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kb:hh.map

Hamshack Hotline Map


Click here to load the Map

In late April of 2022, Bill Lewis, KG6BAJ, teamed up with David Bodman, KD4CLJ, to redesign the map to be more user friendly. Bill took the original data supplied by David and created a new map that had the following features.

1 - Data stored in a Hamshack Hotline server database.
2 - Map was switched from Google to OpenSteetMaps.
3 - Map now contains “Clusters” of users when first loaded. This dramatically improved load times.
4 - When hovering your mouse over a cluster, a blue polygon shaped image forms. The shape that forms is the specific geographic region that encompasses all the individual pins for that cluster.

So, for example, when you first load the map, on the west coast of the U.S., you will see a blue cluster that says “705”, and when you hold your mouse over it, you will see a blue region that stretches over the western third of the U.S. and reaches up into the western, lower half of Canada.

That is the geographic area of where all 705 individual pins reside.
(Note: The 705 number is at time of posting this wiki. Number will grow over time).

As you click a cluster, you get drawn in closer on the map. The big cluster you clicked on, will then break down into several smaller clusters with smaller numbers.

You keep clicking on clusters and keep drilling in closer on the map until you finally reach a single cluster that, when clicked, spreads out with individual colored markers for each user at those LAT/LON coordinates.

When you then click any individual colored phone marker it will display the information about that user.

And with that, we at Hamshack Hotline hope you enjoy the new map.


The History of Hamshack Hotline Maps

The Hamshack Hotline Map has been a project that David Bodman, KD4CLJ, has worked on since March of 2018.

Initially, during the start of HH, David had started publishing a PDF version of the phone book.

In March, when the Hamshack Hotline website was created, John, K1WIZ, had created an online phone book so the PDF was no longer needed.

But our network was growing, and David was curious about where some of these stations were located. David could also see the use of the map in emergency operations for coordinating resources within specific areas. So, David has been updating the map, almost weekly, for the past number of years.

And each time David updated the map, he made a backup KML and KMZ file. He thought it might be cool to create a movie someday of the successive displays of these files, to in real time, show the growth of the network over it's history.

But, the original map had issues.

1. It was a free Google map with limitations.

2. data set is getting quite large.
HHUS 4000-5999 - 1944 entries
HHUS II 11xxx- - 969
HHUS III - 12xxx - 734
HHEU 24xxx - 270
HHAP 30xxx - 92
HHUX 50xxx - 355
(numbers as of the date this wiki was made)

3. It's very difficult to move entries between datasets, at least manually.

4. Overlapping Icons - We don't use exact locations on the map, unless you specifically direct us to. The problem arises when you have a bunch of stations in the same place. The icons stack up on each other, obscuring any icons underneath.

Contact David at [email protected] if you have ideas on how to make our map better!

kb/hh.map.txt · Last modified: 2023/03/25 19:16 by kg6baj