedia article about a specific object is a good way to enrich the description, while articles about the type of an object are unnecessary (i.e. it’s a good idea to provide an article from Wikipedia about the Eiffel tower to the Eiffel Tower, but there is no need to provide an article that explains what a “tower” is). As long as the article is relevant, it is okay to add it. Keep in mind that only one Wikipedia® article can be added in the text box.

Wikipedia articles that do not exist or are not relevant to the topic should and will be removed. Only Wikipedia® articles will display in this box, "User Pages" and other types of namespace will not display, nor will any other outside URLs. It is recommended to cut and paste the link/URL in full from Wikipedia®, since errors will result in a no link listed in the Wikimapia article. Do not add Wikipedia link to a different language interface, for example, a Wikipedia link in English should only be applied to a tag that is in the English page, and not to insert Wikipedia link in other languages. You can insert the link to the correct and appropriate language pages if the tag had that particular languages been translated.

This field is optional.

=====Categories=====
Categories are labels that classify place tags according to their place type or function. A place tag must have at least one category and this is especially necessary when searching for specific place tags via the category search tool. Categories also enrich place tags visually by displaying icons and/or different polygon colors. The latter can only be viewed in the 'Map view'.

Selecting Categories reveals a list of the most popular from which you can choose. If the required category is not in the list scroll to the bottom of it and use the search box to find it. Take care not to overcategorize; in most cases a single category is sufficient.

There are two important points to remember: never use two or more categories as combinations to indicate one category, and only the most appropriate category that best describes the immediate function of your place tags should be used. Do not add extra categories for secondary places/services found within your place tag if they can be marked as place tags themselves.

=====This place is a building=====

As Wikimapia is a mapping website, it is important to distinguish different object types on the map. One of the most crucial aspects of a good map is to differentiate buildings from non-buildings. If the place you are marking is a building then you should check the building check box in the edit window. The effect of a ticked box is to cause the place to display in dark grey on the Wikimapia map. Removing the tick causes the place to display in light grey. So, it is crucial this feature is used correctly to render the proper shade. For these purposes a "building" is a contiguous built structural feature, which is typically seen as having both walls and a roof. It does not include any surrounding grounds and features, such as e.g. gardens, car parking and footpath access etc. If you want to include such features in your polygon do not tick the building box.

This field has a default that depends on the category chosen but take care as the default may be wrong. Obviously, for place tags, which are not buildings (e.g. parks, lakes, public squares etc.) ensure that the building check box is not checked, otherwise the entire polygon will be incorrectly rendered as a building and will conceal actual place tag buildings inside it in the 'Map view'. For a suggestion of how best to make use of this feature see Hint and tip number 2 below.

==== Photos ====
Photos are an integral part of describing a geographic location and this is apparent in sites like Flickr and Panoramio and applications such as Google Earth and Picasa. Wikimapia enables you to enjoy photos of places by allowing you to add them to their respective objects.

To add a photo, click 'Menu' > 'Add/manage photos' in the window. You can upload an image from your computer or you can add the URL of an image hosted on another website. Please note that photos must be related to the object and you cannot submit copyrighted material.

To add a photo to a ''linear object'', you must open the window of a place which has the desired street as its address and click it. Click 'Menu' > 'Add/manage photos' in the window and proceed to add the image as described above.

Photos must have a direct relation with a host object. Priority is given to primary images which shows the object itself externally and internally. Secondary images which have a lesser significance to an object are also allowed as long as there is a direct connection with a host object, even in the absence of primary images. The willful removal of a secondary image is forbidden unless it is replaced with a primary image. Examples of secondary images are:

* company logos; emblems, coat of arms & flags belonging to localities, counties & states; armed forces & emergency services insignias etc.
* unique products originating or sold from businesses e.g. restaurant dishes, clothes displayed by mannequins/models, products packaging etc. ''These should be unique to the object''.
* people at work to demonstrate the function of the object e.g. craftsmen/women showing a unique/rare skill, teachers & students in a classroom or assembly, tourists outside a popular point of interest etc. ''The object must be visible in the background''.

=====Photo Restrictions=====

There are restrictions on the type of images you can add. You cannot add images which do not explicitly show an object and this applies to images which are too vague or negligible. In addition, you cannot add images to illustrate or demonstrate the function of a place if they have no direct association whatsoever. It is forbidden to add images that fall in the following categories:

* '''Copyright images'''. Images which have licenses and require permission from the owner to be used beforehand.
* '''Obscene images'''. Explicit/shocking images of death, blood, gore etc.
* '''Nudity & Pornographic images'''. Strictly unacceptable examples of vulgarity. This includes suggestive images that exhibit blatant innuendos.
* '''Duplicates images'''. Copies of same image in one tag and photos taken with the same/similar camera angle.
* '''Spam images'''. Same image repeated in several tags.
* '''Politically-charged, racist or anti-religious images'''. Hateful, or slanderous images with malicious intent to offend.
* '''Non-relevant images'''. These include but are not limited to:
** Personal photos, portraits, passport photos etc.
** Cartoons, clip arts, GIFs etc.
** Celebrities, sport personalities, models etc.
** Religious symbols and pictures used to bless, adorn or revere an object or its religious significance.

=====Photo Attribution & Watermarking=====

If you have permission to use an image or its license permits you to use it in Wikimapia, you should adhere to its conditions for redistribution. If you need to provide attribution, you can do this by entering the necessary details in the comments section of the image in question. This procedure is especially necessary for copyrighted images with watermarks. You can also provide your personal images with or without watermarks.

However, you should be aware that by uploading images you agree to the requirements of Wikimapia's [http://wikimapia.org/terms_reference.html Terms of Reference].

==== Comments ====
The Comments section, which is available in all Wikimapia objects, allows you to make a comment or add an opinion about the tagged object. This is the only place where you can state an opinion which does not belong to the placetag's article because it is outside the scope of Wikimapia's [[Neutral Point of View]] policy. Keep in mind that unwelcome, offensive, meaningless comments, and senseless (without practical advantage) a question-reply chat (''chain comments'') between the users as well as comments unrelated to the tagged object are not permissible.

To add a comment, enter your text in the comment text box at the bottom of a placetag's window and click 'Send'. Unregistered users will be prompted to add a comment author's name in the 'Your name' text box.

====Parent & Child tags====

Parent & child tags are special place tags that are linked to each other. Parent tags contain child tags nested within them. This form of tagging is suitable for marking places that are located inside larger places, but the parent tag must be a building to make use of this function.

[[File:P&C1.jpg]]

There are two methods to link child place tags to parent place tags. There is the '''''embedding''''' method and there is the '''''binding''''' method.

The '''''embedding''''' method is suited to marking places that do not require polygons. This is ideal for places whose delimitation is difficult or impossible to determine within the boundary of the parent tag due to severe overlapping etc. This is also applicable to vertically constructed or multilevel buildings, such as high-rise residential apartments or office buildings.

The '''''binding''''' method is perfect for adding child tags whose boundaries can be defined within the parent tag. This is fitting for tenant-type places that exist in one building under the same roof (eg. shopping malls, retail parks etc.) or for existing tags that were marked before the parent building. In either case, the emphasis of this method is the inclusion of existing tags to be marked congruously on a singular level, floor or storey, within the boundary of the parent tag.

'''How to create and link an embedded child tag'''

#Ensure the parent building checkbox has been ticked. [[File:P&C2.jpg]]
#Select [[File:P&C3.jpg]] located in the window. A new window will open ready for entering embedded child tag details. Once completed, click "''Save''". It's as simple as that!

'''How to bind existing child tags'''

#Ensure the building checkbox has been ticked in the parent '''and''' child place tags. [[File:P&C2.jpg]]
#Make sure the polygon of the parent tag encompasses the polygon of the child tag i.e. the boundary of the child tag '''must not''' breach or be larger than the parent tag's boundary.
#Select [[File:P&C3.jpg]] located in the window.
#Select [[File:P&C6.jpg]] located at the top of the window.
#Choose the desired child tag from the dropdown list and then click on the "''Bind''" button. [[File:P&C7.jpg]]

You will have successfully linked a child tag to its parent tag, using either of the methods explained above.

When a parent tag is open, you will then be able to view all child tags listed under "''In this building''" [[File:P&C1.jpg]] Clicking on a child tag will open its window. The layout of the child tag is identical to that of a regular tag except for the header [[File:P&C10.jpg]] Clicking on the parent tag's blue label will navigate back to the parent tag's window.

The benefit of the '''''binding''''' method is that child tags can be easily unlinked from parent tag to become separate tags.

'''How to unbind a child tag'''

To disconnect a child tag from its parent, simply select [[File:P&C9.jpg]] from the child tag's menu.

This only works for child tags nested within parent tags using the '''''binding''''' method, it does '''not''' work for embedded child tags because they only exist within parent tags. The removal of a embedded child tag from its parent can only be done by deletion.

===Hints and tips===
# If the maximum [[zoom]] is insufficient to accurately place the lines of your polygon then an additional, digital, zoom level is available. To obtain it, roll your mouse wheel very very slowly forward. It sometimes takes two or three attempts to get this to work.
# If you have the patience, add places (polygons) for both the site and each building on it. The advantage of doing this should become obvious if you take a look at the [[Beta_Help:_Map_types#Wikimapia|Wikimapia map]]. Take care to set or unset the "This is a building" tick appropriately and to clearly distinguish in their titles the buildings and the plot on which they sit.

=== Editing places ===
'''Editing Places''' is the process in which existing tag|tags are modified. Editing places is a fundamental part of Wikimapia, since our physical world is always subject to change. However, editing should be done in a careful and responsible manner, and in accordance with Wikimapia's philosophy of [[Neutral Point of View]].

Wikimapia's aim is to provide a useful reference tool that supplies usable information for all its visitors, we therefore encourage you to make continuous improvement so that the information is up-to-date. You can add whatever information that is relevant to the place; this can be anything from correcting spelling or grammatical errors, to making wholesale changes to an otherwise bland or uninformative article.

====How to edit a place====
* When you select a tag, click on the red "Edit" label on the top-left corner.
* Choose "Edit this Page", and make your changes as necessary.
* Choose "Save" when you are done.

====Understanding the Editing Process====
If somebody has edited an article you have created or edited, do not worry! That is a normal consequence of a wiki: Anyone can edit it. A Wikimapia article can be improved, but only if there is relevant, verifiable, and useful information to add to it.

====What Is Not Permitted====
Occasionally, there may be places in Wikimapia that may be lacking information, or contain too much information! Please feel free to edit appropriately, but please leave these out of our Wikimapia titles and/or descriptions.

* Non-neutral point of view
* Vulgarity
* Slander/insult
* Invasion of privacy
* Editing wars (continually editing for the sake of ruining an article)
* Spam/advertising
* False information
* Boasting/bragging
* Using Wikimapia articles as a forum for opinions and viewpoints, specifically religion and politics.

No member "owns" the tags they create; no tag is free from editing just because they created it, or because they live in the area. ''Ownership of articles is not a function of Wikimapia'', which means that if you do not intend to have your information edited, we recommend you '''not''' to submit it to Wikimapia!

=== Deleting Places ===
Some place tags in Wikimapia are not satisfactory because they do not contain useful or interesting information. Again, there are other place tags, which do not describe places or are offensive, defamatory or hurtful in nature. If you encounter place tags like these, you should always attempt to correct them first. If they cannot be corrected, and they meet the deletion criteria of the [[Wikimapia Guidelines]], they should be deleted.

