Parcel Categories

I know, I know, this should be in Resident Run Websites, but I've tried it there and maybe I'll get some help here before it's inevitably moved.

At SLHandbook I have been paying for quick parcel surveys to flesh out a database for a Parcel Directory for Second Life. The basic "Show in Find Places" categories are fairly broad to do a proper categorization. As I build my Amazon.com-style browsing/filter system I need help designing the root Categories and then the Sub-Category Trunks.

For example, a high-level category may be "Club". Below that there may be a variety of Sub-Category Trunks or perhaps only one. For example, on "Club" we might have one Trunk that filters based on theme such as "Retro", "Goth", "Modern", "80s" etc. A secondary Trunk may be the type of music played. Another could mark amenities such as casino, rides, etc. The top-level Categories would be the start for browsing, the trunks for the filtering. So a club that wasprimarily for adult activities may be in a category "Adult" and then also include dancing, a theme or whatnot.

I am looking for suggestions particluarly for where to draw the top-level. The Find Types for those who don't know the list are as follows:

1. [left]None[/left]
   
2. [left]Linden Location[/left]
   
3. [left]Adult[/left]
   
4. [left]Arts & Culture[/left]
   
5. [left]Business[/left]
   
6. [left]Educational[/left]
   
7. [left]Gaming[/left]
   
8. [left]Hangout[/left]
   
9. [left]Newcomer Friendly[/left]
   
10. [left]Parks & Nature[/left]
    
11. [left]Residential[/left]
    
12. [left]Shopping[/left]
    
13. [left]Stage[/left]
    
14. [left]Other[/left]
    

Some of these such as "Newcomer Friendly" I would definately categorize as sub-categories. Others, like "Hangout" need to be broken into several major categories. Any suggestions?

Right now you can see over 350 parcels mapped at SLHandbook thanks to my initial survey team. After a we hit 1,000 and an initial stab at the root Categories and some measure of the Sub-Categories are added I will be opening the system for anyone to add parcels, their own or their favorites, to the directory in hopes of free advertising and multiple images coupled with intuitive browsing will allow new, old and potential Second Life residents a way to see all the wonderful things they may have missed as well as tell everyone about their favorite places.

Again, sorry to stick this here, but I hope the concept of parcel categories does hold some general interest and hope to get some great suggestions.

This does not sound like a very fun thing for anyone at Linden Lab to do.

Most category-based systems are either too broad or too specific to make them useful. Think of the key scenarios - do you really see someone looking for a Modern, Funk 80's Club or looking for a club that caters to people that are interested in 80's music with a funk slant to it?

People have various ways of modeling their thoughts about what they are looking for, and a category-based system is one among many approaches. Take a look at the braoder search market for possible guidance.

For example, Google.com does not have any categories although it provides relevant search results most of the time. Learning to search effectively with Google.com is much easier than learning and using categories at some well-known SL-based commerce sites.

Personally, I would not support categories at all and instead focus on search, using user's queries (over time) to tune the search index and query engine because it offers much more value than figuring out what category something fits into.

If categories are absolutely necessary, keep them simple and easy to naviagte - although "easy" is very subjective. Perhaps have only one top level and allow searches within a level (if that is what the user selets) as opposed to searching through all categories all of the time.

-2fast

Thanks 2fast4u, but my problem with search (which I will also support) is it requires a place to start. The title "Handbook" was chosen because I will be offering Zagat-style guides that are topic based, and categories beyond a top level can be seen used to a godd effect when using many shopping systems (such as amazon.com or even compusa.com). The ability to start with a category and then filter allows you to see keywords rather than having to guess at them.

The current in-world search system already suffers from people overloading their classfieds with words they figure people will search for. The filter categories are too broad as you and others have mentioned. If you look at amazon's "stores" (34 I think at last count) they jive excellent jumping off points when you don't want to search, you want to browse. There will be search, but I am going for browse, particularly for new and potential residents who are looking for a jumping off point and would use such categories to see the breadth of options available.

One of the things that has always bothered me about the choices...is that you can only choose one option.

I have designed several 'community" builds in the past that existed for no reason except that I wanted to make a pretty place for people to enjoy. Some of those builds also housed my residence, and sometimes small shoppes in a skybox or other unrelated part of the parcel to the community build. yet, I can only choose one option. If I choose "Shopping" to draw business to the small store, the community build goes unnoticed. If I choose "Hangout" or "parks & nature" or some choice for the community build, the shoppe gets ignored.

Yes, in some cases, I could subdivide the parcel. But in other cases that doesn't work if the store or whatever is in a skybox overtop the community build. Not to mention it just makes no sense to subdivide when that means dividing the traffic...both builds get hurt by that and their visibility gets lowered.

I now have my own sim at Temenos, and I have transported both my community builds, Like the Sanctuary and my stores to my new island. I do not want to subdivide Temenos into parcels. Why not? Because I want people to see the Sanctuary, the Pirate Cove and other community attractions that make up 80% of the island's land, not just the store that gets and drives most the traffic. I would love to be able to mention in the settings that this sim contains both Shopping/Business and also Parks & Nature, hangouts, and other such categories...because it does.

But as it stands now, I have to choose only one option, when in truth, there is so much more going on at my land than what that simplistic category implies.

That is a good point Zoe. Clubside, perhaps take a look at how people use their land.

Looking for something in SL is fundamentally different than browsing a shopping. SL is not really analagous to a web site like Amazon or whatever - land parcels more closely represent different types of (web) sites.

I understand the need to have categories; however, the best solution strikes a blanace between what people are looking for, how people use their land, and how land owners wish to "shape" traffic to their land in terms of what they want search result they want to be a part of.

People "spam" land listings and classifieds exactly for that reason - they are attempting to capture traffic to which their builds/malls/homes/etc cater. Adding categories to the now relatively open and user-driven system could help as long as the system is flexible enough to allow. as Zoe mentioned, more than one category for a particular plot for example.

Just my L$6 (about 0.02)

One way I am hoping to deal with multiple categories is in how I am adding support for rentals. There are two major types of rentals: parcelled (usually for land renters who need/want control over media and proper control of prim alottments) and un-parcelled (usually mall or shopping rentals). In order to support both I will be allowing parcel owners (rather than random people who are out exploring and adding favorites to the database) to set up sub-parcels with map locations.

While I can't realistically support multiple root categories, the concept of sub-category trunks rather thank branches will be used. These would be selected at the bottom level of the trunk's branches and therefore cascade sub-categories when filtering. Since these sb-categories are not linked to the categories you could have something as easy as a residence or an art gallery on a broad category such as "Club". Depending on the sub-category selections the filter dynamic would be populated from the root category selection.

Since the hope is to provide a launching point alternative to blind searching, that's why I was seeking suggestions for these categories and sub-categories. It is certainly difficult to be all-encompassing, but that isn't the ultimate goal, as it would be foolish for me to assume I could solve such a complex interaction. Instead I am attempting to provide what you find in the Yellow Pages... you find a starting point and then do comparisons.

An example Guide topic for the site is "Weddings". You could have clubs that offer rentals for weddings, entire parks designed just for weddings, wedding packages of events and far, far more. But a resident, current or future, could be inundated with results from a blind search where a category drill-down (and subsequent drill-up) would get to see the breadth of options.