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vdub
06-15-2011, 11:49 AM
I was totally bored today, but really didn't want to do much, so I grabbed a google api and started messing with it. I have always been interested in where the members of the forum are from, so I mapped a few. I can add more if anyone wants -- just send me a PM of where you are. You could actually put the dot exactly at street and house level, but for privacy reasons, I only put it at a level that is already specified with your info on the forum. Also, the url is protected with a robot file, so it won't be googled.

click here (http://www.wasemx.com/map/) (temporarily disabled in lieu of new map below)

1 day later.....

I found a free commercial mapping service. It has some ads, but not too bad. The main advantage is that you can add your own stick pin. Give it a try.....

new member map (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

Sangye
06-15-2011, 12:51 PM
Totally cool! Thanks for putting a dot for me! It'd be great to have this on the Home page.

vdub
06-15-2011, 12:54 PM
Yeah, maybe.... We'll see where it goes. Right now it's just "messing around"..... :-)

Rini
06-15-2011, 02:17 PM
This is so cool!

marta
06-15-2011, 03:09 PM
Super cool vdub! You da bomb.

pberggren1
06-15-2011, 03:19 PM
This is what I have finally been waiting for. Thanks vdub!

DEE
06-15-2011, 04:30 PM
Thanks vdub this made me smile !! Im sat here waiting to go for dental surgery today. Good to know were my messages are coming from as I have no sense of direction even on a good day !! DEEx

renidrag
06-15-2011, 09:09 PM
Throw one in Mass between Boston and Cape Cod for me VDUB. Thanks, great idea.

Psyborg
06-15-2011, 09:24 PM
Very cool :) Gotta love Google for the fun apps like this :)

mishb
06-15-2011, 10:22 PM
Poor Australia, I can't see her.
She must be down under :sad:

vdub
06-15-2011, 10:42 PM
Poor Australia, I can't see her.
It should be there. The map should display at zoom level 2 when first opened and shows the entire world. And then you can move in closer to seperate dots.....


Gotta love Google for the fun apps like this
Google does a good job. This little api was just to easy to do. If I really get serious about it, I'll hook it into a database so people can do their own updating, but not sure I'll go there. I did a check on the member list and looks like a lot of people show up, do one or two posts, and then are never heard from again. You can sort the member list on "post count", "last visit", and some other things. Kind of interesting to do those types of sorts and see what pops up.....

vdub
06-15-2011, 11:42 PM
Give this a try..... I saw it on another forum. It has advertising, but is otherwise free. Most importantly, anyone can put on there own stick pin without anyone else having to do something. That's always a good thing.

Just click below and map will appear. Click on "addition", then "marker - simple", put in your user name and then your town, country. Do a preview and if it looks good do a submit. You can also do a "click to locate", but you want to be zoomed in to a lower level to do that.

One of the good things about this map is that you can delete or change your own setting, but not others. At least, I think that is how it is working. Someone can go in and try to remove vdub and let me know how successful you are. I will temporarily disable the map I made.

New member map (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

Sangye
06-15-2011, 11:53 PM
VERY cool! I love that we can put our names. (And you can choose the color of your marker as well) If you don't want to put your exact location, you can just put your state, etc.... (I put the address of our temple even though I don't live there)

Thanks for generating this, vdub!

vdub
06-15-2011, 11:56 PM
Yes, this one has a number of advantages. You can even put in a picture if you want. If this works out, I might ask Andrew to put the link somewhere on the homepage.

Sangye
06-16-2011, 12:00 AM
Oh! Added picture. :biggrin1:

Psyborg
06-16-2011, 12:02 AM
I like the second one even better. Let's people update themselves as needed.

vdub
06-16-2011, 12:07 AM
It is nice isn't it? I think it's a keeper.... I'll send a note to Andrew. I would rather have the map open at a lower zoom level tho. Not sure how to make that happen, but it's kind of a nitnoy issue.

Lightwarrior
06-16-2011, 01:14 AM
Cool, I added a marker. When I clicked on your link Vdub it popped right up to Yuma. Magic :biggrin1:

NicShaf
06-16-2011, 01:26 AM
Very cool idea vdub. I added my marker.

vdub
06-16-2011, 01:50 AM
When I clicked on your link Vdub it popped right up to Yuma. Magic
Well, I did spend 2 months there this winter.... Had my blood test taken at a place next to the hospital....

