This may have been asked before. It may have already been implemented and I just didn’t know it.
But, for a while, I’ve been wondering if C3D or theForum has ever created some sort of page or maybe a poll of where it’s members are located.
I, for one, would hate to think that another member could be living down the street or around the corner. or, maybe there were 10 other users in my area and I could have been preying on them for help now and then.
I think it would be great to put up a page where we could take a look to see who was where. This might provide a way for some folks to get together or at least maybe communicate with each other either offline or through email or PMs.
Cool idea, I’ve seen web maps for other hobbies/machines like you describe. Basically spots on a map of where every machine had been shipped to/is in operation(not street addresses, just cities, no-one wants “tourists” rolling up in their driveway).
I’m in Haslet/Fort Worth Texas in case anyone wants to know. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Been doing wood work since I was pre-teen, metal work in military/commercial aviation since I was 18. Currently working as a mechanical engineer in the Aerospace industry with my primary focus on metals (cast, forged, machined, and folded/riveted). 1 wife, 7 kids, 1 dog, 1 cat, and a motorcycle. Where’s everyone else from?
OK, never done this before but I believe I created a Google Maps that will allow people to put in their location (I would just put a street and city rather than a full address for privacy purposes or you could just put the city, state country if you like).
Let me know if it works, again I know it can be done and I set it up after watching a how to video so not 100% sure I did it right.
There’s an option to set location in one’s Profile page, but unfortunately, it doesn’t show in the general interface (you have to click on an account icon to get information).
The original Shapeoko forums show location information (if entered, mine is S. of the Turnpike and E. of 15 which is meaningful to folks who are close by) and there was at least one effort to create a Google Map of machine owners, but that’s onerous if not automatically generated.
I’ve suggested that Carbide 3D should maintain maps with pushpins indicating machine sales and make it the subject of an occasional blog post, but no traction.
@tmorris9 I think you’ll have to give editing rights to everyone. That’ll get messy.
This can be done with Fusion Tables, but they are being deprecated soon.
Many message boards have the location displayed in the byline of each post you make. I wonder if this is an option that could be turned-on for this site. I have seen a map with pins for each owner of a different type of activity but it created other issues like having to register for another site, people lose their site credentials since they don’t log-on often, privacy and security (I may not want to publish exactly where I live or make people aware that I own something that could be stolen), keeping it up to date when people move, sell or upgrade their system and finally many do not wants to participate for many of the previous reasons.
So it is a good idea but from experience, it does not work well.
3xl, Beaver HDZ, 2.2 spindle, kevlar belts, Fusion 360, Vcarve desktop, (feels kinda like listing boy scout badges, all earned with some type of learning curve) Alexandria, MN