Places visited explanation

This activity involves keeping a record of places that we have visited. If you have any queries or suggestions or you want to join in, please contact me.

Rules

Visiting a place

You can include a place as one you have visited if you meet certain conditions. These conditions vary slightly according to the type of place:

To include an aerial lift station, you must get on or off an aerial lift at that station, and you must travel somewhere on that aerial lift. Using a replacement form of transport (without travelling on an aerial lift) or meeting somebody else at an aerial lift station (without travelling on an aerial lift) or travelling on an aerial lift and merely getting off and back onto the same aerial lift at one of the intervening stations at which your aerial lift calls is not enough. You can include an aerial lift station where you changed aerial lifts (even if it was not strictly necessary for you to change aerial lifts at that station).
To include an airport, you must get on or off an aircraft at that airport, and you must arrive or leave that airport in that aircraft as part of a commercial passenger flight. Using a replacement form of transport (without travelling in an aircraft) or meeting somebody else at an airport (without travelling in an aircraft) or being in an aircraft that landed at an airport (without leaving the aircraft) or being in an aircraft that did not leave the ground is not enough. You can include an airport where you changed between connecting flights.
To include a cathedral, you must enter the main cathedral building. You can include any building that is generally called a cathedral.
To include a stop on a guided busway, you must get on or off a guided bus at that stop, and you must travel somewhere on that guided bus. Using a non-guided bus service or meeting somebody else at a stop on a guided busway (without travelling on a guided bus) or travelling on a guided bus and merely getting off and back onto the same guided bus at one of the intervening stops at which your guided bus calls is not enough. You can include a stop on a guided busway where you changed guided buses (even if it was not strictly necessary for you to change guided buses at that stop).
To include a hospital, you must enter the main hospital building as a patient. You can include any building that is generally called a hospital or an infirmary.
To include a music venue, you must attend a scheduled live performance of music in that venue.
To include a police station, you must enter the police station building.
To include a port, you must get on or off a commercial passenger watercraft at that port, and you must travel somewhere in that watercraft. Using a replacement form of transport (without travelling in a watercraft) or meeting somebody else at a port (without travelling in a watercraft) or travelling in a watercraft that docks at a port (without leaving the watercraft) is not enough. You can include a port where you changed between watercraft or where you went ashore only briefly.
To include a railway station, you must get on or off a train at that station, and you must travel somewhere on that train. Using a replacement form of transport (without travelling on a train) or meeting somebody else at a railway station (without travelling on a train) or travelling on a train and merely getting off and back onto the same train at one of the intervening stations at which your train calls is not enough. You can include a station where you changed trains (even if it was not strictly necessary for you to change trains at that station). You can include a station where you get off a train that terminates at that station, even if you get back on the same train to leave the station, because these are separate train services.
To include a stop on a trackless train route, you must get on or off a trackless train at that stop, and you must travel somewhere on that trackless train. Using another form of transport or meeting somebody else at a stop on a trackless train route (without travelling on a trackless train) or travelling on a trackless train and merely getting off and back onto the same trackless train at one of the intervening stops at which your trackless train calls is not enough. You can include a stop on a trackless train route where you changed trackless traines (even if it was not strictly necessary for you to change trackless traines at that stop).

Types of place

We divide some types of place into subtypes that we list separately:

When an airport or a railway station closes permanently, we move it to a separate list.
We have a separate list for buildings that used to be cathedrals.
We divide railway stations into types according to the railway network of the trains that serve the stations. Some stations are of more than one type and so appear on more than one list. You can only include such a station on the list corresponding to the railway network of the train on which you travelled when you visited that station.

For example, Richmond station is both a National Rail and a London Underground station, so it appears on both the National Rail and the London Underground lists. You can only include it on the London Underground list if you have used a London Underground train at that station. You can only include it on the National Rail station list if you have used a National Rail train at that station. If you change from one type of train to another type of train at that station, you can include it on both lists.

Please tell me if you want to count places of a type that we do not already count.

Certainty

To include a place as one you have visited, you must be sure that you have visited that place. You cannot include a place if you think that you might not have visited that place. You do not need any other evidence.

When you visited a place

You can include any places you visit between your birth and your death.