To delete a place tag, select 'Menu' > 'Delete place' in the place tag's window. You will be prompted to choose a deletion reason; it is important to note that you are obligated to confirm deletion only for the reason chosen. The place tag will enter a deletion period, after which it shall be deleted. The duration of the deletion period varies and depends on your user level.

Remember, always delete a place tag if it cannot be reclaimed into something acceptable bearing in mind, though, that willful deletion of a good place tag is forbidden.

==== Undeleting/Place restoration ====
If you think if a tag has been wrongfully been deleted, you can restore the tag by undeleting it. You'd first need to select 'Deleted places' option from the [[User_interface#Map_type|Map type]] menu, the Map type menu is situated at the top-left of the screen, when you click on the Map type menu a drop down list will appear. The 'Deleted places' option will appear on the tenth row, select it and deleted places will start to appear on the map in square boxes.

When you find the tag which has been deleted, click on the tag and hover the mouse arrow on the 'Menu' text and it will show a drop down menu. When you see the text 'Undelete; click on it and it will give you the option to write a brief explanation as to why the tag was wrongfully deleted, but this is '''''optional'''''. It is recommended however to write one as to clear up any misunderstandings, then you can go ahead by pressing the 'Undelete place' button which is situated at the bottom left of the tag. It takes about 2-3 minutes for a tag to be restored on the map.

====What kinds of place tags are most often deleted?====
If none of the above considerations are relevant, how do you determine whether to delete a place tag? The vast majority of deletable place tags fall into one of the following categories:

# “My house”, “I live here” - For personal houses, the thing to remember is that local conditions are different from place to place. In the US and Canada all personal homes are to be deleted, unless they meet the full criteria in the Adding section of this User Guide. In places like India, properly sized homes that have a person's full name and/or instructions on how to find their house are not deleted. [On the other hand, we would delete a place like "Nandini's House" because we assume that there's more than one woman named Nandini in India.]
# Too big – the rectangle is MUCH too large for something that claims to be a single building, and there is no way to tell which specific building inside the rectangle is intended to be the actual described place.
# Duplicates - Two or more tags for the same place. One of them should be edited and improved (if possible) and the other(s) deleted.
# Inappropriate language - Places with offensive or abusive language.
# Advertising or spam.
# Political or religious content that cannot be effectively removed by editing - e.g. the whole tag is a partisan statement.

If there is any other problem with the place tag, don't hesitate to bring it up in the Forum. The forum's [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1440 Place Deletion Requests thread] is a long and ongoing thread about deletion discussions.

=== Protection ===
If a place tag has been the target of vandalism (e.g. a genuine article is repeatedly placed for unjustified deletion), you can request its protection by contacting an [[Advanced Users|Advanced User]]. You can request protection in this forum topic ([http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=164 Request for Semi-protection]) or you can contact an Advanced User directly through PM. Only advanced users can enable protection on place tags.

=== History ===
The history shows all edits made to an object since it was created. Each saved edit is known as a revision, and each revision is stored as a version number with a brief overview of the editor's name, edits made and date of edits in the history.

To access an object's history select 'Menu' > 'History' in the object's window.
=== Linear features ===

Linear feature is a geographic feature that can be represented by a line or set of lines. For example, rivers, roads, railway lines or ferry routes.

Each set of the linear feature will have it's own unique tool to assist you to map each set of linear lines of your choice.

====Roads====

'''Roads''' is a Wikimapia feature wherein you can mark out roads in Wikimapia, just like you mark places. However unlike marking places which are done by adding rectangles, you can mark roads by adding points. These successive points are joined (automatically as you go on marking them) by road segments.

You can then select a set of successive road segments marking a road, and give the road a name. Roads can be marked to be of different types like Highways, High traffic roads, Low traffic roads and Courtyard road. Railways should be marked with the proper tool to tag railways. You can see [[Tools#Linear_features|Linear features]] section.

===== Starting a road =====
Firstly zoom into the map, so that you are at zoom level 13 or more. You can check your browser address bar for "z=13" (or "z=14" or "z=15" or ... "z=20"), this indicates your zoom level. Note, however, that even though Wikimapia will allow you to draw roads at zoom 13, this is not a good idea, you need to zoom in more, much more! From the Wikimapia-BETA "Edit map" menu, select 'Road' mode. Click first where you want to start marking your road, and then choose "Start new" option. You will be prompted to choose the kind of road you want to make: "Dirt road," "Courtyard road," "Street, low traffic," "Road, high traffic," or "Highway" (as described in 'Properties' below). Select one of these options, and a bright blue road segment will appear that will follow your mouse cursor.

Every next click that you do will place an additional point and a road segment will be created between your current point and your previous point. Once done with marking the road, click on "Save" in the bottom centre of your screen. Clicking on "Cancel" will erase all your work since your last save.

If you need to start a road from another road already marked, you can click on the location where you want to start your new road. If there is already a road "point" at this location you will have the option "Start new road" and then you can follow the above instructions. If there is no existing road point where you want to start your new road, you should click on the segment of the existing road and choose the "Insert point" option. Then you can continue as above.

====== Making your road accurate ======
How can you tell if your road drawing is accurate enough? Zoom in to the highest zoom level available. If your drawn road is shown always on top of the roadway in the image then it is "good enough". If, however, your drawn road strays outside the roadway (into the ditches or houses at the sides of the road), then you can make it fit better. Note that it is always preferred to follow the center of the roadway or a particular traffic lane if the image shows this amount of detail.

====== Crossing roads ======
When you are marking a road and you have to cross a pre-existing road, you will be prompted to choose between 3 options:
* Make a crossroad: the roads are in the same level.
* Selected segment under: the road you are marking passes under the existing road.
* Selected segment above: the road you are marking passes above the existing road.

You can cross only one road with each new segment, so you won't be allowed to create a segment if it crosses 2 (or more) roads. You have to make it in 2 (or more) steps. Firstly, cross the first road, choosing one of the above options. Then click on the final point you have just added and click "start a new road" to continue marking the road. So you can cross another existing road, following the same steps.

====== Ending a road ======
When you have finished drawing a road, you can click on the last point and choose "stop line draw". If the road ends at a pre-existing road, you can click directly on this road; a new point will be created, and it should be inserted into this existing road segment also. You can check it by moving it with the mouse (drag it on the map and return it to the same place) and verifying that all the segments that are supposed to be connected to it all move together.

Sometimes, when you do it, the pre-existing road moves a little bit to accept your new point. This can be avoided by creating the point just beside the pre-existing road. Then you can drag and drop it above the existing road. If there is a point next to the connection, you will have an option to "Join points", so that the point you are dropping and the existing point will merge into an unique one, assuring you the connection has been made correctly. If there is no pre-existing point next to the place you are making the connection, you should choose the option "Attach point" to be sure the roads are connected. Doing this way, you should check directions of both new segments in pre-existing road, because sometimes their directions are changed inadvertently, due to a system bug.

After marking a road, you can set its properties (see below). In general, it's better to set the properties correctly before naming a road.

====== Naming a road ======
The best time to name a road is as you create it, and carefully set its properties. After you have laid down all of the points you can, you should "save changes". Wikimapia will not allow you to enter a name if there is an unsaved drawing change ("You must save changes before naming!"). Immediately after the [Save], left or right click on the road (your browser menu may be dismissed with a click): a set of nearby segments should change colour to bright blue (if road is short, every segment will be highlighted). If not all segments you want to name are blue, you should choose "Start to select" option and choose them properly. With all segments selected, choose 'Set new name', and a window much like a place tag editing window should open ("Access denied"(sic) implies wiki data error). Check the language you are using above the title field. Then type in only the name of the road into the title field. If you have extra information, you can type it in description box. Since there is not a specific field for a Wikipedia link, you should put it in the end of description (especially if there is an article about this road). Click 'Save', and wait for confirmation.

*If you don't know the name of a road, please do some research to find its correct name and route number.
*Do not abbreviate parts of the name such as "Avenue", "Street," "Park", "Boulevard" or "Route".
*Be aware that each city or other jurisdiction generally has a system of road naming and addressing that should be followed. There is a difference between "2nd Street" and "Second Street".
*In some cases, the cardinal direction is part of the road name, so that "South Brown Street" is different from "North Brown Street". In other naming conventions, the road is just "Brown Street" and North and South are considered to be part of the ''[[Beta_Help:_Adding_place#Building_Number|address]]''. Also, as a road crosses through various towns, it may go from being North to South and back to North again. If you are not familiar with the local naming convention in use, assume that the direction is part of the address and do not include it in the road name.

===== Properties =====

Properties of a road are defined for each segment individually. To see these properties of a segment, you can click on it and select "Properties".

====== Types of roads ======
There are 5 types of roads available. In map, they differ mainly by their thickness and by zoom levels they are shown. Once you defined a type of road for a segment, this property will be inherited to new segments created starting from the final point of the first segment. {See discussion of additional types and see 'level' properties for bridges & tunnels.}

1. Dirt road
Select for gravel, unpaved or dirt roads. These roads must be usable by vehicles. They are also shown at zoom level 13 or higher.

2. Courtyard road
Courtyard roads are used for paved alleyways, private roads and driveways. They may or may not have an official name, and if they don't, be sure that ''your name for it'' mentions that it is not official in the description field. They are shown at zoom level 13 or higher.

3. Road, Low traffic
Low traffic roads are typified by having one lane in each direction. In some cases, they may have only one lane. Also, low traffic roads tend to be in residential areas. Low traffic roads are shown at zoom level 11 or higher.

4. Road, High traffic
High traffic roads are typified by having two or more lanes in each direction. They tend to be well-known to locals, and to be lined by businesses rather than residences. High traffic roads are shown at zoom level 8 or higher.

5. Highway
Highways are typified by having two lanes or more in each direction, limited access from other roads, and by a median strip which divides the two directions of traffic. These features make high speed, high volume traffic possible. It is best to draw each direction of highways with its own road. Highways are shown at zoom level 8 or higher.

(Someone please clarify: what does "limited access" mean? Freeways only, or are periodic intersections OK?)
(I assume the "limited access" means the roads which doesn't allows intersection or any direct crossing with the cross-roads i.e. these cross-roads are crossing Highways over by using the bridges and below the Highway by using the tunnels)

====== Directions ======
This property indicated direction of traffic in the segment. There are 3 options:

* <==> : both directions are possible in this segment.
* <-- : only a direction is available. This option usually refers to direction of the older point to the newer one.
* --> : only other direction is available.

In order to check on map directions referring to each symbol ("<--" and "-->"), you may look the road while hover mouse over these symbols. A red arrow will appear above selected segment to show the corresponding direction. The first option ("<==>") doesn't show anything.

Once you have defined a property to a segment, and you start to mark new segments starting from a final point of this first segment, direction will be inherited.

====== Elevation Level ======
This properties refers to the elevation level of segment in relation to ground level and nearby roads. There are 6 levels available:
* 2 underground ones: -1 and -2
* ground level: Ground road
* 3 overpass ones: 1, 2, and 3

This property changes way segments are displayed on map. Tunnels are shown in a different color than other levels. Ground level and overpass levels can only be differentiate when there is a viaduct, where you can see which road is above other.

This property is never inherited to new segments. So, for example, if you want to draw a tunnel with many segments, you will need to check every segment property to assure they are assigned -1 (or -2) elevation level.

