The move to the new codebase should make it easier for us to add new features to the site, and fix a few problems the old code had. Most importantly the new site will handle photos much better, so it will be easier to add a photo of any plants you have found.

unfortunately wordpress.com doesn't allow us to use iframes in our posts, so the image above is just a static example of what the embedded map will look like.

View Larger Map

This is initially a quick fix – there are some features that don’t work quite so well in a smaller window, and we will be working to fix that in the future. At present the embeddable map is read only – if you’d like the visitors to your site to add sightings to the map, then you’ll need to send them over to our website. If you have any comments on this new feature we’d be happy to hear them.

To get the HTML code to embed the map in your page, just navigate to the map-view that you want, and click on the permalink button.  The HTML code you need is contained in the second textbox.

We’ve changed the layout a little, made use of our new logo, and updated our FAQ and disclaimer. We hope you like the new layout – let us know if anything needs fixing!

This first release allows you to access and add markers to the map while you are out foraging.  We plan to add lots more features as the website develops.  We’d be happy to hear your ideas for new features, or any other comments you may have on the app.

My next topic of interest is how foraging relates to our lives here in the West.

We’re open to your hearing bug reports, feature requests, and joys and frustrations of using the website.  You can find the forum here

But better than that, the website will extract location and date information from the EXIF tags if they exist and position the marker accordingly.  This is helpful because most modern camera phones can stamp GPS co-ordinates on each photo you take – Apple’s iPhone, and Nokia phones can do this just by changing a few settings.

So for the last couple of months we’ve been recording new plant sightings by just taking a picture of the plant using a Nokia N95 camera phone.  So far we’ve found that the GPS co-ordinates are actually very accurate, and recording sightings this way is very quick.  We look forward to the day when you can add photo markers to the map just using a standalone app on your iPhone while your are out there ‘in the field’….. but that might require a little bit of work yet…….

I hope this is helpful when sharing specific maps you have found that can’t easily be addressed by URLs such as http://forage.rs/location/country/town

You can now address maps using URLs like http://forage.rs/location/placename.  For example:

• http://forage.rs/location/london

Or if your city lives in the shadow of a larger city of the same name in a different country

• http://forage.rs/location/edinburgh
• http://forage.rs/location/usa/edinburgh
• http://forage.rs/location/boston
• http://forage.rs/location/uk/boston

You can also use zip or post codes

• http://forage.rs/location/94111
• http://forage.rs/location/eh8 9ab

You can search for a place with one long string, although this doesn’t look quite as nice

• http://forage.rs/location/station rd harrow london

I hope this is useful for people who’d like to use the map more locally.  Other requested features are on their way….