Reporting a visit

When you have visited a place that you want to add to your list, please tell me before you forget about it. Please remember to tell me the type of the place so that I can record your visit on the correct list. Please use the correct spelling of the name of the place whenever you can do so or tell me that you are unsure of the spelling so that I can try to find the correct spelling. I usually ask for clarifying information when necessary, but you can make things easier by giving enough information when you first tell me:

When you tell me about a visit to an airport, you can tell me the three-letter IATA code to identify the airport and avoid the need to give the precise name of the airport, but please make sure that you give the code accurately whenever you use it.
When you tell me about a visit to a place on a list that includes places in different countries, please tell me the country the place is in.
When you tell me about a visit to a cathedral, please tell me the denomination that controls the cathedral.

Soon after you tell me about a place you have visited, I should tell you when I have updated the website. If you do not hear from me, please assume that I have not received your report and try telling me again.

When you are preparing your first report to join a list and that report includes many places that are already on the list, you might like to download the list of places as a comma-separated values file to save yourself some typing. You can open this file in a spreadsheet application and add an additional column with entries that show the places you have visited. Alternatively, you can open the file in a text editor and add a comma followed by a number 1 (or some other indicator) to show the places that you have visited. You can add the places that are not already on the list to the end of the list. You can then send me the file that you have edited.

Results

For each type of place, there are several different forms of output.

Data tables

Each data table has two columns. The first column contains the name of the place and the second column contains the list of the names of the participants who have visited that place, listed alphabetically by name. After the row that contains the column headings, there are rows for the places on the list. These rows usually appear in the alphabetical order of the names of the places or of the IATA codes for airports.

When we have a complete list of places and there are places that no participant has visited, there is a separate data table including these not visited places as well as the places that participants have visited.

When there are places that only one participant has visited, there is a separate data table including just these places.

When the participants include human participants and non-human participants, there are data tables that consider these types of participant separately.

For some types of place, there are additional data tables that list the places by some type of category (for example, by line, route, or country).

For each data table (or collection of data tables listed by category), there is a comma-separated values file that contains the same information.

The main page for each type of place lists the data tables and gives the number of places in each data table (or collection of data tables separated by category) after its name.

Rankings

The rankings give the names of the participants and a numeric value for each participant listed in descending numerical order. We do not include participants with a numeric value of zero.

we use a few different numeric measures:

The "visited" measure gives the total number of places visited.
The "visited by only one participant" measure gives the total number of places visited by only one participant.
The "proportions" measure gives each participant who has visited a place a value equal to one divided by the total number of participants who have visited that place and then sums this for all places visited by that participant. We display the measure with up to two decimal places. The measure gives a value between that of the "visited" measure and the "visited by only one participant" measure.

When the participants include human participants and non-human participants, we use additional measures that consider these types of participant separately.

We give each ranking both with and without dates:

The ranking without dates is a numbered list.
The ranking with dates is a table with a row for each participant. The table includes a column for the most recent date when the rank changed for each participant. The table includes a column for the most recent date when the corresponding numeric value changed for each participant. When the ranking contains at least one participant, the last row in the table gives the number of participants in the ranking, the date the ranking last changed, the total numeric value for all participants, and the date the numeric values last changed.

Lists

There are lists of the places visited by each participant and the places visited only by that participant. When available, there are also lists of places not visited by each participant. There are similar lists for all participants collectively.

When the participants include human participants and non-human participants, there are additional lists that consider these types of participant separately.

When available, there is also a complete list of places.

Each place in a list gives a link to the corresponding data table.

The lists are available whenever the list contains at least one place.

For some types of place, there are additional lists that list the places by some type of category (for example, by line, route, or country).

For each list (or collection of lists separated by category), there is a comma-separated values file that contains the same information.

The main page for each type of place lists the lists and gives the number of places in each list (or collection of lists separated by category) after its name.

History

The history consists of a table giving a monthly record of the "visited" measure for each participant. There is a column for each participant included in the table and a row for each month where the measure changed.

History tables exist for each participant separately and for all participants collectively. When the participants include human participants and non-human participants, there are additional collective history tables that consider these types of participant separately.

For each history table, there is a comma-separated values file that contains the same information.