Distance from you

8 Jul 2009

I know its a litte bit of a standing joke the mileage calculator on SH but added to the fact that the 'location' part of the profile now gives such localised names of places for example a hamlet called 'Fucitsmall' in Gottobekiddingshire suggests that it is say 67 miles from us here in the Cotswolds when in fact its more like 90+.
Could admin please explain why a slightly more concise calculator could't be used?
So as to not make this a topic that gets locked with the proviso that I should send in a support ticket might i also ask other people how much they have noticed distances on site to differ from reality?

9 Jul 2009

I've noticed and thought that the distances might be "as the crow flys". i.e. not by road. that would make them seem short when they are longer.

9 Jul 2009

You also need to remember that it's based on just the first part of the postcode. For instance where we live you could be 12 miles or more from someone else with the same postcode area.

9 Jul 2009

How true Jewlnmart. I forgot that the only postcode data on the profile is the first bit.

9 Jul 2009

a;so have you noticed that it is calculated 'as the crow flies' not how far it is by road

9 Jul 2009

Quote by Jewlnmart
You also need to remember that it's based on just the first part of the postcode. For instance where we live you could be 12 miles or more from someone else with the same postcode area.

12 miles or more? In the same postcode? dunno

:giggle:
You've got me thinking... is any one postcode (the first part of it I mean) really covering a 12 mile area? Cause I'm thinking my parents live approximately 13 miles away from me and there are at least a dozen different postcodes between their house and my house.
I've poked round the internet and I now know more about postcodes than I care to admit but I don't think there's a 12 mile area in Scotland that has the same postcode. I could be massively wrong because I can't actually find anything that gives me a direct answer to that question amongst all the statistics I've read and now I'm starting to feel like a bit of a geek. redface

:silly:
But really... are there 12 mile long postcodes?! :dunno:
I think the calculator on SH is as the crow flies, as has been said, because I'm apparently 12 miles away from Fife (which in fact is more realistically 26 miles if you use the roads like most normal people!) and I'm not really big on swimming in the Forth. wink

9 Jul 2009

Its not just here. I was looking for a new car recently and spotted one on Autotrader not far from where i worked. The distance was something like 38miles even though i know full well it was actually about 55-60miles to drive there confused

9 Jul 2009

As said above, only the first part of the post code is used, one reason being that were pretty sure that many members wouldn't be that thrilled about people being to triangulate on the exact location or within a few houses.
So the initial accuracy is limited, I found this on another site which will give you some idea.

UK postcodes are alphanumeric and between five and eight characters long (including a single space separating the outward and inward parts of the code), e.g. the code for the House of Commons is SW1A 0AA. These codes were introduced by the Royal Mail between 1959 and 1974. They have been widely adopted not just for their original purpose of automating the sorting of mail, but for many other purposes â€” eg. Postcode lottery.
The 'Outward' part of the postcode denotes the postal district - for example RH for the Redhill area, and then the following number distinguishes the post town - broadly speaking the Delivery Office which services the local area. So RH1 is Redhill itself, RH10 is Crawley. With larger towns there may be more than 1 number in the outward section - Crawley includes RH10 and RH11. The 'Inward' part denotes particular parts of the town / Delivery Office area, with the first part - the number - being an area, and the final two letters denoting a group of houses within that area.

With each first part of a post code we have co-ordinates, from which the direct distance is calculated and for those reasons its never going to be exact.

9 Jul 2009

Quote by Dirtygirly
12 miles or more? In the same postcode?
:giggle:

In the BA12 area -
Upton Scudamore to Zeals: 14 miles
Wylye to Upton Scudamore: 15 miles

9 Jul 2009

Quote by Sara_2006
a;so have you noticed that it is calculated 'as the crow flies' not how far it is by road

Yes, that will have been for the members among us who prefer to use there helicopters.

9 Jul 2009

Quote by martin_bg_2000_uk
I've noticed and thought that the distances might be "as the crow flys". i.e. not by road. that would make them seem short when they are longer.

That's how my payroll dept work out my mileage evil

According to them Weston-Super-Mud is only 16 miles from me...............if I had a boat yeah rolleyes