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Author	Topic: Where should the Boston Area end and the Massachusetts area begin?	Topic is locked Back to Topics

bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Nov 11, 2005 6:15:57 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Boundaries between the Boston area and "outside" have some peculiar inconsistencies. I recently notices a small (and welcome) correction; Reading and Tewksbury have been moved from MassachusettsGasPrices.com to BostonGasPrices.com I think there are others that should also make this move. I'd include Concord, Lincoln, Dover(?), Hull, Nahant, Pinehurst (is it really useful?), Weymouth, and Winchester. There are many communities in the Boston list that I think should be moved to Massachusetts, and a number that do not belong on any list. Perhaps this will become a moot point when GasBuddy changes to a database context, but I think that will be a long way off.

bugc

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Boston

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Message Posted: Nov 11, 2005 6:15:57 PM

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Boundaries between the Boston area and "outside" have some peculiar inconsistencies. I recently notices a small (and welcome) correction; Reading and Tewksbury have been moved from MassachusettsGasPrices.com to BostonGasPrices.com

I think there are others that should also make this move. I'd include Concord, Lincoln, Dover(?), Hull, Nahant, Pinehurst (is it really useful?), Weymouth, and Winchester.

There are many communities in the Boston list that I think should be moved to Massachusetts, and a number that do not belong on any list.

Perhaps this will become a moot point when GasBuddy changes to a database context, but I think that will be a long way off.

