XF 1.4 Putting a Location on members

[wickedstangs]

Since my site has Nationwide members, How would I be able to tell where that member is from / location? (STILL NOT SURE IF I AM EXPLAINING IT CORRECTLY)

Was thinking about giving them a usergroup.. But, that would be to many...


One of my members asked :

Hi Guys,

Is there a way to search the Wickedstangs site to find all signed up people in Washington State? i would love to be able to reach out to ones close to SeaTac and help Whidbey Island find some for their area. Let me know, Thanx in advance!

 

[Mike]

There isn't really a way to do that out of the box. There is a location field, but it's generally free-form so it may not be accurate enough and it's not something we expose as searchable. There may be an add-on that helps but I'm not generally familiar with them.

 

[DragonFlames]

Wickedstangs,

Style Properties > Message Elements > Show author location will put the member provided location info on display on messages on your system.

On my system you can click the field and it takes you to a map displaying the location which is nice. I assume that was built in and I did not add it... no memory so not sure...

So, that will display what there is and allow people to see the location of others. A Google search of your system might find things on display like this even if the internal search didn't find it for some reason.

My last thought for you is that what we all really need is a system that takes all the locations and plots them on a World map, and perhaps offers to use IP addresses if that is preferred.

Hope the thoughts help.

Steve

 

[DaveM]

Have you had a look at this add on, very cool setup
Country Flags by IP Address

 

[wickedstangs]

Have you had a look at this add on, very cool setup
Country Flags by IP Address

I wonder if they can do state flags..

 

[wickedstangs]

Wickedstangs,

Style Properties > Message Elements > Show author location will put the member provided location info on display on messages on your system.

On my system you can click the field and it takes you to a map displaying the location which is nice. I assume that was built in and I did not add it... no memory so not sure...

So, that will display what there is and allow people to see the location of others. A Google search of your system might find things on display like this even if the internal search didn't find it for some reason.

My last thought for you is that what we all really need is a system that takes all the locations and plots them on a World map, and perhaps offers to use IP addresses if that is preferred.

Hope the thoughts help.

Steve

Steve,
Thanks this looks to be like what I am looking for...

 

[DaveM]

I wonder if they can do state flags..

I don't think so as it is not designed to pick up that type of location but I am sure @Snog can explain it a bit better

 

[DaveM]

Wickedstangs,

Style Properties > Message Elements > Show author location will put the member provided location info on display on messages on your system.

On my system you can click the field and it takes you to a map displaying the location which is nice. I assume that was built in and I did not add it... no memory so not sure...

So, that will display what there is and allow people to see the location of others. A Google search of your system might find things on display like this even if the internal search didn't find it for some reason.

My last thought for you is that what we all really need is a system that takes all the locations and plots them on a World map, and perhaps offers to use IP addresses if that is preferred.

Hope the thoughts help.

Steve

This is very much static and will only update if the user does so.

 

[TPerry]

I don't think so as it is not designed to pick up that type of location but I am sure @Snog can explain it a bit better

As it is currently written it uses the country of the IP. It could be recoded to use the state - but what about other countries that do not have "states". I can see that becoming a coding nightmare. Also, the other problem if you depend on the IP of the user, it does not necessarily mean that is where they are actually at. At one point, all the tools out showed that when I was on DSL I was connecting from Spring, TX (which is 131 miles away).

 

[Biker]

IP addresses for mobile devices would be another wrinkle. The major cell providers have a large pool of addresses that are assigned nation wide.

 

[Snog]

As it is currently written it uses the country of the IP. It could be recoded to use the state - but what about other countries that do not have "states". I can see that becoming a coding nightmare. Also, the other problem if you depend on the IP of the user, it does not necessarily mean that is where they are actually at. At one point, all the tools out showed that when I was on DSL I was connecting from Spring, TX (which is 131 miles away).

IP addresses for mobile devices would be another wrinkle. The major cell providers have a large pool of addresses that are assigned nation wide.

These are the exact reasons the add-on doesn't include states/regions.

I actually experimented with it a long time ago and the error rate was well over 60%. To me, that made it unusable.

 

[Daniel Hood]

It requires the person allowing it but have you considered looking at html5 geolocation? http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_geolocation.asp

Example: http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml5_geolocation_map -- was accurate for me.

 

[Snog]

It requires the person allowing it but have you considered looking at html5 geolocation? http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_geolocation.asp

Example: http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml5_geolocation_map -- was accurate for me.

It would require the user's approval, which in theory could render the entire process useless.

Direct from that site..

Since this can compromise user privacy, the position is not available unless the user approves it.

Plus, I don't think users would be comfortable being narrowed down to the exact city they live in. Especially in cities with a very low population.