Simple prototype web app which shortens and spells out the Open Location Code for the current device location phonetically. This is mostly useless as there are any number of applications like SARLOC which send the location directly to an emergency response org, but apparently being able to communicate concise error free locations verbally is still a useful tool.
Try it at locus.plus.
Designed to be used offine if required, it uses no external services to produce the code. It would be very simple to develop an inverse application which allows the displayed codes to be typed in and reverse the process to arrive at a lat/lon or OS grid reference, again without using any external services outside of this codebase.
It now includes a very simple "operator console" demo within the same app. Select "Operator Console" from the main menu to access this:
This is a hack, there are some things wrong with it. It is starting to pick up a few Github issues, but as well as those, I know about the following:
- Maybe Gaelic and welsh native names should be filtered out as primary placenames unless browser Locale indicates they would be useful.
- Add Northern Ireland Open PLace Name data.
Based on OLC (Google maps Plus codes) spelt out onscreen phonetically. Problem is they get a little long and unwieldy and can therefore be error prone. Single digit errors could place the location many many miles away.
Thankfully the OLC spec allows a truncated code to be be used, along with a reference point. There is then more redundancy in the remaining digits and human error checking on the reference location which would be know to a local response operator is possible. This narrows the range of errors.
We process the Ordnance Survey Open Names data to convert from OSGB to WGS84 Lat/Lon and create an overlay with multiple reference locations spread as evenly as possible over the GB landmass. This gives short OLC codes without having to resort to online services like Google Maps which may not be available when the app is being used because data isn't available.
Most of the location munging is done in the utility class Location in src/lib
The UI for the project was bootstrapped with Create React App.
A Progressive Web App serviceWorker allows the application to be used offline, but this does mean you need to take care about caching if developing locally as the usual serviceWorker persistence caveats apply.
In the project directory, you can run:
Runs the app in the development mode.
Open http://localhost:3000 to view it in the browser.
The page will reload if you make edits.
You will also see any lint errors in the console.
Launches the test runner in the interactive watch mode.
See the section about running tests for more information.
Builds the app for production to the build folder.
It correctly bundles React in production mode and optimizes the build for the best performance.
The build is minified and the filenames include the hashes.
Your app is ready to be deployed!
See the section about deployment for more information.
Note: this is a one-way operation. Once you eject, you can’t go back!
If you aren’t satisfied with the build tool and configuration choices, you can eject at any time. This command will remove the single build dependency from your project.
Instead, it will copy all the configuration files and the transitive dependencies (webpack, Babel, ESLint, etc) right into your project so you have full control over them. All of the commands except eject will still work, but they will point to the copied scripts so you can tweak them. At this point you’re on your own.
You don’t have to ever use eject. The curated feature set is suitable for small and middle deployments, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to use this feature. However we understand that this tool wouldn’t be useful if you couldn’t customize it when you are ready for it.
You can learn more in the Create React App documentation.
To learn React, check out the React documentation.
This section has moved here: https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/docs/code-splitting
This section has moved here: https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/docs/analyzing-the-bundle-size
This section has moved here: https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/docs/making-a-progressive-web-app
This section has moved here: https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/docs/advanced-configuration
This section has moved here: https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/docs/deployment
This section has moved here: https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/docs/troubleshooting#npm-run-build-fails-to-minify