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bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Jul 10, 2007 7:22:28 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse The current status is as follows: I submitted a number of changes via the "contact us" link. GB admin GM has updated the drop down lists for the Boston site and for the remainder of Mass east of Worcester county. GB passed my request to update the town designations in the MSL to admin TB about a week ago. These updates are still pending.
dualtech Veteran Author Massachusetts Posts:491 Points:108,380 Joined:Feb 2006	Message Posted: Jun 4, 2007 8:09:15 AM Ignore dualtech Report Abuse Thanks bugc. I now to billerica to fill up at the Hess. They have been the best price even beating HN at times. And yes it makes sense for me to drive the distance because I purchase at least 100 gallons when I fuel up. Besides the 5% discount Hess gives really does add up. There is a Citgo and Sunoco in Littleton that sell deisel but I haven't been over that side of town recently. I have reached 10,000 points and alread verified at least one station. Careful driving out there..........
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Jun 1, 2007 8:39:26 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse dualtech- A lot of people agree with you. Searches should be without boundaries. When you reach 10,000 points, you will be able to access the "Master Station List" a get a little more information. The MSL currently shows only one station in Littleton (Mobil) selling diesel, but that is the only station anyone has submitted for Littleton. I just searched "all areas" on both the Mass and the Boston sites for diesel and found nothing reported close to you.
stanleynem Champion Author Worcester Posts:6,071 Points:674,030 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 31, 2007 3:15:37 PM Ignore stanleynem Report Abuse OK, understood dualtech. I think the current setup for entering and retrieving data from the GB sites makes it difficult to do as you say. My dream scenario is to be able to enter a ZIP code and pull up stations within x miles. I know this is a JT/GM question that has long-term impact written all over it. That said, refining the boundaries is a more tractable solution in the near term, to sort the towns in a more geographically sensible fashion.
dualtech Veteran Author Massachusetts Posts:491 Points:108,380 Joined:Feb 2006	Message Posted: May 31, 2007 2:23:04 PM Ignore dualtech Report Abuse Reply to stanleynem: I prefer to be able to enter prices and search for prices from one website. When I perform a search nothing comes up. IE. Town of Littleton. I wanted to find diesel fuel in this area. I just did a search and nothing came up. I then did a search for diesel fuel in all areas. The closest station was Billerica then way down by New Bedford. I would think that a statewide database would perform better. I did find that the map will do this but I can't get the map to list just diesel.
stanleynem Champion Author Worcester Posts:6,071 Points:674,030 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 31, 2007 11:28:31 AM Ignore stanleynem Report Abuse Enlighten my ignorance, dualtech: "a search for prices will be meaningfull. <sp>" Not sure exactly what "meaningful" means. Not to be a smartaleck, but it can mean a lot of things to different people.
dualtech Veteran Author Massachusetts Posts:491 Points:108,380 Joined:Feb 2006	Message Posted: May 31, 2007 8:59:00 AM Ignore dualtech Report Abuse Make it easy. One site for the whole state. That way a search for prices will be meaningfull.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 31, 2007 8:16:40 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse dickc- I'm sure the admins would not send out an e-mail blast for this purpose. I will plan to complete the lising of towns and cities for SE Mass on this site and leave Worcester county and westward alone for now. What to do about these is now a subject for discussion in the local Worcester and Springfield sites.
dickc49 Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:13,538 Points:1,541,500 Joined:May 2006	Message Posted: May 29, 2007 2:32:18 PM Ignore dickc49 Report Abuse BugC, Can the admins send out an e-mail blast that notifies the user base in the Boston and Mass sites that the lists of towns are updated? It would be nice to have users post only in the relevant site. I know we can report them one by one through the contact us feature, but a one shot blast may just be worthwhile. I did not catch the addition of Hamilton and Wenham to the Mass site for a while, and posted on both sites to cover it. They now go where they belong. Keep up the good work and heavy lifting. It is making the site much better.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 29, 2007 11:23:03 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Thanks, stanleynem. Same question for Springfield. Is anyone interested in trying to define the boundaries of the Springfield site?
stanleynem Champion Author Worcester Posts:6,071 Points:674,030 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 29, 2007 10:17:25 AM Ignore stanleynem Report Abuse Just noticed Franklin moved from BostonGB to MassGB. Thank you bugc and everyone else doing the necessary dirty work to reconfig the GB boundaries. As for Worcester, if you haven't done it already, I'll check out our forum and see if anyone is willing to take it up. [Edited by: stanleynem at 5/29/2007 10:19:21 AM EST]