====== Changing properties ======
If a road changes, for example, from high to low traffic, it is possible to change the properties of those segments to reflect that fact. After drawing the road, click save. Then click on a segment which begins (or ends) the section you wish to change. Choose 'Start to select' from the prompt box, and the segment will turn bright blue. Click on any other segment and it and all the segments between will be highlighted bright blue. Choose 'Properties' from the prompt box, and change the road type. You can change all or part of a road in this manner.

Each property has its own behavior when one attempts to change it in multiple segments simultaneously.
* Level: You can change this property for a single segment only. You can't make a selection to try to change properties of any segments together.
* Direction: This property is changed only for a group of segments where there is no junction. If you select a group with junctions, property will be changed only for the set of segments between 2 junctions where the segment you click is on.
* Type of road: You can change type of road of many segments simultaneously, no matter there are junctions among them. But if the road is too long (for example a national one), you can not change properties of all its segments in a single step: just some segments near segment you clicked will have their properties changed.

===== Correcting Errors =====

====== Points are in wrong location ======
If you placed a point on the wrong location (or they were already this way, when you found them), possibly just outside the road by mistake, you can click on the point and drag it to the correct location (without releasing your mouse click). If you attempt to put this point over an existing road (or point), you will be prompted to choose between "Cancel" or "Attach point" (or "Join points"). If you don't choose any of these and click anywhere on map, your change will be cancelled. If you want to avoid it, you may use map mode and zoom it so that you can put point in that region and it will not be considered too close of existing road (or point).

====== Wrong segment linking correct points ======
If a wrong segment is linking two points that are correctly marked, you can delete only this segment, keeping the points in their right places. To do this, just click on the segment. If more segments become highlighted, click on "Start to select" to select just the one segment. (Road segment deletion must be made one by one. You can't delete a set of segments with a single command.) Then click on "Delete segment". You will be prompted to confirm your deletion by clicking "ok".

====== Name error ======
If a segment or a set of segments is not named right, you can edit it or clear its name. It's very important to be sure that you are changing only the segments that are wrong and not the whole road.

First you need to select the segment or segments you want to correct: Click on one segment. All the segments of the same road (with the same name) will be highlighted. If you want to modify just some of these segments, you should click on one of the segments and choose the "Start to select" option. You can then select more segments by clicking on them, as long as the segments are all connected.

( Because of a flaw in the system, if you want to change the name of just part of a road then currently you have to do this in two steps: first clear it, and then set it anew. If you try to do it in one step (by choosing the "Edit this name" option, below) then you will end up changing the whole road, and not just your selected segments. )

Once you have selected all the segments you want, click on any one of them and then:
* Clear (unset) name: to unset the name and description of all these segments,
* Save the changes;
If you wanted to change the name (instead of stopping after clearing it):
* Re-select all the same segments, click on one of them and
* Set new name: to set the name and description of all these segments.

====== Duplicated names ======
Sometimes a unique road is marked as 2 separated roads with the same name. This problems caused because someone has erroneously entered the road name more than once, instead of using the option "choose street name from nearest streets". If it occurs, you can correct it by following these steps:

# In roads edit mode, unset the names for all except one road with the same name. The one that you leave unchanged should preferably be at the end of your road. Save.
# Then go to the adjoining road segment to that one segment you left unchanged. Click on it and choose "Set new name" (if you see "Edit this name", it means that you haven't unset the road name).
# In the name definition window, click on "choose street name from nearest streets" and choose the correct road name from the list. If you see the same name twice, it means that you didn't unset all of the segments, so go back and try to find the segments whose names were not cleared and unset them.
# Save the changes and repeat this process beginning from step 2, for the next adjoining segment.

You can make things faster in step 2, if you select all segments together, provided they are connected. This way, you won't need to repeat steps 2 and 3 so many times.

====== Moving a road ======
Sometimes, after an imagery update, Wikimapia place tags and roads are not correctly aligned to the images anymore. In this case, one could need to move a road to the correct position. For now, there is no way to move the entire road. So you should move point by point, taking care to avoid creating new crossroads (especially if all the roads around are also marked and if the misalignment was too large).

=====Tips and tricks=====
*If after placing a point you move it from side to side then the cursor will release it, allowing you to set its properties, create another road, etc before saving. ''This is useful as saving can be a time consuming operation.''

*If you are having trouble seeing the line of the road when using one of the wider road types (Street, Low Traffic; Road, High Traffic or Highway) you might try changing the road type to 'Courtyard Road'. This shows a fairly narrow line and you should be able to see more clearly. ''This trick is especially useful when drawing highways and major interchanges.'' '''When you have finished editing the road or highway you can select the segments and change the road type to one more appropriate to the traffic.'''

==== Railway lines====

'''Railroads''' is a Wikimapia feature wherein you can mark out railway lines in Wikimapia. You can mark railroads by adding points. Once you anchor a point and move the cursor, a '''segment''' will automatically extend from it. A segment can only be established when another point is fixed to a location. These segments and points should be aligned accurately with the linear image of the railroad on the map.

The marking of railroads should follow the same principles as marking tags ie. the object/railroad to be marked must be visible and non-movable. Thus the marking of non-existent railroads or even non-visible railroads of historical importance should be avoided. If it isn't there don't mark it!

'''Creating a Railroad'''

Firstly zoom into the map at zoom level 13 or more. You can check your browser address bar for "z=13" (or "z=14" or "z=15" or ... "z=20"), this indicates your zoom level. Note, however, that even though Wikimapia will allow you to draw roads at zoom 13, it would be preferential to zoom in further to get the best out of imparting points and segments for railroads more accurately.

{| align="center"
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[[File:Railway1.jpg|thumb|250px|'''Example 1''' ''Selecting Railroad mode'']]
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[[File:Railway2.jpg|thumb|250px|'''Example 2''' ''Start a new railroad'']]
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[[File:Railway3.jpg|thumb|250px|'''Example 3''' ''Railroad context menu'']]
|}

From the Wikimapia-BETA ''"Menu bar"'' along the top of the screen, select ''"Edit map"'' and then ''"Railroad"'' from the dropdown list (See ''Example 1''). You will then enter ''"Railroad"'' mode. Click first where you want to start marking your railroad and then choose ''"Start new"'' option (See ''Example 2''). By left-clicking your mouse you will have anchored a 'red dot' or point from which a light-yellow coloured segment shall issue forth and follow your cursor wherever you move it. You will then be able to set further points, joined by segments, by subsequent left-clicks of the mouse. This way you will be successfully laying linear markings along the desired railroad image on the map.

Once completed, click on the ''"Save"'' button in the bottom centre of the screen. Clicking on the ''"Cancel"'' button will erase all your work since your last save.

You can also create new railroads from others that are already marked. There are two ways in which you can do this. The first way is by clicking on an existing point along the railroad and then selecting the ''"Start new"'' option. If there is no existing railroad point where you want to start your new railroad, you can opt to click on the segment of the existing railroad and then choose the ''"Insert point"'' option via the context menu (See ''Example 3''). You will then be able to continue creating railroads as described above.

====Rivers====

'''Rivers''' is a linear tool wherein you can mark waterways such as rivers, canals, streams etc. The marking of rivers is done by adding points and segments. Segments form the main "body" or "line" of the linear tool, while points link segments to each other. Points also enable segments to be laid in different directions. This method of marking is also used for the other linear features available in Wikimapia, such as '''Road''', '''Railroad''' and '''Ferry'''.

The marking of rivers requires patience and meticulous attention to detail because of their complexity. Rivers can be as wide as lakes, while others can be as narrow as streams. Moreover, they can have straight courses or they can have tight "meandering" (curves) channels. Another characteristic of rivers is that they can form junctures (confluences) with other watercourses or split into smaller rivers (tributaries).

To address some of these factors, the River tool has an additional special feature that adds width to its segments. This feature is called '''riversides''', and outlines the width of a river's channel (the distance between opposing "riversides") by adding a framework to segments. In essence, riversides are polygons for the river tool. When the riverside feature is activated, two smaller points, called "riverside handles", appear either side of an attached point at both ends of a segment. Just as opposing points are linked by segments; opposing riverside handles are linked with riversides. The riverside handles are flexible and can be manipulated to give two-dimensional shapes (or riversides) to segments.

When a river with riversides is saved, the Wikimapia map is updated to show the river with a fully rendered form, as opposed to a conventional thin blue line. In "Satellite" view the river is depicted with as a transparent blue channel. In "Map" view the river is defined with a solid blue channel.

'''Example'''
The image to the left shows the components of a riverside: 
A. Segment. 
B. Points. Located at either end of a segment. 
C. Riverside handles. A pair, flanking one point and linked to an opposite pair. The lines joined with the riverside handles give river segments editable shapes. 
 
A typical segment will consist of one line and two points. A riverside segment comprises of five lines and six points. Just as two standard segments share a point, a riverside segment will share a point and its pair of riverside handles. 
 
On the right, the same river (viewed in "Map" view) is shown as saved with riversides activated.

{|
|[[File:River1.jpg|thumb|center|370px|'''Riverside components''' - '''A''' ''Segment'' '''B''' ''Segment points'' '''C''' ''Riverside handles'']]
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|See paragraph above.
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|[[File:River2.jpg|thumb|center|390px|River with riverside in "Map" view]]
|}

'''How to mark a river'''

[[File:River3.jpg|left|thumb|Fig.1]]

1. Select the river tool by navigating to the menu bar at the top of your screen and then choosing "Edit map". 
2. Click on "River" at the bottom of the menu (''See Fig. 1''). You shall then enter the edit mode. 
3. To add a river, you will need to fix an initial point by clicking on the image of the river. Then select → [[File:River4.jpg]] 
4. When you move the cursor, a segment will automatically extend from it. To set the segment, you will need to place another point along the river. 
Repeat the process of adding points and laying segments along the centre line of the river, taking care to follow the contour of the river accurately and adding sufficient points to maintain a smooth line. 
'''Hint add more points for meanders (bends in a river), and fewer points for straighter stretches.''' If fewer points are used for meanders, the bend of the segment line will be more jagged. Remember: more points equals a flexible, meandering river. 
5. Click "Save" at the bottom of the screen when you have finished. ''Note: there will be a limit on how many points and segments you can add in one session.''

'''Marking from an existing river'''

[[File:River5.jpg|right|thumb|Fig. 2]]

To mark confluences, you may create a new tributary by clicking on an existing point and then selecting "Start new." (''See Fig. 2'')
You may also add a new point in an existing segment, by clicking it and selecting "Insert point" from the menu.

'''Some hints'''

Select the highest zoom level available (z=19 or above) for the river you are editing.

If part of the river imagery is obscured by clouds or haze, it would be better to not mark that portion with the tool. However, if you have access to an alternative source that shows the complete watercourse, you may continue to mark it. When the imagery is eventually updated, the edited river should be fairly accurate; if not, it can always be tidied up afterwards

To ensure the river is marked as accurate as possible, the dots and segments should always be placed in the centre line of a river. This will also make certain that riverside segments will always be aligned correctly over the river image when they are included.

For rivers with islands, if both sides of the island provide sufficient space, then create smooth lines for both sides. If one side is definitely wider than another use your best judgment whether or not to create two lines.

For wide rivers with rapids, I tend to follow the 'racing' line, as long as the line entering and exiting curves or rapids is smooth.

It is crucial you use extra points to trace a river accurately, especially its curves, so that the final rendering is smooth and precise in appearance.

====Ferry====

Click on the "Edit map" menu item and then the "Ferry" sub-item. If you are viewing a coastal ferry port, you may see some ferry lines highlighted with red boxes in the style of place outlines. You can edit an existing ferry or add a new line. See the documentation for the other linear features for more information.

