Maps

There are three ways a community's area is defined within Freegle.

Core Community Area (CGA)

This is the exclusive area a community is approved to cover, agreed with the NGT when a community is affiliated, within the Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines.

Default Posting Area (DPA)

This is the area Freegle Direct recognises as the posting area for each community. Our system works on postcodes, so when someone joins the site they're offered the community that covers their DPA first. They're welcome to join whichever community they want, but if they post a message without logging in first, the system defaults to the DPA to place their message on the relevant community. Once logged in, a member can easily choose which community they want their message to appear on.

DPAs are defined by each community and can be adjusted via ModTools in Settings > Groups, with the new polygon details sent to geeks@ilovefreegle.org. The Support team (support@ilovefreegle.org) are happy to remap DPAs for any community. DPAs can't overlap, so neighbouring communities may need to negotiate to agree any changes. DPAs can extend beyond a community's Core area, to cover areas not covered by any other community's Core or DPA.

Catchment Area

This is the area each community is happy to accept posts and members from, which can be as wide as they like. It isn't affected by the Core area and DPA - it's down to each local team to decide how large an area would benefit their community.

Changing the location on Freegle posts

To change the location shown on Freegle Direct posts, go to Settings > Community > Mapping > View Areas.

The mapping page shows, from top to bottom: the region the community is in, the Core Group Area, and the Default Posting Area. Don't change these without consulting the New Groups Team or Geeks, as they're tied in with other settings and maps you can't see.

Below the Default Posting Area is a 'View Areas' button. Click it and, once it loads, you'll see the named areas within the community's boundary. You can pan and zoom the map to find the area you want, but be careful not to double-click anywhere. At the right zoom level you should see the community boundary and the named areas inside it.

Zoom in one more level from there so the community boundary disappears and only the named areas remain. Click once on a named area and its blue border turns red, with its details shown in the right-hand column, where you can edit the name or delete the area. Click the area a second time to see the points of the drawn polygon, which you can drag to change the shape - be careful not to cross the lines.

In summary: to change an area, double-click on it, drag the points into place, and don't forget to save. Rightmove is useful for checking areas if you're unsure - search for an area, select "this area only" and view the map (areas may overlap slightly). To remove an area, click on the polygon then click delete in the box on the right. To add a new area, click the polygon symbol at the top right of the map to draw a new polygon, then name and save it in the box on the right.

You can check a postcode here too. Some changes update existing posts straight away; others need overnight to update. You need a laptop or PC for this - it doesn't work well on the app.

On TrashNothing, local area and short postcode are the preferred subject-line location, and there's now a strictly enforced version of this which prevents posting just a short postcode or just an area on its own. You can find TrashNothing settings at the top of the settings page.

Postcodes

We get our postcodes from Doogal. If a member's postcode isn't on their system, we won't get it. If a member says their postcode isn't being recognised, you can email doogal@doogal.co.uk and ask about specific postcodes.

See Postcodes for a fuller explanation of why we use postcodes.

Links

• Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines
• Glossary
• New Groups Team