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 29, 2007 7:16:33 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Thanks, SNWQN. The reason Easton didn't get onto my list is that I didn't include Bristol County in my suggested additions. This is described in this forum. Finishing up SE Mass should be easy. I'd include all of Bristol, Nantucket, and Barnstable counties, plus add "Hyannis". How about calling all of Dukes county "Martha's Vinyard"? What about the town of Gosnold? Definitions get a little dicey around Worcester. Anyone want to take that on?
SNWQN Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:6,722 Points:1,283,960 Joined:Oct 2004	Message Posted: May 28, 2007 11:23:24 PM Ignore SNWQN Report Abuse Next time you put in for some changes, the town of Easton doesn't seem to be listed on the MA site. I don't think I've seen Plainville there either. Thanks for the hard work and dedication to clean up the lists.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 28, 2007 9:23:31 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse The current Boston area is depicted on this map.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 28, 2007 12:01:25 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse We are still waiting for the Weymouth move ......
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 19, 2007 10:55:21 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Ooops... I missed one. Weymouth needs to move from Massachusetts to Boston. I'll look for more. Are there any others that were missed?
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 18, 2007 12:24:13 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse The list was updated today. The drop down lists were updated on the MSL but have not been yet updated on the home page (2 lists). The [more cities] list was updated.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 13, 2007 7:54:27 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse I have requested that the admins start these changes.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: May 5, 2007 9:15:06 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse You have a point, dickc49, but the area has traditionally been large. I'm just cleaning it up and smothing the edges.
dickc49 Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:13,538 Points:1,541,500 Joined:May 2006	Message Posted: May 4, 2007 8:40:14 PM Ignore dickc49 Report Abuse I grew up in Topsfield, and now live in Peabody. I have always felt disconnected from Boston. I do not feel that Peabody, Lynn, Saugus etc belong grouped with Boston. They are in Essex county, and should list with the other cities and towns in Essex county. I would drastically shrink the Boston site, by removing most towns that do not border Boston. I would really like to see a unified database behind all of the sites in Massachusetts. If you were to post a gas price anywhere in Mass, it should be stored on a master database. Then link all the sites, Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and the Mass site to the database. If you post in any of the sites, you should be able to pull up the data in any of the other sites. The computing power, as well as the bandwidth is available to run this, and will get cheaper and cheaper. This would make it a moot point as to where each city or town "should" go, as you could build your own custom list in any of the sites.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 28, 2007 3:09:41 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse I posted the proposed list of towns for the Boston site in this forum topic. I tried to make as few changes to the current Massachusetts list as possible. If I did it correctly, these are the moves that will be required: Move From Massachusetts site to Boston site: - Lynnfield - Beverly Move from Boston site to Massachusetts site: - Franklin - Medway - Pembroke - Whitman I will propose additional cleanup and update of the Massachusetts list in new topics in the Massachusetts discussion forum.
JWHITE1937 Veteran Author Massachusetts Posts:266 Points:543,610 Joined:Aug 2006	Message Posted: Apr 22, 2007 2:42:49 PM Ignore JWHITE1937 Report Abuse boston
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 19, 2007 8:38:02 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse The discussion in the Boston Forumhad some responses that Framingham and Sudbury belong in the Boston area. This woulkd make sense to smooth out the western boundaries as shown by the yellow band in this map. Unless there is objection here, I will propose this change to the GasBuddy admins.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 6, 2007 2:19:01 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Yes, you can make a custom gasprice search. What we are changing is the list of towns and cities on the pull-down list that you use to make this search.
PGXGAS All-Star Author Massachusetts Posts:840 Points:275,020 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Apr 6, 2007 9:35:33 AM Ignore PGXGAS Report Abuse if you all didn`t know...you can make a custom gasprice search include the towns you are intrested in ???
PGXGAS All-Star Author Massachusetts Posts:840 Points:275,020 Joined:Sep 2005	Message Posted: Apr 6, 2007 9:31:48 AM Ignore PGXGAS Report Abuse 95/128 loop ???? ahhhy! or just massachusetts.....
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 5, 2007 9:29:23 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse In trying to create a rational boundary for the Boston area, some folks would like to move the towns of Framingham and Sudbury from Massachusetts to Boston. Do you think this is a good idea? How about more towns being moved into the boston area? We are using this map for discussion.