== Watchlist ==
If you want to monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, ...) in one or more specific areas, you can do that with the Watchlist tool, which is available on the '''Tools''' tab on your profile page.

To add a watchlist you click the Watchlist link on your profile page and then click the background map (closing the profile page and revealing the watchlist sidebar). Click the "add" button, type a name of your choice where it says "Watchlist name", size the rectangle to cover the area you are interested in and save it. After that you can click the name you chose and it will show all recent changes in that region. "Old" changes are on a gray background, while "new" changes are on a white background. When you have finished examining the new changes you can click the "mark as viewed" button to bring the gray background all the way to the top of the list.

== Status grid ==
''Main article: [[Status grid]]''

Status grid is a powerful tool to help in monitoring and improving the map. You can find it on the Tools page, it is available for all registered users. The grid is a colorized layer over the map which collects and shows basic statistics about places for each grid cell. It should be helpful in finding badly described areas and tags. The status grid works at zoom levels between 5 and 15.

== Map shift ==
''Main article: [[Satellite_images_updates_list|Satellite images updates list(Map shift)]]''

Every month or so Google updates their satellite imagery and sometimes as a result of it the outline positions of Wikimapia objects in some areas become out of sync.
Such areas need to be fixed. To avoid doing this for each object individually, we have designed a special tool, which allows simply to update the whole areas, where this problem occurs.
You may be familiar with it, it is called "Map shift" and is accessible from the user tools page in the top menu or user profile page and via direct link: http://wikimapia.org/#m=b&show=/user/tools/mapshift/.
Now we are releasing a new version of it and making it available to more users than before.

== Reports list: Bug/features ==
[http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ Reports list]

Wikimapia has an issue tracker supposed to collect and process bug reports and feature requests. It is the only right way to report a problem or a bug.

== Interface translation ==
''[http://wikimapia.org/translate Translation page]''

Whole Wikimapia interface is being translated by users. Anyone can sign up to translate the interface phrases into his language. The tool provides the list of phrases in English (with description of what they mean and where are they used) along with possibility to translate them into your language. A history of changes is maintained to avoid vandalism.

back to [[Main Page]]

User profile/account

2012-05-26T04:23:58Z

Antdoghalo:

In your profile personal information, tools and settings are sorted into five tabs:

=Profile=
The profile tab shows your personal information such as your real name, how many languages you speak and brief details about yourself. You are not obligated to provide personal details so you can leave the personal information section blank. To access your personal settings see 'Change personal information' below. Information about voting, special roles and awards you have obtained can also be seen in your profile.

== Voting ==
Voting is our method of providing positive feedback to you about your contributions to Wikimapia, and for you to provide positive feedback to other users about theirs. People who make a positive contribution to Wikimapia ("describing the world" by creating useful and well-described places) are deserving of a positive vote.

Note that the number of votes you receive does not mean anything by itself. Having twice as many votes as the other user does not mean you're twice as good as him. And get votes is just one indicator of its activities in Wikimapia. Ask for votes or vote for someone because they expect to receive another vote good back is not recommended, many consider this a poor behavior. So do not do that.

== Settings/preferences ==
You can customize personal settings by accessing the following options in the profile.

=== Choose your location ===

This is an optional tab. In this tab you can select a location to show either where you are currently editing, or to show other users the country/city/village you are from. But this facility is visible to all, therefore if you do not want others to know where you are, you can leave it blank.

If you decided to select a location to show in your profile, click the 'Profile' sub-menu under your user name. Your profile page should appear, click 'Choose your location' highlighted and underlined in red on the right (next to your vote box) and follow the information and procedure appears on the right in a new page. Finally click 'save the location'.

=== Edit avatar ===
This tab is optional. It allows you to upload/change the profile picture.

In computing, an avatar is the graphical or picture representation of the user. You can chose to have a photo of yourself, or any other images you like to represent you. But '''please do not upload any political inflammatory, derogatory or pornographic images'''.

In the sub-menu under your user name click profile, select 'Edit avatar' highlighted and underlined in red on the right (next to your vote box). Follow the procedure to upload the image you want, click 'save' when finished.

You may not immediately see your avatar appearing in forum messages if you have been posting message in forum, you need to refresh your page.

=== Change personal information ===
This is a tab for you you to enter information about yourself. In the right side of your profile page, you can see the wording of "Change personal info" highlighted and underlined in red. Click on it and a new box should appear. On the left column, you can see several rows of information for you to fill in. You can enter your real name if you prefer; equally you can leave it blank if you rather others know you by your user name only. The information required for the next two boxes are optional. In the "spoken language" field although not compulsory to enter your spoken language or languages, it is desirable and often very helpful to users who might want to find another user who can help in their native language.

The "Something about you" field is for you to enter anything you want others to know about yourself. There is no need to write long pages about yourself. It is better to be brief and to the point.

On the right hand column, you can choose to enter all those fields or not. Think carefully before you decide to enter those details, as it is personal to you.

The next field "Change password" is pretty much self explanatory.

If you would like to receive notification from Wikimapia that you have PM (private message) waiting for you in your mail box, you can enter you e-mail address and tick the box "Allow Wikimapia to send emails for me" in the following column. When you have new messages from other users you will receive notification to your e-mail address. If you rather not, then leave this box unchecked.

Finally, in the bottom row, if you do not want your own edits showing in your watchlist, tick the box marked "Hide my own revisions in watchlist". But if you want it to be shown, leave the box unchecked.

The entries to all these boxes are optional in this profile page.

=Messages=
The message tab shows a list of your contacts in order of most recently contacted. You can see the total messages exchanged between you and each contact under their username. Contacts whom have sent you new/unread messages appear at the top of the contacts list with a 'New message' indicator under their username.

== Messaging/privacy settings ==
There are two types of configurations of private and public messages.

* Private message (you can communicate privately, but you can disable this feature).

* Post public (everyone will see your posts).

=Awards=
The awards tab shows awards you have earned by reaching designated milestones based on the quantity of your contributions. The three star award system is incremental and rewards you by encouraging you to add and edit more objects.

=Stats=
The Stats tab shows statistics on all aspects of your contributions. In this page, you can see the number of edits you have done against the kind of work you have contributed. For example, if you want to look back on the number of created places and streets you have done, you can look into your stat page against this field. The number of places you have created will be highlighted in blue. Equally, other users can also look into your stat page and see what your contributions are and vice versa.

=Tools=
The [[Tools]] tab shows tools available based on your [http://wikimapia.org/docs/Community#User_levels experience level].

== Rank/user search ==

back to [[Main Page]]

Tools

2012-05-26T04:22:19Z

Antdoghalo:

Wikimapia gives an opportunity not only to use its data but also to improve it. When you first decide to add or edit an object you start using tools. This manual aimed to help you exploring all functions that Wikimapia can offer you for changing the map.

== Editing the map ==

=== Adding places ===

'''Adding places''' to Wikimapia is what makes it happen; the cornerstone of a wiki that attempts to describe the entire Earth is that all places in it are based entirely on user input. Any user can contribute to Wikimapia. Below are some hints and suggestions to get you started on Wikimapia. But not all things are permitted; unwelcome and unhelpful additions will be deleted.

===Add a place===
Adding a place is easy; just select 'add a place' and a red polygon tool will appear. Read below how to make a proper polygon.

====Polygons====
A polygon is a multi-sided shape that can be used to define a place in detail. Polygons are made up of sides and points. There is a limitation on the number of points you can add to a polygon, dependent on your user level ([[http://wikimapia.org/wiki/User_Guide:_Polygons_/_Outlines#I_tried_to_add_new_points_to_a_polygon.2C_but_I_failed._What_is_the_reason.3F]]). Each corner of the polygon is shown as a little red square when you are in edit mode. When you want to make a new polygon first be doubly sure that a 'new' polygon is needed (see @ [[http://wikimapia.org/wiki/User_Guide:_Introduction_Message#Best_map_view]] for advice) then, from the "Edit Map" pull-down menu, select "Add Place". This generates a little red cross, next to your cursor arrow, and a black box with red writing in appears at the base of the screen, with two options “save” (not yet available of course) and “cancel” whose functions are pretty obvious. There is also a “help” link which takes you to this very Guidance on adding places should you need it.

Move the red cross to a specific point on the edge of the place outline you want to tag and click your mouse-button (typically left-click). This generates a small red box in place of the cross and represents your first polygon point. (Note: when creating detailed polygons, involving say more than just a few points, it is a good idea to always start generating your polygons in the same general place, such as at the 12 O’clock point as on a clock-face, so that you always know where you are, as in how much you have done, during the plotting process). As you then move the cursor another red cross will appear again next to it and again when you mouse-click you will generate a second polygon point. Finally, a third red cross will automatically then occur and naturally a further mouse-click will generate a third polygon point. You have now generated a triangle which, of course, is the simplest polygon possible.

From here on as and if you need to add further polygon points, in order to accurately follow the outline of your place tag, you simply slowly drag your cursor across the line of the polygon side nearest where you wish to add another point and you will see the red cross appear again. Simply place this cross carefully over where the next point in the polygon is needed and mouse-click again in order to generate the further polygon point. If a point is in the wrong place, you can move it by clicking on it with your mouse and, while holding down the mouse key, moving the cursor to the spot you want it, called "dragging". To create points that are further away, you will have to create the point and then drag it to where you want it. To delete an unwanted point, click on it and release. A box with the word "remove" in it will appear. Click on this box once, and wait for the point to disappear, which may take a moment if your polygon has many points. Be aware that the system will never permit polygon lines to cross over or intersect each other. So that when creating polygon points, were that to occur as a result of that action, the red cross simply disappears first thereby preventing the point from being generated in the first place, and when removing points a warning box appears in place of the removal action sought.

Once you have finished outlining your place carefully, click on the "save" button at the bottom of the screen and a box will appear in which you can write information about the place. Although this all sounds quite involved after the first few polygons you make it will all become second nature - promise!

===Place information===

====Language====
This selects a language for the information about your new place. Wikimapia has over 70 languages in its database. This field is required.
Please make sure the language you chosen is the same language you intended to create your tag in. For example, do not select English as the language choice and enter your created place or description in Dutch, French or any other languages.

====Title====
Enter a title for your new place. This field is required. Choose your title carefully as this is what will appear when someone hovers there mouse over the place.

Keep in mind that "CAPS LOCK" should be avoided because this is the web convention for someone shouting. It is better to type in mixed caps.

Note that if you are adding a private residence, it is is often best to simply provide the address as the title rather than the name of the person who lives there. This is also true for apartment buildings that have no business name.

====Description====
Type something that describes the place. It can be anything about the place: its history, its strangeness, etc. This is an optional field but a place's description is what makes a tag useful. Further and more detailed guidance about what to put and not put in the description is available here : [[http://wikimapia.org/wiki/User_Guide:_Places_and_Place_Tags#Description]]

You will be prompted with: '''Please provide a place information (be good, don't write bad words)'''.

You can provide URL's in the text. You may find on testing the URL that you have to "URL encode" as percent-hexnum-hexnum some punctuation characters before the link works properly. If you provide a YouTube link, it will be shown with a YouTube embedded player and a preview, as well as the plan link.

======Street======
This is the "'''Street'''" on which your place is located. Use the arrow to the right of the field to see if your street has already been entered. If it has, select it. If not, scroll to the bottom of the list, select "Another..." and type the name of your street into the new field labelled "enter name".

For example, in the address '''210 Banks Road, Swingville, USA''' Banks Road is the street.

This field is optional.

