World map

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Ben
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Re: World map

Post by Ben »

I seem to think what Matheesha is looking for.
I've seen a rotating globe with dots representing visitors on tumblr sites (I can't find it at the moment and it looks very cool) and I've recently used a map function in facebook to map my 'friends'...
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“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

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Kim OHara
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Re: World map

Post by Kim OHara »

mikenz66 wrote:Hi Kim,
Kim O'Hara wrote: So it doesn't tell anyone where any individual is from, which is what I wanted, but it does give all of us a good idea of where all of us are from, which I think is what you wanted.
But the map, along with your "North Queensland" location would show where you are...
Unless we have a bunch of other members up there... :thinking:

:anjali:
Mike
True (and thanks for considering my privacy, Mike), but if it bothered me, I could simply change my 'location' to 'Queensland'. I don't think it will be an issue for many members - not many are as isolated as I am. There's an easy solution, anyway: DW could put up an 'Announcement' alerting people to the possibility that map+location could identify them more specifically than they wish and suggesting my kind of change.
:namaste:
Kim
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Ben
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Re: World map

Post by Ben »

Kim O'Hara wrote: not many are as isolated as I am.
During the work week - I'm probably more isolatd. It doesn't bother me that people know.
But it will be interesting how any map application captures the data. If its from member's profiles then location can be easily concealed or manipulated by members. 'Van Diemen's Land' in my profile may flummox an application.
If the data is collected automatically via accessing members IP addresses - then there is another source of bias. Many members, especially in remote locations, access the internet via satellite or G3 or G4 cell-phone radio communications which has a tendency to misrepresent their data by giving the IP address of the base station or ISP headquarters in several different provinces or states. I have seen the same members IP address location change from Brisbane, to Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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Kim OHara
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Re: World map

Post by Kim OHara »

Ben wrote:
Kim O'Hara wrote: not many are as isolated as I am.
During the work week - I'm probably more isolatd. It doesn't bother me that people know.
But it will be interesting how any map application captures the data. If its from member's profiles then location can be easily concealed or manipulated by members. 'Van Diemen's Land' in my profile may flummox an application.
If the data is collected automatically via accessing members IP addresses - then there is another source of bias. Many members, especially in remote locations, access the internet via satellite or G3 or G4 cell-phone radio communications which has a tendency to misrepresent their data by giving the IP address of the base station or ISP headquarters in several different provinces or states. I have seen the same members IP address location change from Brisbane, to Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
kind regards

Ben
Hi, Ben,
I meant 'isolated from other DW members' and in that sense I probably still win (or lose, depending on your POV) because you could drop all of Tassie and (I think) Victoria between here and Brisbane, and still leave plenty of room for crocs and cane-toads :tongue:
And it doesn't bother me that people here know where I am, or even who I am; I just like to stay reasonably anonymous for the sake of my employer, the Catholic school system, which could be embarrassed if parents jumped up and down about one of their teachers being a heathen. :alien:
As for data source, I think it's IP addresses. That will indeed blur the data but collecting it is automatic, painless, free, and free of deliberate misrepresentation ... a fair bit better than nothing, IMO, and the best suggestion I could come up with.

:namaste:
Kim
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Ytrog
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Re: World map

Post by Ytrog »

Too bad Frappr is no longer active. We could have used such a service as an (non-automatic) intermediate solution.

...
Hmm, I just noticed that clustermaps seems something like that :)

Maybe a sticky topic with a link to a map created for this forum where people can register themselves on.

