EmComm/EmPrep & GEOCODE Info

[The_Earl]

Thanks for replying - I actually did search several variants prior to posting, and have not found any threads that resulted in a conclusion. I found some that were headed in a nice direction, only to be clipped short due to policy. So at this point, I guess I'll look to non-church resources to find a solution.
.snip.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Rich

Somewhat related, you did find the EmPrep database program here:
http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?t=306

I thought there was also a Google Earth mapping project that did not transmit any data to google. There is a script that uses yahoo maps here:
http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.ph ... 7#post1477


If you dig through the forums, there is a lot of work going on trying to roll the mapping info into LUWS and getting tools for units to use. Stick around, it is going to get interesting soon.

The Earl

[thedqs]

I think he was wondering how the codes for Ham Radio Work. The basic letters are actually tied to long/lat through an interesting algorithm. Since I don't DX yet I haven't really gotten the system down. The site he points to has a good explination of the letters though, so I think he was just posting it for information.

[srasay2-p40]

[quote="mzundel"]The title sure sparked an interest for an area that I like: HAM Radio. In HAM Radio, there is a grid system. If I am not mistaken, the system is based on Lat/Lon. It divides the whole earth into grid squares. There are even contests that deal with getting contacts from certain grids.[/quote]

How is it calculated? I don't know off hand but I do know the grid square for my home: http://www.qrz.com/detail/KD7HHW

Here is more information about grid squares: http://www.arrl.org/locate/gridinfo.html

Thanks all for your comments - I have pulled together a few pieces to create a workaround for the moment. With regards to the above quote - the Maidenhead Locator System ( MLS ) (not to be confused with the Multiple List Search used by the real estate industry for locating properties for sale or the LDS MLS (MIS replacement software, not even sure what the new acronym stands for) - is a nice grid system, and has a well established system for locating areas especially with regards to long distance ( DX ) radio communications logging. Each grid square measures 1° latitude by 2° longitude and measures approximately 70’ 100 miles in the continental US. A grid square is indicated by two letters (the field) and two numbers (the square). Each sub-square is designated by the addition of two letters after the grid square. These more precise locators are used as part of the exchange in the 10-GHz contest. They measure 2.5 minutes latitude by 5 minutes longitude, roughly corresponding to 3 ´ 4 miles in the continental US. Even at the tightest grid definition, XX11yy out to the 6th character, you’re still looking at a potentially large area, that could encompass several stakes given the right locale i.e. parts of UT.

So here’s what I have done to get the ball rolling:

1. Download the membership directory for each ward in .csv format.
2. Scrub the info, so it contained only these fields:
   1. Address City State Zipcode Name URL Color Image Group
3. Under name, I used the FamilyName column of the lds.org .csv file
4. For the URL I left it blank at this time, same with Image, although I can see some potential use for that later
5. Under Color, I used a unique Hex color for each ward
6. For Group I used our ward name abbreviations – the rest was evident. One thing to note, the lds.org .csv has City State Zip in one field, so within that column I did a Replace function for the State from California to CA, and I then used the Text to Columns tool to separate that column into 3 separate columns excluding blank rows- which I pulled into a separate file to notify ward clerks of the need to update these specific members’ records.
7. I took this new file, and saved it to a TAB del file and imported it into the batchgeocode tool mentioned above in the thread, and generated a Google Earth KLM file for each ward, and then I also merged them into a stake master file. I then mapped each KLM, and took each of the wards in turn, and screen captured images at ~10k’ altitude perspective, which I will now use to create “GeoGrid” areas to be put into the LDS MLS system to assign Grid Captains for the purpose of assessing member/citizen needs during times of need.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I’m always frustrated by forums where things never seem to get resolved, so I figured I’d take a moment to let you all know what I will be doing for the time being to get through the establishment of a plan, and provide the stake leadership with visual reference materials to help them understand the quantity of people needed to fill the needs. Sample Img: http://cardboredbox.com/images/FOL4-3.jpg

I would have paid good money the other night at Stake Welfare Committee to have a camera to capture the look on the Presidency’s faces when I told them how many people we need to call or assign to positions in the wards to fill the needs. Priceless!

I’ll be watching this and other topics because the subject will continue to get hotter as more things arise that expose the lack of preparedness within the US and the church. Each time we discuss this topic – eyes glaze over, and the sprit of apathy fills the room – I hope we don’t need too many more Katrinas to wake people up to the need to be organized and prepared.

Rich
W6SRA

[thedqs]

LDS MLS (MIS replacement software, not even sure what the new acronym stands for)

There is a link in the upper right area of the page for acronyms which contains some of the more used acronyms. MLS means Member and Leader Services.