what's your opinion on private maps (Read 2736 times)

If people are worried about privacy they would have selected it to be private. The only private maps I have leave and return to were I stay. Really private people would not even use the map tool. Being able to look for routes where I stay really is a great benefit.

Thanks Kirsten. Do you make the changes, then simply type in a new name for the course and click on "Save"? (And it saves it as a new run?) That sounds way too easy, LOL! (PS: sorry for messing up the thread with this question. I should have posted it separately.) In case others get lost, eric's topic is, "what's your opinion on private maps"

What I do is find a map I want to use and click on "copy map." Then I adjust the copy of the map and rename it (it will automatically have a name like "copy of 'mapname'"). Does that make sense? k

One of the beta users suggested that before I release the new tool, I should set all maps to be private to protect their owners privacy. That means you will have to manually reset them to be public again if you want to share the maps. What are your thoughts?

Though I generally agree with what Gorilla Man had to say on the subject, I think setting all maps private default and making us go back and make them public if we want to is probably the way to go. Since the map locator feature is purely for convenience it probably is not worth causing undue anxiety for the paranoid amongst us. This will make it only slightly more difficult for me to stalk some of you but as Jake pointed out I'll find you if I want to.

My concern was for people who either are new tothe site or who aren't even still active on the site and who have maps that they didn't mean to be public.

Right. But the new tool does not show folks things they cannot already find.

Realistically even if my maps were private - if someone signed up and posted on the site for a while, then said 'Hey Kooky, I'm coming to New Zealand, can I come on a runwith you?' I am the sort of person that would probably say 'Hell yeah' then hand out my address anyhow. I too agree with the Gorilla in that we are all pretty much findable. That said, obviously most other poeple feel more comfortable having the opt out, rather than the opt in policy on map sharing so it sounds cool to me. Claire xxx

It's ironic that when I finally gotten around to create an easier way to find maps, I might have to end up hiding everything, which then renders the map locator useless. Also, the maps have no personal information associated with them. You can't find out who made it. But, if you all feel so strongly about it, then that's what I'll have to do. Trent: if I have to reset the map access modes, I'll set yours to be public. The group maps have a different set of access control and should not be affected by it.

It'll just be like the current map finder now, except instead of displaying the maps as a list, they're plotted on a map. Each map will have the name, its distance, and a little bit of description displayed. Here's a partial screen shot: When you click on the "Go to map" link, you go to that map's page: http://www.runningahead.com/maps/416e6f0a493f4224b651e993fcda80c6 The only privacy concern I see is that you see the starting point of each map, which as Jake and Trent argues, you can already find out using the current searching tool.

Eric, I don't have a problem with my maps being displayed publicly. I think it would be cool to be able to see in a general way where we're all from As for stalkers, for the record I own a gun & have an unstable personality.