Re: [Talk-GB] Locating postboxes - any photos around?
-Original Message- From: talk-gb-boun...@openstreetmap.org [mailto:talk-gb- boun...@openstreetmap.org] On Behalf Of LeedsTracker Sent: 14 January 2009 01:38 To: talk-gb@openstreetmap.org; talk-gb-theno...@openstreetmap.org Subject: [Talk-GB] Locating postboxes - any photos around? Apologies for cross-posting, and sorry if you already knew about this. I searched talk-gb via Google and found nothing, and this was new to me until a few days ago. A nifty project that uses OSM to locate postboxes: http://www.dracos.co.uk/play/locating-postboxes/ If Royal Mail won't provide a map, then OSM and Dracos' project could do so in time, which could be useful PR for OSM. Quote: The Royal Mail supplied a list of every postbox's location - unfortunately, it did not have useful co-ordinates, only postcodes or sub-postcodes and some textual data. So I wrote this site: look up the postboxes near you by entering the first half of your postcode, locate one whose location you know on the map, pick which postbox you've located, and submit. The pages also include postbox last collection times, if we know them. Even handier: You can add postboxes and their references to OSM - use a key of ref, and this site will automatically pick them up every week or so. I tend to map with a camera and take photos of the front plate of postboxes where possible. The reference needed is at the bottom of the plate, e.g. LS1 258 Hope this prompts a few more to join in! 6,654 postboxes located so far... cheers, LT It also makes for an interesting way to do mapping. In a few recent lunchtimes I've been making a list of a few as-yet unreferenced postboxes and going out to get the locations and references. I then map other things I see on the way as well, e.g. I've been doing filling in of roads where we don't have names. Of course Royal Mail's descriptions for the locations of some of the postboxes leave a little to be desired, but that's just part of the fun! Gregory ___ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
Re: [Talk-GB] Locating postboxes - any photos around?
LeedsTracker wrote: Apologies for cross-posting, and sorry if you already knew about this. I searched talk-gb via Google and found nothing, and this was new to me until a few days ago. A nifty project that uses OSM to locate postboxes: http://www.dracos.co.uk/play/locating-postboxes/ If Royal Mail won't provide a map, then OSM and Dracos' project could do so in time, which could be useful PR for OSM. Quote: The Royal Mail supplied a list of every postbox's location – unfortunately, it did not have useful co-ordinates, only postcodes or sub-postcodes and some textual data. So I wrote this site: look up the postboxes near you by entering the first half of your postcode, locate one whose location you know on the map, pick which postbox you've located, and submit. The pages also include postbox last collection times, if we know them. Even handier: You can add postboxes and their references to OSM – use a key of ref, and this site will automatically pick them up every week or so. I tend to map with a camera and take photos of the front plate of postboxes where possible. The reference needed is at the bottom of the plate, e.g. LS1 258 Hope this prompts a few more to join in! 6,654 postboxes located so far... cheers, LT Yes, I've been associating the majority of the post boxes in North Birmingham with Matthew's dracos site for a bit. In doing so I've found that a few I don't have because they are collection points associated with post offices and sorting offices (no box to get the reference from) and one or two that for some reason don't show up on Matthews site despite being in the OSM db. Cheers Andy ___ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
Re: [Talk-GB] Locating postboxes - any photos around?
Andy wrote: Yes, I've been associating the majority of the post boxes in North Birmingham with Matthew's dracos site for a bit. In doing so I've found that a few I don't have because they are collection points associated with post offices and sorting offices (no box to get the reference from) and one or two that for some reason don't show up on Matthews site despite being in the OSM db. I've been trying to find the postboxes in Tendring district (roughly CO11-CO16) and tagging them in OSM, then when I've done a load I email Matthew to ask if he can reimport from OSM (as it isn't automated). Matthew tells me his site doesn't currently send information back to OSM though he also mentioned someone was looking at doing that somehow. There is one postbox in Clacton I can't find. I've been up and down the road about half a dozen times and can find no postbox there at all. It's all houses so I don't think it is even a post office/sorting office reference. In this area every post office/sorting office either has a postbox outside with the reference on, or very occasionally build into the building itself. This one postbox (CO15 157) is the first I've been unable to locate. I also need to double check Clacton High Street to find CO15 47 (though the reference that looks like a postcode isn't actually for High Street, so I may have to hunt around the side streets to find that one). I have noted that in some instances the reference is the name of the road opposite the postbox and not the one it is actually on. Ed ___ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
Re: [Talk-GB] Locating postboxes - any photos around?
2009/1/14 Andy Robinson ajrli...@googlemail.com: [snip] and one or two that for some reason don't show up on Matthews site despite being in the OSM db. I wonder if that is because they are not in the postcode area you think they are. This doesn't apply if you have collected the postbox ref yourself, but when you are tagging boxes geographically on the dracos site. Boxes that I felt sure were in LS2, for example, turned out to be in LS3 or LS6. I ended up going through LS1-16 and found more boxes than expected. On another matter, I notice dracos' postcodes also end up on http://www.npemap.org.uk Anyway, glad it's not just me who feels they've gotta catch'em all! cheers, LT ___ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
[Talk-GB] Locating postboxes - any photos around?
Apologies for cross-posting, and sorry if you already knew about this. I searched talk-gb via Google and found nothing, and this was new to me until a few days ago. A nifty project that uses OSM to locate postboxes: http://www.dracos.co.uk/play/locating-postboxes/ If Royal Mail won't provide a map, then OSM and Dracos' project could do so in time, which could be useful PR for OSM. Quote: The Royal Mail supplied a list of every postbox's location – unfortunately, it did not have useful co-ordinates, only postcodes or sub-postcodes and some textual data. So I wrote this site: look up the postboxes near you by entering the first half of your postcode, locate one whose location you know on the map, pick which postbox you've located, and submit. The pages also include postbox last collection times, if we know them. Even handier: You can add postboxes and their references to OSM – use a key of ref, and this site will automatically pick them up every week or so. I tend to map with a camera and take photos of the front plate of postboxes where possible. The reference needed is at the bottom of the plate, e.g. LS1 258 Hope this prompts a few more to join in! 6,654 postboxes located so far... cheers, LT ___ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
