GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Discussion about the Geocaching Australia web site
User avatar
chatmanais
150 or more caches found
150 or more caches found
Posts: 130
Joined: 14 October 07 4:41 pm
Location: Cairns, Qld

GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by chatmanais » 14 January 11 9:34 am

Has anyone else noticed on the GCa front page where new caches and recommended caches etc, are listed with their suburb or area, that the suburb does not really match what seems to be conventional suburb areas or the listing has something completely separate from road maps or google maps? Im not sure how prevalent it is for southern states or more built up areas, but i have noticed a few here locally (cairns area) that have area/suburb listings i have never even heard of and are not listed in the street directory of cairns either. Does anyone know exactly which data source the website uses and if it is publicly viewable (internet) would be interesting to look at.

User avatar
caughtatwork
Posts: 17015
Joined: 17 May 04 12:11 pm
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by caughtatwork » 14 January 11 9:38 am

The data is Australia Post postcode data.
The data has multiple location names (locales) for various postcode areas and are NOT suburbs, they are postcode areas.
As there are multiple postcode area names for the same set of co-ords we pick the "first" one that comes out of the database.

User avatar
chatmanais
150 or more caches found
150 or more caches found
Posts: 130
Joined: 14 October 07 4:41 pm
Location: Cairns, Qld

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by chatmanais » 14 January 11 9:45 am

Ah... im just going to give up now, after locating said 'odd' suburb "Meringa" and using Aus post postcode locator, i fail to find a match for the suburb listed. :shock: I was under the impression the location should have been edmonton or Mt Peter from the location. Damn shifty posties :? Dont matter....

User avatar
caughtatwork
Posts: 17015
Joined: 17 May 04 12:11 pm
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by caughtatwork » 14 January 11 10:02 am

I should add that the data is some 10 years (or so) old, so it's also very possible that that locale no longer exists (if it ever did).

Having said that, however, there is this ... http://www.weathercity.com/au/qld/meringa/ and this http://nona.net/features/map/placedetai ... 0/Meringa/ and this is the centre of Maringa http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&sour ... 2&t=h&z=15

Not to say either is right or wrong, but it does seem to exist, even though AP now say that name doesn't match up to a postcode area. Ahhh, the beauties and frustrations of free data.

User avatar
Yurt
4500 or more caches found
4500 or more caches found
Posts: 1509
Joined: 01 May 09 10:08 pm
Location: Northern Suburbs, Sydney

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by Yurt » 14 January 11 11:10 am

It is indeed a strange artefact. It's as though it automatically picks the next suburb to where the location actually is. A new cache right on Pymble railway station was listed as Gordon some 2km away. A cache of mine not 200m from Pennant Hills post office is listed as Thornleigh. A cache on the boundary of Pennant Hills and Beecroft is listed as Cheltenham the next suburb south.
Very strange but it's all we've got I guess. I know when I get a notification of a new cache to check the map rather than just look at the suburb.

User avatar
caughtatwork
Posts: 17015
Joined: 17 May 04 12:11 pm
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by caughtatwork » 14 January 11 11:16 am

The postcode locales are points, not boundaries.
It picks the closest point to the cache.
So if it's at the edge of a boundary and point A is closer than Point B, even if Point B is the name of the locale, it will choose Point A.
Now if we could get the boundary data for all the postcode locales we could solve this problem, but it's not available so we go with what we've got.

User avatar
chatmanais
150 or more caches found
150 or more caches found
Posts: 130
Joined: 14 October 07 4:41 pm
Location: Cairns, Qld

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by chatmanais » 14 January 11 11:42 am

caughtatwork wrote:I should add that the data is some 10 years (or so) old, so it's also very possible that that locale no longer exists (if it ever did).

Having said that, however, there is this ... http://www.weathercity.com/au/qld/meringa/ and this http://nona.net/features/map/placedetai ... 0/Meringa/ and this is the centre of Maringa http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&sour ... 2&t=h&z=15
Well those places do seem to be in the general area, never knew it was called that. Although as usual their weather forecast for the day is wrong :P Bright and sunny today :D Cheers for the clarification C@W

User avatar
caughtatwork
Posts: 17015
Joined: 17 May 04 12:11 pm
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by caughtatwork » 14 January 11 12:05 pm

No problems.

We've been looking at the Google Maps API for geocoding locales, states and countries, the latter two to avoid you having to enter them manually, so maybe this is getting close to the time to enact those investigations.