======Building Number======
The number of your place from its address.

For example, in the address '''210 Banks Road, Swingville, USA''', 210 is the building number. Nothing else should be entered this box, for example, name of the building. Sometimes some buildings do not have number but only the name of the building, in case like that, the name should appear in the title, and this box to be leave blank.

This field is optional.

======Wikipedia® link======
If your new place has a Wikipedia® entry, it goes here. If your new place does not have a Wikipedia® entry, don't invent one just so you can put it in this field. Do not enter unhelpful links to generic Wikipedia® articles such as "Park" or "McDonald's".

This field is optional.

======Categories======
Selecting Categories reveals a list of the most popular from which you can choose. If the required category is not in the list scroll to the bottom of it and use the search box to find it. Take care not to over categorise; in most cases a single category is sufficient.

This field is optional.

======This place is a building======

[[Image:Building Checkbox Checked.jpg]] This box should only be ticked if a place tagged is that of or within the confines of a building.

[[Image:Building Checkbox.jpg]] The box should be unticked for all other non-building related places.

The effect of a ticked box is to cause the place to display in dark grey on the [[Beta_Help:_Map_types#Wikimapia|Wikimapia map]]. Removing the tick causes the place to display in light grey. So, it is crucial this feature is used correctly to render the proper shade.

This field has a default that depends on the category chosen but take care as the default may be wrong.

For a suggestion of how best to make use of this feature see Hint and tip number 2 below.

===Hints and tips===
# If the maximum [[zoom]] is insufficient to accurately place the lines of your polygon then an additional, digital, zoom level is available. To obtain it, roll your mouse wheel very very slowly forward. It sometimes takes two or three attempts to get this to work.
# If you have the patience, add places (polygons) for both the site and each building on it. The advantage of doing this should become obvious if you take a look at the [[Beta_Help:_Map_types#Wikimapia|Wikimapia map]]. Take care to set or unset the "This is a building" tick appropriately and to clearly distinguish in their titles the buildings and the plot on which they sit.

=== Editing places ===
'''Editing Places''' is the process in which existing [[tag|tags]] are modified. Editing places is a fundamental part of WikiMapia, since our physical world is always subject to change. However, editing should be done in a careful and responsible manner, and in accordance with WikiMapia's philosophy of [[Neutral Point of View]].

Continuous improvement, up-to-date information, and providing usable information is what users prefer to read, so that WikiMapia will remain a useful reference tool. Sometimes this can be anything from spelling or grammatical errors, to supplying information that makes the article more useful to others.

===How to edit a place===
* When you select a tag, click on the red "Edit" label on the top-left corner.
* Choose "Edit this Page", and make your changes as necessary.
* Choose "Save" when you are done.

===Suggestions for editing===
As stated above, a neutral point of view is the best course of action: ''No exceptions!'' You can add whatever information that is relevant to the place, whether fixing simple spelling or grammatical errors, or wholesale changes to a blank or uninformative article. Describe the place as if you were informing a visitor to your area.

====Title====
Every unique place has a unique description; yet there is a fine line between a title that is too short and too long. Ambiguous titles or titles that are too long may be edited or [[deletion|deleted]].

====Description====
This is the text box area in which you can type-in a description of the tag in question. Describe, how to use the function of the tag, the history of the place (year built, opened...), and its function (residential, business, historic, entertainment...). As long as the description is accurate and does not violate copyright laws or restrictions, it is okay to submit it to Wikimapia.

Feel free to link to other places on the Internet using links, whether to other places on Wikimapia or anywhere else on the web. If you want to properly source information (which is especially helpful about an unusual place or fact), then typing a hyperlink in the information text box is also permitted.

====Wikipedia®====
If the place you have described or are editing has a corresponding [http://en.wikipedia.org Wikipedia®] article to assist in the description or to provide a understanding of a place, then feel free to add the entire URL of the Wikipedia® article in this location. As long as the article is relevant, it is okay to add it. Keep in mind that only one Wikipedia® article can be added in the text box.

Wikipedia® articles that do not exist or are not relevant to the topic should and will be removed. Only Wikipedia® articles will display in this box, "User Pages" and other types of namespace will not display, nor will any other outside URLs. It is recommended to cut and paste the link/URL in full from Wikipedia®, since errors will result in a no link listed in the Wikimapia article. Do not add Wikipedia link to a different language interface, for example, a Wikipedia link in English should only be applied to a tag that is in the English page, and not to insert Wikipedia link in other languages. You can insert the link to the correct and appropriate language pages if the tag had that particular languages been translated.

====Category====
This is a place to choose what type of place it is, so you can sort by [[Category Filter]]. Type in the first few letters, and choose accordingly.

===Understanding the Editing Process===
If somebody has edited an article you have created or edited, do not worry! That is a normal consequence of a wiki: Anyone can edit it. A Wikimapia article can be improved, but only if there is relevant, verifiable, and useful information to add to it.

No member "owns" the tags they create; no tag is free from editing just because they created it, or because they live in the area. ''Ownership of articles is not a function of Wikimapia'', which means that if you do not intend to have your information edited, we recommend you '''not''' to submit it to Wikimapia!

===What Is Not Permitted===
Occasionally, there may be places in Wikimapia that may be lacking information, or contain too much information! Please feel free to edit appropriately, but please leave these out of our Wikimapia articles.

* Non-neutral point of view
* Vulgarity
* Slander/insult
* Invasion of privacy
* Editing wars (continually editing for the sake of ruining an article)
* Spam/advertising
* False information
* Boasting/bragging
* Using Wikimapia articles as a forum for opinions and viewpoints, specifically religion and politics.

=== Linear features ===

== Watchlist ==
If you want to monitor the activity (new places, changes, deletions, ...) in one or more specific areas, you can do that with the Watchlist tool, which is available on the '''Tools''' tab on your profile page.

To add a watchlist you click the Watchlist link on your profile page and then click the background map (closing the profile page and revealing the watchlist sidebar). Click the "add" button, type a name of your choice where it says "Watchlist name", size the rectangle to cover the area you are interested in and save it. After that you can click the name you chose and it will show all recent changes in that region. "Old" changes are on a gray background, while "new" changes are on a white background. When you have finished examining the new changes you can click the "mark as viewed" button to bring the gray background all the way to the top of the list.

== Status grid ==
''Main article: [[Status grid]]''

Status grid is a powerful tool to help in monitoring and improving the map. You can find it on the Tools page, it is avaliable for all registered users. The grid is a colorized layer over the map which collects and shows basic statistics about places for each grid cell. It should be helpful in finding badly described areas and tags. The status grid works at zoom levels between 5 and 15.

== Map shift ==
''Main article: [[Satellite_images_updates_list|Satellite images updates list(Map shift)]]''

Every month or so Google updates their satellite imagery and sometimes as a result of it the outline positions of Wikimapia objects in some areas become out of sync.
Such areas need to be fixed. To avoid doing this for each object individually, we have designed a special tool, which allows simply to update the whole areas, where this problem occurs.
You may be familiar with it, it is called "Map shift" and is accessible from the user tools page in the top menu or user profile page and via direct link: http://wikimapia.org/#m=b&show=/user/tools/mapshift/.
Now we are releasing a new version of it and making it available to more users than before.

== Collaborations ==
See [[Collaboration]].

== Reports list: Bug/features ==
[http://wikimapia.org/user/tools/user_reports/ Reports list]

Wikimapia has an issue tracker supposed to collect and process bug reports and feature requests. It is the only right way to report a problem or a bug.

== Interface translation ==
''[http://wikimapia.org/translate Translation page]''

Whole Wikimapia interface is being translated by users. Anyone can sign up to translate the interface phrases into his language. The tool provides the list of phrases in English (with description of what they mean and where are they used) along with possibility to translate them into your language. A history of changes is maintained to avoid vandalism.

back to [[Main Page]]

About Wikimapia

2012-05-26T04:17:51Z

Antdoghalo:

== What is Wikimapia ==
WikiMapia is an open-content collaborative mapping project aimed to mark all geographical objects in the world and provide a useful description for them. It combines interactive web map with a wiki system. Both registered users and guests have already marked over 18,000,000 objects and this number grows every day. Currently over 1,500,000 people joined Wikimapia community. All content added by users is available under Creative Commons license through the web application and API.

== Wikimapia goal ==
'''Wikimapia is an editable interactive map. The goal of Wikimapia is to create and maintain a free, complete, multilingual, up-to-date map of the whole world. Wikimapia intends to contain detailed information about every place on Earth.'''

== Philosophy ==
=== NPOV ===
A '''neutral point of view''' (or "'''NPOV'''") is ''paramount'' to any description of a place in Wikimapia. Places that are not neutrally described, and does not provide a resource when information is challenged, may be [[Editing Places|edited]] or even [[Deletion|deleted]]. The reasons for this are clear: no two people may agree on their feelings and emotions for a place, and therefore editing the places may become a repetitive cycle that strains the resources of Wikimapia as well as the patience and goodwill of the Wikimapia community.

A NPOV is not always possible in the physical world in which we live in, as there are many internal and external forces that affect our opinions and the way we perceive truth. Yet, in the world of cyberspace, and more namely, within the confines of Wikimapia, it is unfair and unproductive to provide a slanted or skewed view of places when describing them to others.

----

'''What NPOV is not'''

Since Wikimapia's maps and the information contained therein, are not a forum for discussion, places added must be done so with extra care. This is especially true of places that are sensitive and controversial in nature. Therefore, brevity is sometimes preferable over verbose information because the temptation to pad out descriptions with opinions and promotions of personal interest is lessened. Typical verbiage to be avoided include:
* Feelings, opinions, experiences. Words which display a personal bias or agenda
* Politics
* Religion
* Publicity or advertising.
When in doubt, follow the old saying: ''If you do not have anything nice to say do not say anything at all''. Non-NPOV descriptions shall either be removed or updated to reflect objectivity in compliance with Wikimapia's NPOV policy.
=== Etiquette ===
'''Wikimapia's contributors come from many different countries and cultures. We have many different views, perspectives, opinions, and backgrounds, sometimes varying widely. Treating others with respect is the key to collaborating effectively in creating a free, complete, multilingual, up-to-date map of the whole world.'''

'''Principles of Wikimapia etiquette:'''

* Assume good faith.
* Be civil.
* Be polite.
* Work towards agreement.
* Argue facts, not personalities.
* Do not make misrepresentations.
* Do not ignore questions.
* If another disagrees with your edit, provide good reasons why you think that it is appropriate.
* Concede a point when you have no response to it, or admit when you disagree based on intuition or taste.
* ''(more to follow)''

===Advertising===
Wikimapia is not a place for self-promotion or advertising. That means that you can not use Wikimapia for commercial or otherwise propaganda. We understand that it can be tempting to tag your projects, company or business and we can not forbid doing that. But, please, remember that a neutral point of view is paramount to any description of a place in Wikimapia. In other words, nobody won’t mind seeing a factual information about your business: company name, address, what you do or sell, how long has the company exists, a link to its website, that sort of thing. But you should not include promotional material ("the best in town", "good prices", prices in general ...), that would be considered propaganda.

====What is the policy on advertising land for sale?====

==Policies==
=== Wikimapia Guidelines ===
The [http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/guidelines Wikimapia Guidelines] is the '''official legislation''' for Wikimapia and should be adhered to and regarded as the official regulations enactment in addition to the Terms of Reference.

