May 2007 Archives

What is Geotagging and how does it apply to the Metheringham area?

Geotagging uses metadata (or tags) in referencing an item to a geographic place. The Metheringham Area Photo Archive contains over 450 images, many of places in our local area. By adding geotags to these images and then plotting the positions on a map, it is possible to place the photos into a more meaningful context for users. Of course this doesn't apply to all the photographs in the archive, some of people or football teams don't need geotagging.

The web team has started to geotag the photographs in the archive and display them on the map interface provided by Google. Only about 20 have been tagged so far but look out for more over the coming weeks.

An additional menu item, Map, has been added to the archive where the tags are displayed. There are other instances throughout the archive where you'll find tagged maps popping up. Click on the tag markers to see which image they refer to.

Metheringham Area Photo Archive Map

We hope you like this new feature.

Unlike the England cricket team this summer, our Photo Archive is thriving. The photo archive has been online for only 3 months and, coincidentally, the most popular image reached 100 views today. Its this one:

Its one of the many school photos in the archive. Currently 3 out of the top 5 most viewed images are school ones. The most popular photo is of a Dunston school sports team but has no information attached. If its had 100 views in under 100 days then someone out there knows something about it. We reckon its from the mid to late 60's possibly a little later. So, if you're in it or you mum or dad is or you know who and when, then drop us a line and we'll add your details.

We were asked recently why we didn't mention Metheringham Heath much on this site. The basic answer is that not much goes on there. Well not since the Quarry stopped hosting its all night parties a few years back.

After a bit of research on the internet, guess what? Not much goes on there!

We did find this image gallery of the old Flax Mill on the Heath, taken by some 'Urban Explorers' whose idea of a good time is to spend their spare time rooting around in England's industrial past and photographing the experience. The images are quite atmospheric as befitting an old industrial building in decay.

Rumour has it that the flax mill was built during WW2 in order to meet the War Department's insatiable demand for flax. Flax seeds were used to produce linseed oil and the fibre was used to produce rope. Post war when the demand for flax declined the mill was used for processing pea vines.

We'd be grateful to hear from anyone with any memories of working there.

This useful page from National Rail gives all the details of the facilities available at Metheringham Rail Station.

Link added to the Metheringham Area Transport page.

Here's a tale that's crept in under the radar. And so close to home too. We somehow missed this first time round. Still, it makes for a good read.

Who'd have thought at the dawn of a new century that the plight of water voles would cause such a fuss. Read this report by Alex Wade from the Times Online, dated 3 Nov 06.

Scopwick, how could you!

Traffic England.

This little gem from the Highways Agency will help you plan your road travel within England. It provides live traffic information updated in real time. Details of delays, incidents & roadworks are all displayed on a zoomable map.

Link added to the Metheringham Area Transport page.

In a rural community like ours, not only is the weather a favourite topic of conversation but it is a vital component in the farming industry. Since this site launched, there has always been a link to a forecast from the nearest weather station (Waddington).

For many years the data has been supplied by the Weather Underground. This is a US based service that allows a small summary plugin to be used on websites. Clicking through the plugin takes you to a busy page with much more detailed weather data.

The UK's own Met Office also produce excellent UK based forecasts. Their layout is much cleaner and, in our opinion, simpler to understand. The weather link in the sidebar has been updated to the Met Office forecast for Lincoln (Waddington). The latest weather in our area is also available on this page.

For those that demand the extra level of detail, The Weather Underground's plugin will remain on the site for the moment in the useful links section.

Its just been pointed out that the comments on the News pages are not working. It must have been like this since the upgrade at the start of last month.

The errant script has been re-installed and the comments checked to ensure they are now working.

Thanks to Philip for pointing it out.

This really useful site was recently brought to the web team's attention.
UK Airport News.

It provides a comprehensive listing of all the UK's popular airports together with the information you need to help you plan your travel.

One really useful feature is the live feeds of all UK arrivals and departures.