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<br>
As my summer project (too hot to blow glass), <br>
I added a geographical "super search" to Glassblower.Info<br>
You can see the results here:<br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/super-search.html">http://www.glassblower.info/super-search.html</a><br>
<br>
I became dissatisfied with the few lists out there -- I struggled with
what I found to be 30% inaccurate, <br>
or did not have enough basic information about a studio or artist (even
the simplest classifications such as hot glass, warm glass, stained
glass, etc.)<br>
or did not give me enough geographical information to know if I was
visiting some part of the country if there were other studios nearby.<br>
<br>
Please note: at this time, the google maps only display if you are
using the Firefox browser<br>
(there
are apparently some subtle Javascript differences between Firefox and
IE, and I have not had time to figure out what to change)<br>
Being able to see the google maps more than doubles the usefulness of
the output...<br>
<br>
I created a page of search tips, and they are here: <br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-tips.html">http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-tips.html</a><br>
But the simplest searches are the best: either pick a state -or- a zip
code and distance radius.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-technology.html"></a>There
is a page of statistics: <br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-stats.php">http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-stats.php</a><br>
Right now there are 263 records in the database, but I need your help
getting more studios added -- please spread the word to anyone you know
who has a studio and would want to add it to the database using this
link:<br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/add-my-studio.php">http://www.glassblower.info/add-my-studio.php</a><br>
And I hope to have more than 1,000 from around the world by the end of
the year...<br>
There is the ability to upload and link in up to 15 photos for each
studio -- in other words, this is not just a text database...<br>
<br>
An example of the type of information I hope to have about every studio
can be seen here (thanks, Jon!):<br>
<a
href="http://www.glassblower.info/one.php?id=eastfallsglassworks&map=no"></a><a
href="http://www.glassblower.info/one.php?id=eastfallsglassworks">http://www.glassblower.info/one.php?id=eastfallsglassworks</a><br>
(this page will have the google map on the page if you are using the
Firefox browser)<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-technology.html"></a>And,
of course, a search-engine friendly page...<br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/all-glass-links.php">http://www.glassblower.info/all-glass-links.php</a><br>
<br>
For those who are interested in the underlying web technologies, I have
an explanation of LAMP here<br>
(this project is comprised of more than 4,000 lines of PHP programming)<br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-technology.html">http://www.glassblower.info/super-search-technology.html</a><br>
<br>
There
are several other "behind the scenes" PHP programs, including two that
geocode street addresses into latitudes and longitudes, required for
the google maps to work efficiently (I store those in a MySQL
database)<br>
<br>
Tony Patti<br>
<a href="mailto:gaffer@glassblower.info">gaffer@glassblower.info</a><br>
<a href="http://www.glassblower.info">www.glassblower.info</a><br>
<br>
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