Posted by Anonymous on January 8, 2010 at 4:52pm
Trying to get a better sense of where all the iDug members are located across the state (GMap and Location modules could pair up and help us visualize this - SummitDweller, did you work with these two modules on your geocaching site?).
I live in Des Moines and work in Ames.
Comments
Check out the Mapstraction Module
I did all my mapping using the Mapstraction module... it's cake. In my case the users/members optionally supply their home zip code. I have a static (needs to be improved someday) lookup table and function which translates that into approximate GPS coordinates. The zip code coordinates are rough values to begin with and the function fudges the coodinates randomly to make sure nobody's "exact" location is every divulged.
Once the coordinates are in-hand the mapping is easy since Mapstraction supplies a view type that can be linked to one of about a dozen different map providers.
I'd be happy to share my code (I think I can pacakge it easily enough) if somebody has a site where Mapstraction can be implemented and where members can supply their zip code.
In my case... I have a home office in Toledo, IA, at zip code 52342.
Mark
So, How Does THIS Site Work?
Just curious... How does the iDug site (groups.drupal.org/iowa) work in terms of structure and content? I guess I understand the content part...how about the structure? More to the point...
Can our profiles here be supplemented to accept zip codes? Can a module like Mapstraction be activated here? Can a custom module be introduced here (or is there already one specific to iDug)?
I'm guessing the answers are no, no, and no... in no particular order. But I've been wrong before...at least once ALREADY this year. 8^)
Mark
I have experience with GMap
I have experience with GMap and Location modules with one of my sites, but it doesn't locate users or people...yet.
How about using Google Maps directly? Here's an example.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=1004369722933190...
Nice examples!
Using Google Map directly is a nice solution; did you use GMap on myactivitypals.com?
I'll be getting familiar today with these marker management tools (maybe this belongs in another thread):
- Google's GMarkerManager
- Gmaps Utility Library MarkerManager
- Jef Poskanzer's Clusterer
- Martin Pearman's ClusterMarker
BTW, I only skimmed the GMap read me yesterday, this caught my eye:
"
User and node maps
User and node location maps are made available by gmap_location.module, and work in conjunction with location.module. Any user that has the 'show user map' or 'show node map' permission can see the user or node maps, respectively. These are maps with a marker for every user or node, and are located at the 'map/user' and 'map/node' paths (links to these maps are placed in the Navigation menu).
Users with the 'user locations' permission can click markers on the User map to see information on individual users.
GMap Location also provides two map blocks that work with node locations: a "Location map" block that displays the location markers associated with the node being viewed, and an "Author map" block that displays a marker representing the node author's location.
GMap Location provides an interactive Google Map to the Location module for setting the latitude and longitude; users must have Location's "submit latitude/longitude" to use this feature.
"
GMap
Yes I used GMap on myactivitypals.com. For registered users, the map view defaults to their zipcode.
I don't have User Maps turned on right now. Since it's a public site, I wasn't sure how to mark a user location without giving up their privacy. Could just mark their zipcode, but then you get a glob of markers in one spot. I'll have to check on that.
Avoiding the Glob
The glob of markers issue is one that I had to deal with too. That's another reason I went with Mapstraction. It keys off of decimal lat/lon coordinates so I stuck some code in my module to calculate the zip code coordinates then add a randomly generated offset to both lat and lon between +1 and -1 minute. This way two markers that would otherwise land atop each other have a pretty good chance of finding some separation. The other advantage to this approah is that if a user wants to show their "exact" location I can easily override the calculated/random coordinates and nail down their location for them.
Also the Bing maps (maybe others) have a nice feature... If you double click on a marker or any point on the map the default behavior is to zoom and center to that point. Makes it easy to zoom into an area of interest to see individual users' details.
Mark
bing
Hadn't thought about Bing, will have to check it out.
You know, this just has the makings for a presentation to the group...
Cedar Rapids
Also, you're located in CR, right?
Cedar Rapids
Yeah...I recently moved from Cedar Rapids to a suburb called Walford. Funny hearing the 3-year old say Wahferd. :)
I Am Green with Envy
You live in Walford!?! Ever been to MCBIA (in the old grain elevator/storage building) there? MCBIA.com's outlet 'store' in Walford is my favorite place to shop... I stop in every chance I get just to see what kind of old computer parts they have lying around for $5. I don't think I have ever left empty-handed but I've never spent more than $100 (on my own) in one visit.
Mark
Only Glanced at GMap
I took a quick look at GMap before choosing Mapstraction. The nice thing about that module is you can feed your data to any one of about a dozen map providers...including Google, and the module provides a view-type that's easy to configure.
I choose the MS / Bing maps for my site because they don't require any key (and my domain name will change in another month or so) and they toggle nicely/easily into aerial and Bird's Eye views (in densly populated areas) too.
Mark