[Geowanking] Location encodings, URL schemes

[George Demmy]

Andy Armstrong <andy at hexten.net> writes:

> Somebody please tell me either that this already exists or suggest
> why it shouldn't :)
>
> Start with a compact alpha-encoded representation for a latitude,
> longitude pair. I think this was discussed recently - basically
> you'd encode each as a base 26 fixed point number using letters as
> digits and then interleave the latitude and longitude string so that
> 'astbfqklzp' would be a more precise encoding of 'astb'. Psuedocode
> below[1].

With *slightly* more verbosity, you might consider using the Military
Grid Reference System. You can put yourself at any spot on the globe
to any degree of precision that you'd like. It's got the added benefit
of overlaying UTM and UPS, so there are a slough of maps that already
bear a strong relationship to the encoding. Plus, it's a little more
human readable, but that's one the least of its charms.

> Now define a 'geo:' URL scheme that uses that representation as the
> address:
>
>     The location is <a href="geo:astbfqklzp">here</a>
>
> Clicking on a link would take you to a map but it'd be /your/ choice
> of map rather than the author of the original page's choice of
> map. You could, for example, set things up so that clicking on a geo:
> URL fired up your route planning software and started a new route with
> your home as the start point and the location described by the link as
> the destination.
>
> I'm sure somebody must have discussed this before. Or maybe it's just
> a crap idea :)

Interesting... would there be some sort of a default behavior? Seems
like big infoportals like google and mapquest would be *very*
interested in somthing like this.

G

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George Demmy
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