IHSA Announcements
January 11, 1999
Your Help Needed in Developing IHSA.org
IHSA.org grows a little bit every day, and from time to time, we'll look to you for help in making it the best Web site we possibly can. Currently we are working on two projects where we could use your immediate assistance.
1. School Maps
From the outset, we have attempted to provide maps to our member schools by linking from each school's information page to the Yahoo! mapping service. These maps are based on the street addresses provided to us by each school, but for some schools we have only a post office box or rural route. So while the majority of these maps are accurate, some have proven to be misleading or incorrect.
In order to provide completely accurate maps, we are in the process of switching to a system where we will supply Yahoo! with the exact latitude and longitude of each school. We have already entered this data for most schools in the Chicago area (since exact locations are available from the Chicagoland Street Atlas) and a few other schools for which we have personal knowledge.
If you would like to supply us with the exact location of your school, please visit your school's page in the online School Directory. If we have already added the latitude and longitude of your school, the link to the Yahoo! mapping service will include the coordinates. But whether or not we have already specified coordinates, please double-check the map to make sure it is correct.
If we have not yet specified your school's latitude and longitude, or if the map is incorrect, please supply us with a map of your school's exact location. The easiest way to do this might be to print the Yahoo! map, place a bold X in the proper location, and fax it (309-663-7479) or mail it (2715 McGraw Dr., Bloomington, IL, 61702) to Scott Johnson of the IHSA. We'll figure out the coordinates and enter them in the database.
One warning: Please don't guess. If you're not sure of your school's exact location on a map, find someone who is.
With your help, in no time at all our school gazetteer will be complete and the directions provided by Yahoo! will be completely accurate, once and for all.
2. School Won-Lost Records
Ten years ago, the IHSA made its first attempt at collecting won-lost records and head coaches for all years at all schools in all of our team sports. We were a little ahead of our time then -- we didn't really know what to do with the data once we collected it. But now the entire project is online, and in need of updates.