As added value for Reel-Scout film offices, the Reel-Scout™ system now includes the ability to automatically generate geocodes (also known as the latitude and longitude) of a given location. When creating a new location, film office staff simply have to enter the location address and then click the “validate address” button on the Location Detail page. The Reel-Scout™ system will then pull the address information entered by the film office staff and generate the latitude and longitude from that address. If no address has been entered, the system will generate the latitude and longitude coordinates for the city or town in which the location sits.
Why is geocoding valuable? “Geocoding” is common on the web, for services such as finding driving directions to or from some address, or finding a list of the geographically nearest store or service locations. Geocoding is also one of several methods of obtaining geographic coordinates for geotagging media, such as photographs or RSS feeds. Having latitude and longitude values for your locations will allow you to pinpoint your locations and access all the geographic tools available (e.g., iPhone, Android and other mobile apps, directions, satellite maps, nearby facilities, etc.).
In preparation for the summer release of searchRS, Reel-Scout’s national database of locations, Reel-Scout staff will ensure that geocodes of all existing / legacy locations within each film office’s system are activated. Film offices will need to click the validate address button to generate latitude and longitude only for those locations added after June 1, 2010.