Sydenham Local Classifieds

[dreadsword]

Hello! Rod Edwards here, writing from Winnipeg, Canada, to tell you about a free service (specific to Sydenham) that I hope you'll find useful. I'd also like to solicit your feedback as to how it works in the UK.

So, here it is in a nutshell:
http://www.blockrocker.com
Sydenham Local RSS Feed: http://blockrocker.com/rssview.php?id=24

BlockRocker is a classifieds site that allows you to post items for sale (or to give away, or trade) and browse items as locally or as globally as you'd like. You can use BlockRocker as a community classifieds site, specifically for Sydenham, making it fast, free, and convenient to buy/sell/trade with people close to you.

BR uses Google Maps to make browsing and posting visual - meaning that you can see items for sale within Sydenham on a map of your town. Just use the map to zoom in as close to Sydenham as you'd like, and click "Search" - and you'll see what's for sale in the area shown in the map. As of this posting, unfortunately, there's nothing for sale in Sydenham, as BR is brand new - but I'm hoping that this will change as word gets around.

I built the site out of frustration with my own local newspapers and their lame classifieds, and eBay and its complexity and expense - I hope you'll find it a viable alternative to both.

In summary:

• Classifieds specific to Sydenham, with the ability to browse and post globally too.
  No pop-ups, adverts, or other rubbish.
  Totally free for buyers, sellers, browsers, everyone.
  Searchable online classifieds that make it fast and easy to find what you're looking for.
  Quick, easy, and free to post whatever you've got to get rid of. Upload pictures, drop in web links, whatever you'd like to do.
  Private - pt. 1: You can post anonymously, and your email address is never made public.
  Private - pt. 2: The items shown one the maps are randomly offset from their true location by several hundred feet/meters to protect the seller's privacy.
  And - the Sydenham RSS feed (link above) makes it easy to stay on top of what's for sale in your town.

So - that's my story. I hope you'll take a minute to shoot over to BlockRocker.com and have a look, or better yet, make use of it.

Feeback: Over here in Canada, I have no idea what the map on the start page will be showing you. How close to Sydenham is it? How is the zoom level to start? Your feedback on this and rest of the site will be heard and appreciated.

Thanks and best regards,
Rod Edwards

[admin]

Hi Rod,

Advertising (except via GoogleAds) is not allowed in the Forum. Normally it would have been removed forthwith. However as you have combined three of my special interests - GoogleMaps, RSS and Sydenham - I have moved it here where discussion & demonstration on combining these technologies is very welcome.

Re the answer to your question may be gleaned from our use of GoogleMaps where you can glean the central point and the zoom level that seems to fit SE26 best.

[dreadsword]

Cheers, Admin! I appreciate your clemency. I honestly did expect to get deleted and banned straight-off, but I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained. Sydenham is actually the first town forum that I've commented on, and I did so here because the Sydenham forums didn't have a classifieds area of their own, who's user's toes I'd be stepping on. Its a bloody pain trying to raise awareness of what you consider a valuable service with zero advertising budget.

At any rate, thank-you.

In regards to the maps: BR uses an IP localization service to anonymously determine the city of origin of visitors to the site, and the city centre's longitude and latitude. Google does the exact same thing. Due to the vagaries of internet service providers, however, I've had people complain of their town being ignored and BlockRocker loaded on the nearest major urban center (downtown london in your case, I guess), or seemingly unrelated locations.

So, I'm wondering what you see in the map on the Blockrocker main page?

[admin]

This is what I see: http://www.sydenham.org.uk/blockrocker.html

My ISP is www.zen.co.uk (targets business and doesn't block) and my IP is registered to my company with an SE26 address so I may be untypical in what I see. Otherwise would I see Zen's location 200 miles north west of here?

The map appears to be centred on my exact location. Do other people in SE26 see similar? Tell me more about how you localise from the IP?

[dreadsword]

Stuart (got your email) - thanks for taking a screenshot. That one was hand created though (by me) when I created the Sydenham RSS feed - if you've got a moment, could you do a capture of the front page? That one is ip localized.

As for the localization process: I get your IP address from PHP, and bounce it of a server from a company called MaxMind (http://www.maxmind.com). They return city name and latitude and longitude to me. The city name I'm not using right now, lat and long are used when loading the map. What I'm trying to figure out is if the lat/long from maxmind are granular enough to be used, or if I'd be better off just starting everyone with a global view.

Thanks again,
-R