Is there a way to search members by location?

January 17, 2007 11:33 PM

I swear I remember a way to find users from a specific locale- but I can't seem to conjure up a search-string that will do what I want, which is to find users in and around Munich and Berlin, Germany.

The rasion d'etre of my search is that I've found some 1500 photographs I took there 30 years ago, and I'd like some assistance in determining locations/stories.
posted by pjern to Etiquette/Policy at 11:33 PM (20 comments total)

Dunno, but Aiden Kehoe, suni, cillit bang, markesh, holojames, Your Time Machine Sucks, kolophon and phuture-4000 consist of the Mefites around Berlin.
posted by kisch mokusch at 1:07 AM on January 18, 2007

Err.. forget Cillit bang.
posted by kisch mokusch at 1:08 AM on January 18, 2007

put the coordinates for berlin into your user page as your own location and watch the list of mefites appear at the bottom.
posted by quonsar at 4:27 AM on January 18, 2007

Or install Google Earth, then get the MeFi users file from http://junk.haughey.com/metafilter.kml (as previously mentioned). The users file might be a little out of date, though.

Or just use quonsar's method for fast fast relief.
posted by hangashore at 5:00 AM on January 18, 2007

quonsar has the right idea, but you already have a list of users in Berlin (there aren’t that many). The co-ordinates for the Englischer Garten in the centre of Munich are: 48.165356,11.604416
posted by Aidan Kehoe at 5:02 AM on January 18, 2007

A better way to get assistance might be to upload a few (or more than a few?) photos somewhere, post the question to AskMe and link to them. And then email the individuals who live around those places. Even people who don't live in Germany will have been there and might recognize locations, and I'm certain there are plenty of Mefites who don't set their location.
posted by Plutor at 5:31 AM on January 18, 2007

Thanks.... I have some time left to run before I can use ask again... by that time I'll find somewhere and put them up.
posted by pjern at 5:48 AM on January 18, 2007

Hiya, I'm in Berlin and I'd be up for helping you to identify your photos. Also, I bet my spouse would be interested in seeing them and giving some IDs too, since she's lived here since the early 80s and we both find that 70s/80s era in Berlin (east or west) pretty fascinating.

Neither of us know Munich very well though.

Email in profile!
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 7:50 AM on January 18, 2007

I wondered wether geographic filtering of askmefi would be an option when there was this metatalk discussion recently re. askmefi questions scrolling by too fast .

Geographic filtering would be the answer to this Munich related question.

It would certainly encourage me to ask questions that I do not at the moment since they are specific to Europe or the Netherlands. On the other hand it would protect me (if I wanted) from questions like "where do I find a reliable plumber in south-east chicago".

I think the possibility of geographic filtering would increase the signal-to-noise ratio for everybody.

All in favour say "ay".
posted by jouke at 8:39 AM on January 18, 2007

Ay, however I don't think you should refrain from asking locale-specific question under the current unfiltered system.

The geographic filtering system, if deemed desirable and feasible, should only apply to question to which geography is crucial, and which would be out-and-out boring to anyone not in, say, SE Chicago.

Any gray area questions (i.e. location not too crucial, answers may contain useful general info) I would still want to read, but then I'm obsessive like that.

I would suggest an optional location field on the posting form, and leave it up to the registered user to hide questions marked with a location more than n miles away from them.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:26 AM on January 18, 2007

gnfti:should only apply to question to which geography is crucial
Yeah, that's very important.

here's an metatalk thread on the subject of askmefi overload.
I've been mulling this subject for a while and it seems that geographic filtering (with the optional character that you mention) would be maybe the only feasible form.

Shall I make this into a separate metatalk entry?
posted by jouke at 9:36 AM on January 18, 2007

Shall I make this into a separate metatalk entry?

It's borderline off-topic here, so if you care about it enough, I'd say it warrants its own thread, go ahead.

For the record: I would be interested to see this feature, but I am of the conviction that AskMe overload is not a problem (to me at least), so I have no strong opinion either way.

My point being, you might want to emphasize the "this will help cure AskMe overload" angle.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:47 AM on January 18, 2007

Oh, and stay inside, heh. I know I will :)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:48 AM on January 18, 2007

Hm, I find the storm rather disappointing up to now. In the north of Germany, though, they should be experiencing wind speeds up to 180 km/h. Now, that could be thrilling.
posted by jouke at 9:59 AM on January 18, 2007

Since I rarely use my AskMe questions, I was going to offer to post solopsist's question. But now I'm wondering - is that generally kosher under the guidelines, or is it considered an end run around the question limits?
posted by lalex at 10:00 AM on January 18, 2007

You could also ask if these folks over at Flickr will help you out. If they are anything like the Guess Where SF group, they can ID a place from a particular mark on the pavement.
posted by vacapinta at 10:23 AM on January 18, 2007

what if you put them all on flickr and make it a Mefi Project--we can all help.
posted by amberglow at 3:16 PM on January 18, 2007

I put 20 up on Flickr... not sure if it really qualifies as a project, though. They're found here.

Your Time Machine Sucks, it might be fun if you could go to some of the same places and take pics as they appear now, almost 30 years later.
posted by pjern at 10:04 PM on January 18, 2007

If they are anything like the Guess Where SF group, they can ID a place from a particular mark on the pavement.

That was no exaggeration either.
posted by vacapinta at 5:34 AM on January 19, 2007

Wow, some hits from Aidan already...thanks!
posted by pjern at 5:53 AM on January 19, 2007