Try new keyboards and switches!! Meetup with your local geekhack members!!

[kohan69]

Hello geekhack, I think we should have some kind of meets where new members like me could try out different keyboards, to know what board we want to buy - and a social gathering of course.

I'm in the Los Angeles area - anyone else?

[kohan69]

reserved for member\location list

[wellington1869]

what we need is a google-map mashup of our zipcodes so we can see locations. Then we could do things like identify clusters of members, and then organize meetups for those clusters. (And people not in clusters would know where nearest cluster was).

so who knows how to make a google-map mashup like that? There must be sites out there for this geo-location type purpose? Dont have to give exact address obviously, just zip codes.

[jvhaarst]

This site has interesting information on that : http://www.svennerberg.com/2009/01/handling-large-amounts-of-markers-in-google-maps/

[woebtz]

Here's an idea:

• Fill in personal info in spreadsheet (Name, Country, State, City):

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Apm1INxHAkqZdHI2T05hMVNoeXY0eVI5ZWJXNWw3cVE&hl=en

• Copy and paste data into BatchGeo:

http://www.batchgeo.com

• Generate a google map:

http://www.batchgeo.com/map/bf7dd8f91156311e900008a9d3bbd4f1
[/LIST]

Could get gross updating it, but it's pretty straight forward to do.

[wellington1869]

last week, a new member named rfunduk PM'ed me and offered to build a google mashup map where GH members could enter their zip codes (or etc, voluntarily) and view the locations of the nearest members on google maps.  Possibly adding to it ability to list boards you have or those you want to borrow/see.

I havent heard back from him tho, I'll pm him. It sounded pretty good on paper.

Could get gross updating it, but it's pretty straight forward to do.

re: updating it, he was going to limit how many members would be visible based on "miles from your location", I guess sort of like how flikr geo location maps do.

woebtz, would you be able to put together something like this?

[Voixdelion]

Hello geekhack, I think we should have some kind of meets where new members like me could try out different keyboards, to know what board we want to buy - and a social gathering of course.

I'm in the Los Angeles area - anyone else?

Me too - Cool idea. Personally interested in the Alps and Cherry blues as compared to my model M joy.

[hyperlinked]

If woebtz doesn't come through with it, I might have time to do it in June.

[itlnstln]

It sucks.  We have tried to do this several times, but not much has ever come of it.  I have reached out to a few members here, but it's hard to get together when you have RL to deal with.  GH is nice, because we can squeeze it in to the little gaps of free time in our day (or the big gap called "work" in my day).

[skcheng]

I'm in Northern Jersey, right outside of NYC.   I've already had the pleasure of meeting up with 2 Geekhackers in the area.

Zip:  07670

[wellington1869]

i heard back from the guy, he says he's made progress and he should have it done this week. we shall see. I hope so.

[Voixdelion]

Is there a geekhack Facebook group?  That could help sort location too.

[iMav]

Is there a geekhack Facebook group?  That could help sort location too.

I've debated the idea of creating a FaceBook group.  I think I probably will go ahead and do so this weekend.

[kishy]

I wish you luck, but I'm not gonna enter my details in Facebook. I'm just saying. This is probably a good thing

Do what I do.

Crank up the privacy settings, don't provide photos, give an obviously fake name. I don't agree with the ToS so I don't give them anything I'm too concerned about.

[iMav]

Facebook group created.  Enjoy.  

[ricercar]

I'm not gonna enter my details in Facebook.

webwit won't even put a return address on his gifts.

thx again. you rock.

(Surrogate father donation)

[pfink]

I slapped together a "geekhack proximity locator". It isn't linked up to Google Maps but it will let you enter your zip code or latitude/longitude and look up and list geekhack members that are within a given radius to a zip code or set of coordinates.

Instructions are here:

http://www.soybomb.com/geekhack/instructions.htm

PM me if you run into any problems or have any questions or suggestions.

[FunkTrooper]

Anyone here near Dublin? A Dublin meetup would be awesome!

...even if it was only like three or four people!

[ch_123]

Im in Dublin. Only other Irish Geekhacker I know lives up North.

[vils]

I propose a european Geekhack meeting at Webwits, pot smoking and eating deep-fried stuff from a street stand all over all NIB KBs...

[iMav]

Not bad pfink.

[skcheng]

Not bad pfink.

I signed up on pfink's proximity locator.   Can we make it a sticky or something so that it draws some attention and doesn't get lost in this thread??

skc

[bhtooefr]

One problem with it is that it's a little too US-centric, unless you use coordinates.

Of course, this would be a good use for grid squares - less space, and you can use as much precision as you'd like. Maybe have a prefix for a grid square, that it can pick up on, or have it parse a grid square as anything XXNNxx?

(I'm in EN80sb, FWIW.)

[pfink]

One problem with it is that it's a little too US-centric, unless you use coordinates.

Of course, this would be a good use for grid squares - less space, and you can use as much precision as you'd like. Maybe have a prefix for a grid square, that it can pick up on, or have it parse a grid square as anything XXNNxx?

(I'm in EN80sb, FWIW.)

