Wikipedia talk:Coordinate-referenced map templates

Untitled
I created this article and I think it needs a lot of copyediting. Sorry, I am not a technical writer or wiki code genius. MPS 08:28, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I think it's a great start, and useful as is, thanks for doing it!. Some things I'd like to see would be how to convert between Degrees Minutes Seconds to decimal (or if a handy dandy converter existed, even better), and how to convert from USGS map section references to lat/long. I added a how to use Google similar to yours. If I have some time I'll see what I can do but I tend to drone on interminably... ++Lar: t/c 14:14, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

Finding lat/long info
To the section Finding lat/long info I suggest adding a reference to Google Earth. The free version for Windows is incredibly nice. There is also a Mac version I have not tried. Google's online maps can be squirrelly sometimes when it comes to getting the map to center on a point that you drove to. The Link to this page button keeps sending me back to the last address or coordinate pair that I searched for. Google Earth doesn't have this problem. You can freely put Placemarks on the map, drag them where you like, and see the coordinates updating as you drag. Google Earth can also convert easily between decimal degrees and deg min sec. If you want me to add a mention of Google Earth to your section, I will. Thanks for the document explaining these templates. I'm adding geolinks references to articles about locations I am personally familiar with. For example, Middletown Junction. Teratornis 01:55, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * (Later I realized this snap-back-to-last-location problem results after I drag the whole map, rather than click on the arrow controls to drive the map. But I still like Google Earth better, because it's hard to see in Google Maps exactly where the center point currently is. Teratornis 18:18, 26 June 2006 (UTC) )


 * I agree: here's the logic I'm using in adding GoogleEarth links --


 * "I've put in a link to the GoogleEarth location of xxx: very tough finding the place on any map, even for folks familiar with the history -- this link connects directly to the map, moreover, if the software is installed locally, whereas other georef links connect to confusing "explanatory pages" or get messed up in user security software and downloading problems.


 * "The GoogleEarth software now is a free download to any user, Apple/Mac or Wintel -- from http://earth.google.com -- so I personally believe it's the most politically-correct GIS to use for this purpose, at the moment anyway. It's also wildly-exciting, to be able to hop around virtually-visiting all the "sights", online..."


 * If any of this is wrong I hope someone here will tell me. But now that the GoogleEarth software is free and is so easy to use, Mac or Wintel, like I said, I believe its links are a very valuable addition to nearly any article here. The link looks like this:


 * http://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.861431,2.334097&output=kml


 * -- and the link label format I use comes out as follows --


 * 48|51|41.15|N,02|20|02.75|E(GoogleEarth)


 * -- I show the actual geocoords in the label, plus a note that the link uses GoogleEarth, in case they want to use the geocoords in other software.


 * --Kessler 23:47, 7 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Google Earth could also be useful for displaying geographic entities not conveniently representable as a single point. Some examples: a route, a road tour, a long bicycle path, a long foot trail, rivers, canyons, mountain ranges, large lakes, large islands, highways, rail lines, etc. A specific example I have in mind: the Little Miami Scenic Trail article cries out for a KML file that would display the full 77-mile length of the Trail, with annotations for the many attractions, parks, landmarks, historical sites, amenities, etc., along it. Wikipedia has lots of templates for representing individual points, but nothing for representing polylines, polygons, etc. Teratornis 18:18, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Finding lat/long info in Google Earth
I added a new subsection: Finding lat/long info in Google Earth. I had to move the two sentences which were at the bottom of the parent section, to the top of that section, and to the next section, respectively, so the new subsection would flow nicely. I don't think I damaged the original author's intent. I verified the procedure for finding coordinates in Google Earth as I edited it. Feel free to hack away on it. Teratornis 18:18, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Context
I understand this document is intended to be a policy, guideline, or process. I'm interested in maps, surveying, and coordinates, so I decided to take a look. Unfortunately, the page does not set the context so I can understand where this page fits in.

For example, who is the intended reader of this page? People who develop templates? People who use coordinate-referenced templates? What is the overall status of coordinate-referenced map templates? Are they in early development, and might be available 2 years from now? Or perhaps they are already in widespread use and some kind of reorganization and cleanup is needed. What are the dependencies of coordinate-referenced map templates? Is everything needed already available in Wikipedia? Does new software need to be added to the Wikipedia server? Or is it a way to create a call to an external map surver such as Google Earth or Mapquest? At a minimum, I would suggest a sentence near the top of the article suggesting where to obtain an overview of this subject.
 * Possible clues:
 * See an introductory paragraph which links to this page: Template_talk:Geolinks-US-streetscale.
 * I am not sure who the intended readers are, but I can self-report as an opportunistic reader. I wanted to learn more about how to insert coordinate-referenced templates into Wikipedia articles. See my Special:Contributions/Teratornis page for examples of articles I added coordinate-referenced templates to. (Warning: I'm far from an expert on this; I just copied and edited template references I found in similar pages.) Teratornis 15:24, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't know if there is an overall survey article about the state of these templates, but individual templates may have lots of information on their talk pages.
 * For example, see: Template:Geolinks-US-streetscale and its corresponding talk page: Template_talk:Geolinks-US-streetscale.
 * Also see: Manual_of_Style_%28dates_and_numbers%29.
 * This note: Manual_of_Style_%28dates_and_numbers%29 says if you use the standard templates, robots will update your references automatically if the templates change in the future. Teratornis 15:24, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Coordinate-referenced map templates link to an external site. Visit the site for more information; for example: . Teratornis 15:24, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Gerry Ashton 22:36, 24 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I interleaved my responses to Gerry Ashton's questions. If that is not the proper way to format the answers to a list of questions on a talk page, feel free to rearrange my replies. Teratornis 15:24, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Response by original author
You could say that this is a draft guideline. I created this page in order to compile a useful reference of geloinks template information that is nowhere else on wikipedia. The intended audience is someone that wants to add a "see this location on the map" template to the article. An example is the Richmond, Virginia article. I added a geolinks template that looks like this

{geolinks-US-countyscale|37.538346|-77.461507}}

37.53835°N, -77.46151°W

( click on any of the maps options to see a metro Richmond map ) ... so a user who wants to use one of these geolinks templates on other articles has to go somewhere in wikipedia's guidelines to learn how to use them. Does this answer the question? I am not one to recklessly write policies, so I am not sure of the approval process for turning this into a guideline. I do think it is helpful if not perfectly written. MPS 03:33, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

Geolinks modification or coord replacement
The Geolinks templates may be superseded by recent changes in the coord template which provide a list of mapping services when the geographical coordinate is clicked on. Please participate in the discussion at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Geographical_coordinates. (SEWilco 16:14, 17 October 2007 (UTC))