Family Historian User Group

I've installed this plugin and find that it is choosing a wrong location for Perth WA (Western Australia). It is showing the place as in north-western USA. Similarly it is incorrectly showing Salter Point WA (Western Australia) about the same place.

ID:6187

John,

WA is the abbreviation for the state of Washington in the USA.

I think you have to add AUS or Australia at the end.

See the help in the plugin, which says this:

Australian State Postal Abbreviations from States and Territories of Australia.

The codes NT and WA conflict with Canadian and U.S. abbreviations, and only correctly recognised if followed by Australia or AUS.

e.g. ACT or NSW or QLD or SA or TAS or VIC or WA, AUS.

Bill

Bill is absolutely correct, if the Smart Geocoding option is enabled.
[EDIT]
Would it be a good idea to also recognise NT and WA as Australian States if the Set Preference Option Region Bias Code is au Australia?

Also, if you enter the Places exactly as you have shown in your posting as Perth WA and Salter Point WA without any comma,
or use any other format where WA is not delimited by commas, e.g. (WA), then it will plot correctly.

Alternatively, you could switch off the Smart Geocoding option, and possibly Set Preference Option Region Bias Code to au Australia.

The Google Maps Geocoder is pretty good at locating well known Places, but it is not always consistent or predictable, especially with Country and State codes.
The Smart Geocoding option attempts to add consistency, and also recognises some codes (such as Chapman Codes, that Google Maps does not understand.

Use the Help & Advice Plugin button for more details.

P.S.
With Smart Geocoding enabled:
Perth, WA plots to Perth Court, Washington State, USA.
Salter Point, WA plots to Washington State, USA (Salter Point does not exist here).
Midland, WA plots to Midland, Washington State, USA.
Perth, WA, AUS plots to Perth, Western Australia.
Salter Point, WA, AUS plots to Salter Point, Western Australia.
Midland, WA, AUS plots to Midland, Western Australia.
Because historical place names may be involved, they may no longer be recognised by Google Maps, so Map Life Facts cannot make assumptions based on the existence or non-existence of names.

Interestingly, with Region Bias Code set to au Australia, all three places plot correctly with the WA code removed, or with Smart Geocoding disabled.
Geocoding appears not to be an exact science.

Mike

Would it be a good idea to also recognise NT and WA as Australian States if the Set Preference Option Region Bias Code is au Australia?

I think so.  There's also SA (South Australia) versus SA (South Africa)

without any comma

I do have the commas present in the database

Alternatively, you could switch off the Smart Geocoding option, and possibly Set Preference Option Region Bias Code to au Australia

I've done that but still get the same incorrect result


I've got around it at the moment by adding Australia to the Place field, although I'd prefer not to have it. However thanks for a very interesting Plugin.

The Region Bias Code set to au Australia enhancement will be in the next release of the Plugin.

The Plugin Smart Geocoding does NOT confuse SA with with South Africa because it only recognises 3-Alpha Country Codes.
The South Africa Country Code is ZAF.

If Smart Geocoding is disabled then Google Maps plots SA on its own as Saudi Arabia, even if Region Bias Code is au Australia!!!
That is why I added Smart Geocoding to try and improve plotting of codes and abbreviations, but I am still on a learning curve.

Remember to use Clear This Entry on the incorrect plots before using Geocode Plot This Location Entry.
While a Latitude and Longitude value remains it will not be replotted.

If a great many Places need to be replotted after changing settings, then use Erase Place Database on Set Preference Options and re-plot all Places.

If you want to add the Region Bias Code set to au Australia enhancement, then edit the Plugin as follows.
1) Use Tools > Plugins > More>>
2) Scroll down to the Map Life Facts Plugin and click the Edit button
3) Use Edit > Find set Find what: to local isAustralia = false and click Find Next
4) Copy & Paste the following line after that line:

           if TblRegBias[IntRegBias]:match('Australia') then isAustralia = true end

5) Then use File > Save and Close the edit window and the Plugins window

Thanks Mike.  I'll have a look at that when I can.  Again your efforts are appreciated.
Edit :
That modification has done the trick.

The Chapman Codes of ARM, HUN, KEN, NFK, PER & SOM use the same code as some ISO 3166-1 Alpha-3 Country Codes.

The Map Life Facts Plugin resolves this conflict by assuming it is a Country Code if it is the last code on the right of the Location field.
Otherwise, it assumes it is a Chapman Code.

Would it be useful if the Plugin always assumed a Chapman Code if the Region Bias Code is set to uk United Kingdom?

Also, I am thinking of revising the Geocode Location Plots tab buttons as follows:

(1) Geocode Plot All Locations will literally re-plot ALL Locations, but retain any Substitute values.
Any nudged or manually entered Latitude & Longitude values will be overwritten.
Does there need to be a Lock mechanism to prevent Lat/Longitude being overwritten?

(2) Geocode Unplotted Locations will work as the current Geocode Plot All Location Entries button, and only plot Locations without Lat/Longitude values.

(3) Geocode Plot This Location unchanged.

Mike,

I really like this idea of a third option. I agree, option 1 does need this type of Lock mechanism to prevent substitute locations and Lat/Longitude being overwritten. People go to a tremendous amount of work to put these in and don't want to lose them.

Bill

One idea I've had is to apply an automatic Lock as soon as the Lat/Longitude is manually changed or nudged.
The Lock could be signalled by changing the colour of the Lat/Longitude fields.
Clearing either Lat/Longitude value or the whole entry would release the Lock.

Mike,

This would work for me.  I would rarely if ever want to have the plugin clear all substitute values and re-plot everything.  

I suppose this might happen though.  Maybe there should also be a way to unlock all locked entries so they can be re-plotted?

Bill

See the posting Proposed changes for plugin V2.8 for full details of Geocode Plot buttons and other enhancements.

Map Life Facts V2.8 is now available from the Plugin Store with the features listed in this other thread.

See the updated Help & Advice pages listed below for details.

• Geocode Location Plots
• Smart Geocoding