LUWS Map & Driving Directions How to Correct

[Daryl1]

When new move in's go to the Ward Web Site and click the map link they are then taken to the Meeting House Locator which their appears a map that is powered by mapquest.

How does one correct or where do we report a bad star location? The Stake is correct showing the star in the correct location on mapquest on the Stake website. The Ward is right next to the stake but the star is showing several blocks away in a residential area on the ward website.

Any suggestions ideas?

Thank you.

[thedqs]

Have you submitted a feedback form?

[russellhltn]

I noticed on a number of those that it looks like they are calling for a map and then using lat/lon to place the star rather then letting Mapquest do it's magic with the address. So it would be helpful if you can provide the coordinates in decimal degrees.

In checking my own stake, I see lots of errors. In fact so many errors, I'm wondering if someone did a conversion error. The worst one is the ward that's located in the middle of a lagoon. (Must be nice on hot days. ) I've also got a case where the stake office is correct, but all of the wards that meet in the stake center are way wrong. They aren't even on the right street! Apparently for the stake office, the lat/lon wasn't given so Mapquest used the address. But an incorrect coordinate set was given for the wards.

Hmmmm. Now what coordinates should I give? I guess I'll shoot for the parking lot as it would help anyone driving. Well, I guess I know what I'll be doing later on tonight.

[thedqs]

Sometimes even using mapquests address finder it goes off into never never land so it might just be how the address is inputed into Mapquest that determines if it can find it or not.

[russellhltn]

Sometimes even using mapquests address finder it goes off into never never land so it might just be how the address is inputed into Mapquest that determines if it can find it or not.

True, but that's not the case here.

I pull up the Alpine 11th Ward and the map link is:
javascript:mapWindow_onclick('352-1-98+E+CANYON+CREST+RD-ALPINE-UTAH-84004-UNITED+STATES-40p4472-h111p77558')

Notice that "garbage" on the end? It means 40.4472 -111.77558 (Or 40.4472N 111.77558W) Drop those numbers into your favorite mapping program and ... Hmmm. From the satellite photos that doesn't look like a stake center to me. And it's not on East Canyon Road. And it duplicates the LUWS/Mapquest error for that same location. Now that structure just to the southwest on the south side of East Canyon Road looks like a good candidate. And I even see what looks like a satellite dish (gee, I hope the signal clears the tree to the south of it. )

Oh, and the Alpine Utah Stake page (which is the same building) shows as
javascript:mapWindow_onclick('352-1-98+Ep+CANYON+CREST+RDp-ALPINE-UTAH-84004-UNITED+STATES')

Which might be OK, except when I try to zoom, it suddenly goes from "98 E. Canyon Crest Rd., Alpine, UTAH 84004" to just "98 E, ," and sends it off to booniesville. What the heck? Seems to be some bugs in the system.

[thedqs]

Ok so like you mentioned previously, just make the coords a little more accurate. (Millisecond maybe?) For those that might be confused coordinates are in degrees/minutes/seconds/milliseconds (Like ones/tenths/hundredths/thousandths)

[russellhltn]

Ok so like you mentioned previously, just make the coords a little more accurate.

That would seem to be the best way. That way you don't rely on Mapquest's translation from address to location. The translation can have some significant errors as I think in most cases it's just a guess based on address blocks. (If where it crosses 1st Ave is the 100 block and 2nd Ave is the 200 block, then an address of 115 Main Street should be 15% of the way from 1st Ave to 2nd Ave. Works great in theory - but real life tends to do strange things.)

Also doing this way records the location in a format usable for GPS units. As GPS navigation gets more popular, that might come in handy.

For those that might be confused coordinates are in degrees/minutes/seconds/milliseconds (Like ones/tenths/hundredths/thousandths)

Careful. While coordinates can be expressed that way, LUWS and my examples are all in decimal degrees. They can also be expressed as degrees, minutes and decimal minutes too. And then there's the question of what coordinate system you use - NAD27, WGS83, etc. Depending on where you pull your information there are lots of ways of tripping yourself up. Given the errors I've seen, I have to wonder if that hasn't happened. (Add geocaching and Benchmark hunting to some of the strange hobbies I've done. :rolleyes:)

I would recommend that all techies check their unit web pages to see if the "Map" function is acceptably accurate.

[scion-p40]

In my work, I visit a lot of different businesses that I would not otherwise go to. I use online directions to plan my route, but keep my local map book handy, too. When discussing map websites with my co-workers, Mapquest has a consistent reputation of being the least accurate option for Orange and Los Angeles County locations. It doesn't fare well for our out of state work assignments, either. Things like left turns across broad Texas interstates, and exiting a freeway without the aid of an offramp make following Mapquest directions a bit unnerving when one is in a new area! <g>

[thedqs]

Careful. While coordinates can be expressed that way, LUWS and my examples are all in decimal degrees. They can also be expressed as degrees, minutes and decimal minutes too. And then there's the question of what coordinate system you use - NAD27, WGS83, etc. Depending on where you pull your information there are lots of ways of tripping yourself up. Given the errors I've seen, I have to wonder if that hasn't happened. (Add geocaching and Benchmark hunting to some of the strange hobbies I've done. :rolleyes:)

Actually right after I posted I looked at your point data and thought to myself that the problem might be exactly that, mapquest is being passed the minutes/seconds version and mapquest is translating that into the decimal version. Have you tried looking you that meeting house with those as minutes and seconds?

Ah seeking for landmarks and marking their coordinates. Enjoy doing it in my spare time, but then spare time is limited.

[ShirtsDre]

Seems to be some bugs in the system.

The rewrite for the meetinghouse locator service is actually underway and will be a huge improvement upon the current version.

Feedback on the meetinghouse locator service, including reports of any inacurate data, should be directed to the "Feedback" link on your ward's map or directions page:
http://lds.org/portal/site/LDSOrg/menui ... deNav=true