GEO codes

GEO codes are extremely useful in our ward to help determine Home Teaching routes so that home teachers can minimize travel time and expenses. It seems I cannot enter nor edit GEO codes any more in either MLS or lds.org. How can I accomplish that task now?

GaryLuke wrote:How can I accomplish that task now?

Geocodes have gone away. I think it may have been assumed that they were only used for ward and stake divisions, because a tool for boundary changes does exist in LCR based totally on a map system and does not use geocodes. So I think you are out of luck.

You may wish to experiment with Maps and see if you are able to work out something there. You won't be able to get into the boundary part of LCR unless you are a stake officer.

Others will speak up if they know of a way to use Maps to work out home teaching routes, fast offering routes, and other similar needs, but I have not yet tried.

As lajackson indicates, the primary purpose of GEO codes for realigning boundaries has been turned into a map tool. However, I'm not sure why GEO codes would have been disabled in MLS. I don't see how it would have caused a problem. It may be something broke it and it was removed rather than attempting to fix it.

But we also know that not all of the features of MLS have migrated to LCR. I'd submit a feedback using the link in LCR. Explain how you were using the ward geo codes and the need for something to help with HT route planning. It may not seem like a big deal to wards that only span a few blocks, but I can see how it would be an issue in the mid-west where travel within the ward is measured in hours. Maybe they'll come up with a better tool.

russellhltn wrote:I'm not sure why GEO codes would have been disabled in MLS.

If I recall correctly, geocodes were under the boundary change link in MLS, and that link was removed.

lajackson wrote:If I recall correctly, geocodes were under the boundary change link in MLS, and that link was removed.

Nope. I fired up my test install of 3.8.1. Boundary Realignment re-directs to LCR. Geo Codes might have been a step under that.

But Geo Codes were still there as standalone under Tool Bar > Membership > Household Geo Codes.
For the picture menu > Membership - More > View and Update - More > View and Update > Household Geo Codes.

GaryLuke wrote:It seems I cannot enter nor edit GEO codes any more in either MLS or lds.org. How can I accomplish that task now?

It appears that russellhltn (in the post immediately preceeding this one) has found two ways to get to geocodes in MLS without going through the MLS Boundary Realignment link. If you can get there, they may still work. I certainly would give it a try.

GEO Codes can no longer be updated on the Household/Person address screen in MLS, because when you click the "edit" button, you get redirected to LCR.
You can edit GEO Codes and print a report by following the MLS menu path stated in a previous post.

The GEO code feature (and the accompanying report) in MLS is the only way to list the households in the ward clustered geographically. Such a list is very useful for planning HT/VT and Fast Offering collection routes and other household visits. The Ward Map App on LDS.ORG provides a visual method to see household clusters, but it doesn't provide any way to produce a coherent list or report.

My question is this: Do local units that still actively use GEO codes need to use Priesthood leadership communication channels to request that the GEO Code feature be migrated to LCR before the demise of MLS?

rontilby wrote:My question is this: Do local units that still actively use GEO codes need to use Priesthood leadership communication channels to request that the GEO Code feature be migrated to LCR before the demise of MLS?

That would be a good idea. You could always use the Feedback link in LCR, but Priesthood channels would be a good plan.

rontilby wrote:The GEO code feature (and the accompanying report) in MLS is the only way to list the households in the ward clustered geographically. Such a list is very useful for planning HT/VT and Fast Offering collection routes and other household visits. The Ward Map App on LDS.ORG provides a visual method to see household clusters, but it doesn't provide any way to produce a coherent list or report.

My question is this: Do local units that still actively use GEO codes need to use Priesthood leadership communication channels to request that the GEO Code feature be migrated to LCR before the demise of MLS?

Yes, but since Maps capability was supposed to replace the geocode function, perhaps the request should be that there be lists or reports available available by geographic area using Maps, and not necessarily the specific geocode function that used to be in MLS.

The wards in our stake have been assigning GEO codes to emergency preparedness districts. We found this to be extremely useful. When a new member moved into a ward, the clerk assigned their GEO code field to their assigned district. This allowed the wards in the stake to use MLS to uniformly keep track of and update districts without a separate database and without much effort. Coupled with MLS's custom list features, it was easy to create and distribute this information to ward members. This worked very well and we have come to rely on it. It was a vast improvement over using spreadsheets, which were never up to date. At this point with support for GEO codes being discontinued, should our stake plan on reverting back to spreadsheets? Is there a possibility that LCR is going support a similar feature?

mllarsen wrote:At this point with support for GEO codes being discontinued, should our stake plan on reverting back to spreadsheets? Is there a possibility that LCR is going support a similar feature?

