Description of Category Mapping
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If you want to share data with others, you have to find a way to ensure the data arrives in each member's hands in the right place. The problem is almost everyone has categories that are slightly different. Similar, yes, but not identical.

That leaves two alternatives: 1) find a way to map categories from one site to those of another; or 2)get everyone to agree to use exactly the same categories.

Obviously getting multiple newspapers to agree on categories for news and classifieds is exceedingly difficult (impossible?) so CityTools has created a way of mapping categories so everyone gets the right data in an appropriate place.

The solution to this problem it to have a network category list for each network. This list is created by the network administrator. Then each member of a network maps their categories to the network list for uploads and when downloading data, each member creates a map from the network to their local categories.

We know, it sounds hard. It's really not. It only takes a couple of minutes and you only have to do it one time.

When everyone maps their local categories to the network and the network categories back to their local ones, this information tells us enough information to provide intelligent mapping for all members.

The key, of course, is having a good network category list and that requires a little bit of thought. You want it to be detailed enough to satisfied most reasonable need for most members.

Consider this example

Site A has the categories dogs, cats, ferrets, fish, birds and general pets
Site B has only the category general pets
Site C has the categories dogs, cats, fish and general pets.
The network category list consists of dogs, cats, ferrets, fish, birds and general pets

Usually network category lists should be as specific as reasonably possible without burdening members with absurdly detailed categories.

Site A has a one-to-one match for its categories to the network categories so Site A maps its categories directly to the network, the same for incoming data and outgoing data.

Site B only has a single pet category. So when uploading TO the network, it maps its ads directly to “general pets.” But when downloading FROM the network, Site B maps dogs, cats, ferrets, fish, bird, general pets to all go to Site B's local category "general pets." During downloads to Site B, CityTools automatically combines the more detailed categories from the other sites into a single bundle for Site B. This way, Site B gets all pets from all categories placed where it wants: "general pets."

Site C maps dogs, cats, fish directly to their respective network category elements for uploads and downloads. However, since Site C does not have a category for ferrets and birds, it maps those to arrive in the “general pets” category.

As a result of this mapping between the local categories and the network, each site ends up with the pet content in the best best possible place for it. Because Site B puts all animal in general pets, it is true that “general pets” on Sites A and C will have some dogs and cats placed there by Site B. However, the animals still wind up where readers can find them.

Tips!
click on an item below for more info

The 15-minute sign-up howto

The full version of the 15-minute setup howto is here

"fast track" version of the 15-minute howto (experienced users)

Here you go!
 fast track howto

Upload and download Howto

There is a detailed and fast track version.
 The detailed version is here

The fast track version is here

How do I resign from a network?

There is a howto that discusses how to resign from a network

Control incoming feeds in a network

There is a Howto on managing feeds from other network members

Control HTML in your network feeds

There is a Howto about controlling HTML in your network feeds.

Edit: Change map from your categories TO the network

A howto about editing the maps of your categories TO the network is available

Edit: Change category maps FROM network to your categories

A howto on changing the incoming mappings from the network is available

Invitation-only network passcode howto

A howto on changing the passcodes for invitation-only networks is available

Send other publishing members a message

There is a Howto that explains how to send other publishers a message

Admin: managing members

There is a Howto that deals with managing member access. It's only relevant if you are an administrator of a network.

Join a private network

Instruction on how to join a private network is available.

Admin: Add/reorder network categories

A howto dealing with adding or reordering network categories is available

Admin: Rename network categories

A howto on changing network category names is available.