SNWQN Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:6,722 Points:1,283,960 Joined:Oct 2004	Message Posted: Apr 3, 2007 6:20:00 AM Ignore SNWQN Report Abuse I think it would be great to havea cleaned up and better defined list of towns. However, I still think you'll have people posting in the wrong place and posting in both places because they just don't care. Good luck and thank you for your efforts in cleaning up the town listings.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 1, 2007 12:47:30 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse In this Boston discussion topic we have proposed using only the names of the official 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts with only limited exceptions. I propose that the same be done for this site. What exceptions need to be made? For examople, I'd propose adding Hyannis to the list event though it is oficially part of Barnstable. Other suggestions?
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Mar 25, 2007 12:05:11 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse The MSL search has been updated. When you select the state of Massachusetts, it offers the choices of the 4 gasbuddy sites to search (Massachusetts. Boston, Worcester, and Springfield.) If you choose All Massachusetts, you search the entire state. Therefore it makes sense to clean up our lists and boundaries.
capegasjockey Sophomore Author Massachusetts Posts:136 Points:49,170 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Mar 24, 2007 10:42:54 PM Ignore capegasjockey Report Abuse dont care
David952124 Rookie Author Massachusetts Posts:81 Points:60,565 Joined:Mar 2007	Message Posted: Mar 20, 2007 6:26:07 PM Ignore David952124 Report Abuse I think that the Cities and towns around Boston and North of Boston should be in the BostonGasPrices.com and I think the Cities Sooth,Southeastern Mass, and Eastern Mass. Should be on the MassachusettsGasPrices.com
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Mar 18, 2007 3:08:38 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse I have started a discussion of this topic in the BostonGasPrices topic. I suggest setting the boundaries near the line indicated on this map. Comments?
DooDaa Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:4,264 Points:948,145 Joined:Dec 2004	Message Posted: Oct 20, 2006 5:29:34 PM Ignore DooDaa Report Abuse Southeastern MA should be in a group by themselfs.
ToCor07 Rookie Author Connecticut Posts:15 Points:47,350 Joined:Sep 2006	Message Posted: Oct 17, 2006 8:29:33 AM Ignore ToCor07 Report Abuse I would consider the "Boston Area" to be Boston and surrounding towns that are inside the 128/I-95 Loop. Towns such as Billerica and Tewksbury I don't think should be included in "Bostongasprices.com" and consequently the "Boston Area" because they are much closer to and border another major city... Lowell. [Edited by: ToCor07 at 10/17/2006 8:32:33 AM EST]
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Oct 2, 2006 10:16:15 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse jph- Billerica is currently in the Boston area and not Massachusetts. (I don't know if this was changed or always that way.) That doesn't prevent it from being posted in Massachusetts. Right now Billerica has no prices posted in Massachusetts and 4 in Boston. Conversely there is presently 1 price for Lowell posted in Massachusetts (where they are now expected to nbe found) and a dozen prices posted in the Boston area.
jph0917 Rookie Author Massachusetts Posts:3 Points:1,775 Joined:Oct 2006	Message Posted: Oct 2, 2006 7:17:06 PM Ignore jph0917 Report Abuse If they moved Tewksbury into the Boston area, then Billerica should join them. Billerica is closer to Boston (20 miles) than Tewksbury (23 miles). I wish gas prices in Billerica would hurry up and come down to the levels they are at in Lexington. When I went through the Rte 2A/Waltham Street intersection, the two gas stations on either side of Waltham Street were down to under $2.20. Gulf was at $2.13 and the Moble on the Run was at $2.19. Billerica stations are about 10 cents higher.
DriveStarkNaked Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:2,845 Points:665,725 Joined:Nov 2005	Message Posted: Sep 21, 2006 7:28:17 AM Ignore DriveStarkNaked Report Abuse Search by miles is a great idea. Search criteria could be entered by either Zip Code or City & Town. You could then select from a few choices for the distance. The result would show a list by low price first with the stations and the name of the Town with in a distance of your location. To hell with arbitrary political boundaries. Political boundaries aren't the way people buy gas, except maybe the politicians, and nobody likes them anyway.
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Sep 21, 2006 7:14:45 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Or is it "Bahstin" ;-)
twocar Rookie Author Massachusetts Posts:33 Points:2,590 Joined:Nov 2005	Message Posted: Sep 20, 2006 9:06:58 PM Ignore twocar Report Abuse Boston or "Bahsten" Who knows where it should end
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Sep 19, 2006 10:39:31 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse Whether it will matter or not depends upon what will happen when the Master Station List is used for price entry. Nobody has a clue as to whan that will happen or how it will be done.
