Geocodes

I have several questions. Let me start off by saying I am a Ward Clerk in a YSA Ward.

1. What is a geocode?

2. Can someone explain to me what the ward and stake geocode features are on MLS?

3. Should I be using them?

See the Geo code article on the wiki. It explains what they are ("The purpose of geo codes is to enable leadership to group members and households by geographical location for reporting purposes") and some possible conventions for using them.

Basically, if you are a stake clerk and you ever think you might do a ward or stake boundary change, they can be very useful.

If you are a ward clerk, they have some possible uses (a couple of suggestions are at the bottom of that wiki article). But if you don't have those particular needs, there's no reason you should be using them; only use them if they improve your work. I would note that some stake clerks may request that ward clerks divide the ward into areas using Geo codes, but unless you have been asked to do this by your stake clerk, that would not apply.

lehrschallbrian wrote:1. What is a geocode?

I assume you have found this in MLS. The use of this term in MLS is by no means what the term means in the mapping world. For MLS it is a way of grouping households for administrative purposes such as for boundary realignments at the stake level. At the ward level its use is for whatever you can come up with where grouping households in a geographic area is needed.

lehrschallbrian wrote:2. Can someone explain to me what the ward and stake geocode features are on MLS?

This post explains the relationship for the geocodes.

lehrschallbrian wrote:3. Should I be using them?

There is no requirement to enter any data in the fields. The use of the geocodes is for what-if scenarios such as boundary realignments. Some wards use them for planning fast offering routes and emergency preparedness grouping of households. Until you find a specific need there is little reason to be concerned with putting data in the field.

We have used the geocodes for emergency preparedness groups, fast offerings, general visits (not home or visit teaching). A former bishop used them to organize his routes to deliver Christmas cards/gifts.

Our geocode areas are based on logical neighborhoods within the ward. For example, we have a main feeder street that passes through one section of the ward. All of the streets that branch off of that street are loops or cul-de-sacs. In total there are about 40 houses, an assisted living facility, an addiction-recovery facility and some medical offices. Because of the number of members and the access, that all of that be put into two geocode areas (one for each side of the main street). If the ward was ever divided, it kind of makes sense that the main street could be the boundary.

Our areas use property lines as boundaries (most often the back of the property). That way, for the most part, all members on a neighborhood street will be in the same area.

For the OP - I assume your YSA Ward probably includes several home wards. When I was a YSA Branch Clerk, we had members from all the home wards in my stake. If you decide to use geocodes, you might consider asking for the geocodes that are already in use by the home wards.

Our YSA ward has members in 4 stakes. I was thinking of using Geocodes to assign members to FHE Groups so that I can create reports with them. Does this sound like a good idea?

lehrschallbrian wrote:Our YSA ward has members in 4 stakes. I was thinking of using Geocodes to assign members to FHE Groups so that I can create reports with them. Does this sound like a good idea?

Are you talking about what most of the world calls "geocodes" -- precise latitude-longitude coordinates for each address point? Or are you referring to what MLS calls "Geo Code" fields, which are areas manually defined somehow and keyed into MLS as arbitrary codes? It is the latter that most of the responses in this thread are discussing.

I was temporarily called/assigned to a YSA unit as clerk and having set up Geocodes in my home ward, was familiar with the concept and value of use. The unit was the Mill Creek Branch in the Powder Springs Georgia Stake. I ended up using a set of 6 letter codes. The first 2 were always MC for Mill Creek. The second set of letters represented the members home stake, example PS for Powder Springs. The Last two letters represented the members home ward, example DO for Douglasville Ward (my home ward). When these codes were used in a custom list and sorted alphabetically, It readily showed where members were in a grouping based on stakes and wards letting leadership have a ready tool for determining overall activity by stakes and wards. I put these codes under stake codes. I also talked the stake clerk out of a stake boundary map which I hung in the branch clerks office. Hope this is helpful.