Photo Download Enhancements Request?

[mileagemike25000]

I'm sorry if this info has already been asked but I just didn't find it?

There have been several times when I have lost an entire TR just before submitting it. Would it be possible to add a batch photo download, as it would save a tremendous amount of time for either the intial upload, or if a reload is necessary?

Also, I often find that the 15 photo maximum download, for a TR, isn't always enough. Would it be possible to up the maximum to say, 25? I would prefer not to use a link to an external site that may eventually delete the file in case I use up my storage space.

One last possible suggestion. All my photos are geotagged, but I would like to give the members the option to download the image to a site like google earth to observe the location on a map. Is the EXIF data portion of the photo file preserved when I download pictures? If not, can it be?

Thanks!

Mike

[Martell]

Multi-file uploads is something I would consider if there was a mod available. I will look sometime.

The idea behind the 15 file per post limit is that we offer a basic and simple image hosting service for free. If you want advanced features and tons of space there are lots of other image hosts.

I think the EXIF data should be preserved.

[Grannyhiker]

In the past I've just made a "Part 2" if I've run over the image limit. Easy enough to do. Others who have been here a long time have done the same.

[retired jerry]

If you do the "part 2" method, and it crashes and you have to re-enter, you lose half as much

Crashing and re-entering happened occasionally, but since upgrade a couple years ago rarely if ever happens.

[kepPNW]

Another advantage of offsite photo hosting is it's easy to avoid the crash problem by copying your partial report to a text editor occasionally.

[Martell]

I've always wanted to eventually move all our image hosting for the forums and Field Guide to a robust service like Amazon S3. The main problem is then you pay a small fee per gigabyte as well as transfer fees. But then I'd feel more comfortable increasing the amount people could upload (or maybe have something where you donate a small amount to TKO and you get a large amount of space with more advanced features for file management?). We currently use a "unlimited*" host, but things start to happen if you use up to much space or have too many files. One is they stop doing backups for you, and they can cut off service without announcing it (we've had this happen twice).

Even with the current per post limits we have 68k images and thumbnails hosted for the forums! Then there are another 20k+ for the Field Guide.

* Unlimited but not actually unlimited

[Grannyhiker]

I used to have problems when I didn't use "permanent" log-on--I'd go to post a report and find that I'd been timed out and everything disappeared.

Since then I've typed my trip reports into Word, with placeholders marked for the photos. I then used the copy/paste routine to get it into PH and then uploaded the photos. The advantage is that I have the report recorded on my computer as well as on PH. If PH should disappear (heaven forbid!), I still have the report.

Martell, those ideas might be worth pursuing! Let us know if anything materializes!

[mileagemike25000]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I was hoping to avoid adding multiple parts to my report as it seems a bit silly to have to do that instead of doing it in just one report. I like the idea of linking photos from another site, but I heard that the photos could be dropped, which would lead to old TR's that were depopulated of the images. Personally, I wouldn't mind a small fee, but I understand that not everyone can afford it, and it may act as a deterent for people joining the site and writing TR's. I also am not quite sure what image host makes sense for me, and I was trying to avoid having to make a selection.

If I had to choose, I think the batch download option would save enough time that it make multiple parts a less time consuming option. Grannyhiker, I tried using Word but wasn't too happy with the work flow of writing the text in word, and then uploading the pictures later. Maybe it's just me, but I'm trying to take the monotony out of writing TR's, since I have been writing so many, and they take a lot of time that I have to split between too many activities.

Dan, any improvements you can make to help ease the TR generation process would be greatly appreciated, and the work you have already done is excellent! Thanks!

Mike