Getting Accurate Latitude and Longitude

So I just implemented some basic error checking on the “Submit Landmark” page.  Now, if your landmark cannot be located with a reasonable amount of accuracy, then you will be asked to locate your landmark on a map.  Just zoom in and click on the map once you locate your landmark.  When you click on the map, the Google Maps API fires and determines the latitude and longitude of the center of the map.  Then on my end, I pass the coordinates to the form.  So all you need to do is get your landmark in the center of the map and click on it.  You’re ready to go from there.

One of my next goals for the submission page is to have just one text box for the address.  I was a bit ethnocentric in my design only allowing for cities and states.  I’ll also have to merge the address data for the previous entries.  One problem I see arising is querying.  I have drop-down boxes with country codes and state codes ready to be added.  You could select a country or state and get back specific results, however if someone enters the country without using the code then there is a problem.  That’s something to look at down the road.

One of my other front burner features is a login and/or use of cookies.  The Wiki model of tracking would work for editing reviews and descriptions.  But for rating landmarks, you need a concrete identifier beyond just an IP address.  That’s where a login would come in.  So I’ve been thinking through how to make that work.