Unmapped Locations

[kisaac]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but my experience is that the locations on the map are unrelated to the addresses in MLS...No matter how many times you change or correct addresses in MLS, the locations on the map are unaffected.

1) make sure MLS is correct first,

I believe it is true that your location marker in MAPS is "somewhat" independent to the addresses in MLS...You can't change an address in MLS by dragging the MAPS marker across town, nor will changing MLS correct or move the marker.

For the purpose of the original poster, though, debugging problems with MAPS, you can't overlook that if the data is not correct at the source, it won't ever be correct "downline." Where does it become incorrect?

For those new to MLS, Maps, etc, I guess we should establish for clarity that the "Source" of address data resides on our "official" membership record, housed at Church HQ, with a "local copy" held in our wards on our local MLS.

Our Ward Clerk must make any changes in this address data on our "official" membership record through an upadte in our local MLS, which then transfers to church HQ when a send and receive is initiated, and your "official" membership record is then updated with new address data. See the wiki for more on this process...

So, thinking of it that way, Your ward MLS, Stake MLS, the lds.org Directory, and LDS Maps all get "fed" their information from one source, your membership record at church Headquarters. Start there to look for address problems...if it is correct there, trace the flow of data through the other tools and check each "downstream" component (like the directory, or MAPS,) for accuracy. If they are all accurate, the problem is elsewhere.

[russellhltn]

Based on what davesudweeks has said, I think this is what's happening:

When a member is "pushed" to your ward, the address is formatted thus:

Address1: 50 E. North Temple St.
Address2: Salt Lake City, UT 84150

Only after it arrives in the ward is it reformatted to:

Address1: 50 E. North Temple St.
Address2:
City: Salt Lake City
State: UT
Zip: 84150

But since this is a change within the ward, this new update isn't being sent to the geocoder. If for any reason, the geocoder doesn't like the first format (perhaps because it's been sent blank City/State/Zip fields so it doesn't know to look at "Address2" for that information) then it can't map the location.

But when one "pulls" a record, the address is entered in the final format up front and the geocoder is happy.

[kisaac]

What would a "unit data refresh" show? I'm a little afraid to do one....

https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Unit_data_refresh
This a great tool for troubleshooting any issues that may arise when membership records are moved to or from the unit. The local priesthood leader may contact the administrative office to request information on the different records to determine if the refresh is needed.

[bspittle]

First off. My apologies for not seeing all the responses. I am not being notified of any responses (I'll have to check the settings). I have confirmed the following:
1. The address data as it appears in MLS is showing up correctly (i.e. the data is in the correct fields and not combined in any way).
2. We have yet to find any incorrect data so far and are stumped as to why most of the addresses in our entire Stake are "unmapped" (65%)

I called Global services and they said to post here to ask the developers for help in "refreshing" out data. They were not able to determine what the issue is or to connect me with anyone familiar with this area.

[bspittle]

Actually, when the data arrives in the Ward it is formatted correctly. No reformatting is needed.

[aebrown]

First off. My apologies for not seeing all the responses. I am not being notified of any responses (I'll have to check the settings).

At the top of each thread is a dropdown labeled "Thread Tools"; an option under that is "Subscribe to this Thread." Choosing that will insure that you are notified (assuming your correct email address is in your forum profile) when anyone posts to the thread.

I called Global services and they said to post here to ask the developers for help in "refreshing" out data. They were not able to determine what the issue is or to connect me with anyone familiar with this area.

There's no guarantee that anyone on the development team will see this post (but they might). This is primarily a community forum, but some developers occasionally visit here.

[bspittle]

To answer your question on "unmapped 1382":

1. the MLS data is correct and each address component shows up in the corect field.

2. in the online data available through lds.org, the address shows up as follows in two rows below the name (either in the Leader Tools --> "maps" or in the standard "Directory"):
3534 Landie Rd
Kelowna, British Columbia V1W 3E9

3. When I "download" the Stake or Ward data (csv file) from the Mapping application, it shows up as follows, except where I deleted private information:

Longitude unknown
Latitude unknown
Household [hidden for privacy purposes but was accurate}
Street 3534 Landie Rd
City Kelowna
State British Columbia
Zip V1W 3E9
Phone [hidden for privacy purposes but was accurate}
E-mail [hidden for privacy purposes but was accurate}
Location Status Unmapped

[greggo]

I just wanted to say that I'm very happy that someone has identified a method of getting the map function of lds.org to geocode members addresses at times other than when a record is moved into the unit. bspittle should now be able to get addresses mapped that were previously unmapped without having to manually move and verify the markers.

It was discovered last week in a separate post, but I have not been able to find it to provide a link. A member of the bishopric or clerk can use their tools on lds.org to "edit" the address of a household, and the map will then geocode and provide the marker. I apologize for being vague in my description of the process. I am the EQ Pres and don't have access to the clerk tools on lds.org. But I verified with my branch pres that it works. There is no need to actually make any changes to addresses - just choose edit and save without changes. Maybe someone else can provide more details on the method I've described.

I will be instructing our branch clerk to use this method to map those who are currently not shown or mis-mapped and repeat every time someone moves within the branch.

[aebrown]

It was discovered last week in a separate post, but I have not been able to find it to provide a link. A member of the bishopric or clerk can use their tools on lds.org to "edit" the address of a household, and the map will then geocode and provide the marker.

You're most likely referring to this post:

I found that if I edited their membership record from the lds.org log in (as the bishop, I can do this) and didn't change anything, that their geocode was updated and their dot moved to their new address. Automagically.

[bspittle]

If that method works, then my next obvious question is if there is some way of automatically refreshing the data for the entire Stake, rather than having to open up each record. I'm not going to be much support to having the ward clerks go through and do this in all 11 units.....