The Beer Mapping Project - FAQ Thread

[beerinator]

The Beer Mapping Project FAQ

This thread is intended to be the home to a forums based beermapping FAQ.  This is a work in progress that hopefully will flushed out more with more information in the near future.  A lot of these questions really aren't "frequently asked".  But hopefully there will be information in here for both new users and older users.

This thread is locked, but you can feel free to suggest items for the FAQ in this thread.
Thread Table of Contents

Beer Maps
1. City Map List
2. National Brewery Map List
---The US Regional List
3. Proximity Maps
4. Map Skip

Forum Stuff
1. private messages
---multiple recipients
---beerbuddies
---autocomplete
2. bbcode
---bold, underline, url, img
---beermapping [bm]
---beerme [beerme]
---ratebeer [rb]
---beeradvocate [ba]

Reviewing
1. Reviewing Process Sections
2. Reviewing Process Scoring

RSS Feeds
1. What is an RSS feed?
2. How do I use RSS Feeds?
---examples of online and offline aggregators (including two browser examples)
3. Where are the The Beer Mapping Project's RSS feeds?
---Main Blog Feed
---Recent Approved Additions to the Database Feed
-----Recently Approved Additions by Map
---Recent Review Feed
-----Custom User Review Feed

Looking Up Locations or Submitting New Locations
1. Looking Up Locations
---Location Lookup
---Mobile Lookup
---Manually on the Maps
2. Submitting New Locations
---Location Type
-----Approval Process
-----Should I submit this?

Uploading Images
1. Who can upload
2. What to upload
3. How to upload

[beerinator]

Beer Maps

1. City Map List
The City Beer Map List is here;
http://beermapping.com/city-beer-maps/
There should also be an updated city beer map list in the drop down main menu on each map.

2. National Brewery Map List
You can select a country brewery map by clicking on the country's flag here;
http://beermapping.com/brewery-maps/
(the name is there too if you can't recognize the flag)

The US Regional List
There is a US Regional Brewery list here;
http://beermapping.com/brewery-maps/us-brewery-map/

3. Proximity Maps
You can lookup a location and select to view locations within a certain proximity by using the lookup page and clicking one of the selectors in the listing
ex:"locations within: 1 mile | 5 miles | 10 miles"

The random proximity page is here and there is a direct lookup form here as well;
http://beermapping.com/location-lookup/proximity/

You can read more about the Proximity Maps and how they came about in this forums thread.

4. Map Skip
The Map Skip feature is still in a perpetual state of "beta".  There will be some errors if a location is not found.

The Map Skip will allow you to insert any address as a center point for a "proximity" map.  So if you know the address of a hotel you are planning to stay at, you can enter that address into the form on the Map Skip page and it will serve as the center point on a custom map.

The url of the map you create can be copied and pasted into an email or forums for you to allow others to see the custom maps that you have created.

Here is the link for the Map Skip page;
http://beermapping.com/map-skip/

You can read more about the Map Skip feature in this forums thread.

[beerinator]

Forum Stuff

1. Private Messages  - There is more private message info here

Multiple Recipients
You can send private messages to more than one person.  It is fairly easy to do and you can click this link to read your private messages;
http://beermapping.com/forum/index.php?action=pm
And you can click this link to compose a new private message;
http://beermapping.com/forum/index.php?action=pm;sa=send

Both of these options are available from your private message page, which can be accessed by clicking the "My Messages" link above.

Beerbuddies
You can select certain members of this site to be your "Beerbuddies".  They do not know that you have selected them, so don't feel embarrassed.  Having beerbuddies will allow you to select users quicker when private messaging, and it also will assign your beerbuddies with a different color in the "who's online" section at the bottom of the forums.

You can assign people as your beerbuddy by viewing their forums profile (click their name beside a forums post they made, or find them in the "beermappers" page.

Autocomplete
There is an "autocomplete" feature involved on the private message page.  It is an assisting feature that will help you spell the recipient of your private message better by autocompleting the name of the person you are trying to send a message to.

Simply type a few letters of the intended name and you should be confronted with an option or two that are suggested for you based on the names in the database.  All of you guys who suck at spelling, this feature is for you!