I threw this together in a couple of hours using code that I already had from another project. I only had geocoded centroids for US postal codes handy so I figured using lat/lon coordinates would be the simplest solution for non-US users.

[kriminal]

sigh... im guessing im the only geekhacker from the west indies...

[wellington1869]

I signed up on pfink's proximity locator.  

skc

now to get a smartphone app so as you walk down the street your 'mechanical keyboard proximity detector' goes off and leads you directly to someone's front door ;-D Lol.  Kind of like a keyboard matching service along the lines of grindr

You can call it clackr.

[kishy]

[itlnstln]

And by "TARP" do you mean bailout?

[JBert]

No, that other (lowercase) word.

[pfink]

Of course, this would be a good use for grid squares - less space, and you can use as much precision as you'd like. Maybe have a prefix for a grid square, that it can pick up on, or have it parse a grid square as anything XXNNxx?

(I'm in EN80sb, FWIW.)

OK, it will now also accept six character grid locators.

[bhtooefr]

Looks like it's going to uppercase?

"location does not appear to contain a five digit zip code, latitude/longitude coordinates or grid locator : EN80SB"

[pfink]

Looks like it's going to uppercase?

"location does not appear to contain a five digit zip code, latitude/longitude coordinates or grid locator : EN80SB"

Yeah, I'm converting to upper case before I do the conversion to lat/lon.

That's not the problem, though. I was checking for A-R in the fifth and sixth positions instead of A-X. Try it now.

[pfink]

I slapped together a "geekhack proximity locator". It isn't linked up to Google Maps but it will let you enter your zip code or latitude/longitude and look up and list geekhack members that are within a given radius to a zip code or set of coordinates.

Instructions are here:

http://www.soybomb.com/geekhack/instructions.htm

PM me if you run into any problems or have any questions or suggestions.

You can now view how the registered members are clustered on Google Maps by clicking here (the data points have been anonymized.)

[pfink]

I added a Google Map to the search page:

http://www.soybomb.com/geekhack/

[clickclack]

Holy crapola! Someone is silly close to me on that grid! ... *looks over shoulder slightly paranoid*


What ever the hell is in this picture is what I want to eat! In fact I think my live is meaningless without it! Good gawd, I am soo hungry now. Geee, thanks alot rippy =(

Whoah!  That looks intense.

Show Image

[wellington1869]

once the UI is somewhat stable, the "member locater" should be sticky and also put into the wiki.  Every couple of months someone comes up with the idea of geekhack meetups and how to organize them. Well, here's the answer! Great job pfink (and honorable mention to rfunduk who also came up with a competing mashup, btw).  I asked pfink and rfunduk to work together if they wanted since the site only needs one version, I dont know if they did that, but I get the feeling pfink's version is more ready for public use though.

[pfink]

once the UI is somewhat stable, the "member locater" should be sticky and also put into the wiki.  Every couple of months someone comes up with the idea of geekhack meetups and how to organize them. Well, here's the answer! Great job pfink (and honorable mention to rfunduk who also came up with a competing mashup, btw).  I asked pfink and rfunduk to work together if they wanted since the site only needs one version, I dont know if they did that, but I get the feeling pfink's version is more ready for public use though.

We're using incompatible development tools so we probably won't be able to combine efforts unless we rework some components into web services that can be called by either.

Anyway, once they're both done we can have a vote on which one to go with or which features from each should be incorporated into a combined effort.

[wellington1869]

Anyway, once they're both done we can have a vote on which one to go with or which features from each should be incorporated into a combined effort.

that sounds good

[skcheng]

I punched my zip code in and there was no one else within a 50 mile radius??   Cool program BTW.

[pfink]

I punched my zip code in and there was no one else within a 50 mile radius??

That's not surprising. Only about a dozen people registered so far.

[wellington1869]

That's not surprising. Only about a dozen people registered so far.

with a little advertizing i think some of our 1000 active users will gradually sign on... i definitely would have signed on back when i was actively looking to try out keyboards.

[Scarzy]

I'll book my flights then, i feel left out over here in England

[InSanCen]

If you feel lonely in England, Imagine me out in the Wilds of Wales... (Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

[itlnstln]

Feeling a little sheepish?

[HaaTa]

Nobody lives close to me in Canada :,(

Well most people in Canada call it the middle of nowhere, so I guess it's to be expected.

[Scarzy]

If you feel lonely in England, Imagine me out in the Wilds of Wales... (Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

Where in Wales?

[trievalot]

well im alone in Adelaide, no suprise really, with 1000 members that means with a global population of 6 billion (conservative) there is 1 in 6 million people are geekhackers.
Adelaide is a city of 1 million so im alone here, and australia should have 3 (20 million population).
I know 2 (and i make the 3).
Course America skews this somewhat.

[pakowhai]

as far as I can tell, there could be 3 members from NZ plus me.  Talk about trans-tasman rivalry :-).  NZ by rights should have less than 1 (my mind won't handle the math)

[type_dancer]

Re the fry photos: My husband is Belgian. I get those homemade

I'm down in Oklahoma. Joy!

[wellington1869]

My husband is Belgian. I get those homemade

waffles?