BETA VERSION: Map Locator Hack

Welcome to my first BETA Release of

Map Locator Hack or How-to-Find members in a nutshell

This is my first try to get help from you guys. I tried to develop this on my own but i failed. I need help from all of you.

Before i start to describe what this hack does please take a look at the live demo. It makes my life much easier. Live demo can be viewed here.

Please move your mouse over the marks. You will see userinformations.

So this hack provides a map for VBulletin to show where your members are living. But i do not have the data for the US. I just have the data for germany and due to this i can only provide the german map. I have added the US map and a map of india but without the data i will not be able to finish this hack for other countries.

Please read my installation instructions completly BEFORE you start installing this hack. This hack is not easy to install and it will take you at least 30 min to get it running with the german map.

I would like to add: This is not an official release. This is a BETA version which is currently in production. I would not post this in this BETA section when i would not need your help. So what i need from you ? Please read my install instructions and read the part about the US data. If someone can provide this kind of data, i will be able to publish this hack.

If no one can provide this data, i will not continue with this hack because it works for me and due to the help of an indian VB member i will finalize this hack for him for india. So it is up to you.

UPDATE BETA 1.01:
After having done the base work, i focused now on the performance. If you have many members in your domain and many people open this map, your server will struggle. The heavy SQL part of this hack will bring down your server. Due to this i implemented a performance improvement.

I created the following logic around the hack:
- check if the number of ZIP code entries of the members has changed.
- if yes, then redraw the map with all queries ( a lot of queries which are required )
- if no, then take the already drawn map and take the userinfo which has been saved into a file rather then redo all queries again

Improvement:
- Up to 800% because people do not change their ZIP code so often
- if new ZIP codes are added only 1 person will issue the heavy SQL load to your server and this just ONCE
- every other person will get the cached version of the map with a really nice performance ( 5 queries in total )

And on top of that i added the Locator template to the cached templates. So this hack should be performing very well now. You can check it on my live demo site.

I have updated the ZIP file with the new locator.php file. For upgraders, just replace the locator.php file in your forum root folder. Then please do a "chmod 777 data" in your forum root folder. All set all done.

Cheers,

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by gmarik

Great one - flash involved? If you need IP codes, I've got a large MySQL table of them...

No Flash at all. It is pure Javascript for the mouse over.

What do you mean with IP codes ? And for which country ?

Cheers,

[Phalynx]

Great Hack, thanks!

[DaveLogic]

Originally Posted by Pseudomizer

Then please provide me the map details i need for this hack for UK.

Cheers,

The nearest I can find for the UK is this...Very similar format except the name of town is replaced with UK Post code...
Example:

areacode,x,y,latitude,longitude
AB10,392900,804900,57.135,-2.117
AB11,394500,805300,57.138,-2.092
AB12,393300,801100,57.101,-2.111
AB13,385600,801900,57.108,-2.237
AB14,383600,801100,57.101,-2.27
AB15,390000,805300,57.138,-2.164
AB16,390600,807800,57.161,-2.156
- etc -


The link is here http://www.jibble.org/ukpostcodes/

I've also attached the full list as a zip..Hope this helps...

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by DaveLogic

The nearest I can find for the UK is this...Very similar format except the name of town is replaced with UK Post code...
Example:

areacode,x,y,latitude,longitude
AB10,392900,804900,57.135,-2.117
AB11,394500,805300,57.138,-2.092
AB12,393300,801100,57.101,-2.111
AB13,385600,801900,57.108,-2.237
AB14,383600,801100,57.101,-2.27
AB15,390000,805300,57.138,-2.164
AB16,390600,807800,57.161,-2.156
- etc -


The link is here http://www.jibble.org/ukpostcodes/

I've also attached the full list as a zip..Hope this helps...

Hi DaveLogic,

sorry for not knowing the UK very well, but are Post codes = ZIP codes ? But i am missing the city names like London, Altrinham, etc.

Cheers,

[DaveLogic]

Originally Posted by Pseudomizer

Hi DaveLogic,

sorry for not knowing the UK very well, but are Post codes = ZIP codes ? But i am missing the city names like London, Altrinham, etc.

Cheers,

Yeah, the UK's Post codes are equivelant to ZIP codes..........I've searched high and low for the city names as well but with no luck except for the Airport codes..Entering just the postcode however would still work as well IMO...

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by DaveLogic

Yeah, the UK's Post codes are equivelant to ZIP codes..........I've searched high and low for the city names as well but with no luck except for the Airport codes..Entering just the postcode however would still work as well IMO...

Hi DaveLogic,

the current Hack provides userinformation with mouseover effect where the city name is highlighted. You information is great. It is 75% of the data i need.

I have already downloaded the GEO data for the UK and i will be able to draw a map of the UK in the near term.

But i need the city names. Without the city names i will not be able to use the current hack and i do not want to start a new version only for the UK or for any other country. I want to keep it simple which will make my life easier supporting this hack. I hope you understand this.

Regardless of this you are the second guy with really usefull information about a country.

Could you please check if you can get a list of city names and post codes ? I can write a script to combine the 2 sources to one big sql file. This would solve all our problems.

Cheers,

[DaveLogic]

Originally Posted by Pseudomizer

Hi DaveLogic,

the current Hack provides userinformation with mouseover effect where the city name is highlighted. You information is great. It is 75% of the data i need.

I have already downloaded the GEO data for the UK and i will be able to draw a map of the UK in the near term.

But i need the city names. Without the city names i will not be able to use the current hack and i do not want to start a new version only for the UK or for any other country. I want to keep it simple which will make my life easier supporting this hack. I hope you understand this.

Regardless of this you are the second guy with really usefull information about a country.

Could you please check if you can get a list of city names and post codes ? I can write a script to combine the 2 sources to one big sql file. This would solve all our problems.

Cheers,

Here's the full list of UK postcodes with city names
http://www.brainstorm.co.uk/post-codes2.txt

Because both files are in CSV format it should be possible to merge the data with the location data???

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by DaveLogic

Here's the full list of UK postcodes with city names
http://www.brainstorm.co.uk/post-codes2.txt

Because both files are in CSV format it should be possible to merge the data with the location data???

Hey DaveLogic ? You are really quick. That's all i need. I will now try to merge these files to get one DB for the UK. Now please lay back and relax and be patient. The rest is now my work.

Cheers,

[Intex]

I'd be very interested when you get this operational for the UK .

[DaveLogic]

Originally Posted by Pseudomizer

Hey DaveLogic ? You are really quick. That's all i need. I will now try to merge these files to get one DB for the UK. Now please lay back and relax and be patient. The rest is now my work.

Cheers,

All the thanks is to you............