Posted by rupertj on October 11, 2011 at 1:35pm
Start:
2011-11-02 18:00 Europe/London Event type:
User group meeting
November's Bristol Drupal meetup :) Main details here:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/176284
(I'm just making an even to remind myself! Plus there was a bit of interest in IRC.)
Comments
Is there any particular venue
Is there any particular venue in mind for this?
hi chris
I was thinking we go to the elephant again. Unless there are any objections.
to any of the other guys getting updates for this thread: the email updates I get from it say - "groups.drupal.org Wales, UK: November Bristol Drupal meet up" I wander if anyone might scan, see wales and delete when the email came through originally. Maybe best to drop a bristol reminder thread on Fri/Mon?
I don't think I can make
I don't think I can make this, but Carole has just started working on a Drupal project so is interested in joining in and asking some noob questions. Can we keep this thread updated with plans?
S
yo dan
unless you see otherwise we'll be at the elephant after work (ill be there shortly after 5.30)
Be there tomorrow
I'll be there soon after 5.30 too
Can't Make It This Time
Any brizzlepeeps interested in Quickstart (the Virtualbox + Ubuntu LAMP stack)? I believe I have it under control and I like it and I love to talk. Email me and maybe we'll Skype or similar. Or maybe I could do a demo over Teamviewer.
Also, if anyone knows drupal 7 geolocation and is taking calls then I'd appreciate a chat. I need to reverse geocode the IP on user registration so as to be able to do member proximity searches based on latlong. The flakiness of the reverse geocode (sometimes it's horrifyingly accurate and then it's just the ISP.) means I also need to be able to take a street address and geocode that and/or allow user to push a marker around on a map and capture the latlong.
I'm sure this can be done with some combo of Ip Geoloc, Gmap, and Location modules, all of which have D7 versions, but I can't quite see the wood for the trees and even if I could my integration skills may be inadequate. Should I write a shim module, for example? Five minutes might really help.
Regards
Jeb
hi jeb
It's a shame you can't come, I think I could probably help.
I have just finished building (not live, but all working) a directory search where directory entries have a geocoded location attached and a user can search for them in views and have them displayed on a map. Using Views, Gmap and Location. The un-styled version took about 2 hours to get up and running, I was impressed with what the modules offer.
I had only one issue - with the DB entry views searches in particular locations needs to create - if you do come across it I have submitted a patch here http://drupal.org/node/1314292 (ultimately when the maintainers change the proximity search to explicitly handle more than post code this may automatically get fixed though)
Although your stuff will be on the user and not nodes I have seen nothing to suggest this wouldn't work just as simply.
I don't mind giving you a quick call but maybe set up another thread here and we can type out the discussion so all can see.
How do I start a new thread?
It must be right in front of me because I've looked and looked and I can't see it :|
If you are logged in
it should show 'create discussion' on the right hand side. not sure if a bristol group is the right place to put it, but it can't hurt to try and log any useful output we have - if any ;o)
Thanks For Your Kind Offer Of Help
Thanks, Joe, but now that you've offered help it's made me think, hence the delay. I had another look over the GMAP + Location combo and they do not offer what I need (AFAICT).
I'm doing a flash mob, and I need:
The initial IP geocoding puts the user in familiar territory but can be inaccurate. If it is inaccurate, e.g. because of using a work computer or confusion of their PC's IP address with their ISP's IP address, it can be corrected either by dragging the marker or by manually entering a street address.
The proximity search is not a problem: views.
I cannot see how to do this in one block with either IP_Geoloc or GMAP+Location just by configuration. There has to be something additional, and I intend to try to interact with IP_Geoloc to get what I need. I just need to make the marker draggable and I intend to hack a copy of IP_Geoloc, and then maybe reverse engineer into a hook_form_alter type of approach once I've got my head straight. If you have any thoughts on any of this I'd be most grateful.
Regards, Jeb.
ah, yes - that is slightly
ah, yes - that is slightly different to what i thought you meant.
in drupal 7 you can add the location field to the user, that will geocode (and quite well from my tests) based on the input of a partial address or postcode.
I'm sure I have seen Gmap+Location offer a map drag option for inputting long/lat (must do as it uses the same feature in it's own admin pages) but can't see on my test install how to get it to come up. And even then it wouldn't offer the automatic geocoding with no input that it seems you want. it's wandering away from the simpler solution I was going to offer ;o)
I'm also assuming there is even going to be a registration - which perhaps there isnt? What exactly is the site going to do? I feel i'm guessing a bit
The site is a pet
The site is a pet registration site that, among other things, encourages members to assist other members whose pets go missing. The exact status of a user at the time of geocoding is undecided at this time but only full members will be allowed to call out a crew for a search and rescue.
It's hyper-local (oooh!) and in a city you might want to restrict the callout to members who are within say 1km of you. In order for this to work the latlongs have to be good. They also have to be serviceable from either home or office. This is not a mobile app where the user's latlongs can change in real time.
In my experience at home with different boxes going out thru a router and then one using a VPN to spoof a foreign IP, I get oddly different results ranging from terrifyingly accurate to somewhere in Bristol. The most frightening was the spoofed IP which was actually in Amsterdam but the geocoding still got within 20m of me. Presumably the geocoding was actually done by the browser. I never got an Amsterdam address.
Whatever, the geocoding can be inaccurate for two reasons, either the user is away from home or the IP geocoding fails in a relatively harmless way for some technical reason. That's why the 3 features I listed previously seem to be required. Ultimately, the user can check where they are on the map and make a correction if necessary.
So geocoding and user registration are not necessarily married. I'm thinking that users will have to register just to make a comment, and that's when GMAP + Location + User Locations would be involved if they were activated. Applying for membership of the rescue corps, however, would be a totally separate step, probably involving payment. That's why I think I need a new module even if it only makes calls to APIs exposed by the usual suspects.
I feel better now. Thanks for making me think.
Jeb.
sounds like an interesting
sounds like an interesting project jeb. and always good to spell it all out - im always writing and rewriting myself mini-briefs.
I'm off on to berlin for a couple of days - but ill check this thread when i come back! one thing that did occur to me just now, and not to overcomplicate things hopefully - but would users have only a single location? quite a lot of people (perhaps fewer with pets though) could actually operate in more than one location - particularly if you are being hyper local. Someone could lose a pet in more than one place and in theory could be available to help in more than one too. Do you need multiple location fields or even instances of 'my locations'
..or maybe i should just stop thinking out loud about drupal for the evening and get something to eat :)
good luck