Even if it does come to LCR, I wouldn't expect it to come "real soon". So, it seems at minimum you'll need a "Plan B" until (if) it comes back.

You can still use Geo Codes if you go the membership dropdown 3 from the top household geo codes

I'm in a YSA ward with 4 stakes of YSA that feed into it, is there a standalone tool to pull out the Stake and Ward information for the home address of all the members and export to some format (e.g. excel)? I'm starting to write my own javascript tool with google maps and ward boundaries in KML, but if something exists already I would prefer to use that...This thread seems to be the most related to what could work.

It would sure be nice to keep the way it is until them add it to LCR Or have away to up loaded it from a cvs file once the do add it to lcr

I am the Membership clerk in a rural ward in central Florida. Our ward spans an area estimated at 600 sq Miles. We are in an area subject to Hurricanes, tropical storms and tornadoes. We use the Geo Codes to define boundaries within the Ward that identify members into groupings that would allow quick response when a storm hits and travel is difficult or impossible over the area of the Ward. The Geo Codes allow coding members, by location and need, and allows us to produce a printable list that can be put into Zone Captains hands to coordinate the needs of members in their area, immediately following the storm. This is combined with resources from Ward Map. However Ward Map does not give us the option of setting up geographic Zones or other classifications for members. Currently Geo Codes is only available on MLS. Please consider adding this function to LCR or maintaining MLS so that we do not lose this valuable function.
Thank you
Alan Jones
Clermont Fla Ward, Membership Clerk

Jones48 i have started a excel program that if you have your current data, you can move it over to this program and pull update from LCR it will also group your info by zones in a report for you zone leaders. you can contact me if you would like You can get my info in our ward contact info in unit number 91596 look for Ward Assistant Clerk (Scott) Church Directory of Org and leaders

I wish the Export Households function of the directory broke the zip code into a separate field. I use Zip+4 whenever possible, and that could be a good way of organizing households into geographical areas.

If you're going to open it in Excel, once you open it add a column to the right of the Zip code field. Then click on the top of the current Zip columns then go to Data -Text to Columns then click on Delimited , then click Other. box to the right add a - then Finish

Wouldn't that just put the last four digits of the zip code into the new column?
What if the address contains another hyphen character?

The zip will start in its own column and this will split in tp 2 columns
I was thinking not knowing how big your ward is but the plus 4 could be a very small area. If you are useing zone leader's they may end up having alot of zones.
Are you working off a map or just lds maps. You can down load map of just your ward in lds.org

dlpyro1957 wrote:I was thinking not knowing how big your ward is but the plus 4 could be a very small area.

By definition, the +4 part of a zip code designates one side of a street for one block, so they are all very small. You could find my house with only the zip+4, because my home is the only one on my side of the street on my block, but most blocks have a few more houses than that. (Mine actually has three houses, but the other two houses have addresses on the adjoining streets.)

lajackson wrote:By definition, the +4 part of a zip code designates one side of a street for one block, so they are all very small.

In the case of apartment buildings, it's one section of the common mailboxes.

There's also a zip + 4 for the street address and another for the range of addresses on the street.

So, yes, a normal zip + 4 is going to result in very small sections, unless you go for one of the more generic codes.

dlpyro1957 wrote:The zip will start in its own column and this will split in tp 2 columns

My ward covers two counties and many zip codes. Using text-to-columns does not move the first five digits of the zip code into a new column, since there is no hyphen preceding it. I suppose I could do a find/replace to insert a hyphen before the first digit of the zip codes, which are all 680xx or 681xx in my ward.
The maps available in Ward Map and CDOL do not allow us to break each grouping of member households into easily handled maps.

drepouille wrote:Using text-to-columns does not move the first five digits of the zip code into a new column, since there is no hyphen preceding it.

Assuming you are using Microsoft Excel:

When using Text to Columns, select the Fixed Width radio button, under the Orignal data type selection. After clicking Next, you can click and drag the break line for where you want to split the data.