2. bbcode - More information about bbcode and posting here
   
bbcode is a way of "tagging" a post so that your text could be bold or possibly in italics.  The link above is a great reference for the other types of bbcode that are available for use in The Beer Mapping Project's forums.  The three most commonly used are described below.

bold, underline, url, img

bold and underline text are created using the following method:

Code:

[b]bold[/b] and [u]underline[/u]

As you can see, you simply have to "bracket" the text with opening tags like [ b] and adding a closing tag simply adds a / inside of the tag to 'close' it.

Custom Beer Mapping Project bbcodes

Currently the following tags can be used to provide a search option for any term you're interested in tagging.  These searches are for breweries/brewpubs only at the moment and the opening tag is listed here.  To create a closing tag for the search, you simply have to put a / inside of the tag to create a closing tag like this: [/bm] (this one closes the beermapping tag)

These are the searching options and their opening tags:

Code:

beermapping [bm]
beerme [beerme]
ratebeer [rb]
beeradvocate [ba]
google [g]

Here is an example of the beermapping.com tag used:
New Belgium ()

Code:

[bm]New Belgium[/bm]

The other tags can be used in similar ways.

Here is the thread where you can discuss or read more about these custom bbcode tags

We also have a spoiler tag now that will allow you to post information that could spoil a movie or a book ending for someone.  This tag starts with a [ sp] and ends with [ /sp].  You have to remove the space in these tags and you need to put whatever you feel might be a spoiler in between the two tags.

example:

Spoiler

beerinator is supa cool

[beerinator]

1. Reviewing Process Sections

Review Text

When writing your review, please try to be as respectful as possible to the location you are reviewing. You are required to write more than 75 words in your review.

Note: If you feel that your review could use some more content, we have found it useful to glance through the attributes and comment on those. Most people find it really helpful to read comments about food, parking and transportation and the smoking issue is always a hot topic (for both sides).

Scoring

Scoring is fairly simple. Rate the location based on a 5 point scale. Food scores will not influence the overall score of the location. The food score is there to help fellow beermappers that follow behind you.

Attributes

Optional Attributes are helpful, but they do not influence the score of a location. Please consider their relevance to the location you are reviewing, and feel free to comment about the attributes in the text of your review. Often, this is very helpful to others.

Pricing

Pricing is another attribute for your review. The Pricing option that you choose will not influence the score of this location. Pricing is simply another helpful resource for people considering a trip to this location. Please select the option that you think most applies to this location.

2. Reviewing Process Scoring

Locations are scored on three options: Beer Selection, Atmosphere and Service.  These three options are valued almost equally (Selection gets a tiny boost due to an uneven distribution between an odd number of values).  Food is a value that you can vote on, but it is not factored into the overall score.

After you submit your review, there will be a calculation of your scores that will be totaled and averaged into your overall score.  Your scores will also be tallied and averaged in with other reviews for this location.  The Optional Attributes and the Pricing scale will not affect any of the scores for this location.  They are simply there to help with future beermappers that are considering a visit to the location that you are reviewing.

Also, be sure to read the reviewing rules if you have any other questions.

[beerinator]

RSS Feeds

1. What is an RSS feed?

RSS = Really Simple Syndication.

RSS is a web standard that enables you or any other internet user to have a direct line of updates to content on the net.  Basically, you can be updated within minutes of a change to a site that has a RSS feed.  You can subscribe through many different methods.

- this is the standard icon to represent an rss feed

2. How do I use RSS Feeds?

Subscribing to an rss feed usually requires an aggregator.  Not an alligator.  An aggregator is a program that can either run on your own pc or it can run on the internet.  RSBS (set up and maintained by beerinator) is an example of a rss aggregator that is online.  BUT, the difference between this aggregator and other online aggregators is that you can not add more feeds to RSBS.  Most online aggregators enable you to create an account and add whatever rss feeds you wish.  Whenever you log in you should be able to view and read all new updates since the last time you logged in.

Examples of online aggregators:
http://www.google.com/reader/
http://www.bloglines.com/
http://www.newsgator.com/home.aspx
http://www.rojo.com/
Google homepage is also a pretty good aggregator for a small number of feeds;
http://www.google.com/ig

Many email clients (online and off) can also aggregate rss feeds.  I use Mozilla Thunderbird and it has the ability to display new updates to rss feeds in much the same way I view my email.  I believe that Outlook can do this too. 

