I've just uploaded a modified version of the 'add a mine' page used for adding mines, quarries, etc.

Previously, this required you to choose country and area (e.g. OS sheet in the UK) then enter grid reference and then lat/long (if international)

Lat/long isn't always easy to get, and grid references are only accurate to 100m.

I've modified this page now so it uses a Bing map, and you can pin-point mines simply by dragging the map around. This then "talks back" to the lat/long inputs and automatically works them out for you :)

Process now is:

Choose country from drop down menu
Choose area (e.g. OS sheet in the UK) - not all countries have sub-areas so ignore this if instructed
If UK enter the grid reference (may remove this later)

Or if you've no idea of location, or if it's a non-UK mine just:

Choose coutry
Choose area (e.g. OS sheet in the UK) - not all countries have sub-areas so ignore this if instructed
Drag the map around until you find what you're looking for

🔗Personal-Album-1-Image-63725[linkphoto]Personal-Album-1-Image-63725[/linkphoto][/link]

Next stage of this is:

- Write a script to calculate all the lat/long of every mine in the database that doesn't have it

- Modify the 'mines near' to use this rather than grid reference - this will fix a long standing bug with 'mines near'

- Replace the Google map on the mine details page with this Bing map

- Add some whizzy mapping features to allow searching within x km of gridref or lat/long

That'll keep me busy for a good few weeks 🙂

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Good work Simon.

Will the Bing map allow one to view the OS 1:25000 that you can get on the Bing website itself?

Chris.

I use Google Earth for Lat/Long. If you find the place you want then add a placemark, the placemark properties box gives you Lat/Long. It does this dynamically as you move the placemark too so you can pinpoint any feature.

Les

Good stuff Simon there are a few i have been meaning to add but have just been lazy 😞

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Good stuff Simon there are a few i have been meaning to add but have just been lazy :-[

A pox on you for being lazy :lol:

Actually if you do add one let me know any feedback on the mapping thingy :thumbsup:

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I'm no doubt being quite thick here but just tried entering a mine in Montana. I know the exact Lat and Long but can't enter it and all I have is a blank map :-[

Sorted the map out but is there any way of just entering the Lat Long direct?

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I'm no doubt being quite thick here but just tried entering a mine in Montana. I know the exact Lat and Long but can't enter it and all I have is a blank map :-[

Zoom the map out and drag it around until you get to America :)

I need to tweak it so it defaults to somewhere sensible rather then the middle of the ocean.

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Sorry Simon I edited my post after you replied. Is there any way of entering the Lat Long direct rather than searching around until you hit on it.?

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Sorry Simon I edited my post after you replied. Is there any way of entering the Lat Long direct rather than searching around until you hit on it.?

By design no. Although I'll take feedback on this. I've a stack of emails from people asking me to fix things when they entered them incorrectly or transposed them - hence I figured if the calculations performed by the map could do it all it would solve that.

Plus it saves you looking them up in the first place.

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It may just be me being thick but it seems much easier to enter the lat and long. If I didn't know the lat and long I can't see how I would find it on the map anyway as the mine won't be marked.

Am I missing something here?

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Good stuff Simon there are a few i have been meaning to add but have just been lazy :-[

A pox on you for being lazy :lol:

Actually if you do add one let me know any feedback on the mapping thingy :thumbsup:

Shall do will try and have a play later today :thumbup:

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I've modified it so you can enter the lat and long again :)

You can now either enter lat and long and be done with it.

Or you can drag around the map.

Or you can enter approx lat / long and then zoom in and drag the map around to fine tune location...

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Much obliged Simon. :flowers: :flowers:

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Good work Simon.

Will the Bing map allow one to view the OS 1:25000 that you can get on the Bing website itself?

Chris.

As far as I can see it only shows the very bland Bing map still when you zoom in close. This is pretty useless for pin-pointing mines in remote areas as all you get is large blank areas! I cannot see a way of displaying an OS map of either 1:50,00 or 1:25,000, is there a way?

Hmm, that'll take a bit of getting used to - especially in the middle of a featureless wasteland like Western Australia. I've had one success near an obvious road but I think I'll still need to use lats and longs much of the time. Having both options pretty much covers my needs.

Cheers from downunder.

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Is there no way of using streetmap (at least for UK) as that uses OS maps. You can move the arrow round on that too.

I like the basic idea, it is just the choice of map that is the problem. Even in Snowdonia there are large areas of nothingness on the Bing maps.

As far as I can see it only shows the very bland Bing map still when you zoom in close. This is pretty useless for pin-pointing mines in remote areas as all you get is large blank areas! I cannot see a way of displaying an OS map of either 1:50,00 or 1:25,000, is there a way?

It does give a particularly sharp 'satellite' view though which I find more useful for pinpointing tips etc than an o/s map.

Is there no way of using streetmap (at least for UK) as that uses OS maps. You can move the arrow round on that too.

I like the basic idea, it is just the choice of map that is the problem. Even in Snowdonia there are large areas of nothingness on the Bing maps.

It's only an admin function John. And it works in conjunction with the country/zone and gridref (UK) and the lat/long inputs.

If you know the lat/long then great, enter them. If you don't use the map. If you know them approx, enter then and then fine tune with the map - between road and birdseye I've not stuggled with the testing I've done on it.

OS 1:25000 I'll look at this - it's not part of the API, but I have read about people managing to get it to work.

Why Bing maps - easier to work with than Google maps and the API is better IMO.

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Is there no way of using streetmap (at least for UK) as that uses OS maps. You can move the arrow round on that too.

Streetmap was taken over by Bing, which is why Bing has OS maps on it.

Chris.

The only on-line 1:25000 OS mapping I have found is Bing.

There's a few 1:50000, the best of which (IMHO!) is this one:
http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm 
which gets its stuff directly from the OS.

Chris.