How about a toolbox?

[CandyApple]

I think it would be cool to have a "box of tools" for this site. If people have a reason to come here/can get info in places besides the forum, they'll be more likely to eventually post a question or two. I never would have even looked at the forums at city-data if it wasn't for the city profiles. But there's lots of other stuff that would be useful, too. And you wouldn't have to add them all at once either- anytime you come up with a little tool you could stick it in the box.

Make sure that all information a user generates by using these tools would be easy to save to their computer for future reference. Some things that would be neat are:

A mortgage calculator. Every real estate site has them, why not ours, too?

Something where you input the latitude/longitude of 2 points, or input two towns, and it tells you the distance between them, as well as the distance north/south and the distance east/west. It should mention if they're in different time zones, which ones, and the time difference.

A driving distance chart. You could have international, national, state, and local charts, as well as the ability to input specific towns/roads if it's not listed in the pre-generated chart. It would be cool if it also gave the distance "as the crow flies", for comparison.

A map where you pick multiple towns and you either input which order to travel or it picks the order/route that would be the least distance overall. It should give you a map of the route, information about it, the distance between each point, and the total distance. Should be able to add/delete points and save your charts.

Pick a point/town and a radius of X miles, and it gives a map that shows the point, the circle, and what's in the circle, as well as giving a list of the different towns/things inside the circle plus their distances from the center point. Should be able to pick multiple points/a different radius for each point. Could add notes on significance of points chosen.

Should be able to save locations for future use. You know how delicious has tags and windows has folders? You should combine the two concepts so people can dump their save spots in folders, tag them, or both. Then you should be able to "export" the list into a text file to save on your computer. Should also be able to "import" lists into talkstates, too. The exported text list might read like:

not in a folder:
Jujube, AK 600 degrees N, 85 degrees W
tags: barf, poop, Alaska
comments: Does this place exist??
special ratings: climate: (A+) -no snow -24 hour days all year long; crime: (Z-) -corpses commit murder -bears will steal your wallet
further information: talkstates.com ; "How to Avoid Ghosts" by Dancing Penguin. Spooky Publishing Co. ISBN 6660987654321 ; "Girly Magazine", May 2006, issue 75, page 104 ;
miscellaneous: considering staying there this winter

... (Other cities)

in folder: "Belch"

Capistrano, Cuba 50 degrees S, 16 degrees E

Jerrico, Utah 90 degrees N, 18 degrees W
tags: ugly, big trees, sand
...
------
Highlighted places: Farkle, Canada; Mexico, Australia; 68.5 degrees S, 18 degrees E

Places deleted from consideration: Achiles Heel, Montana (oversized shoe factory); Jordan, NC (elevation too high); Swimming, CO ()

Notes/summary:
Planning on moving in July. Need to download movie on Antarctica. Husband was eaten by gorilla in Paraguay, not that other place I keep thinking. Avoid Paraguay.

You would only have to fill out the information you want to when saving a place. If saving locations in talkstates you can have it automatically fill in certain data, if available (city name/state, location, population, whatever you choose).

Day length graph thingy: input a town or latitude, and it gives you sunrise/sunset/day length times for different days of the year, as well as a graph to make it more visual. User can set it to compare to other latitudes, and/or have it give a list of day lengths for every day of the year instead of just two or 12. Can be combined with my sun strength chart, as well as similar/related charts.

What would be awesome is if someone could make pictures, every day for a year, like take the same picture from the same point at the same time of day with the same exposure settings (ex.: 4.0 apperature at 1/125 second ISO 200), and also a picture of the sky (for a visual record of cloud cover, etc.), and write down/record weather conditions and location and stuff. It would be cool if they had a light meter, too, for some "hard data" on the light strength. It would have to be a clear area so that shadows from trees/etc. wouldn't interfere with the "raw light level". Then, they could use this to make it so people could visualize what "20% sunlight" or some other unit means. Then instead of guessing, they could say "50 is too bright" or "19" is too dark, or whatever. At times of the year when it's darker outside, the picture will be darker because with the fixed settings it won't adjust for the diminished daylight.

I'll find things that will list a state's population density, it's population, and it's area, and it will rank it's population and area, but will NOT rank it's population density. Could you have something that will also rank a state's population density? (I guess that's more of something to add to the profiles than a tool per se, eh?)

In the city profiles, when you do them, include "population within cities within X miles of town", so that people can tell how many people live in an area and not just a specific town. Especially useful for when you have 16 towns two miles from each other.

Here's a website I found that has city profiles. They do it differently than city data, in some ways I like the layout, but when saving stuff I'd prefer it all on one page. It might give you some ideas: http://www.idcide.com/citydata/tx/index.htm

[CandyApple]

I thought of something to add to the toolbox:
A moving cost calculator (or guesstimator!).
A time line.

The moving cost calculator would help you compare different methods of moving. Like, hiring a movers vs. driving a truck vs. flying with just a few things and buying stuff there vs. etc. etc.

If the guesstimator would be too complicated, you could just have an article listing different possibilities for moving and suggestions of what numbers you need to collect from who to get a good guesstimate.

I've considered a number of options-
☼ Driving my SUV with a trailer to Texas w/ all my belongings
☼ Driving in the SUV without the trailer, with and without shipping my stuff down there
☼ Renting a truck to take my belongings down
☼ Taking a ferry to Washington, then a train to Texas, with and without shipping the car/stuff
☼ Flying down and having the car shipped, with and without shipping my stuff
☼ Selling the car, flying down, and buying a different car, with and without shipping my stuff
--
The other thing, the time line, could be simple or complex depending on how much detail you put in. I've been trying to figure out how much time to spend in each city, factoring in driving time etc. Writing it out it was confusing, then I decided to just draw a time line and it suddenly became so much easier to see where I would be and when.

For example:
☼ = Rest/plan
○ = Visit city/determine if it's a good match
● = Drive to next city (even if just a short drive)

(You could have medium gray for half day trips, light gray for trips of an hour or two, and black for driving expected to consume most of the day. That way you can tell how much of a "driving day" can be spent visiting the town.)

Day
1 2 3 etc.
☼ ○ ○ ○ ● ○ ○ ○ ○ ● ○ ○ ● ○ ● ○ ○ ☼ ☼ ● ●
Town A Town B etc.

(The numbers would line up below the time line, and the names of where you are would be below. You could print the names vertically if they don't fit horizontally, or could stretch the time line to make them fit. I just can't get them to line up here!)

Then you could click on an individual day and it could give you more information about it. Like Day 1- arrive from airport. Pick up car, go to motel, sleep. Day 5- Leave Town A, stop in Bigglesworthville to ride giant coaster and eat, continue to Junction Gorge for scenic drive and to stretch at playground, continue to Town B, get motel key, see movie, go to bed.

You should be able to save the time line to your computer and stuff.

If you don't want to make a time line, you could just add it to a list of tips/strategies for planning your move. Drawing the time line wasn't hard, it's the realizing I should do one that took awhile. :)