Pilots of America Member Map *

[AuntPeggy]

Pilots of America has a newer member map on ZeeMaps. https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=451754#

Click on the above link, click Additions and select Add Marker - Simple.
Fill out the form (name, location and a little message "shoutout") and Submit.

The more people fill it out, the better view of our demographics we'll get!

Enjoy!

 

[Jim Logajan]

I cannot find a duplicate. Send a PM telling me where it is located and what username you used (if not mikeinbama).

According to his profile his location is Prattville, Alabama, so I plugged that into the search bar in the map (to the right of "Print or Share") and it took me to that location, which shows two "Prattiger65" markers. But you'll still have to wait for a response from mikeinbama to determine which one you should delete, though I suspect the one farther from the airport and less detail is the one he suggests goes.

It is possible for users to view an alphabetic list of member markers by clicking on the "View" -> "Show List" menu. That tends to show duplicates rather quickly. (I count about 20 such duplicates.) Clicking on a row in the list will cause the map to zoom to that marker's location.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Three new entries on the POA member map in November 2016. None in December, none in January 2017. Halfway past February 2017 and none yet. What's going on? Or more importantly, what's not going on?

https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=451754

Thanks for handling the map admin stuff AuntPeggy. Thought I'd post to this thread to see what newbies might take notice so they can think "Hey neat" and publish their targeting coordinates.

 

[Jim Logajan]

You choose. Some people have multiple bases/airplanes, and they put in the airport. Some others feel it makes sense to use the airport just because... However, some prefer to use their home. I feel any decision on my part would be arbitrary, so I leave it to you to decide.

https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=451754

To extend on what Aunt Peggy says:

The original map (long defunct) was presumably provided for the simple utility of quickly determining what PoA members live near you. Useful for social (and even anti-social) purposes. For those purposes a precise location isn't needed, just place a marker in the general area you live or fly. Also, I don't believe there is any limit to the number of markers anyone may place, so feel free to mark home and airport.

Not unsurprisingly, the map also provides an idea of the global scope (or limits thereof) of PoA readers.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Well, guys, Zee Maps has a paywall after 100 visits. Since I don't want to pay them $20/month for the privilege of looking at the map, I guess we'll have to find another way to keep track of each other.
It's been fun.

The zeemap account is still tied to my account even though I gave you admin privileges. I just now subscribed to their "Professional" service offering so the map is again available.
I have no problem footing the $19.95/month charge for now (discount if purchasing a year service at $199.95/year.) I had already paid something like $49.95 way back when to make the map forever ad-free.

Everyone's data is there and appears to be downloadable as a CSV file - so if there are PoA members who can find a suitable free or lower cost option and are also willing to look into what it would take to transfer the data, that would be appreciated. Things like the member map only happen when someone seizes the initiative to make it happen and spends some effort and/or money. I do not frequent PoA that much anymore, so those who do may wish to step up to the plate.

 

[Jim Logajan]

I took a quick look at the CSV. The Location column looks like a proprietary 'Location Code.' E.g.: 557b53bcd367742eb9ff09882720557f

Not sure that's readily transplantable. I'm no expert but I've dinked with a lot of location formats. Don't know anything like that.
*Googles*
Found this: https://www.zeemaps.com/blog/geocoded-latitude-longitude-in-csv/ You need an "Enterprise Plan" to export lat/lon. *rolls eyes*

Since Zeemaps uses Google maps, my search yielded this on the Google location code: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44843934/get-lat-lon-from-google-maps-url-ftid-hex
So I appended the location code for my Zeemap entry (557b53bcd367742eb9ff09882720557f) to the URL https://google.com/maps?cid=0x and after Google maps had rendered the map location it changed the URL to https://www.google.com/maps/@43.9435604,-122.8669251,15z - where it has helpfully provided the latitude and longitude in the URL. I suppose one could automate that process to do the conversion (or manually do it for the 595+ entries.) Or I could just pay for one month of the "Enterprise Plan" for an extra $80 - more than enough time to get a data snapshot for moving the data elsewhere. I'd be happy to shell out that amount IF there is an "elsewhere" to port the map data. No point doing that until an alternative, if any, is arranged. As I said, someone else who is more involved with PoA would need to do this. Aunt Peggy was nice enough to manage the map after I had started it, so someone should look into a replacement.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Thank you Jim. I appreciate you starting the map and paying for the account.

It ought to be pretty easy for me to write a quick script to upload the list to Google Maps from the csv. Apparently I can create a Google map and then open it to anyone who knows the link to the map. Basically, that is how Zeemaps worked except that nobody except you and I could delete. Using Google the way I just mentioned opens the map to easier vandalism.

EDIT: Oops, just saw the note that the location isn't getting translated.

It's too late for me to look into it further today, but tomorrow is a holiday...

Vastly simpler for me to just invest the $80 so the location code column downloads in a lat/long format than for people to dink around trying to reverse-engineer Zeemap's changes to the Google location code. Easy to spend many hours on such a thing and accomplish nothing.

One other option is to simply stay with Zeemaps and crowd-fund the cost of keeping it up. $200/year spread over even just 10 people is $20/year. Spread over 100+ makes for trivial cost per person. Internet services are never "free" - there is always a cost to be paid, even if unseen.

 

[Jim Logajan]

No one appears to have stepped forward in the last 3 weeks to locate an alternative to zeemap.
I am willing to upgrade to zeemap's Enterprise plan for the month of October to allow anyone here to download the database with plain-text lat/long coordinates. That would preserve the data till an alternative is located. I just need to see some indication that anyone is actually interested in doing something with the data.
October will be the last month I will pay for access to the map.

 

[Jim Logajan]

If you want to spring for the download, I'll commit to at least posting the data as is as a Google spreadsheet, maybe a waypoint file, and who knows what else. I know enough scripting and web coding to be able to cobble up something. I won't commit to building a front-end to add new anytime soon, but my down the road, and if people would want to send me coordinates or whatever, I could manually add them. If I ever go away from the forums, I'd be happy two hand this off to whoever else wants to maintain it.

If somebody wants to take charge of this beyond my abilities, feel free. If people think we should just kiss the data away to the ether, I'm okay with that too. I'm a relatively new guy here, and I'm not nostalgic for this map hey, but I willing to help.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

Belated thanks - I've been traveling and occupied by a family emergency and did not see your response. I'll pay the money for the download if you are willing to try to do something with the data. I've been hesitant, though, because PoA has become the forum that it was intended to replace or supplement.

I'll post in a couple days with further information on the map database.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Today I upgraded to Zeemaps Enterprise. Once I did that the latitude and longitude columns appeared in the CSV file in place of the location code column. However, it looks like that substitution only appears in the CSV file downloaded by the account owner, not anyone else.

So I've uploaded a zip file containing a CSV file to this forum (should appear attached to this post - Xenforo didn't allow direct upload of the CSV, but does allow zip) that is up-to-date at the time of this post. It contains latitude/longitude columns for all members who have created pins. The only other info missing would be images; someone may wish to write a script to go through the "Photo URL" column and download the images. Near the end of October I will upload one last CSV snap-shot to this forum thread and then close the Zeemaps account.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Attached to this post is the last snapshot of the Zeemap database entries that I intend to make. I am allowing the paid subscription to zeemaps to terminate. It may last as long another 30 days - I'm not sure because zeemaps billing cycle is unclear.