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| Are Clustr Maps Accurate? | | Print | |
| Written by Joeprah | |
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I am not sure how many of my fellow bloggers have widgets on their sidebars that track traffic through cool mapping tools, but I seen quite a few of them out there. I picked up the Clustr Maps widget almost a year ago and have found it to be anything but reliable. You might be wondering, Joeprah, where do you get your proof? Well, loyal reader, I used a website traffic analytics tool that I almost forgot I had until recently and what i came to discover was that I have quite a bit more traffic than "Clustr Maps" accounted. On average over the past week I was receiving 100 unique visitors a day per Clustr Maps, but in reality I was receiving somewhere along the lines of 300-400 unique visitors a day. The reason for the difference is that while Clustr Maps is accurate at tracking traffic coming to your site, it only does so for the main website address that your register with. This leaves all referring links unaccounted for. I do have to say that the folks that work for and with Clustr Maps are extremely courtious and responsive and the tool does provide a site with a nice piece of eye candy. And the price, free, is great. Overall, it is something worth considering. It is a neat-o widget, don't get me wrong. But I think it is best used in conjunction with a site analytics tool to give you the total picture of your sites traffic.
 Does this map remind anyone else of that movie "War Games?"
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Comments (24)
 
Aww... shucks... well, we're pretty fanatical about it all... beaming in on random users' blogs to see how things are going, etc etc, and our intense user support and interaction is one of our several claims to fame (massive scalability and speed being the others). I'd better bail out of this thread for now... final PLEA is: either instead of or in addition to a fresh blog posting, would it be possible to amend the original posting with a "[BUT SEE BELOW FOR CORRECTIONS]" since so many readers don't get beyond the opening paragraph and negative vibes. MANY THANKS - CJ ;-)
 1
March 05, 2008
Votes: +0 I have to say you clustr maps guys are awesome. I never had such good tech related service in my life. I will definitely have to add another post clearing up the issue and pointing out the real issue, but also talk about how great you guys are. If you have a name or a quote, other I will take it from the comments "CJ" It won't allow me to zoom in yet, but I am sure it will soon. Unless there is code I need to add? Thanks again for addressing this issue. Joe 2
March 05, 2008
Votes: +0
OK, upgraded all you guys (Grimm, joeprah, xbox4...) ... tried to send this comment a moment ago and your comment processor greeted me with the following:
Warning: array_keys(): The first argument should be an array in /home/content/c/h/o/chonkchonk/html/includes/pathway.php on line 63 Go figure! who's complaining about whom? ;-) 3
March 05, 2008
Votes: +0
Ok, Ok you've twisted my arm, I've put a cluster maps thingy(technical term) up on my blog, and it's just fantastic!
It brightens up the place, leaves it fresh smelling and my teeth are whiter as a result of it just being there. That's GOT to be worth a Wii, surely? I look forward to trying it out. 4
March 05, 2008
Votes: +0
Aw, shucks... have just upgraded Grimm,, *AND joeprah TOO*...
just so you can see what an awesome service it is with the zoomed-in maps [super-accurate, too, as always]! Should take a day or so to kick in. Hoping you'll see your way clear to at least updating your main posting with a clearly-visible correction as suggested in my reply to Grimm above ;-) 5
March 05, 2008
Votes: +0
Well, you caught me in a good mood, and I tried to upgrade both Grimm and Xbox4... but neither of you guys are showing the ClustrMaps thumbnail map on your pages... so not much point at the moment (the thumbnail IS the counter!); I'll check again later...
Oh, and joeprah... we're still suffering from the negative vibes in your posting, which these comments address but fewer people ever see... how about adding a [UPDATE: see comments below for clarification] following that little 'Thanks for nothing Clustr Maps.' which gives a very damaging impression? Many thanks!!! 6
March 05, 2008
Votes: +0
I will try and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
I will be XBox's 2nd visitor if I get the upgrade from ClusterMaps... See? Everybody wins. Except Joeprah. But he has enough stuff already. Seriously though, I've used ClusterMaps in the past and no problems with it. Of course, my little ol' blog don't have all the bells and whistles this one does... Grimm http://mygrimmreality.blogspot.com/ 7
March 05, 2008
Votes: +0
Hey Mr Cluster Maps Man, I was actually holding out for a Wii or a child or cash money but your offer is still very generous nevertheless.
