Hi @LizBCN … Brighton location search radius on laptop, the map search function will also change the radius and results
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So I am not sure if it is the way that THS parses the info, or info that is being provided by the home owner, but trying to find something based on location seems to be very hit and miss, and you need to be very careful where the sit is actually located.
I have family in Astoria OR, and 75% of the sits that come up are actually along Long Beach WA. While maybe 15 miles as the crow flies, it is an hour drive.
Also Sacramento Ca. Maybe people want it to seem like their house is convenient, but when you get in the details, they are actually in Roseville. 25 miles, but easily over an hour if there is any traffic.
Shouldn’t there be some truth in advertising?? People should give an address and THS should let you pick a range of distance.
Thanks
Yes, I have found the same thing. As someone who grew up in the Philadelphia area, I don’t want to be guessing where they are before applying. I’ve even seen locations that I consider to be central PA be listed as Philadelphia.
@Therese just wondering how you got on when you broached this subject with the THS product team way back on 31 August as it still seems to be a problem
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The issue isn’t just the serve distance. The listing that was in Roseville had been designated as sacramento by the owner. Borderline deceptive because of how it shows on the map. A person not familiar with the area could be in for a bad surprise.
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Hi @Blondce.
Wow, Astoria! On my bucket list because of “The Goonies,” duh. Every time I pass thru Portland I think about it…
Also, I grew up in Sacramento (Greenhaven/Pocket). Yeah, traffic has gotten much worse…
I think the issue is mostly on the TH side. If the HO location is like the sitter location, then you can note only a city. In any case, there seems far less functionality than locations on Airbnb.
Also, I think HOs choose the most common city (e.g. Sacramento vs Roseville) because they’re afraid they won’t show up in a search. And that’s a result of how TH does search. For example, sitters can search only by naming a city/region, not by entering an address (like you can on Airbnb).
You can suggest TH improvements to @Ben-ProductManager.
I wish HOs would provide a google map link to as close to their address as they are comfortable. But since I don’t see the needle moving on that, another option is to apply for a sit and briefly ask for more location data. For example:
Hi! I’m looking for sits close to my relatives. How close are you to Florin Road & Havenside Drive, Sacramento, CA 95831? If it helps, here’s a google map to there: Google Maps
Yes, this!!! THS team, can we work on this, please? And a fix on that duration search would be great too. 
I don’t understand allowing the HO to put in an inaccurate location. When you search on a city you can zoom out to the radius with which you are comfortable. There is just no good argument to people putting Sacramento as their location and then in the details putting ‘we are 50 minutes [by car] from Sacramento’. If a sitter wants. to cast a wider net, they can do that via the zoom on the map.
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I haven’t been looking for sits for a while so this might be way behind the times. I now have some big location search buttons on my “Find a House Sit” landing page. I was hopeful at first but on the first outing I find that the “Europe” button includes the UK, for which there is a separate button anyway. I had high hopes of the “Europe” button but we (the UK) are neither in continental Europe nor the EU and, well, what’s the point?
Hello. We’re fairly new to THS and have been lurking in the background for a while reading posts etc. Have lots of questions but starting with this one.
I’ve a question regarding the saved search function on the app; what geographical radius has this been set to?
For example; I’ve got 5 saved areas for our ‘wish list’ and there’s a huge overlap on what listings pop up in each search area.
When I get notifications via the app a new listing might be shown in 3 or sometimes 4 of my saved areas (some are aprox 50+ miles and picking up where we aren’t interested in).
We are in the UK so I appreciate that for us the distance between areas here Vs other larger countries will mean more overlap but curious to know what that parameter is set to.
Many thanks
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Please can anyone explain to me where the function for searching for petsits using a map is available . I’ve read in the past that sitters have inputted a town and then included a radius distance of where they’d like to sit . At the moment all my searches are too wide . I don’t know how to do a narrowed specific search .
Thanks
Jean
I’ve managed to do it !
Can’t believe I’d not been able to spot the map label after using the website for so long . I think it’s just using the text box search that gives such a wide search and therefore such a large number of results .
Next I’ll see if I can apply filters when using the map .
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Hi. Just wondering what the deal is with the inaccuracy of the London UK search map? When I search for central London or East London, I don´t expect to be given results in Kent or down near Brighton. East London is East London etc. Why does this error exist and when will it be fixed, does anyone know please?
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@Susie123 I have asked this question a couple of times. It seems it won’t be fixed, the answer being “you might want to explore sits further afield”. Well, no I chose City of London because I want to be in the city! Each time I use this search area which I would expect to cover no more than Zone 1 and possibly Zone 2 at the most it comes up with sits in St Albans, Colchester etc. as you say. You can zoom in on the map to narrow the field but it’s annoying. Why THS bother to have Greater London, London and City of London options if the search function isn’t tweaked to reflect these areas I don’t know. It’s very frustrating!
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I agree, it is very frustrating. Especially when I’m looking at a city sit (in which I would not need a car) and I’m only being shown suburban sits the do require a car!
I really wish with all these ‘improvements’ being made that there could be a few that actually benefited sitters.
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100%. I have never understood, as a user for the past 8 years, why we still need to go through opening a post to check for example…if we need a car. Location is super important! It’s literally a box tick! The most useless 'beta testing" is put in place on whoever is chosen, without them knowing, to improve the wrong part of the product. The initial demands, were never addressed and never will I’m afraid.
The changes we need as sitters are so simple, and narrowing location is one of them. It’s not by implementing new testing addressing problems we never had (sorting between Newest and Low applications?!? whyyyyy! I want to sort by “sitter needs a car” and the actual area I want to sit at, not anything else) that THS will attract more people. The bigger you get, the more feedback you’ll get. And for now, the feedback is getting worst and worst, especially since the 5 application move.
I would love to have a conversation with the Dev team, and ask them how hard, technically speaking, it would be to add search boxes that we have been asking for so long.
Maybe there should be a section in the community where we speak to actual developers, back end, front end, full stack, UX designer, etc. because it’s their point of view that I want to hear, nobody else’s (well apart from sitters and home owners, aka the actual users).
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@Nadia111 The low application label is redundant. If it’s not in reviewing it’s 4 or less. We know that already. I think a ‘no applications yet’ label could be helpful.
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Absolutely! These applications need no labels, as we were doing just fine before they came along. THS is trying to show that some might be easier to apply to, but people know how to use dates and location filters. They aren’t “low applications” for nothing, they are low because less people can get to them, sitters need a car, or they have bad reviews, etc.
I can think of way better ways to filter sits.
To keep adding features that are useless to most, and not addressing the core issues that were there for years is the main problem, I believe.
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