Template:GeoCompass

[edit] Template documentation

It has been suggested that this page or section be merged into Geographic Location. (Discuss)

[edit] Usage

[edit] External Destinations

Specify the variable hub and set type to "ex" (for "external") and the box takes the heading for "Destinations from ...." this specified point of departure. This is the only required variable. The template has enough intelligence to compensate for omissions.

Be bold and creative! This template will work with any means of transport, including trains, planes, automobiles, dug-out canoes or homing pigeons! Instead of a city hub, try an island and indicate nearby ports of call or ferry services. Instead of a city hub, try an airport and indicate air links to other airports. Instead of a city hub, try an inn or hostel along a cycling or hiking trail and indicate destinations along the local trail network. The purpose is to answer the question "Where do I go from here?" and to allow for a wide variety of means of getting there.

Destinations from KITCHENER
Wellesley	Waterloo, Woolwich, St. Jacobs, Elmira via Hwy 86 or King Street	Elora, Fergus via Hwy 6 by way of Guelph
Stratford via Hwy 7/8 thru New Hamburg	N W E S	Guelph, Toronto via ViaRail Train
Detroit, Chicago via Northwest Airlines	Ayr, Roseville, Paris, Brantford	Cambridge, Galt, Preston, Hespeler via the Grand River

{{geocompass
|hub = Kitchener
|type = ex
|NN = Waterloo, [[Woolwich, Ontario|Woolwich]], St. Jacobs, Elmira
|NNv = Hwy 86 or King Street
|NW = [[Wellesley, Ontario|Wellesley]]
|NE = Elora, Fergus
|NEv = Hwy 6 by way of Guelph
|WW = Stratford
|WWv = Hwy 7/8 thru New Hamburg
|EE = [[Guelph, Ontario|Guelph]], [[Toronto]]
|EEv = ViaRail Train
|SS = Ayr, Roseville, Paris, Brantford
|SW = Detroit, Chicago
|SWv = Northwest Airlines
|SE = [[Cambridge, Ontario|Cambridge]], Galt, Preston, Hespeler
|SEv = the Grand River
}}

[edit] Internal Destinations

Set the variable type to "in" (for "internal") and the box takes the heading for "Districts within ...." this specified point of departure. This is the only required variable. The template has enough intelligence to compensate for omissions. If the additional variable CC is given, then this will name the collection of houses in the central image. This is useful in cities or places where the centre has its own name distinct from the name given to the whole urban area (example: Manhattan within New York City, which is not properly a borough but the island on which the bulk of the city is located; or "The City" within London).

Districts within KITCHENER
Westmount via Union Blvd		Bridgeport via Conestoga Pkwy
Beechwood Forest, Forest Heights, Forest Hill, Victoria Hills via Victoria St	N W DOWNTOWN E S	Heritage Park, Rosemount, Stanley Park, Grand River North via Ottawa St or Frederick St
Country Hills West, Glencairn, Huron Park, Laurentian, Williamsburg via Ottawa St	Alpine Village, Country Hills, Doon, Pioneer Park via Homer Watson Blvd	Centreville, Rockway, Chicopee, Idlewood, Lackner Woods via River Rd or King St

Regarding the central painting image: this is a 60-yr old painting of a village in rural China. I chose it as a generic image for a neighbourhood because I honestly could find nothing more suitable. It had to show a collection of houses at various elevations so that one would see more than one house and not just the rooftops; it had to have nothing in the foreground or background to distract the viewer; the principal subject needed to be the houses themselves and the image needed to be bright and clear at thumbnail sizes; it needed to be suitable for generic application globally. I went through over 2000 images of European art on WikiCommons and nothing came close to this.

{{geocompass
|hub = Kitchener
|type = in
|CC = downtown
|NW = Westmount
|NWv= Union Blvd
|NE = Bridgeport
|NEv= Conestoga Pkwy
|WW = Beechwood Forest, Forest Heights, Forest Hill, Victoria Hills
|WWv= Victoria St
|EE = Heritage Park, Rosemount, Stanley Park, Grand River North
|EEv=Ottawa St or Frederick St
|SW = Country Hills West, Glencairn, Huron Park, Laurentian, Williamsburg
|SWv= Ottawa St
|SS = Alpine Village, Country Hills, Doon, Pioneer Park
|SSv= Homer Watson Blvd
|SE = Centreville, Rockway, Chicopee, Idlewood, Lackner Woods
|SEv= River Rd or King St
}}

[edit] Nuances

For the benefit and advice of anyone who may try to further edit this template in the future, please observe the following nuances of its existing configuration to prevent unintended consequences ("breakage"):

• backdrop colour of centre square matches blue colour of the compass rose image
• surrounding pink squares stay tight to the central square because due north and due south cells get hard spaces even when empty, because otherwise they "pop" up in height to level with diagonal squares
• variable "hub" is not dependent upon variations in English spelling like "centre" versus "center" had been in other templates
• directional variable names stack neatly when typing because of consistent length
  • the doubles "NN", "SS", "WW" and "EE" represent "due" (North, South, East, West...)
  • the special case "CC" stands for the Central Core to enable labelling of the hub district where this is a subset of the whole
• the "via" variables only print if there is a destination indicated;
  • if not, then ignored;
  • except for NN and SS (due north and south), which always get hard spaces and get two linebreaks if no variables supplied because the formatting breaks if the diagonals are more full than the cardinals
• template will accept an alternative central "compass rose" style image, but this has not been tested aesthetically

BeeTea 18:32, 8 July 2007 (UTC)