If I ever get a 2nd visitor to my blog I'll be sure to register with you and coming beating down your door. All the best... 8
March 04, 2008
Votes: +0
:grin Perhaps where the count is limited is that, like you said, it only counts those coming to the site via the exact address of Joeprah.com as opposed to all the other possible avenues into the site. I think that I was using it as a counter tool and didn't recognize this limitation. Like you said, you defend the accuracy of the tool and that is more than likely the case since I do get a lot of readers coming to my site via referring sites or links and those readers do not come directly to "joeprah.com"...anyways, thanks for dropping by.
9
March 04, 2008
Votes: +0
Well now, perhaps it is a little statistically imperfect (Sorry Mr Clustr Man), but it sure is pretty, that's got to count for something
 11
March 04, 2008
Votes: +0
:grin Perhaps where the count is limited is that, like you said, it only counts those coming to the site via the exact address of Joeprah.com as opposed to all the other possible avenues into the site. I think that I was using it as a counter tool and didn't recognize this limitation. Like you said, you defend the accuracy of the tool and that is more than likely the case since I do get a lot of readers coming to my site via referring sites or links and those readers do not come directly to "joeprah.com"...anyways, thanks for dropping by.
12
March 03, 2008
Votes: +0
Signing off for tonight; will follow up anything else on this thread tomorrow; many thanks for listening!
13
March 03, 2008
Votes: +0
Heh, Xbox4NappyRash, I don't want to set a dangerous precedent, but on the other hand since you asked so nicely, why not? Just let us know when you've registerd and put our little thumbnail map on your blog, and we'll take care of it.
To the others reading this, I might as well point out that the 'count accuracy' is itself pretty easy- we have a big server farm, massive apache log files, and every night we count them up. It's no big deal: the 'accuracy' of every such tool merely depends on its philosophy and definition of counting. The hard part is the clustering algorithm and our SPEED! 14
March 03, 2008
Votes: +0
Basically, what the Cluster Map dude is trying to say Joseph, is that you actually have approximately 7 readers, who sit there all day pressing F5.
Kidding, honest, don't ban me, or shoot me or write about me, please. Actually seriously, I think that's a pretty clear explanation of where the differences you mention would come from. And for what it's worth, personally I prefer those measurements to some of the more generic figures you can get from stat tools. (Can I have free stuff now Mr Cluster Map man?) 15
March 03, 2008
Votes: +0
p.s. I'm now slightly alarmed that many people will see only your rather damaging (and inaccurate) headline and story, and not pursue the ebb and flow of these comments. We will happily match any counter given the parameters I mentioned - if you can find any inaccuracies given the philosophy of the way we count, we'll happily give you a free lifetime upgrade to ClustrMaps+ (better zoomed in maps, no ads). In any event, we'd be grateful if you could somehow flag, edit or tone done the misleading/damaging assertions, at least until you've run some controlled experiments!
Many thanks.. -CJ 16
March 03, 2008
Votes: +0
Hi- just wanted to clear up a few things, because we take great pride in our accuracy!
1. Our server logs count *ONLY* when our little jpg thumbnail map image is 'served up', and *ONLY* on the exact page where it appears... thus it will differ from other counters that give you generic 'site stats'. 2. We then filter to only count 1 visit per IP address per day! Other counters differ in this respect. 3. Our geolocation accuracy comes from the leader in the field, MaxMind. 4. We emphasise our visual 'gestalt' and huge scale, but accuracy is critical! All this is on our FAQ; many thanks! 17
March 03, 2008
Votes: +0
I use ClustrMaps but have never noticed the discrepancy. I have never used it for statistics though...mainly for eyecandy and for fun.
Thanks for giving people something to think about when it comes to statistics; I use Analytics and Statcounter. Samsara http://samsara.ihostyou.com 18
March 03, 2008
Votes: +0  I suppose that is completely possible, although my ego may not be able to deal with that possible truth.19
March 02, 2008
Votes: +0
But what if clustr is accurate and the others just jack up the numbers to boost your ego.
I'm that big red dot at the bottom of Canada covering most of Vermont. lol 20
March 02, 2008
Votes: +0
I used the cluster map for a little while. I get most of my stats from feedburner and wordpress.
21
March 02, 2008
Votes: +0
Good info! I'm seriously jealous ya know!
Happy Saturday! Blog Hoppin'! :-) "Margarita Mom" 22
March 02, 2008
Votes: +0
400 unique a day?
If I paid attention in school I'd be swearing at you in Gaelic right now.... 23
March 01, 2008
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