With the number of questions I have been getting reagarding Wikimapia and this blog I have decided that a Frequently Asked Questions page is appropriate and necessary. So here we go!
#1: How are you affiliated with Wikimapia?
#2: How do I use Wikimapia?
#3: How do I mark a place location in Wikimapia? How to I put a box are a place? How do I “add a new place”? Etc.
#4: Why can’t I see my town/house/village/etc.? Why is the resolution so low? Will you increase the resolution for my location? When will there be new map/satellite/photographs of my location?
#5: How do I use Wikimapia with Google Earth?
#6: Can I use my GPS with Wikimapia?
#7: How can I add a picture to my place information page?
#8: How do I get my “upcoming place” approved?
#9: How do I contact Wikimapia?
#10: How do I contact you?
#11: How do you pay for this blog?
#12: Which web browser should I use with Wikimapia?
#13: How do I resize places?
#14: How do I / Can I add Wikimapia or Google Maps to my website/blog?
FAQ #1: How are you affiliated with Wikimapia?
I am not in any way affiliated with Wikimapia. I run this blog because I enjoy what Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev have created. I have had contact with them via email discussing with them about their Wikimapia project but I have no official status with them at all.
FAQ #2: How do I use Wikimapia?
Using Wikimapia is fairly simple. Please see my blog category: “How To” where you can see step by step guides to basic Wikimapia usage.
FAQ #3: How do I mark a place location in Wikimapia? How to I put a box are a place? How do I “add a new place”? Etc.
Please see my post: How To #1: Adding a New Place.
FAQ #4: Why can’t I see my town/house/village/etc.? Why is the resolution so low? Will you increase the resolution for my location? When will there be new map/satellite/photographs of my location?
Wikimapia obtains their map imagery from Google Maps. This means that even the creators of Wikimapia cannot control when map images are updated. Google Maps purchases the map images (often from satellites or airplanes) from other companies (often Digital Globe or NASA). This means that, to an extent, Google Maps does not even control when images are updated. Basically you just have to be patient and wait because it is out of Wikimapia’s hands.
FAQ #5: How do I use Wikimapia with Google Earth?
Wikimapia now has a layer in Google Earth. For info on how to use it, see my post: Wikimapia Invades Google Earth.
FAQ #6: Can I use my GPS with Wikimapia?
Yes you can! See my post: Wikimapia Adds GPS Capabilities.
FAQ #7: How can I add a picture to my place information page?
Add a picture by following the steps in my post: How To #3: Pictures and Comments.
FAQ #8: How do I get my “upcoming place” approved?
Upcoming places are reviewed by other Wikimapia users and are approved following this criteria:
-must be at least 24 hours old;
-must have more than 2 positive votes (yes) and 0 negative (no);
-with 1 negative vote, it needs at least 8 positive;
-places with only 2 positive votes and 0 negative will be automatically approved after one week.
For more information on upcoming places, see my post: How To #2: Upcoming Places.
FAQ #9: How do I contact Wikimapia?
See the Official Wikimapia blog for contact information.
FAQ #10: How do I contact you?
You can either leave me a comment here or at the appropriate post or you can email me. You can also vist me at my main blog: Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage.
FAQ #11: How do you pay for this blog?
I panhandle… ok, not really, but I am a starving student who could always use some help. Please feel free to click the “Donate” link in the side bar that will take you to a secure PayPal donation site that will go directly to me. Clicking the google ads also helps out! Thanks!
FAQ #12: Which web browser should I use with Wikimapia?
From what I can tell, most browser should work. But for best results use Firefox!
FAQ #13: How do I resize places?
For both “upcoming” and official places (if you are registered) you can resize/move a place by opening the place information and in the menu select “move or resize”. This will let you make corrections. Click “save” when done. You can only do this if you have been approved as a registered user.
FAQ #14: How do I / Can I add Wikimapia or Google Maps to my website/blog?
Yes you can! If you want to know how, see my post: How To #4: Adding Wikimapia and Google Maps to your Website.
As more questions come in or as I think of more things that need to be addressed I will add more FAQs. Let me know if you have more questions!
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Comments
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hi, Matt’s This is very good and very use full
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I wanted to search Cuddalore a place in South India ,Asia nearer to Portonovo (parangipettai).The entire town of cuddalore is clouded and I am unable to see any roads!.When is the next set of maps expected for this area?
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Please read FAQ #4.
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I’ve found my grandparent’s village in Spain, located it, but Wikimapia assigns it to another town, probably because it’s nearer. What should i do to change this?
Location: Coordinates: 42°17′28″N 8°18′4″W
It belongs to Spain > Pontevedra > Covelo, not Ourense > Melón -
Not sure if that is possible. Could try contacting the guys at Wikimapia.
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Last month when I zoomed my place, it was very clear to see my places. But yesterday, when zoomed, the following message has appeard: “We are sorry, but we don’t have imagery at this zoom level for this region” Whether the zoom level is changing frequently???
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Do you have example url’s of sites that use wikimapia on their pages?
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I have had my house marked, But at present it is neither showing marked box nor it accepts new marking (add new place).Whenever I am trying it says ‘ihe place is already marked’.How can I rectify the problem? and make the box visible.
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sankar I do not know why that would be.
Nat, I have it on front page of this blog and at this post.
I don’t know Saibal.