Fran
06-16-2011, 01:53 AM
Wow - even I managed to do it !

Fran

Brooke
06-16-2011, 01:54 AM
Cool! I added myself :)

marta
06-16-2011, 04:16 AM
I'm on there too now. Me like-ey. It's a cool at a glance shot of us as a unit.

pberggren1
06-16-2011, 04:53 AM
Thanks again vdub. This is very cool.

sadpixie
06-16-2011, 05:09 AM
Very cool!

norcalian
06-16-2011, 05:59 AM
very easy to use. Thanks vdub!

vdub
06-16-2011, 11:29 AM
Has anyone else noticed that the push pins seems a little slow to populate?

Kathie28
06-16-2011, 01:01 PM
Neat! I'm on there.

vdub
06-16-2011, 01:20 PM
I made a slight change to the map so that you can click on the small double arrow in the upper right and slide open a member list. Also, I made it so that it will hide street-level info and your e-mail address, even if you enter it.

Sangye
06-16-2011, 01:27 PM
Wow, so awesome. I discovered I had entered myself twice--I deleted the 2nd me. One Sangye is enough.

I wish this map would actually show up as a map on our home page. How cool would that be?

mishb
06-16-2011, 08:00 PM
This is excellent.:thumbsup:
Two Aussies so far amongst all of you lovely people

Hammy8241
06-17-2011, 12:35 AM
Done. Get a few more and we can planing where we want to go on hoilday.:wink1:

Tippon
06-21-2011, 09:49 AM
I'm there! :)

jeriorleans
06-21-2011, 12:39 PM
It appears that A.J. is the only one way down south.

Sangye
06-21-2011, 12:41 PM
I love this map! Someone should add a comment every day to keep it on the list of current threads.

pberggren1
06-21-2011, 12:41 PM
It appears that A.J. is the only one way down south.

Is that down south in Dixie?

pberggren1
06-21-2011, 12:42 PM
what map? :wink1:

vdub
06-21-2011, 12:49 PM
I think mishb has the furthest south record. I'll have to check lat/long, but I think marta is furthest north...


what map?

Right here, Phil.... You were getting drugged up....
WegMap (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

pberggren1
06-21-2011, 12:51 PM
I was just kidding vdub. I have a twisted sense of humour.

jeriorleans
06-21-2011, 12:59 PM
yup, we are right here in Dixie land, out skirts of New Orleans. It's a bit curious that the middle of the US seems a bit vacant and the wegs are all on the borders.

vdub
06-21-2011, 01:29 PM
About 20 years ago, my son got juvenile diabetes. That, in and of itself, was unremarkable. But, what was more interesting was that 2 brothers (of a doctor) who lived only a couple houses down from us, also got JD. All within about a year time span. The 3 kids were best of friends. It has been considered that JD is not so much genetic, but triggered by a virus of some sort. Each of the kids had sort of bronchitis situation just prior to developing JD. We lived in Alaska at the time and there was somewhat of an epidemic of JD in northern countries such as Norway, Sweden, Alaska, etc. I'm not sure if that situation (cold climate) was ever tested as a possible contributor to the disease. So what's this have to do with our little map? Not sure, but if we had 600 people plot themselves on the map, it might open something for research. Who knows. Otherwise, just neat to see where people live... :-)


I have a twisted sense of humour.
Dang it! I should have known. I do know you're twist... :-)

drz
06-21-2011, 01:48 PM
I was wondering the same thing. MS seems more prevalent in the Great Lakes states for some reason, may be ethnic origins or maybe it is the climate or heavier levels of pollution, who knows?

vdub
06-21-2011, 01:55 PM
I was wrong.... Marta isn't furthest north. Looks like both Dee and whoever is at Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, are the furthest north. Marta is at N52.8, Dee at N53.7, and Newcastle is at N55.0.

pberggren1
06-21-2011, 02:10 PM
There are some Weggies on the Forum that are in Norway and Sweden, so that would be even farther north. And even Batman has been farther north than that.

vdub
06-21-2011, 02:19 PM
It is possible with this map to load a file of names and places. We could put all forum members on the map, because in most cases we do have where they are located and their display name, but I think there might be some privacy issues if we did that. Eventually, a lot of people might put a pin the map.

