skymama 37 #1 January 5, 2003 I'm terrible with maps and directions. Right now I am trying to find the closest dz to Williamsburg, VA and I'm getting frustrated at clicking back and forth between the dz's listed and a map of VA I found online. So it made me think that it would be so nice to be able to type in the name of a major city, and have a list appear of the closest dz's available. It might also cut back on people asking the same type of question on the forums all the time. Would this be too difficult to implement?She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ernokaikkonen 0 #2 January 5, 2003 The bare minimum required for that would be that each entry for a DZ would have to have a field for "Closest major city". Which would mean that we'd have to define "major city". Further refining the idea, if one could enter the coordinates of the DZ when entering it to the DB, it could then be compared to the coordinates of any city the coordinates of which were known... The coordinates of major cities could be entered in the database, and then it would be easy to list the DZs near a certain city(and the distance from it!). But making something like this would be a major project. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #3 January 5, 2003 Prohaps an easier option would be to put a field on the Dropzone form/page that asks for the closest major cities. I know a few DZ's have that info in their pages, but if it was a predetermined field that might help things out to get the rest to include it. Possibly include a field that is X minutes/miles from Y city?Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
narcimund 0 #4 January 5, 2003 Easier than coordinates is zip/postal codes. There are online mapping services that provide socket connections for distance calculations. It's a relatively minor operation. The data required is the zip/postal code for the DZ. A user can then enter their zip/postal code and receive a distance ranked list of DZs, starting with closest. The coding on Sangiro's end isn't complicated, although the services charge a fee. -- Another option is to just graphically place a dot on an GIF outline map of the state or country. DZs don't move all that often so it hardly needs to be dynamic. First Class Citizen Twice Over Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ernokaikkonen 0 #5 January 5, 2003 >Easier than coordinates is zip/postal codes. There are >online mapping services that provide socket connections Works within the US, yes... But a system based on coordinates would serve the whole global community. >Another option is to just graphically place a dot on an GIF >outline map of the state or country. But that would be too easy! Where's the fun in doing something like that?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 37 #6 January 5, 2003 Quote Another option is to just graphically place a dot on an GIF outline map of the state or country. DZs don't move all that often so it hardly needs to be dynamic. This sounds like the best option so far to me. I don't have any idea how to get the coordinates of a city. And, I suppose I could go to the post office website to find the zip code, but that's still more hunting and pecking than I was hoping for. But, I could probably figure out where I could go if there was a map like this. It would be cool if you could see the whole country, say the US for example, and then be able to click on a state to open in another window. The, if the dz's, some cities and major highways were on the map, it would even be mo' better! How many hours of work did I just suggest for HH to do because I'm geographically challenged? She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spy38W 0 #7 January 5, 2003 Quote How many hours of work did I just suggest for HH to do because I'm geographically challenged? Mebbe we can get a hi-res picture of each state, and find a person from each state to volunteer to mark all the DZ's in the state. I'll do Florida if the idea sounds good -- Hook high, flare on time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 37 #8 January 5, 2003 I'd offer to help, but I'm the one who has the problem of finding places to start with. But, we have a lot of computer techies around here that always say they don't have enough work to do so they post whore instead. Maybe they can help out too. She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man, because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
indyz 1 #9 January 9, 2003 Quote Easier than coordinates is zip/postal codes. There are online mapping services that provide socket connections for distance calculations. It's a relatively minor operation. There is also a Perl module (Geo::PostalCode) that can tell you the distance between postal codes, among other things. It uses the 1999 Census data, but postal codes don't change that often. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