===Terms of Reference ===
The [http://wikimapia.org/terms_reference.html Terms of Reference] is an agreement notice which one must accept to abide by in order to use Wikimapia and its services. It also covers the Terms of Use, Copyright Notice and Privacy Notice in greater detail.

=== Forum Guidelines ===
The [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7521 Forum guidelines] is a set of community rules which must be adhered to by users participating in Wikimapia's [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum].

=== Photo policies ===
A photo (or photos, photograph(s)) are images that assist in describing places in Wikimapia that words cannot accurately express. We encourage you to upload photos that will help describe places, and make Wikimapia tags even more worthwhile. However, we do have some rules, mainly because Wikimapia does not wish to, nor allow its users to violate copyrights; nor should photographs and images be used to bypass Wikimapia's philosophy of [[Neutral Point of View]].

At present the photos in Wikimapia stand by themselves, and there is no method to associate them with notes, nor with any associated copyright information. If you wish to add notes, then the best you can do is to add a comment that describes the photo and write your notes there. Note, however, that if you are a registered user then your name will be displayed beside the photo when it is enlarged (click on it), so that makes it a little easier to associate a photo with a comment.

==== Photo uploading ====
You are free to upload any photo you took yourself. If you want to contribute a photo you found on the web, however, you must first determine whether it is protected by copyright. If the website you got the photo from states that their content is copyrighted, you must gain permission to use that photo, or follow their usage guidelines. once you have uploaded a photo you grant Wikimapia license to use and distribute it according to the Wikimapia Terms of Reference.

==== Photo deletion ====
Personal photos (in close up), images hurtful to someone's feelings, pictures inciting national, religious or political discord, pornographic images, pictures advertising goods or services as well as images that are not relevant to the place itself should be deleted.

=== Comments deletion policies ===
'''Offensive''', '''meaningless''', '''talk between users''', or '''unrelated comments''' will be removed by the Advanced Users or by the Wikimapia Team. If you find any comments that falls into this category, please report them for removal in this [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1258 thread] of the Wikimapia forum, providing a link to the place where you found the inappropriate comments.

=== Restrictions/banning policies ===

Restrictions and banning policies are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. For the purpose of simplicity, a user who commits violations shall be called an [[infringer]].

Banning is the act of restricting an infringer's account, and therefore the privileges it offers, by [[Advanced Users]] and [[Wikimapia Administrators]]. Although, Wikimapia Administrators reserve the right to ban any user, Advanced Users can only ban an infringer as per the ban reasons listed under section 4. of the Wikimapia Guidelines.

The Restrictions/banning policy comprises of four core modules:
* Wikimapia Guidelines
* Terms of Reference
* Banning Guidelines
* Ban Moderation

==== Banning Guidelines ====
The [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7688 Banning Guidelines] is provided by the Wikimapia Administration to guide Advanced Users on the process of determining and banning an infringer.

==== Banning Moderation ====
[[Ban Moderation]] is a corrective procedure that must be followed closely by Advanced Users in order to ensure an infringer is afforded exhaustive resources for rehabilitation before a permanent ban is considered. Ban Moderation comprises of four actions, they are: Guidance, Warning, Temporary ban and Permanent ban.

=== AU Codex ===
This [[AU Codex]] is a code of conduct for Advanced Users.

=== Interpretation issues ===
Please note, the interpretation of Policies should be literal (i.e. as is written) and not subjective. With this said however, there is no sure way to apply an absolute definition to the wordings of any legislative document and so there will always be a margin of vagueness or ambiguity involved. In situations where you are unsure about an interpretation, you should:
*use sound judgement
*discuss the point with Advanced Users
*contact the Wikimapia Administration

back to [[Main Page]]

Community

2012-05-26T04:15:39Z

Antdoghalo:

Wikimapia users form the Community. Though it is self-organising there are [[policies]] and etiquette. There is also a special rating system that permits a user to gain new experience levels. Users communicate with each other by means of messages and forum.

== User levels ==
There are three basic levels of users:
* Unregistered Users (UU): unregistered or newly registered, you can perform simple functions like adding photos and locations. Subject to certain restrictions to avoid vandalism.
* Regular Users (RU): registered users can access almost all functions available.
* Advanced Users (AU): Advanced users can access all functions and has some administrative privileges (protect articles, ban users, among others).
[http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/exp_list/ Experience points] is a feature of Wikimapia that helps to automatically determine Experience levels. They accumulate automatically in your account based on your contributions to the Wikimapia project. Which means that the more places and [[Linear features]] you create or edit the more experience points you get.

== Awards ==
In addition to experience points there is another reward system. [http://www.wikimapia.org/user/tools/awards/ Award stars] (one, two or three) are automatically given based on various thresholds (i.e. place or road creation, photos addition) of one's stats.

== Voting ==
Voting is our method of providing positive feedback to you about your contributions to Wikimapia, and for you to provide positive feedback to other users about theirs. People who make a positive contribution to Wikimapia ("describing the world" by creating useful and well-described places) are deserving of a positive vote.

Neither award stars, nor votes can not influence directly your user level, but having award stars or a lot of votes means you have quite succeeded in map improving or you have a high social status on Wikimapia. That, for example, except giving a nice feeling, can help in case you made a request for an Advanced User status.

== Special roles ==
===Wikimapia Team===

It is them who make changes and maintain the site. Wikimapia developers are always busy with Wikimapia improvement, so please think twice before addressing yourself to them. If your case is urgent they will gladly help you. But if AUs can also help you with the issue, you should send a message to AUs first.

{| class="wikitable"
! Wikimapia Team members !! Real name
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/7 koriakine]
| Alexandre Koriakine (co-founder)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/10 jacksav]
| Evgeniy Saveliev (co-founder)
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/1465617 flr]
| Evgeniy Udodov
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/212747 lnklnklnk]
| Alexander Eroshkin
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/743860 mikkey]
| Mikhail Tarbeev
|-
| [http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/589032 w8r]
| Alexander Milevski (front-end engineer)
|-
|}
----

=== Forum moderators ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=2 List of forum Moderators]''

This role allows the use of moderator tools in the Wikimapia forum. It is given by Wikimapia Team members.

----
=== Categories moderators ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=3 List of categories Moderators]''

This role allows the use of moderator tools for Wikimapia categories. It is given by Wikimapia Team members.

----
=== Advanced Users ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=4 List of Advanced Users]''

This role is awarded to a member of Wikimapia who has good standing and it provides additional tools and responsibilities to take care of WikiMapia. It is given by the Wikimapia Team members mostly on the recommendations of the other Advanced Users.

----

=== Documentors ===
''[http://wikimapia.org/#show=/user/tools/awards/?show_badge=26 List of documentors]''

This role allows to edit Wikimapia Docs (The new Wiki). It is given by Wikimapia Team members.

== Forum ==
The [http://wikimapia.org/forum/index.php forum] is Wikimapia's discussion area, where you can read other users' questions and answers on a variety of topics, ask your own questions and join in the discussions. The people who frequent the forum are other users just like you, although the Wikimapia Team Members (admins) do occasionally contribute as well.

== Collaborations ==
Collaborations are projects created by the Wikimapia community to do such activities, an example is adding polygons to places without polygons. Any registered user 1+ level can create a collaboration, the collaboration has to be approved by the Wikimapia team before it goes into affect. The creator of the collaboration can remove users or finish the collaboration at any time. Only approved collaborations get their own forum topic in the [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=80 Collaborations section of the forum] to discuss about collaborations.

back to [[Main Page]]

Help/FAQ/Comments

2012-05-18T00:42:30Z

Antdoghalo: /* How do I delete a bad comment? */

=Comments=

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only Advanced Users can delete comments.

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
{{Back to Help/FAQ}}

Help/FAQ/Comments

2012-05-18T00:39:10Z

Antdoghalo: /* Am I free to make any comment? */

=Comments=

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane or obscene language), and are not directed at another user.

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only Advanced Users can delete comments, they will be happy to do so if you ask them to.

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
{{Back to Help/FAQ}}

Help/FAQ/Comments

2012-05-15T20:54:59Z

Antdoghalo: /* How do I delete a bad comment? */

=Comments=

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane, obscene, or threatening language allowed).

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only Advanced Users can delete comments, they will be happy to do so if you ask them to.

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
{{Back to Help/FAQ}}

Help/FAQ/Comments

2012-05-15T20:54:28Z

Antdoghalo: /* How do I delete a bad comment? */

=Comments=

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane, obscene, or threatening language allowed).

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
Only Advanced Users can delete comments, they will be happy to do so if asked.

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
{{Back to Help/FAQ}}

Help/FAQ/Comments

2012-05-15T20:52:24Z

Antdoghalo: /* Am I free to make any comment? */

=Comments=

===Am I free to make any comment?===
You are free to add comments as long as they are kept clean (no profane, obscene, or threatening language allowed).

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
{{Back to Help/FAQ}}

Linear features

2012-04-17T04:57:27Z

Antdoghalo: /* Railroads */ lower casing

Global description
== Introduction of the Linear Features ==
On July 3, 2009, the Wikimapia Team performed a major update to Wikimapia. During the update new features were added including the ability to map linear features. (roads, railroads, rivers and ferry routes)
== Concept: segments and description ==
== Roads ==
Roads is a Wikimapia feature where in you can mark out roads in Wikimapia, just like you mark places. However unlike marking places which are done by adding rectangles, you can mark roads by adding points. These successive points are joined (automatically as you go on marking them) by road segments.

== Railroads ==
Railroads is a Wikimapia feature wherein you can mark out railway lines in Wikimapia. You can mark railroads by adding points. Once you anchor a point and move the cursor, a segment will automatically extend from it. A segment can only be established when another point is fixed to a location. These segments and points should be aligned accurately with the linear image of the railroad on the map.

== Ferry ==
Water transport. A scheduled public passenger/car/rail transport service that travels over water on a set route. At least the ends of the water transport line must be named, information about the route and/or sailing times must be presented.

== Rivers ==
Rivers is a linear tool wherein you can mark waterways such as rivers, canals, streams etc. The marking of rivers is done by adding points and segments. Segments form the main "body" or "line" of the linear tool, while points link segments to each other. Points also enable segments to be laid in different directions. This method of marking is also used for the other linear features available in Wikimapia, such as Road, Railroad and Ferry.

== Other types ==
Coming soon.

Linear features

2012-04-17T04:56:57Z

Antdoghalo: /* Roads */ The team types it like this

Global description
== Introduction of the Linear Features ==
On July 3, 2009, the Wikimapia Team performed a major update to Wikimapia. During the update new features were added including the ability to map linear features. (roads, railroads, rivers and ferry routes)
== Concept: segments and description ==
== Roads ==
Roads is a Wikimapia feature where in you can mark out roads in Wikimapia, just like you mark places. However unlike marking places which are done by adding rectangles, you can mark roads by adding points. These successive points are joined (automatically as you go on marking them) by road segments.

== Railroads ==
Railroads is a WikiMapia feature wherein you can mark out railway lines in WikiMapia. You can mark railroads by adding points. Once you anchor a point and move the cursor, a segment will automatically extend from it. A segment can only be established when another point is fixed to a location. These segments and points should be aligned accurately with the linear image of the railroad on the map.

== Ferry ==
Water transport. A scheduled public passenger/car/rail transport service that travels over water on a set route. At least the ends of the water transport line must be named, information about the route and/or sailing times must be presented.

== Rivers ==
Rivers is a linear tool wherein you can mark waterways such as rivers, canals, streams etc. The marking of rivers is done by adding points and segments. Segments form the main "body" or "line" of the linear tool, while points link segments to each other. Points also enable segments to be laid in different directions. This method of marking is also used for the other linear features available in Wikimapia, such as Road, Railroad and Ferry.