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If the description of places/upcoming places is available in a tabular text form for a particular area, say Pune, India where I stay, it will be more convenient to vote, edit or delete. Many corrections/deletion can be marked immediately. Also, my name ‘gohad’ appears in the comments. Can this be changed so that people around can not guess about the person making the comment?
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Hi matt,
I have added a place and it is approved. It was approved about a week back. But it is still not showing up in the search listings. Does it take some time for that, and if so how much.Thanks,
Rishi -
Hi !
Can I annotate a place with a comment about an event? Like using the &comment which would write “comment” at the location in the centre, for example “….’s party on “.
It is not something which should go in the description of a place. I can then mail the link to all invited. Right now I have to tell them, go the centre of this map. -
I think this will be better, an option can allow me to view only the place I made in map instead of all.
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Hi. Is it okay for me to take a printout of the places around my house for my personal use? Will I be violating any copyright laws? Thanks.
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I have added a place and it is approved. It was approved about a week back. But it is still not showing up in the search listings. Does it take some time for that, and if so how much.
Sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. You might email the guys at Wikimapia and see if they answer.
Can I annotate a place with a comment about an event? Like using the &comment which would write “comment” at the location in the centre, for example “….’s party on “.
Short answer: No. Longer answer: that really isn’t an appropriate use of Wikimapia as it is supposed to be a place for information that doesn’t really change and not really to be used for promotion.
Hi. Is it okay for me to take a printout of the places around my house for my personal use? Will I be violating any copyright laws? Thanks.
I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like that would be a problem because it is your own personal use. But I really don’t know.
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“Short answer: No. Longer answer: that really isn’t an appropriate use of Wikimapia as it is supposed to be a place for information that doesn’t really change and not really to be used for promotion.”
Exactly … which is why I don’t think adding it to wikimapia is appropriate. However if you could add a comment to the URL of a location which would show up as a bubble->arrow text to the center of the map, then you could specify events (and email to people) without dirtying the Wikimapia content.
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help meeee
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Will google list my place in its search Engine?
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How to upgrade my user level
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Hello,
There’s a city I want to rename (the 2nd result for Leninogorsk (Лениногорск) is actually Baikonur/Leninsk), but after clicking on the result, I can’t find it on the map in order to open/edit it. Any ideas? Maybe something’s wrong with the outline. -
A few things for the above posters:
CITIES: cities are found using Google’s database of city names. This means that there is no need to place cumbersome outlines around virtually all cities, and most cities will not have outlines. The city information is fairly exact, especially in the US, because it comes from the USGS. I would trust it above your intuition if you are doubting it.
GOOGLE LISTINGS: Wikimapia’s database is not affiliated with Google, so I don’t think they will show up in any Google searches. (as far as I know Google cannot crawl Wikimapia for information).
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how to make visible certain city in wikimapia?
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i want to see ballia in up.
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i want to see ballia city in up india.
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Is there going to be information how to add road soon
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Our area or place is showing under wrong city, Please tell how we can correct city.
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Please i want to know how can i protect a place which i tagged on wikimapia if this is possible, thank you…
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Dear, Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev
Your wikimapia website attracted my attention especially it gives the chance to illustrate places that were vague and not known for other people. I am a Saudi citizen from the west province of the Arabian Peninsula where there are a lot of places not named or shown on google Earth and many other maps. Your website is unique when i looked over your map where many places were unexeptable to find. Unfotunately some of the places i found not exactly well prepared and some times not exactly describe the place. Generally speaking you need someone able to deal with such things along with his identity as one of the people belong to that region or area who can speak& write English well. For this i would like to apply as a special member with some power to observe and correct the wrong places or comments written by other and send report if needed. Really i enjoyed the website hoping to share in giving good information about the area and putting the right bridge between the different culture.
Thank you so much for paying attention to my email:
salim30@gmail.com -
Hi Matt,
I am Vikichauhan, an old Wikimapia user having deletion privilege but recently when I added a new place without LOGIN, it became permanent place automatically.
It seems voting feature was withdrawn recently and now even new users can directly create permanent place marks.
Pl use your communication channel with Wikimapia founders and get this voting feature reintroduced else one people will clutter the cities/towns with over sized permanent places.
Thanks.
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hi,
going over the wikimapia, i find no way to identify the oceans and seas. for eg:- even if you search for ‘dead sea’ what you get is some hotels etc in far off places. can u get the oceans and seas marked? -
how i delete my account and place from map. i dont want to show now please help me out. itired very much but not able to delete my account and place
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How the watch list feature works.
I really not able to find out..
Matt’s Wikimapia Blog » Matt’s Wikimapia Blog FAQ on 10 Oct 2006 at 12:30 am
[…] I have received numerous questions regarding Wikimapia and my blog. In attempt to answer the most common inquiries, I have created the Matt’s Wikimapia Blog FAQ. I have written up answers to the “frequently asked questions” that I could come up with. As time goes on and I get asked more and as I think of more, I will be updating that page. Let me know if you think I need to add anything! […]
Matt’s Wikimapia Blog » Some Wikimapia Updates on 18 Nov 2006 at 2:15 am
[…] Wikimapia (and my blog too!!) are still getting requests for updates. There are two issues here. 1) Wikimapia has NO CONTROL over the map imagery. AT ALL. NEITHER DO I! Hehe, really, see my Matt’s Wikimapia Blog FAQ #4 for the reasons. 2) If it is the place information that needs to be updated, YOU update it! This is a Wiki site, that means the users have the power to edit things if they are needed. […]