User avatar
Bewilderbeest
2000 or more caches found
2000 or more caches found
Posts: 955
Joined: 24 December 06 4:18 pm
Location: Canberra

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by Bewilderbeest » 14 January 11 12:25 pm

caughtatwork wrote:The postcode locales are points, not boundaries.
It picks the closest point to the cache.
So if it's at the edge of a boundary and point A is closer than Point B, even if Point B is the name of the locale, it will choose Point A.
Now if we could get the boundary data for all the postcode locales we could solve this problem, but it's not available so we go with what we've got.
I am continually surprised by how widely postal areas are used, given how crap (or completely non-existent) Aust Posts boundaries are

User avatar
tronador
6500 or more caches found
6500 or more caches found
Posts: 1555
Joined: 04 November 05 10:18 pm
Location: Lidcombe,Sydney, NSW

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by tronador » 14 January 11 12:33 pm

GCA often lists my location as Rookwood. I can assure all of you I do not live in the cemetery. :shock:

User avatar
blossom*
3000 or more caches found
3000 or more caches found
Posts: 1589
Joined: 25 February 09 1:59 pm
Location: West Ryde

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by blossom* » 14 January 11 2:52 pm

tronador wrote:GCA often lists my location as Rookwood. I can assure all of you I do not live in the cemetery. :shock:
Where DO you live now? (just so I know where to drop all my spare gnomes :gnomette )

User avatar
tronador
6500 or more caches found
6500 or more caches found
Posts: 1555
Joined: 04 November 05 10:18 pm
Location: Lidcombe,Sydney, NSW

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by tronador » 14 January 11 5:12 pm

blossom* wrote:
tronador wrote:GCA often lists my location as Rookwood. I can assure all of you I do not live in the cemetery. :shock:
Where DO you live now? (just so I know where to drop all my spare gnomes :gnomette )
:D :D :D Yes please. I 'm just about to drop my 2 favourites near my letter box. :gnome :gnomette
Still in Lidcombe but moved up to Botanica, feel free to drop as many as you like, nothing quite like a gnome appearing on your doorstep. And i sure hope it was your garden I was rumaging around in yesterday when i couldn't find the gnome. the neighbour at up the street was giving me the heebie jeebies.

User avatar
tronador
6500 or more caches found
6500 or more caches found
Posts: 1555
Joined: 04 November 05 10:18 pm
Location: Lidcombe,Sydney, NSW

Re: GCA interesting/strange suburb listing

Post by tronador » 15 January 11 10:54 pm

:D :D :D :D Thank you faeries, the strange suburb listings seem to be all fixed now. At least my suburb is now listed and so are the locales of all the other gnomes, the listings are now accurate, as far as I can see. :gnomette =D> =D> =D>

User avatar
pjmpjm
6000 or more caches found
6000 or more caches found
Posts: 864
Joined: 09 April 10 12:35 am
Twitter: Booroobin
Location: Blue Mountains
Contact:

Katoomba Moving to Leura!

Post by pjmpjm » 16 January 11 11:49 am

tronador wrote::D :D :D :D Thank you faeries, the strange suburb listings seem to be all fixed now. At least my suburb is now listed and so are the locales of all the other gnomes, the listings are now accurate, as far as I can see. :gnomette =D> =D> =D>
No complaints here, but my latest micro -- left on Katoomba Street in central downtown Katoomba -- is still listed as being in 'Leura!' Am sure those Katoomba coffee shops would love to be doing business in Leura but not having to pay Leura Mall rents!

User avatar
caughtatwork
Posts: 17015
Joined: 17 May 04 12:11 pm
Location: Melbourne
Contact:

Re: Katoomba Moving to Leura!

Post by caughtatwork » 16 January 11 12:14 pm

pjmpjm wrote:
tronador wrote::D :D :D :D Thank you faeries, the strange suburb listings seem to be all fixed now. At least my suburb is now listed and so are the locales of all the other gnomes, the listings are now accurate, as far as I can see. :gnomette =D> =D> =D>
No complaints here, but my latest micro -- left on Katoomba Street in central downtown Katoomba -- is still listed as being in 'Leura!' Am sure those Katoomba coffee shops would love to be doing business in Leura but not having to pay Leura Mall rents!
Your cache was created about 3 hours before the new code went into place, so it still has the "old" method of gaining a locale.
I've edited your cache listing (no changes) and it has now updated to Katoomba.
Anything created prior to about 10:00PM on Friday 14-Jan-2010 will still have the old locales.

Post Reply