== Other types ==
Coming soon.

Adding/editing places

2012-03-27T17:48:19Z

Antdoghalo: Do we need two sections labeled "comments"?

== Polygons ==
===What is a polygon?===
A polygon outlines the shape of an object on the map. It is also the first process in adding a place tag.

===How do I create a polygon?===
To create polygon select 'Edit map' from the menu bar and choose 'Add place' from the drop down menu.

To add a polygon to an old place or to edit an existing polygon, select 'Menu' in a place tag and choose 'Resize outline (polygon)' from the drop down menu. Alternatively, right click the polygon of place tag and select 'Resize outline (polygon)' from the menu.

===I tried to add new points to a polygon, but I failed. What is the reason?===
There are limits for the number of polygon dots as listed here:

'''Level 0 users''': 200 dots

'''Level 1 users''': 500 dots

'''Level 2 users''': 2,000 dots

===I tried to create a polygon, but I failed in making it as big as desired. Why?===
There are limits for the area a polygon may cover (March 2009):

'''Level 0 users''': ~31.64 km²

'''Level 1 users''': ~244.14 km²

'''Level 2 users''': ~996,006 km²

===Can I delete a polygon?===
No, unfortunately this isn't possible. You could reduce the polygon to the minimum of three dots (which you can drag into a most minimal shape).

Although if you think the polygon is wrong, you could delete the relevant tag and create a new tag with a new polygon. '''Don't forget to copy the information and photographs in all languages from the deleted tag to the new tag.'''

As a temporary workaround, you might decide to reduce the size of the misplaced/misshapen polygon to the absolute minimum. Tip: Enlarge the area to be edited to maximum and then delete all but three of the outlining points (small red squares) by placing the mouse cursor on each square, left clicking and then choosing the delete option for that particular outline point.

===Can I revert a polygon to the state before it was vandalized?===
No, this feature is unfortunately not provided (yet).

===I added a polygon for a place but my edit count stayed the same. Why?===
Polygons are being counted separately, which you can see under the stats tab in your profile.

===What area of a tag should I mark with a polygon?===
You should only create a polygon that outlines the immediate area of the place you are tagging. For example, you can mark the outline of a building's structure or you could mark the outline of the building's surrounding property, this should always depend on what you are tagging. Don't overlap an adjacent area that is not part of the tag.

Also keep this in mind if you are using Beta, if you do mark the object directly (and not it's grounds or property) be sure to check the building icon box in the edit menu. This will ensure the object's polygon will depict an individual building in the Map View.
For tags that include external grounds, the box should not be checked, otherwise the boundaries of the polygon will represent a 'building'.

[[Category:Wikimapia User Guide (en)]]

== Titles ==
== Descriptions ==
== Street/Addresses ==
== Building checkbox ==
== Categories ==
A tag should have at least one '''category''' to increase the utility of WikiMapia. Nearly all of the most common categories have specially designed little icons that are displayed in [[Beta Help: Map types|Map view]] as a visual aid. A very select group of categories, including 'lake' and 'park', [[Beta Help: Map types#Map|change the color]] of their polygons in Map view.

{|
|
==Category filtering==

Another feature of categories is that they can be used to "filter" out all tags except the type the user is interested in finding. For example, if a user wanted to find a hotel in an area, they would [[zoom]] in or out as needed to see their geographical area of interest, go to the Categories menu, and either select 'hotel' from the menu or type it in the search field and click on the word 'hotel'. WikiMapia will then display all tags (up to the 100 largest) that have had the category 'hotel' added by previous [[User Guide: Other users|editors]]. If a category does not have a specific icon, a red dot will appear for each tag in that category instead. When filtering, the icons or red dots will appear in Map view or in Satellite view, whichever the user happens to be using. These tags can then be moused over or clicked on by the user for further investigation.

Without a category, this system will not identify a tag for the user, even if the category word is used in the Title. So it is up to the editors to include their tags in a category.
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[[Image:Categories.jpg|right]]
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==Assigning a category to a tag==
Whether you are creating a tag or modifying an existing tag, the procedure for adding a category is the same. With the editing box open, look below the Description field. Five icons, each with a text label, appear there. One is "Category"; click on it, and it should display "Categories: add category", and (if any) the tag's previously added categories. Click on "add category", and a list of the top 30 most commonly used categories and their icons should appear. If the category you want appears on this list, click on it and it will be added to the tag's categories. If the category you want does not appear in the list, type the in the search field below the list and a selection of possible matches will appear. If your category appears, click on it and it will be added to the tag. If your category cannot be found, try different words for it until something apppropriate appears. Once you have have added the category or categories you wish to assign to the tag, don't forget to click 'Save.'

==Removing a category from a tag==
At times, you may find a tag that has an inappropriate category. To remove this category, select the tag, select 'Edit this page' from the menu in the upper left corner as usual, and position your mouse cursor over the offending category (below the Description field). A small red box with the word 'remove' will appear to the right of the category. Click remove, and the category will vanish. Once you are satisfied with the tag, click 'Save'.

The category 'Not approved' is automatically added to tags created by users who are not signed in. This category can only be removed by UL1s and UL2s, who are, of course, indicating their approval of the tag by removing the 'Not approved' category.

==Common categories==
The vast majority of natural and artificial objects tagged by WikiMapia's editors fall into a surprisingly small number of categories. Currently the most used category is 'village', followed by 'school'. In the Categories menu, the editing box category list, and in the filtering input box, the number in parantheses beside the category name is the total number of tags worldwide in that category. Some categories have been made into "synonyms" of others. For example, if a user chooses the category 'graveyard' for their tag, upon saving it will be assigned the 'cemetery' category.

==Under-categorization==
Most tags have no category at all, which is unacceptable. Most of the remainder have just one, which may or may not be the appropriate number of categories. For example, just having the category 'village' is fine for a village, as is a footbridge categorized as 'footbridge.' In other cases, such as 'school', an additional category would be appreciated by users. WikiMapians have created ancillary categories, which function as adjectives to modify the basic noun-type categories. In the case of 'school', additional categories, such as 'primary education' or 'secondary education' can be used to distinguish [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_school elementary schools] from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education high schools]. Or a school might have been deemed a landmark by the local government, so adding the category 'landmark' to the tag might be appropriate.

==Over-categorization==
It is not a good idea to add too many categories to a tag. For example, you may be tempted to add every amenity your town or village possesses to the tag. But your town is not a restaurant, a park, a school and a highway, it's just a town. Label the places within the town with their own tags, and add those categories to them. Adding categories that have icons and/or a color in Map view causes conflicts in those features.

==Over-used categories==
Certain categories are overused by inexperienced WikiMapians. For example, it is not good idea to assign every single building on a university campus to the category 'university'. This clutters up the map with little [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortarboard mortarboard] icons and does not help users locate and identify universities when zoomed further out. Use ones like 'dormitory', 'classroom', 'lab' or 'office', alone or in combination, instead.

Some categories may seem superfluous to you, and you are not obligated to include them. For example, the category 'building' does not have be routinely used since everything humanity has made that doesn't move or lie flat on the ground is a building of some sort or another. Assigning a tag to the 'building' category may be useful in certain cases, but a tag can be complete without it.

==Deprecated categories==
Many categories are determined by the WikiMapia community to be useless, and are phased out by a number of methods. For example, filtering for the category '[http://www.wikimapia.org/beta/#lat=16.972741&lon=78.75&z=3&l=0&m=w&tag=28278 thinking]' shows that there are a handful of tags, all in India, with that category. Since their are so few of them, a single concerned editor could simply edit those tags to remove the unwanted category.

Other categories with too many tags to manually change may be merged into a single category or may be totally erased by the admins, usually after a discussion in the forum. When a category is erased, it is replaced by the category '----'.

Certain general classes of categories have usually been found to be unhelpful and typically are removed. These include personal names, surnames, names of towns and cities, abbreviations, acronyms and others which are either ambiguous, overly specific, or obvious.

Remember that categories exist to help users find things, not to overwhelm them with clutter nor to force them to guess what obscure category to filter by.

==Translating categories==
Each category may be translated to every [[Supported languages|language Wikimapia supports]]. When displaying category names, Wikimapia gives preference to language you choose as your interface language. If category name appears in a language that is not your default, this means that the category has not been translated into your language. To translate the category (or edit an existing translation), you need to find a tag with this category (consider using category filter to do this) and click on category name and the filtering window will appear. Make sure 'en' is selected from the language list at the bottom. In the menu in the upper left, choose 'Add another language', choose your language, and provide a Title and Description much as one would when translating a regular tag. You must be a UL1 or UL2 to do this. Title and description in English can not be edited.

When searching for categories other than most used ones, translated categories are followed by a specific language code, according to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639-1_codes ISO 639-1 code] to indicate which language it belongs to. If word is in your language, but there is no such code (meaning it's in English database), you should avoid using this category. Instead, you should search for an equivalent category in English (or other language you know) and translate it properly to your language. Then use this category in your tag. We would appreciate if you report in [[Beta Help: Forum|forum]] this ''possibly'' wrong word in category system, so that admins can take it out of English database, if necessary.

==Creating categories==
In the very unlikely event that the category you wish to add does not yet exist in WikiMapia, and you are a UL2, you may create a category by opening a category filtering window, selecting 'Add new category' and filling out the Title and Description fields. If you are not a UL2, and even if you are, it would be best to ask in the forum if creating the new category is a wise course of action. Once the new category is created, it must await action by the the admins to be filterable.

As of 2012, there are only five category moderators ArnoutSteenhoek, bio2935c, GILLIES, Martin67, Pica.

[[Category:Wikimapia User Guide (en)]]
[[Category:Terminology|Category]]

== Photos ==
A '''photo''' (or '''photos''', '''photograph(s)''') are images that assist in describing places in WikiMapia that words cannot accurately express. We encourage you to upload photos that will help describe places, and make WikiMapia tags even more worthwhile. However, we do have some rules, mainly because WikiMapia does not wish to, nor allow its users to violate copyrights; nor should photographs and images be used to bypass WikiMapia's policy of [[neutral point of view]].

==How to Upload a photo==
Click Menu > Edit > Add/Manage Photos.

Every image uploaded from your computer is stored on WikiMapia and accessible using a URL for the small thumbnail image and the large image. After adding the image, you can get it's URL by right clicking on the large image and copying it's URL. To reuse this image on other tags, simply paste the image URL into the "Enter photo URL".

==Copyrights and WikiMapia==
As WikiMapia's content is user-driven, we recommend that you provide your own photographs and images. This means that you are the author of the photos or images, and therefore you own the copyright to them, you are providing them under a user license, or you are releasing them into the public domain. If you do not attribute a license to your photos, then WikiMapia will assume that the photo(s) you submit are copyright of the uploader ''if and only if you have taken the photograph''.

'''Keep in mind that just because something is freely available (on the web, in books, or your friend's pictures, et cetera) does '''NOT''' mean it is public domain, nor yours to upload to WikiMapia.''' If the images are in the public domain, please state the reasons why in a comment, and provide a source (a link from Wikipedia's photo page, for example) stating why this is so. You cannot submit any work other than your own creations into the public domain, unless it falls under a category defined by law as public domain.

If any (free) licenses exist which permit modification of the image, then please attribute the owner/supplier of the work with a source, as defined in the license agreement. "Derivative works" (collages and/or modifications of copyrighted images) are still the copyright of the original author, and does not give you the right to submit the work as your own.

If there is any debate or lack of proof about the copyright or attribution of the image, the image will be [[Deletion|removed]] from WikiMapia.

[[Category: Terminology]]

==Comments==

Comments are where you can, well, make comments about a place. If you wish to express your personal opinion, this is the right spot for it, and not in the place description. Information that is also outside the scope of [[Neutral Point of View]] information to the WikiMapia article is also welcome in the tag, although keep in mind that unwelcome, offensive, meaningless, talk between users, or unrelated comments will be [[Deleted|removed]]. However, if you have information that should be in the description, please feel free to [[Editing Places|edit]] the tag.

Comments live at the bottom of each place tag, and they are supposed to be written in the same language as the main page. To add a comment, click directly on the “add your comment in <Language>” message and then type in your comment. If you have not registered you will also need to add your name. When you’re done, click the Send message button (or Cancel).

On existing comments you will also see the comment’s author, a couple of voting buttons (green up-thumb and red down-thumb), and the net good/bad vote count. If you created the comment yourself these buttons are greyed out, so you can’t vote for your own comment!

==Comments Q & A==

===What can I write in a comment===
The basic rules are the same as for what you can write in the place tag’s main description field, except that here you are welcome to express an opinion. What this means is that (for example) you can say that you think this pizza place has the best pizza in town, or you thought the art gallery was really worth visiting, or you didn’t like the way you were treated at the bus station. It does not mean that (for example) you can write offensive or abusive comments, or engage in political or religious discussions, or use it as a place where you exchange messages with your friends. The basic point here is that the comments are supposed to be about the place itself, and not something else entirely.

===How do I delete a bad comment?===
You can vote for or against a particular comment by clicking the green up-thumb or the red down-thumb. When a comment has enough negative votes it gets tagged as "abusive", and is not immediately displayed.

This does not actually delete the comment, however. Only advanced users are able to permanently delete comments (by clicking the “stop” button), and then only those comments with a net negative vote count. If you see a comment that should be deleted, please bring it to the attention of the Forum; there should already be a topic in the "Correction Support" section for this. Be specific about which place tag and which comment(s) are offensive and we’ll see what we can do, but please translate non-English comments for us.

===Why are the authors of some comments shown as blue links, but others are just black?===
The names in blue are registered users (and you can click on them to see that user’s profile), whereas names in black are unregistered users.

[[Category:Wikimapia User Guide (en)]]
[[Category: Terminology]]

== Nested places ==
=Parent & Child tags=

Parent & child tags are special place tags that are linked to each other. Parent tags contain child tags nested within them. This form of tagging is suitable for marking places that are located inside larger places.

[[Image:Child List.jpg]]

There are two methods to link child place tags to parent place tags. There is the '''''embedding''''' method and there is the '''''binding''''' method.

The '''''embedding''''' method is suited to marking places that do not require polygons. This is ideal for places whose delimitation is difficult or impossible to determine within the boundary of the parent tag due to severe overlapping etc. This is also applicable to vertically constructed or multilevel buildings, such as high-rise residential apartments or office buildings.

The '''''binding''''' method is perfect for adding child tags whose boundaries can be defined within the parent tag. This is fitting for tenant-type places that exist in one building under the same roof (eg. shopping malls, retail parks etc.) or for existing tags that were marked before the parent building. In either case, the emphasis of this method is the inclusion of existing tags to be marked congruously on a singular level, floor or storey, within the boundary of the parent tag.

===How to create and link an embedded child tag===

#Ensure the parent building checkbox has been ticked. [[Image:Building Checkbox Checked.jpg]]
#Select [[Image:Add Child.jpg]] located in the window. A new window will open ready for entering embedded child tag details. Once completed, click "''Save''". It's as simple as that!

===How to bind existing child tags===

#Ensure the building checkbox has been ticked in the parent '''and''' child place tags. [[Image:Building Checkbox Checked.jpg]]
#Make sure the polygon of the parent tag encompasses the polygon of the child tag i.e. the boundary of the child tag '''must not''' breach or be larger than the parent tag's boundary.
#Select [[Image:Add Child.jpg]] located in the window.
#Select [[Image:Existing Child.jpg]] located at the top of the window.
#Choose the desired child tag from the dropdown list and then click on the "''Bind''" button. [[Image:Child Dropdown List.jpg]]

You will have successfully linked a child tag to its parent tag, using either of the methods explained above.

When a parent tag is open, you will then be able to view all child tags listed under "''In this building''" [[Image:Child List.jpg]] Clicking on a child tag will open its window. The layout of the child tag is identical to that of a regular tag except for the header [[Image:Child Location Note 2.jpg]] Clicking on the parent tag's blue label will navigate back to the parent tag's window.

The benefit of the '''''binding''''' method is that child tags can be easily unlinked from parent tag to become separate tags.

===How to unbind a child tag===

To disconnect a child tag from its parent, simply select [[Image:Unbind 3.jpg]] from the child tag's menu.

This only works for child tags nested within parent tags using the '''''binding''''' method, it does '''not''' work for embedded child tags because they only exist within parent tags. The removal of a embedded child tag from its parent can only be done by deletion.

== History ==
==Deleting Places==
Wikimapia has a feature to mark places for deletion. When marking them, the user is challenged with the question "Why you want to delete this place?" in the form of a multiple-choice question. Possible responses are listed at [[User Guide: Deletion criteria]].

Sometimes we come across place tags that seem to conflict with the guidelines we use when creating tags. Perhaps they are “my house”, or the rectangle is much too large, or there is abusive language, or the photo(s) are inappropriate, or ... ... . Surely these place tags do not deserve to be in Wikimapia, and they should be deleted immediately, if not sooner? Well, maybe; and maybe not!

In general we should use the same guidelines when deleting places as we do when creating them, but there are some additional things to consider when deleting. For example, the place may have been vandalized (title/description deleted or changed, incorrect or silly stuff added, moved from where it was originally placed, etc. etc.), it may have been added in an incorrect language, there may be other language pages that do not deserve deletion, the possibilities are almost endless.

Golden Rule #1 with deletions is that your first thought should always be to correct the place tag’s information to make it a useful contribution to Wikimapia. So, first rest your mouse cursor over the place tag’s Menu and check some things: Is there an edit history? Is there a resize history? And check the bottom right corner for other languages.

If the place tag contains incorrect information, or maybe a mix of abuse or spam along with some good, then just edit it and put in the correct information. Or if a previous version was vandalized (Many vandals replace good, well described places with single word profanities or other rubbish.) you can restore that one (click on History, Prev, Edit and Save).

If you are 100% sure the location is wrong, just move it. If you can not move it to the right location, create a new tag in the right place, copy the required content from the old (wrongly placed) tag to the new one, and then delete the old one.

If the place tag already contains multiple languages, things can be even more complicated, since you really ought to consider (and do something reasonable with) those contents as well.

Some place tags are written in a language that is different from what it claims to be. Most commonly the English-language page contains non-English text. These are not grounds for deletion, however; you can read about this situation in the Languages section of this User Guide.

==What kinds of place tags are most often deleted?==
If none of the above considerations are relevant, how do you determine whether to delete a place tag? In my experience the vast majority of deletable place tags fall into one of the following categories:

# “My house”, “I live here” - For personal houses, the thing to remember is that local conditions are different from place to place. In the US and Canada all personal homes are to be deleted, unless they meet the full criteria in the Adding section of this User Guide. In places like India, properly sized homes that have a person's full name and/or instructions on how to find their house are not deleted. [On the other hand, we would delete a place like "Nandini's House" because we assume that there's more than one woman named Nandini in India.]
# Too big – the rectangle is MUCH too large for something that claims to be a single building, and there is no way to tell which specific building inside the rectangle is intended to be the actual described place.
# Duplicates - Two or more tags for the same place. One of them should be edited and improved (if possible) and the other(s) deleted.
# Inappropriate language - Places with offensive or abusive language.
# Advertising or spam.
# Political or religious content that cannot be effectively removed by editing - e.g. the whole tag is a partisan statement.

If there is any other problem with the place tag, don't hesitate to bring it up in the Forum. The forum's [http://wikimapia.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1440 Place Deletion Requests thread] is a long and ongoing thread about deletion discussions.

==Deleting Places Q & A==
===How do I delete a place?===
*If you are an unregistered or very new user (a UL0), you cannot delete a place. UL1s may delete unprotected places, and UL2s may delete protected places.
*To delete a place, please first remove any offensive language in the Title or the Description. If the polygon is disruptive, please change it to be less so, if possible. This prevents the offensive information or disruptive polygon from remaining visible during and shortly after the deletion period and from appearing in search engine results.
*Otherwise the mechanics are quite simple: just select the “Delete place” option from the place tag’s menu, and then click the Ok button.

===How many places can I delete per day/week?===
That depends on your user level and how long you have been registered. Initially you can only delete a handful per week, but this limit will increase ([http://wikimapia.org/forum/?t=250 forum thread 250]). So be patient!

===I found some places that should be deleted, but I can't delete any more since I am only a level 1 user. What should I do?===
If they are in urgent need of deletion, you can bring them to the attention of the Forum. Just post a message in the Correction Support section and tell us exactly why they should be deleted, and please translate non-English tags for us so we can determine for ourselves whether we agree with your assessment. If they are less urgent, you can just change the title to include the phrase “Marked for Deletion”. There are a number of level 2 users who regularly search for places like this and delete them, if warranted.

It is helpful if you center WIKIMAPIA on the place(s) you wish to be deleted, [[zoom]] in to an appropriate magnification and then copy the exact URL(s) visible in your browser's navigation window.

If you have a long list of such "please-delete" URLs to submit in the relevant forum, then please submit them grouped together in fives with each group separated by one line.

===How long does it take for a Deletion Request to be completed?===
When you complete the "How do I ..." steps above, the place is in fact not deleted immediately. It is instead flagged for deletion after a certain time has elapsed. This period of time varies, and depends on the user level of the requestor and on whether the tag is approved or non-approved. Non-approved places will disappear quicker than previously approved places, and requests by more privileged users will be completed more quickly than those of less experienced users. Until the deletion request has been completed it is still possible to cancel the request; afterwards the place will only be visible in the Deleted Places layer (although even from there it is possible to Undelete it).

===How long does it take for a "deleted" place to actually disappear entirely?===
There is no specific period. Places that have been deleted remain visible in the View->Deleted places layer for a period of time (so they can be undeleted, if the deletion was in error or malicious), and only after that do they disappear entirely.

===Someone deleted my place. Is there a way to find out why that happened? Is it possible to register for notifications if someone requests deletion of certain places?===
There is no way to be notified. But we can help you by semi-protecting your places. Then they can be deleted only by advanced users. You can undelete them and post their locations in the Vandalism section of the Forum with a request for protection.

===How do I know if one of my places has been deleted?===
There is no direct way to find out, but if you are a registered user, you can sort though your Created places by pressing the blue number next to it. If you have any deleted creations, then the words "deleted" will appear in red next to the title of the tag you had created. Deleted places still contribute to your “Created places” count.

===In China, there are many place tags marked ?????(cn). Should I delete them?===
No, you should not delete them. When you see question marks like that, it almost certainly means that it is written in a character set that you do not have loaded on your own computer. And there is an important point to note here: If you do not understand it (''you cannot read the language because you do not speak it''), then you should '''not''' delete it!

==See also==
*[http://wikimapia.org/wiki/Deletion Deletion]

[[Category:Wikimapia User Guide (en)]]