Does this sound like an acceptable compromise?
Suffering is asking from life what it can never give you.
mindfulness, bliss and beyond (page 8) wrote:Do not linger on the past. Do not keep carrying around coffins full of dead moments
If you see any unskillful speech (or other action) from me let me know, so I can learn from it.
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DNS
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Re: World map

Post by DNS »

Scroll down to the bottom of the index (home) page and you will see the map, from ClusterMaps. It will take some time before it updates since it was just added. You can click on the map and see it in real time for the most recent visitors.
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Ytrog
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Re: World map

Post by Ytrog »

nice :clap:
Suffering is asking from life what it can never give you.
mindfulness, bliss and beyond (page 8) wrote:Do not linger on the past. Do not keep carrying around coffins full of dead moments
If you see any unskillful speech (or other action) from me let me know, so I can learn from it.
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Quiet Heart
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Re: World map

Post by Quiet Heart »

:stirthepot:
I'm not opposed to it, but such a thing should be an option, not a requirement.
There may be some who don't want their location revealed on a mp...and their preference should be respected.
:broke:

By the way I just haven't selected an avatar yet...that"s why nothing shows now.
There will be as soon as I stop being lazy.
In Quietness is the beginning of all things.

When I was younger I used to think I knew all the answers. Now I would be happy to feel I could ask just one intelligent question.
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Ben
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Re: World map

Post by Ben »

Greetings Quiet Heart

The map doesn't identify individuals - just visitor locations. And given that the location data seems to be generated by IP address location - its not accurate. Particularly as the IP address location will be a major telephony exchange in your city, or ISP head-office or ISP satellite base station. It doesn't track the physical address of your computer.
My current location according to the map is 200km away. Some visitor locations will be thousands of kilometres away from their actual locations others will be closer if they live in a dense urban environment.
kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
rowyourboat
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Re: World map

Post by rowyourboat »

Yes! Result! -I think it is very interesting to see the way users are spread out. I certainly didn't expect that many from UK.

There is a smattering of users from Buddhist countries - the other variable I presume is internet access- which probably explains the US. If I didn't know better -it almost look like a 'Buddhist country'! :)

Thank you, David. I think we have something here that no other Buddhist forum has. :anjali:

with metta

Matheesha
With Metta

Karuna
Mudita
& Upekkha
Reductor
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Re: World map

Post by Reductor »

Yea! I see my dot. I EXIST.

Pretty neat.
David2
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Re: World map

Post by David2 »

rowyourboat wrote:Yes! Result! -I think it is very interesting to see the way users are spread out. I certainly didn't expect that many from UK.

There is a smattering of users from Buddhist countries - the other variable I presume is internet access- which probably explains the US. If I didn't know better -it almost look like a 'Buddhist country'! :)
I think one of the main reasons why USA, UK and Australia are the "first three" is just because English is the main language there. :)
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Kim OHara
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Re: World map

Post by Kim OHara »

The map is already showing the basic pattern that I expected from my casual knowledge of where people are from, but it will get more accurate (in the sense of better representing our whole membership and their usual level of activity) as time goes by.
Yes, people in English-speaking western countries have automatic advantages in using DW (and the rest of the internet, for that matter) and the US is the biggest of them.
:namaste:
Kim
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Kim OHara
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Re: World map

Post by Kim OHara »

Kim O'Hara wrote:
mikenz66 wrote: But the map, along with your "North Queensland" location would show where you are...
Unless we have a bunch of other members up there... :thinking:
True (and thanks for considering my privacy, Mike), but if it bothered me, I could simply change my 'location' to 'Queensland'. I don't think it will be an issue for many members - not many are as isolated as I am. There's an easy solution, anyway: DW could put up an 'Announcement' alerting people to the possibility that map+location could identify them more specifically than they wish and suggesting my kind of change.
:namaste:
Kim
It looks like my server is in Brisbane anyway, which doesn't really surprise me.
It does leave my part of the country dot-free - a dhamma-desert? - like Alaska and most of Africa. :stirthepot:

:namaste:
Kim
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Ytrog
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Re: World map

Post by Ytrog »

The funny thing is that it registers me as being in a very small town nearby where I actually live :P

It would have expected it to pick a bigger city nearby, but not a tiny town.

EDIT

Lol, a big 1000+ dot in The Netherlands
Suffering is asking from life what it can never give you.
mindfulness, bliss and beyond (page 8) wrote:Do not linger on the past. Do not keep carrying around coffins full of dead moments
If you see any unskillful speech (or other action) from me let me know, so I can learn from it.
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