I did send a PM to Andrew asking if the url could be put on the front page like Marta's survey, but I think he must be pretty busy as he hasn't answered yet.....

pberggren1
06-21-2011, 02:39 PM
That would be neat if the the map was on the home page of this site.

vdub
06-21-2011, 03:17 PM
Embedding the url should be really easy, but there is also a way to actually embed the map so it displays, but is still resident on the zeemap site. I messed around with it on my own site and it wasn't to difficult, but that was on my site and embedding it on a forum page could lead to "unexpected results" because of all the other stuff going on.

delorisdoe
06-21-2011, 07:58 PM
i just dont get it

vdub
06-22-2011, 12:06 AM
It's just a way of putting a completely different website inside of a page on another site. You most often see it being done when some site embeds a youtube video in their site. They are simply drawing a small box on their site and then filling that box with the content from another site. Kind of like picture-in-picture on your tv.....

delorisdoe
06-22-2011, 12:36 AM
It's just a way of putting a completely different website inside of a page on another site. You most often see it being done when some site embeds a youtube video in their site. They are simply drawing a small box on their site and then filling that box with the content from another site. Kind of like picture-in-picture on your tv.....

I clicked on your link and all that i see is a map. I dont see any of us on it and I cant figure out how to add myself to it. I am not computer stupid usually but am I blind?

Sangye
06-22-2011, 12:52 AM
I was wondering the same thing. MS seems more prevalent in the Great Lakes states for some reason, may be ethnic origins or maybe it is the climate or heavier levels of pollution, who knows?
In chiropractic school we were taught that MS is much more prevalent at higher latitudes. No one has any idea why that is as far as I know. It only holds true for people who are born at higher latitudes or who move there before adulthood.

Sangye
06-22-2011, 01:48 AM
yup, we are right here in Dixie land, out skirts of New Orleans. It's a bit curious that the middle of the US seems a bit vacant and the wegs are all on the borders.
It's actually beginning to look like a Ring of Fire.

vdub
06-22-2011, 03:35 AM
I clicked on your link and all that i see is a map. I dont see any of us on it and I cant figure out how to add myself to it. I am not computer stupid usually but am I blind?
You want to go to this url -----> WegMap (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

On the left side you will see a "scroll bar" with hash marks on it. Pull the scroll bar button down toward the negative sign and that will decrease the zoom level so you see more of the world. Then you will be able to see where people are. If you click on one of the push pins, then it will tell you who that is. Also, you can click on the small double arrow in the left hand corner and it will give you a list of who has put a pin in and you can click on the name on the list to show where they are. You can drag the map around by grabbing it with the left mouse button and them moving the mouse.

If you were interested in a particular pin, then you could keep moving the zoom level in while keeping the push pin centered and get right down to street level placement. However, I have disabled "street-level" because of privacy reasons. You can get to city-level, tho....

To put your own pin in, click on "Additions", then "Add Marker - Simple". Fill in the form and it will put a pin in for you. Let me know if you need additional help.

delorisdoe
06-22-2011, 03:57 AM
Hmm...I guess I am computer dumb. Now I got it. I am not exactly sure where I put myself as it has all of the large cities around me and even towns half the size of mine but it does not have mine listed so I guessed. It is in the aproximate area though. I think.
thanks

vdub
06-22-2011, 05:02 AM
I see you. You are listed as Leigh near Burlington....

delorisdoe
06-22-2011, 05:13 AM
YES!!!!! I did it right.

drz
06-23-2011, 10:10 AM
How about putting the link in the section for new readers as a reference thread like who is on the forum or where readers are located.

I notice many readers have not posted a pin. They might be like me and have trouble doing so since it took me several tries or there may be the privacy issue and they haven't figured out how to to do the anonymous pin yet.