SNWQN Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:6,722 Points:1,283,960 Joined:Oct 2004	Message Posted: Sep 19, 2006 6:21:23 AM Ignore SNWQN Report Abuse I still don't really think it matters, people are still going to use the "Other" option to add their town on whatever section they want to, and then there are those that post their prices on multiple sections too which seems like a waste to me. I think there should be one main entry section for all of Massachusetts and then a search function that shows a particular area for you or a specific town. Maybe a search by miles or something like that.
Ssmith1070 Champion Author Boston Posts:8,854 Points:1,248,415 Joined:Aug 2005	Message Posted: Sep 17, 2006 9:35:08 PM Ignore Ssmith1070 Report Abuse A few towns I've noticed that make no sense at all are towns like Dover or Concord. They both seem to be in MA, but I live in Needham, just off 128, which is in Boston's site. How much closer can you get then Dover and be on the Mass. site? Really hard to figure. No one posts in the discussions on the Boston site anyway, so we may never figure out a border that makes more sense, but perhaps I should post more often on this site. Problem is that I typically don't think of it, as more often than not I'm driving around Brookline/Boston/Newton/Dedham. But Natick is on Boston's site, too, which makes no sense if Dover isn't?
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Aug 20, 2006 1:33:08 PM Ignore bugc Report Abuse nascar7- everything inside 128 would certainly make sense. The current list includes nearly everything inside 495. Would you move everything between 128 and 495 to MassachusettsGasPrices.com? It would be a lot less disruptive to fix the current lists by moving the minimum number of towns to make it consistent. For example Natick is in the Boston Area, Framingham is not. Is that where the lines should be. West Concord is in but Concord and Lincoln are not. These are inconsistent.
nascar7 Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:4,852 Points:182,650 Joined:Mar 2005	Message Posted: Aug 19, 2006 2:11:56 PM Ignore nascar7 Report Abuse anything inside 128 93 or what ever they call it
DooDaa Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:4,264 Points:948,145 Joined:Dec 2004	Message Posted: Aug 17, 2006 5:16:50 PM Ignore DooDaa Report Abuse at your back door...
karebear00 Veteran Author Massachusetts Posts:382 Points:152,305 Joined:Jul 2006	Message Posted: Aug 14, 2006 11:21:56 PM Ignore karebear00 Report Abuse bugc, hehe now the truth comes out!! ;) snwqn - exactly, people are just going to use the "other" box, so I'm for consolidation! But, what should we do about it? Can we find a way to make that happen?
bugc Champion Author Boston Posts:10,260 Points:2,099,480 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Aug 14, 2006 7:19:45 AM Ignore bugc Report Abuse I agree with the previous posts. karebear00- On the Lowell and Tewksbury question, they now conform to the general defacto boundary of inside or outside 495. Besides, Tewksbury is generally my prices #4 and #5 on my way to work so I can get all my prices into one favorite list. ;-)
SNWQN Champion Author Massachusetts Posts:6,722 Points:1,283,960 Joined:Oct 2004	Message Posted: Aug 14, 2006 6:13:56 AM Ignore SNWQN Report Abuse I agree with the use of zip codes and a radius instead of areas. Do the areas really do anything anwyays, people post towns wherever they feel like it despite weather or not it's on the dropdown list in that area.
karebear00 Veteran Author Massachusetts Posts:382 Points:152,305 Joined:Jul 2006	Message Posted: Aug 13, 2006 11:23:16 PM Ignore karebear00 Report Abuse OK I'm confused... how can you agree that Lowell should be moved to the MA site, but think that Tewksbury belongs on the Boston site? Concord, I'd agree with as being on the border because It's right next to Acton. I'm almost 15 minutes away from New Hampshire and post on that site regularly. I'm also about 20-25 minutes away from Concord and mostly go there for doctor's appointments. Acton is 15 minutes away as well. Maybe because I went to college there and feel like it was a whole different world, but the fact that Boston is about an hour away from me (Alewife is probably 45 minutes on a good day) just makes it seem like it should be a whole different site. The only way that I can think of to distinguish between places is by using counties. Or, as jasilva pointed out on the BostonGassprices local forum thread: "Well, the US government has already DEFINED MSA - Metropolitan Statitical Areas: see US Census MSA Web Page In particular they also identify New England metro areas [New England city and town areas (NECTAs)], see: NECTAs Scroll down or search for Boston and you'll see the set of towns defined to be in the Boston Metro (or NECTA)! However, in my opinion (which I've stated in the MSL discussion threads) is that there should NOT be any site boundries!! I much prefer having the ability to provide a 'home' zip code and radius and have that come up as my default area when I'm logged in. [I prefer the way that 'other gas site' does this!!]" Although, I think it comes down to personal opinion. I really do think that MSL is the way to go. I think for now though, that we should do away with having 4 sites for MA. We all think that the Highs/Lows are useless (as they are right now) so either get rid of them and put something else in there or change them so that it only shows the city you live in. It's not much better I know, but I'm trying! :) And at least some of the sites would be relevant.