Client side mapping, sounds like a geographical information service (GIS).
Check out www.esri.com they are the big boys for client side GIS. However
$1500 is too steep for most stakes. The church has an account and I think
they get it for a discount, still $1250 is too steep for most stakes.
Manifold, www.manifold.com is a cheaper alternative. These will allow you
to do everything you have asked for plus quite a bit more.
However for most of us there are a number of opensource projects out there
that will fulfill most of our needs. Qgis, www.qgis.org and Udig
http://udig.refractions.net/confluence/display/UDIG/Downloads are two of the
more polished GIS packages. There are lots more though.
Expect to spend lots of time keeping your data updated. Our unit used one
of the previously mentioned software applications to do somthing very
similiar and the time committment was quite high. Once you geocode your
members, you will find that the geocoding can't locate them at exactly the
right location. So you can download imagery for the area
(http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/, http://gisdata.blogspot.com/index.html)
and have the members help you locate them. You can obtain the parcel plots
from the county tax assessor office (the same location that zillow obtains
theirs) and then plot them. But parcel data though it is public information
fee associated with it.
Despite the time, the return investment can be very big. Our stake recently
went through and mapped out all the members and distributed the lists the to
elders. There was at least two baptisms that I am aware of that can be
directly attributed to the maps, and numerous teaching opportunities. Many
times the elders did not even know members lived where they did. Some units
have found the maps very beneficial in doing hometeaching and visiting
teaching assignments for aparent reasons.
It would be ideal to have the church offer somthing like this on their side
and allow the units to update the location information for the members.
They could distribute a client, much like MLS or use a WFS-(T) server and
allow us to modify and download the information.
Ed Ashton
From: "Jesse Stay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Ldsoss] Ward mapping application
I would love to have a client-side app that works similar to this, uses
Google maps or such to generate the map, and then plots more than just
membership data on the map. As Ward Mission Leader, I'd like to see names
of non-members and have the ability, on my own computer (not stored remotely
anywhere), write notes about each name, creating a mapped area book of
sorts. Ability to store pictures of individuals (for members, perhaps
downloaded from the ward website), notes about visits and individual
circumstances to pass on to missionaries and other ward leaders, ability to
color code perceived inactives vs. actives vs. non-members. Then I'd like
to take these mapped reports and print them out in various forms.
Right now I am manually doing this with a plot map of our ward boundaries.
Does anyone know where Zillow gets their plot maps from?
From: "John Harrison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Ldsoss] Ward mapping application
The manual process of updating the map using MS paint is too much of a pain.
I'll report to the list as I make progress. It will be aimed at "Utah
Wards" that cover a small area.
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