You want to go to this url -----> WegMap (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

On the left side you will see a "scroll bar" with hash marks on it. Pull the scroll bar button down toward the negative sign and that will decrease the zoom level so you see more of the world. Then you will be able to see where people are. If you click on one of the push pins, then it will tell you who that is. Also, you can click on the small double arrow in the left hand corner and it will give you a list of who has put a pin in and you can click on the name on the list to show where they are. You can drag the map around by grabbing it with the left mouse button and them moving the mouse.

If you were interested in a particular pin, then you could keep moving the zoom level in while keeping the push pin centered and get right down to street level placement. However, I have disabled "street-level" because of privacy reasons. You can get to city-level, tho....

To put your own pin in, click on "Additions", then "Add Marker - Simple". Fill in the form and it will put a pin in for you. Let me know if you need additional help.

vdub
06-23-2011, 10:29 AM
I have PM'ed Andrew, but he must be pretty busy. Eventually, something like that will probably be done....

pberggren1
06-23-2011, 10:41 AM
I know Adrew is much busier with work right now. I think he has some morons to deal with. lol

drz
06-23-2011, 11:36 AM
Anyone can put this map link in a new thread under the section for new members I think. I tried but can't get link to map to work. Can some one more tech savvy do it?

vdub
06-23-2011, 11:52 AM
You did it right except for one little thing that is easily overlooked..... When you put the url in, you just pasted without highlighting the exisiting "http://" and then pasting (which erases the first http://). Sooooo, you ended up 'http://" repeated twice. If you get rid of one of the "http://"s, then it will be good.... Just go in and edit your post and get rid of one http://.....

drz
06-24-2011, 12:29 AM
You did it right except for one little thing that is easily overlooked..... When you put the url in, you just pasted without highlighting the exisiting "http://" and then pasting (which erases the first http://). Sooooo, you ended up 'http://" repeated twice. If you get rid of one of the "http://"s, then it will be good.... Just go in and edit your post and get rid of one http://.....

I tried and got it in there three different ways but not one of them works. Not sure why????

vdub
06-24-2011, 01:16 AM
The last version is the winner. Take out everything between the ---> and the last http..... and it will be good to go. It should look like this

You want to go to this url -----> http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717[/URL]

after you edit it......

After you save the post, it will look like this....

You want to go to this url -----> [URL="http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717"]WegMap (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

vdub
07-09-2011, 01:16 PM
Looks like we are up to 36 people on the WegMap (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717).... :-)

vdub
07-14-2011, 01:21 PM
Just a bump to keep it on top for a while.

vdub
07-30-2011, 03:07 PM
bump -- sign up on the weg map

You want to go to this url -----> http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717 (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

GARYfromBOSTON
08-02-2011, 11:57 AM
I think I added me! (hopefully). btw, cool map, great idea!

vdub
08-02-2011, 12:11 PM
.....and contact one or Sangye will be very upset! (http://www.vasculitisfoundation.org/node/44)
HA! Love the tag line! :-)

vdub
09-05-2011, 12:16 AM
I got a little nervous today when I went to the wegmap and it wouldn't come up. I guess I was just too impatient and their server must have been busy. It took a few seconds to hit, but it did come up just fine. Has anyone heard from Andy lately?

WegMap (http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=242717)

drz
09-05-2011, 02:21 AM
It came up fine for me today. I don't think most people have put a marker on the map but I suspect the pins inserted so far are pretty typical and representative of where our readers are generally located. Most are from English speaking countries if you consider what we speak in USA, Canada, and Australia English. When I had English roommates they often reminded me I spoke American, not English. The largest group of users seem in USA with England, Canada, and Australia equally represented with a few others scattered around the world. It seems strange to me that no one yet from South Africa, South America, or East Asian countries have discovered this forum or placed a marker yet.

pberggren1
09-05-2011, 08:48 AM
I chatted with Andrew last night.

Sangye
09-05-2011, 08:54 AM
No way! The Mystery Man lives! How is he? Did you tell him how much we miss him? :sad:

pberggren1
09-05-2011, 08:59 AM
No, I just razzed him a bit. lol

vdub
09-05-2011, 02:53 PM
I was hoping he could put a permanent link to the member map somewhere on the front page....

Is he doing ok? Hope everything is well....

pberggren1
09-05-2011, 03:58 PM
He's OK. Just going through a tough time.