How to Submit Location Data?

[Dave_D]

Hi all,

I love the clean, professional appearance of the new 4.0 site but still can't find where to submit location data. Admittedly, I've not visited RR in several months. Were the location data features ever implemented in RR 3? Are they available in RR 4.0?

I've got simply tons of location data stored in myriad Excel spreadsheets. It's a mess synchronizing those spreadsheets with RR. Needless to say, it'd be nice to be able to submit my location data to RR and trash this cacophony of spreadsheets, once and for all.

Again, nice work on 4.0!!!

Thank you!

 

[radioaustralia]

You can visit here; Submit Data to RadioReference

Or click on the "Database" button on the menu strip, select the "Database Home" button and go through and choose your location. Once you've gone and done those steps you will then see the "Submit" button on the left hand side, I presume this is what you are looking for?

 

[Dave_D]

No, I'm looking for the ability to submit specific latitude and longitude data.

Way back when, I was told in these forums that an administrative panel was in the works that would allow admins to specify the latitude, longitude and range of a system's application area. If I recall correctly, it was also suggested that those functions might be made part of the general submission forms.

For the disarray my spreadsheets are in, it would be much better for me to submit things in such a form - allowing me the opportunity to reverify, line by line, as I go - rather than simply dump the lot on an unsuspecting admin.

 

[blantonl]

Dave, what locations are you monitoring and collecting data for?

Maybe we should put you in touch with Eric Carlson and we could consider you for a database administrator post, provided the areas you are collecting data for aren't too overlapping with our existing admin "force"

 

[Dave_D]

I've been mapping law enforcement (mostly highway patrol) in northern California and Nevada, for use with my BCT15.

I say it's a mess because, originally, I recorded tower locations from FCC data and verified each on Google Earth. [I was surprised by the volume of FCC lat/long errors.] But then, in my discussions with others on RR, it was determined that application area was more useful than tower locations, and so I began to rework things. In many ways, it's like starting from scratch. However, many agencies operate on county boundaries, significantly reducing the guesswork. I've been hoping RR would allow for county geo data to cascade, so that one needn't supply geo data for every county-specific agency.

Sure, I'd love to take a look at the admin interface, if there's no political conflicts. I'm too swamped to dive in with both feet right away, but I can see this being a fun Spring/Summer project. I'd also be happy to beta or evaluate the geo data interface, if you have something new under construction.

Let me know!

 

[loumaag]

Moved to the Database Discussion forum.

Dave,
The geographic data does "cascade" from the county to the subcategories on the county page as defualt data. Sometimes that is correct and sometimes it is not, that is why individual subcategories can have different locations. Indeed, unless an individual agency is also a subcatagory, you cannot attach a location to it (on a county page.) As for the HP, that usually shows up on a state level agency page and subcategory locations work the same as on county pages. Depending on how it is broken down, location information there can be very useful; however, since currently all we can do is apply a center-point and a radius, following such things as county or district lines is a problem.

 

[Dave_D]

I totally understand. We're in bleeding edge territory.

In my experience, the only way to solve all of the application-based geomapping issues I've come across is for RR to support polygonal geomapping.

My favorite example is Nevada's Nye County. With Uniden's 50-mile max radius circles, one can't describe the county without roping in half of the surrounding counties as well. Increase your resolution to 30-mile circles and you've got twenty or more points describing the county lines. Poorly. Meanwhile, one can describe the county with near pinpoint accuracy with only nine geopoints, one for each of the county's nine corners.

Getting this into your scanner is something for manufacturers and third-party software developers to figure out. Memory prices are ever-falling and I suspect that the next generation of radios will follow suit and support polygonal geomapping. The rest can interpolate the polygons into circles, either natively or through third-party apps.

Sorry to pontificate. Once you've spent a couple hundred hours fitting those blasted circles into square (and not-so-square) holes, you'll be squawking crazy too.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[loumaag]

...Sorry to pontificate. Once you've spent a couple hundred hours fitting those blasted circles into square (and not-so-square) holes, you'll be squawking crazy too.

:lol:
When I started scanning (term used loosely, I had to reach down and twist a dial just to go from police district to police district. Fitting round circles into squares so that my scanner changes channels on it's own while I pay attention the road...I can live with that.
:lol: