World Map Update Failing Again!

[AlettaMondragon]

I haven't been following things on the Forums too much recently, and a quick search didn't bring up any recent topics about it, so there we go...

 

I was already about to file a JIRA about the issue, as I have noticed months earlier that something wasn't right about the smaller zoom levels of the world map. This was first noticed after the release of the Bellisseria Fantasy-themed regions in August, as zooming out on the map showed that these regions didn't get lower level tiles. While looking at any of these regions on the map (for example Toad Pool), gradually zooming out shows the Southwestern regions of the Fantasy area not having zoomed out tiles. Also, the tiles that are showing for the rest of the area at the same zoom level are way outdated, still showing the pre-release region progress marker outlines. Zooming out further, the entire magic swamps area vanishes from the map. At this zoom level, you might also notice that the mainland continents' tiles are even more outdated, so as the Belli-fantasy area was released in August, the smallest zoom level tiles (6-8?) have stopped updating in August or earlier. The mid-range tiles (3-5?) stopped updating sometime in August when the fantasy regions were already present, and lately the closest levels started to fail as well. The newly added regions on the coasts of the fantasy and chalet areas don't even have level 2 zoom tiles, and today I noticed that the level 1 tiles (full zoom-in) apparently stopped updating on the 28th.

Edit: I just found another reference point. Route 8A and 8C were connected in Varean and Osiliers on 13 July, but zooming out on the map doesn't show the connector from zoom level 5, so zoom levels 5-8 have already stopped updating early in July.

 

I didn't bother too much with the low-level tiles not updating, although it was already a concern for long-distance navigation and making new maps. Now as apparently the entire map stopped updating, this escalates the problem. If it goes the same way as 11 months ago in last November, the entire world map will be completely useless in 1 week.

 

@Maestro Linden I'm not sure if you are the person I should tag in this case, and if you have available information on this problem, but did the Lab notice this, and is this something expected or being worked on in the background? Some information would be much appreciated as I can't find anything mentioned about the map recently.

 

I'm going to file a JIRA bug report on this too, but I came here first to collect more information. What are others' experiences with the world map lately? Please share any info here that I haven't mentioned, so that can be added to the JIRA as well once I file it. I will share the link of the bug report here.

Edited October 31, 2021 by AlettaMondragon
additional info

[Jammy Voxel]

I can't offer anything useful, really, but I do want to acknowledge and support your experience.

I recall looking at the World Map right around the days that the Bellisseria fantasy regions first went live and observing that they fell off the map at certain zoom levels. I also observe that some of them still fall off when zooming out, today. It seems to be the newer ones along the west coast that do that. Same with the new house boats off the eastern and southern shores of the chalet regions of Bellisseria.

I agree that there was a short period of time where the map was resolving adequately, and it appears as if there's been some quality loss since that time.

[AlettaMondragon]

I see there's not a lot of attention to this issue so far, I finally had some time to make the bug report: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-231387

 

If anyone has even more details, it might help, whenever the Lab starts to work on it.

[Mollymews]

17 minutes ago, AlettaMondragon said:

anyone has even more details

the map tile issue was mentioned at the recent SUG meeting. Seems Linden are working on it

Inara Pey's cover of the SUG is here: https://modemworld.me/2021/11/02/2021-sug-meeting-week-44-summary/

Edited November 3, 2021 by Mollymews
quote

[AlettaMondragon]

18 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

the map tile issue was mentioned at the recent SUG meeting. Seems Linden are working on it

Inara Pey's cover of the SUG is here: https://modemworld.me/2021/11/02/2021-sug-meeting-week-44-summary/

Thank you Molly, I was wondering if it's a known issue already, I'm glad it is. This in the summary seems like an understatement though:

 

Quote

The Map tile server is currently “note working”, so the Map may display issues in updating. Steps are being taken to identify tiles that are not updating and rectifying the problem – it is hoped the fix should be in place by November 3rd.

 

Unfortunately it is not just some tiles that aren't updating, even before the Level 1 tiles stopped updating on 28 October, it was a consistent issue with all tiles per each zoom level stopping to update, the earliest I was able to determine was that the Level 6 tiles stopped updating before 23 June. This means the updates were only working properly for 2 months (18 April - 23 June), or not even so long before the specific zoom levels started to fail. I hope it won't take 5 months to make it work, like last time.