One of the problems that I have struggled with while working on this site is the bad address issue. There might be 195 different “105 Elm St.”s out there so which one do I map?
I am constantly working to improve the accuracy of my mappings, but there will always be a small percentage that just won’t be correct (for instance, “turn left at the 7-11 and follow the road to Maple Ave”). To combat this problem I have introduced controls that allow you as the user to fix ads with incorrect information. When one person finds and corrects an error, all will benefit. This is something of a social experiment I suppose. When a yard saler is planning a route and spots an excellent, but poorly mapped sale, they can correct the mapping (and thereby improve their own map) and be on their way. The next yard saler will have access to the new and improved map, and all the while everyone is saving time and energy while still finding the best sales.
And in that vein, stage two of my social experiment will be to add the ability for yard salers to share the locations of yard sales through YSTM such that for each locality, this information need only be entered once. Basically if you were adding blue markers before for non-craigslist yard sales and wished to share this information, other users would thereafter see your markers. This feature is yet to come and still needs some design work.
Let me know what you think about the current and future updates, and as always, please let me know if something doesn’t work!
Roger Mullins
This is a great site.
Small Correction to your wording.
You say…”When a yard saler is planning a route and spots an excellent, but poorly mapped sale, they can correct the mapping (and thereby improve their own map) and be on there way. ” You use an correct word for the next to the last word. It should say… be on their way. There is the wrong word. People often confuse, their, there and they’re.
Angela
Hi – just a question…how do you fix the content of the listings? I have somehow wrote the wrong date in my Craigslist posting. It has since been updated on craigslist, but it seems once it is on this site, the text cannot be updated! It seems only the address and date can be updated after it is posted. I do not want folks to be confused why the text says one date but the treasure map says another date. Any advice?