LDS Maps Update - Community Counts by Jim Byer

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McDanielCA
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LDS Maps Update - Community Counts by Jim Byer

#1

Post by McDanielCA »

LDS Maps Update - Community Counts was originally posted on the main page of LDS Tech. It was written by Jim Byer.

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Over the summer, the Church released a new version of the Meetinghouse Locator called LDS Maps. This can be accessed from LDS.org and mormon.org or directly at maps.lds.org. This application has proven to be a valuable tool to locate places of worship anywhere in the world.

One of the best features of the new LDS Maps application is its ability to allow Web users to submit feedback directly to the LDS Maps development team at the Church. We appreciate community members around the world who have reported location errors and data inaccuracies.

Enhancement requests are being reviewed and prioritized as we plan for future releases. So far over 6,000 feedback entries have been received. One of the more popular requests is the ability to see all meetinghouses within a city, instead of just the three closest. We are looking into this, as well as ways to allow a member to sign in through LDS Account and see additional Church resources and related information on the map (such as ward boundaries, member households, nearest temple, etc.).

The team is also working on translating LDS Maps to benefit more people worldwide. This has some challenges as the number of languages we can provide will depend on the languages Google and Microsoft support. We are hopeful that vendors will add support for additional languages beyond what is currently offered.

Please stay tuned and continue to send us your feedback and suggestions so we can make LDS Maps more useful for you!

Jim Byer is a senior engineer for the Church.
slugolicious-p40
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#2

Post by slugolicious-p40 »

Being able to access ward/stake boundaries would be fabulous. Overlaid on the google map would be ideal.

BTW, the graph in the poll results isn't accurate. Even with 0 'no's, it still shows a small blue bar. There shouldn't be any bar.
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#3

Post by mkmurray »

slugolicious wrote:BTW, the graph in the poll results isn't accurate. Even with 0 'no's, it still shows a small blue bar. There shouldn't be any bar.
Yeah, I agree that is kinda of silly. The charting and polling are features of the vBulletin forum software that the Church is using for this site. Unfortunately I don't think it is something that can be changed within the software administration screens.
whitcomb-p40
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It would be really helpful to locate Family History Centers.

#4

Post by whitcomb-p40 »

I love the maps application! Sometimes I will refer people to maps, which is easier to use finding Family History Centers than familysearch.org. In Europe, we just "know" that all chapels have Family History Centers, for those in the U.S. it's harder to find.

Alan W.

P.S. In October I moved to the U.S. and missed General Conference because I did not know where the Stake Center was. Might Stake Centers be added too?
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aebrown
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#5

Post by aebrown »

whitcomb wrote:P.S. In October I moved to the U.S. and missed General Conference because I did not know where the Stake Center was. Might Stake Centers be added too?
I know you already missed the conference, but one nice thing about the new maps.lds.org is that you can go to the web site for each ward that is displayed. From any ward web site, you can go to the stake web site, which should post the address on its home page.

But it would be nice to be able to see the stake center from maps.lds.org directly, and not every stake participates in the local unit web site program.
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charly3358-p40
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#6

Post by charly3358-p40 »

...allow a member to sign in through LDS Account and see additional Church resources and related information on the map (such as ward boundaries, member households, nearest temple...

It would be great to see ward boundaries and nearest temple through google maps but I'd be cautious about adding member home locations even if its just a pin on a street, because of what happened recently in California over proposition 8 and the demonstrations (including the restaurant). Even some who were members in good standing posted on Youtube their own manifesto criticizing the church's views, they could also log in through an LDS Account and then publish peoples house locations.

Although it is an extreme case and not very likely, it would be a slight security risk to add member's home locations on goolge maps. Also there could be privacy issues in some countries since in most countries membership directories aren't public nor freely distributed even among ward members -only some leaders have access to the general ward directory.
Charlie :confused:
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mkmurray
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#7

Post by mkmurray »

charly3358 wrote:It would be great to see ward boundaries and nearest temple through google maps but I'd be cautious about adding member home locations even if its just a pin on a street, because of what happened recently in California over proposition 8 and the demonstrations (including the restaurant). Even some who were members in good standing posted on Youtube their own manifesto criticizing the church's views, they could also log in through an LDS Account and then publish peoples house locations.
If this would be a problem, then wouldn't the current Local Unit Web Sites (LUWS) currently be a problem? They don't have maps, but they do have addresses published for every member of the ward. Any member in the ward (good standing or not) that has their record number and confirmation date could login and publish peoples house locations (addresses). If a member does that, they are breaking the Terms of Use that you agree to when using LUWS, which is that is for Church purposes only.

Also peoples names and addresses are public information that you can get out of a phone book; however, the association that they are a member of the Church is not necessarily public record info (and in the case of Prop 8, that proves important to keep private if you don't want to be harrassed or targeted in anyway).

LUWS does have the ability for the member to go in and click a checkbox that prevents your information from being made public to the whole ward on the membership list. I would imagine that any mapping solution could make use of this same flag to honor a member's request to not be available to other members of the Church like that.
charly3358 wrote:Although it is an extreme case and not very likely, it would be a slight security risk to add member's home locations on goolge maps. Also there could be privacy issues in some countries since in most countries membership directories aren't public nor freely distributed even among ward members -only some leaders have access to the general ward directory.
LUWS 2.0 (which is planned to include more countries than the US and Canada, as currently available) will also have to deal with this, so I imagine the Church has investigated and current is investigating local laws and rights around the world.
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charly3358-p40
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#8

Post by charly3358-p40 »

mkmurray wrote:Any member in the ward (good standing or not) that has their record number and confirmation date could login and publish peoples house locations (addresses).

We don't have that ability here. Plus one's phone number and address isn't automatically listed, we have to pay an extra fee for that service.
Charlie :confused:
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#9

Post by merrilon »

Just wanted to comment on the opportunity to correct the maps. We visited in Sevierville Tenn. recently on a very rare weekend trip. For the first time (we usually go Monday-Friday) we visited a Church building there for meetings. As seems usual, the printed maps are not as accurate as one would hope. But then, neither is our GPS system! I figure the best way to plot these maps is by current satellite view. However my definition of current and Google's, is again, way off alignment! For what you have to work with, you do the best you can!
Since Google Maps changed providers in September, it has been a joke to try to find places. I'm a Wellness Nurse in Alabama and make visits to state and school related sites in 6 counties. It is only rarely that I get an exact pinpoint of an address on pretty much any place. Sevierville is no exception. The printed map was at least a block off, and the route certainly did not agree with the GPS system. Our expected 10 minute trip took 15, and some turn corrections, but we made it!
:o May I ask something? I may not be really computer savvy, but when I receive your messages, they come in through my e-mail account. All the places you suggest to check out with, a URL attached, do not have links to just click on. Call me lazy (true!), but would it be possible to make them into links instead of us having to cut and paste in address boxes?
Just wondering!
Gwen Beck
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#10

Post by kevandcan »

I think the suggested additions/changes are right on track. I like the idea of LDSAccount integration so member and leadership can see boundaries, member households (color coded by quorums/classes), home teaching groupings, temples, etc. Can't wait to see this put into Production!
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