Now that I have my first hit, I'm trying to figure out where it was hit. Obviously I click on the city and I get a map with a star. Cool. I click on my location and that star is not even close to where I am. How is the distance determined? Or my location for that matter since it has me living a little to the south and west of where I really am. Doesn't postal codes factor in to this at all?
It has to do with coordinates. Everyone's location is a tad off.
I think the location is for the postal station that serves that code. Although I don't think that is always true either. I guess as long as your giving a hit or throwing a nuke it's close enough!!LOL
If everyone's location is a tad off, is there a general concensus as to which direction it's off or is it random? Mine is off by one to one & a half km to the southwest. How does that compare to everyone else's?
The lat/long coordinates are based off of the FSA (forward sortation area) part of the postal code, which means that T2P 1A1 will have the exact same lat/long as T2P 5K7, etc… As such, unless you live at the exact lat/long that I have for your FSA, your location will be "off" somewhat.
-dr
If you live in a small town that only has one PC, like Crofton(where I live), it would have the location dead on. Otherwise, a big city, like Calgary, will be off by a bit. But in most cases, like with Pooga, its only by a few hundred feet.
i love accuracy and precision and in a perfect world, i would like to see location given with GPS-like detail. however, i think dr's choice to limit accuracy is a wise one. i think i might have privacy concerns with some ne'er-do-well (present company excepted! :) ) knowing my exact location if he thought i might have a tidy stack of money (stamped or UNstamped!) stashed in my home or on my person. i can live with the location of MY entries being off a kilometre or so (the case with me).
Mine is off by 10 blocks SW of where I live. oh, well. Now people cannot stock me (Idjit)
"Mine is off by 10 blocks SW of where I live."
…now that I know where you are mmwwahhh! ha ha ha!
It's actually nothing to do with me. I would love to have the lat/longs down to the LDU (local delivery unit) part of the postal code. However, the data that we have only gives the lat/long coordinates to the FSA level.
-dr
Would it make a difference if I gave you certain long/lat? The majority of bills I enter are from two places, and I can get the long/lat down to the second with GPS.
again, i think i, personally, would have a problem with exact location in regards to privacy issues. there are people here who in their profiles state or suggest in the forums that they are money or coin collectors and if they state their exact location, some nefarious agent may target them. (not to mention all those members out there who are sticking pins in their little rudyk-dolls :) ) i do like accuracy but for the purposes of determining the diffusion of bills, especially on a national or even regional scale, i don't think a few hundred metres makes a huge difference. your mileage, as they say, may vary.
hey now just cause u need a little bit of hair or clothing to make the voodoo dolls work rudyk… doesn't mean were going to stalk u… :) :) :) :) :)
dr.. for the LDU book do you want me to swipe one from the local postoffice? or maybe a job for 21. With her social finesse she may be able to persuade them to give her a copy.. Are you up to it 21?
ADDENDum. just read rudyk's post. Does the LDU really focus it so closely that it would/should be a privacy issue? Now GPS I can understand.
Of no interest I am sure, but those who get excited about exactitude as discussed above are demonstrating fascinating obsessive-compulsive symptoms. All part of the mixture and the fun.
While I would like to have lat/longs down to the LDU level, I I agree that it's better as is from a provacy standpoint. And, Sarge, Yes I could modify certain postal codes with more precise lat/longs, I don't think I will… mostly because I get an updated database from the supplier each month and it'd be too much hassle to work around PC's that have been manually updated.
-dr
I wouldn't mind a little bit of accuracy, at least in the general postal code area. Checked the location of my second hit. The star indicates that the individual who hit my bill lives in the old Saskatchewan ave. garbage dump. I don't think so.
WOW…I never looked that close on the mapquest site, but when I zoom in on my postal code, it shows me about 4k from where i really am…..but at least it has the city right…..and for the stalkers out there, this is probably the best so you can't find me….haha!!! :-]
Holy smokes! Mine is about 4 km off as well! It used to be about 4 HOUSES off.
What happened dr?
And if people want to know where I live… gee look it up in a phone book. So if I <a href=http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?mqmap.x=244&mqmap.y=297&mapdata=hP0urGiog%252bdhZHNdNnyJSGdJFYByh9zmKpwBnjgnBG7kzI%252bHDARkxzyOMnzfRKjkFyfULzzKIPh9gSWN2TZEtUfsc8Em5%252fDSYbXjh9gTkkPar1eM%252b0cAiBJxnfriIpcXVntMFyF7bRw8waFQ0sfuZDQgRW3sM8ayd1%252bKstk1SocQypr%252bmKZkplTgiDDMHdLhHjpsPLUhY4VK%252bqf89RLKQLDQ5TcX5V9P7uvF0dWO%252b%252f8TF7Gx3vnXwXo85DIGhP8CiJkv4P1hT0NpuBuRhqAIpgZ6zESkjyPP&click=move target=_blank>give you my location,</a> it's not really THAT helpful.
Not if you're gonn mislead people that much……that's out by a couple hundred miles almost….near as i can figure…
Pooga; the old system was the same way. The difference was that I think that you gave me your lat/long from a GPS for your specific postal code (down to the LDU) and I updated it in the database.
-dr
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