A running total of postboxes
I have implemented a running total of postboxes which if you look closely enough you can see it in the top right hand corner of the site. Every time the page is loaded it gets the total number of postboxes from the PostBoxr database. I am also going to be implementing a scrolling banner of the latest postboxes added.
The silver icon symbolises the PostBoxr database, I think this is more exciting and aesthetically pleasing than just having a plain text running total.
What do you think? Any Suggestions?
October 7th, 2008 at 1:44
Hey! Thanks a lot for this useful resource, I’ve added a number of boxes that I know about; I was just wondering if there is any way to add this to the google maps directory:
http://maps.google.co.uk/ig/directory?synd=mpl&pid=mpl&features=sharedmap,geofeed - thus making it even easier for people to find boxes
October 7th, 2008 at 20:24
Is anything amiss with Matt ?
There doesn’t seem to have been any response to emails for about two weeks now. I know this is a voluntary site; if you want any help coding, Matt, I’m happy to help (for free). Is this database being hosted from Matt’s own home, or is it being held on a commercial server somewhere ?
Hello and Thank You to the Kindred Spirit who’s been doing Hatfield intensively in the same way that I’m doing Stevenage intensively.
I would just love postboxr to be manifest on my PDA’s mobile google maps as postbox symbols, the same way that bus stops do ! How does one go about submitting such an “overlay” to Google Maps ?
October 7th, 2008 at 21:13
Hi Christopher
Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely be making a mapplet and submitting it to Google for inclusion into the directory.
Hi Richard
Nothing is amiss with Matt….I’ve just been busy.
Thanks for the offer but PostBoxr is hosted on the same server as a few of my personal websites, and I would rather not allow people access to it. I’m working on the ability for users to edit postboxes and would like to have moderators that could help remove “inappropriate” postboxes which have been added. I’ll post when this is up and running. Some changes are coming soon like removing “Ludlow Wall Box” and having this for postboxes that can accept parcels, also the ticker that lists the last few postboxes added.
Would adding PostBoxr as a mapplet to Google Maps as Christopher suggested allow access via a PDA? I suppose there is only one way to find out.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:51
Why on earth do you want to get rid of th Ludlow Wall Box ? Are you limited to just having four different-colored markers ?
On my travels, I’ve come across other types of box that you might like to have as options:
Boxes that are nothing but wooden cupboards.
Plastic pillar boxes for use in private property.
Double apertured boxes
Ornate Lamp boxes (one in Todd’s Green SGx)
“Voluntary” boxes in places such as hotels, halls of residence etc, which are informally emptied by the RM.
Boxes that take only franked mail (and which are locked at certain times)
Having Last Posting times as separate fields would help.
Whilst out spotting, I’ve become aware of how tuned my rods’n'cones are at spotting “red” in the distance. Trouble is, I keep mistakenly seeing doggy bins as postboxes. Maybe you should start logging these as well !
October 9th, 2008 at 13:19
Ok, thanks a lot for the reply! And yes, adding this as an overlay option should allow postboxes to be viewed on pdas, although not using the java based google maps.
October 9th, 2008 at 13:25
One suggestion - http://www.nearby.org.uk/api/convert-help.php - that allows you to lookup a post code to a rough 2km area - was thinking maybe some rough colour overlay for contributors could be provided, for those postboxes which are provided by royal mail from http://www.postboxr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/po-boxes-a-z.pdf , and then clicking on an overly, people could narrow down the location of the postbox to the exact place rather than a rough 2km area, removing the overlay.
Hopefully that made some sense?!
Chris.
October 9th, 2008 at 21:32
Not quite sure what you’re getting at, Christopher P, in reference to “postcodes”.
I’ve parsed the .pdf file from the Royal Mail (those parts that are relevant to where I spot). The resulting “names” for the postboxen are generally street names or pub names. This gives a closer approximate location than 2km. I then travel out to a group of these streets to find out exactly where the boxen are, using route-plotting software to optimise my searching pattern.
I haven’t looked at the .pdf file extensively but, in my area, only about 1% of the boxen have postcodes attached to them. (Usually, these are (old) post offices.) Maybe this isn’t true of the .pdf file generally.
Mind you, I spot using an MDA, GPS, Google Maps, an HSDPA connexion and an all-day unlimited bus pass, so finding and traveling to specific streets isn’t a problem. For those without access even to a street map, this wouldn’t be practical.
I’d like to see some form of two-level spotting: casual people could post something like “there’s a box about half a km outside town next to the chemical factory” either from memory or from a moving vehicle. Then, intensive spotters (me) could go to the approximate location, get a more precise fix and grab the last collexion times and box number. This would benefit me because some of the descriptions from the .pdf file are very vague and I can waste a lot of time starting the search from the “wrong” end of a given street.