Template talk:Infobox U.S. county/Archive 2

message: May I request adding the Head of the County(i.e. County Excutive, County commissioner, etc)? And the name of the incumbent. I just don't have the knowledge to edit a template. Thx Rayyung 20:26, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Probably want to make it a multiple entry field, if added. 87 of 88 counties in Ohio have three commissioners and all 67 Pennsylvania counties do too, Ruhrfisch  ><>°° 21:58, 4 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Head of County

message: What is trying to be accomplished with the time zone edits? I really just don't think it works. For instance, I added the following to a page, and the results are awful:
 time zone = Eastern
 UTC offset = 5
 DST offset = 6
Let me know what is trying to be accomplished, and we can fix this thing correctly. Timneu22 16:14, 2 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, I see what you're trying to do. I have made UTC/DST settings configure automatically when one of the "standard" time zone names is chosen: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii. For "exception" counties,  can be some other value, and the old variables can be used. Timneu22 16:45, 2 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Time Zone edits 

message: The map of St. Clair County, Illinois does not display correctly. Either this infobox template needs to be modified or the map in commons renamed (both beyond my skills). Qblik 18:01, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The problem was simple: it needed to say Saint Clair County, instead of St. Clair County. This happens alot with "Saint" counties. Apparently the maps are stored as "Saint" and not "St." I took the liberty of updating that county's template even more, to use the current infobox. Timneu22 21:12, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: This is really silly -- Why should the infobox need to be updated to display an inaccurate name? The word "Saint" in the county names is not typically spelled out -- why should it have to displayed be so in the infox? Why can't there simply be a map parameter where you can specify the image name? (Or even better, perhaps the wizards (I was about to say clowns) over at common could simply move the images to the correct names). FYI, I just came across this with St. Clair County, Michigan. older ≠ wiser 19:34, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  It is silly. How do we get the image updated on Wiki Commons? Timneu22 23:12, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  I have contacted a WikiCommons person for help. Timneu22 23:18, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  I didn't get help, but I updated it myself. Timneu22 23:52, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Saint" counties 

message: Hey, can any we add maybe an option where we can display the flag of the county next to the seal like Template:Infobox Settlement. Also, what if the county has a logo besides the official seal. Can we add an option for that, too? Skillz187 03:14, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm confused... do some counties have flags and seals? I'm sure this can be done. Timneu22 14:16, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Take a look at my home county of Miami-Dade. It has an official seal, logo, and flag. Check it out.Skillz187 15:24, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  Okay, it's done. Plus I updated your county's article to include the new fields. I have some minor tweaking left but it looks good! Thanks for the idea. Timneu22 16:25, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  Thank you. You did a fine job and it does look good! Thanks again. Skillz187 16:29, 17 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flags & Logos 

message: I am currently considering reworking the Colorado county maps so that they will be colored similar to :Image:Map_of_USA_CO.svg (keeping the SVG format).  There seem to be a couple of projections in use, and I am wondering which one would be preferred for this application.  Current U.S. County locator maps use a azimuthal equidistant projection (such as :Image:Map_of_Colorado_counties%2C_blank.svg which was based on a similar projection from nationalatlas.gov), whereas locator maps being designed for use with automatic placement of pins based on lat/long coords use a mercator projection (such as :Image:Colorado_Locator_Map.PNG based on a similar projection from census.gov).  Do those paying attention to this template have a suggestion as to which would be most appropriate in this circumstance? I am also going to post this to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Maps. --MattWright (talk) 04:39, 31 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I pay attention to this template, but have no idea what you're asking. Timneu22 10:23, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: If you look at the two images of Colorado I linked above, you will see that the state of Colorado looks different (in one the edges are curved, in the other, straight). There are many different map projections to convert a spherical surface of the earth to a flat screen, so I was just curious if people had a preference on the projection used. --MattWright (talk) 17:00, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  I don't think there's a preference. Whatever looks best, really. Just as long as the files are named correctly so this template can find them (maps display automatically using a combination of state and county names), I don't think it matters. Timneu22 10:02, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I made the Mercator projection map (:Image:Colorado_Locator_Map.PNG ) cited above, and used Mercator because it was what I could get as a free image off the web (from the census.gov site). I think most people who are familiar with Colorado would prefer the Mercator projection as it gives the rectangular shape expected, and not the curved edges shape of the azimuthal equidistant projection. Having said that, I defer to whatever the WikiProject Maps consensus is on this though. Thanks for raising an interesting question, Ruhrfisch  ><>°° 12:39, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Projection to use for U.S. County highlight maps... 

message: Just wondering, what values are Wikipedians using for coordinates when they put them in the county infoboxes? Since counties by-and-large are much larger than points, how does one pin it down to a single point? Is it the geographic center (by whatever definition)? Or is it the center of the county seat? I ask because in some that I was checking, the numbers differ from the coordinates listed by the U.S. Census Bureau in its gazetteer. (County list here.) The Census Bureau says its figures are "at the approximate center of the polygon formed by the legal boundaries as given to us by the state/local government. That means it could fall away from the built up area or even in the middle of a body of water." I'm just curious, that's all — I'm not implying that anything needs to be changed at all. Thank you. —  Michael J  17:50, 22 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It seems there was some debate if the COORD stuff was even going to be used. I'm not sure where it should be, but I personally like either the geographic center or the county seat. County seat is less subjective, but could be less accurate too. We should get more input on this. Timneu22 01:28, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: In most cases, the difference between the county seat and the geographic center is minor — only a mile or two. But then there are cases such as St. Louis County, Minnesota, where the county seat of Duluth is about 50 miles from the geographic center. If we're looking for a consensus, my vote is to use the lat/long provided by the Census Bureau that I cited above. It has a consistent definition, it's from a reliable source, and they're all available right on one page! (Or if anyone wants them, I've transcribed them onto a sortable .xls spreadsheet.) —  Michael J  02:53, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yeah, census bureau seems like the way to go! Timneu22 11:23, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, if anyone wants the full Census Bureau table, I put it on a subpage of my userpage. —  Michael J  03:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Coordinates values?