New Browsers are also set up to read and display rss feeds.  In Firefox 2.0+ you simply have to click the orange icon that shows up in the address bar when you are viewing a page with an rss feed to get started (or you can click the icon or link to the rss feed on a page).  On Firefox, your rss feeds will work like bookmarks and you can click on them to see a listing of the newest articles/updates.  If there is a new one you can click on it and your browser will open up the new page for you.

In Internet Explorer 7.0 you will see the icon shown above change from gray to orange if you travel to a page with an rss feed available.  When you see this or if you have traveled to view an rss feed, you can simply click the star icon (the one with the plus- because you are adding a feed) up in the top left of the browser to add the feed to the browser.  When you want to check to see if the feed has any updates, you can click the other star to see your feeds (this is also where you can see your favorites).

The coolest thing about most of these aggregators (IE 7.0 included) is that you basically are creating an archive of online content.  For example: if you were subscribed to the beermapping newest approved locations feed since it was created (located here) you would have an archive of the last 150-ish locations stored on your browser.  On the page where the last updated information shows up, you can only see the last 10.  But the aggregator is grabbing information and storing it as you browse.

Here is a wikipedia article where you can learn more about RSS Feeds:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)

3. Where and What are the The Beer Mapping Project's RSS Feeds?

The Main Blog Feed is here - and it is updated whenever there is a new blog post.

The Recently Approved Additions to the Database RSS Feed is here - this is a feed consisting of all of the additions to the maps.  Whenever I approve a submitted location, it will appear through this RSS feed.

Recent Feeds can also be aggregated for a particular map.  So if you wanted to set up a feed that would update whenever a new location was added to Chicago, you can do that.  There are instructions here.

The Recent Reviews RSS Feed is here - this is exactly what you might think.  An updated feed of the reviews entered into The Beer Mapping Project's database.

There also is an RSS Feed for each user of The Beer Mapping Project.  So if you want to keep tabs with a local friend and read their reviews whenever they are updated, you can do that by subscribing to their review feed on their review profile page.  (ex: beerinator's Review Profile page - click the orange RSS icon for the feed)

The most recent uploaded images feed is here.

The Forums RSS Feed will supply you with the last five posts from the forums.

Hopefully you have learned a bit more about RSS feeds and how they can help you internet better, smarter and faster!

[beerinator]

Looking Up Locations or Submitting New Locations

1. Looking Up Locations

Location Lookup
There are three ways that a beermapping user can find a location listed here.  Depending on your web browsing style, you may find one or another more comfortable.  The easiest in my opinion is to use the Location Lookup page.  It has a form where you can simply type in the name of the establishment you are looking for.  The search feature will be fine with partially written names.  You can also search by city, or by "city and state" for those cities that may exist in multiple states or countries (this will simply filter the results for false locations).

here is what the location lookup form looks like;


The location lookup page will also allow you to narrow down your search by selecting a location type.  This way you can do things like search for a certain city, but have the results only show the brewpubs from that city.  Hopefully this will help with trip planning or scouting of new areas for beer.

Mobile Lookup

There is a lookup feature that has been designed and left as simple in appearance as possible in order to make it easier for beermapping users to do location lookups from mobile devices.  You can easily access that feature from this url:  http://beermapping.com/m  It's easy to remember.  Just add the "/m".  This lookup feature works very similarly to the main location lookup page.  There are no "location type filters" on this lookup page.

Manually on the Maps

It is also simple to find locations straight from the maps.  But this requires you to have an idea as to where the location is first.  If you can't find a location on the maps, it is still helpful to us if you double check the location lookup page first before attempting to submit it as a new location.  It doesn't take very long to look stuff up, and it really helps us out in the long run if we don't have to spend as much time verifying new submissions.  Which brings us too...

2. Submitting New Locations

Location Type

There are five currently location types that we have stored in The Beer Mapping Project's database.  They are Breweries, Brewpubs, Beer Bars, Beer Stores and Homebrew Stores.  At the moment, there are no other types that can be submitted (Meaderies are actually currently listed in the database as Breweries, this may change to a new type in the future).

