We had around 16 players most of the time, but it mostly appeared as 4-player game to me at least, and I was always going for the latest announced crate location. Thus I'm guessing most other people were not going to the announced location.
While I like the idea of having to look around for the crate a bit by not having it exactly marked where it is, so that it takes some time at the location which lets other people reach the area in time as well, I'm guessing it's a big part of the reason why people were so scattered. A large, rough marker to show the area where to go and what to scan to find the crate could be helpful.
The alternative of showing the exact location of the crate and the teddy bear carrier could work too, of course. It would make it more intense on the expense of removing the fun of not knowing.
The scattering might be happening for other reasons too. At least getting to fight over the crate at the Academy was painful, as the closest spawn point was at the Airport.
Sometimes it was a bit odd that crates were located at bases which had the stash right there next to them. I personally found it the most fun when I got the teddy bear to myself in the Town area, and the closest stash was at the Hospital, requiring some running, trying to avoid the straight line to sneak past the catchers. Was especially fun to find Tadler guarding the Hospital stash
Can't remember now what was set as the crate respawn time, but chances are it was too low. Once the crate was destroyed and the teddy popped out to play with, the next crate probably spawned while the teddy was still in play. This would lead to scattering as well.
Anyway, I had plenty of fun despite the challenges and 300ms lag