• Breweries and Brewpubs are not classified here by the number of barrels they produce or the fact that they bottle or not.  In many cases, we try to classify a Brewpub as an establishment that you could visit without having to make an appointment.  We are trying to make it as easy as possible for visitors to be able to plan trips around the locations on the maps.  We are not simply calling a Brewpub a Brewpub because they have food.  There are a number of Brewpubs in the database that are listed as such because they have a tasting bar with regular hours where you can drop in and purchase a pint or samples.  If you see a red pin on the maps and you would like to visit, please make sure that you check their website for the hours or specifications of their tours.
• Beer Bars are the most difficult locations for us to verify.  We are calling Restaurants, Bars and Tap Rooms as "Beer Bars" for the sake of simplicity.  Some of the Beer Bars in our database will be suitable for family visits.  Some will not.  Please do not make any assumptions about food without checking with the establishment. 
  
  If you are submitting a beer bar to our database, please ask yourself if you think it is worthy of a visit by a tourist.  If this location only has Bud Light and Coors Light on tap, do you really think someone from out of town is going to be impressed by the selection?  We don't have specific guidelines yet, but for the most part, if this Beer Bar does not have some regional beers available, then they probably will not be approved for our database.
• Beer Stores: when submitting beer stores, please do not submit every beer store.  Try to submit only the beer stores that you feel are worthy of a visiting shopper's visit.  If there are no regional beers available at a beer store, please do not submit it as a location to be seen on the maps.
• Homebrew Stores:  All homebrew stores will be approved if they can be shown to exist as a brick and mortar store in the real world.  I do not want to have online only stores on the maps, because there would be no place that map viewers could visit.  Please try to respect and understand this rule.

Approval Process

All locations are approved by one individual at the moment.  If you submitted a location and it never appeared on the map feel free to use the contact us form at the top of all forum pages to find out why that location did not make the cut.  Sometimes it could be an error or another type of issue and that location was actually submitted, but it just isn't showing up.  Please feel free to let us know if you are troubled by it.

All locations are double checked through google searches as well as phone calls or otherwise before they are submitted.  A url or a phone number, while not required during submission, are very helpful to use to ensure that we can get the location position and other information updated and ensure it is correct for our users.  Please try to enter as much information as possible to help make these maps better.


Should I submit this?

Honestly, if you feel that a location is not in the database here (after at least one search) and you feel that the location you are submitting has a fairly strong focus on beer (regional beer in the case of beer stores and beer bars), then go ahead and submit it.  If you provide us with as much information as possible, and you make sure that you are only submitting beer focused establishments, then we will likely approve it. 

[beerinator]

Uploading Images

1. Who can upload
The betamapper team is the only group that is allowed to upload images at this time.

Question: How do you get to be on the betamapper team? 
Answer: Simply send a message to beerinator telling him that you want image uploading power!

2. What to upload
We want images that tell the story of a particular location.  The front door is always nice so people can recognize it from the street.  But a picture of the bar, or a picture of the tap list is also appreciated.  Brewing Tanks and Vessels are great to have as images for brewpubs and breweries.

The only types of images that we really do not like to see would be pictures where people take a primary focus on the image.  Employees are ok, but pictures of your friends in front of the front door, or pictures of a group of people in a bar somewhere is not really what we are looking for.  We also do not want to see close ups of bottles, cans, t-shirts or coasters (or anything like this).  We only want to see images that show us something about this location.

The Beer Mapping Project's image section is not really where you would want to store back ups of your images, because if you break the rules, we could delete them without notice.  Upload pictures that show what a location is like and you won't really have to face this issue.

3. How to upload
First you have to be a betamapper here in the forums (see point #1 above).  Second, you simply have to have a computer that will allow you to connect to the internet and you have to have images for a particular location that you would like to upload.  We don't really have a need for enormous images in the database, so we ask that you try to resize your images into a manageable size.  This can be done with various types of picture editing software (probably the software that came with your camera).  Or if you are a windows user you can download the Windows XP Powertoys tool that will allow you to right click on any image and resize it quickly.