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 Big pack hiker who sleeps with bears in tent and falls on slippery logs
Langley, BC
Canada
7647 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2006 : 7:06 PM
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I've been doing some prelim designs for how this would look, but would like to get an idea of what features you would like to see for this. What info to collect? What process? Is there optional info that should be collected?
The high level plan is that this would integrate into a special TR section of the site, cross reference to the mesg board, and also link into the trail system. Also, it will allow for photos to be multiple loading or pulled from a new photo gallery feature.
Any thoughts/ideas gladly accepted... |
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 Outward Bound author of the Seinfeld Thread, who builds his own snowshoes
Troy, MT
USA
3125 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2006 : 7:16 PM
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here is what I would like to see
group members
date
trail/park location
distance
elevation
the TR
pics |
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Raincouver, British Columbia
Canada
712 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2006 : 7:33 PM
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I'd like to see some way to sort out the fun title of the thread from the actual subject of the thread. So if someone comes up with a cute title for their TR, it can also be cross referenced by a correctly spelled! reference to the trail/area. When I do a search for a trail, I often don't get as many results that I want due to misspellings or a result comes up that doesn't look like it is something I want due to the title, but it actually is what I want.
Just a thought. |
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Langley, BC
Canada
1509 Posts |
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Grouse Grinding, GPS carrying, lawn chair packing, bike riding North Shore tech addict who stares at Crown Mountain from his office window all day
North Vancouver
Canada
1905 Posts |
Posted - 04/10/2006 : 8:10 PM
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Trailhead elevation, destination elevation, and elevation gain.
Trial length
Estimated one-way hike time
Trail quality |
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Reykjavik
Iceland
139 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2006 : 11:25 AM
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i'd like to see something like (note that i have taken all features from users that have posted above me - sorry I don't give credit for individual suggestions guys, but all great ideas!!!! thx for doing most of the work for me here, hehe):
Trail Stats
Trail Name: This would link to the trail database and auto display the stats of this particular trail. If the trail isn't already entered in the trail db, ask the user to enter it first. I know its extra work, but everyone should hopefully realize the goal of having great info for the community, and be more then willing to take a few extra minutes to fill out the basic trail stats.
Trail Info: displayed from the trail db... list basic stats like total elevation gain, distance, etc... (this is all just pulled directly from the trail db... no need to have it entered twice, especially if the trail actually changes... its never good to have to update in multiple places as i'm sure you guys know).
Trail Quality: this would allow for a point in time history of the trail. It would interesting to be able to look back over 2-3 years worth of data, and see how the trail improved/degraded, etc...
GPS tracks/waypoints Upload: I think with multiple people uploading for 1 trail, you should have all the bases covered in terms of accuracy. Download 3-4 diff. sets and view them and plan your trip.
Personal Stats
Gear Taken along: based on your username, you should be able to go down a list of gear you've previously entered and just hit check boxes to show what you have taken along (if you want... some may feel thats too much of an invasion of privacy)
Time Taken: One-way or Return (in hours) - This is great cause its very dependant on the person. I'm not in good shape, and i've done some of the hikes in 101 hikes book and thought their estimates were NOT good. You could add a field in the traildb for average time as reported by x number of users. Of course you'd have a note saying please only report the time (roughly) it took you to get there and return, excluding any extended stays (like a 2 day base camp trip hehe)
Group Members: This could be a combo box-add type solution so you could link to a user-name, or perhaps just a freeform box for those that arn't current users.
Notes and pics
I would like to see sections for each 'part' of the trip. ie if you go on a day trip to elfin lakes, you could have 1 part for the first leg to red heather meadows, then another for the second leg to the cabin. How ever you want to divide it up.
You could also then allow for pictures associated with each section. So you have a paragraph of text, then 3-4 (or however many) photos immediately under it. Then goto the next section and repeat.
So you end up with your photos within the report nicely, rather then all at the bottom where its hard to identify which part of the trail the photos corrospond to.
And of course more ideas that other users have and more that time will dredge up :) |
Edited by - JeffK95Z on 04/16/2006 11:32 AM |
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Big pack hiker who sleeps with bears in tent and falls on slippery logs
Langley, BC
Canada
7647 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2006 : 12:19 PM
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| Great feedback! |
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 | Dru
Mountain Grammar Police
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Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2006 : 12:28 PM
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What about trips that don't follow trails though?
I would suggest keeping it simple:
Location
Time taken
Elevation gain
Distance
Any special gear needs. (If it's a hiking trail you don't need to list hiking boots, right. Or get so detailed that you are giving the brand and weight of every piece of gear you carried.)
Who was there
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no matter. try again. fail again. fail better. |
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Big pack hiker who sleeps with bears in tent and falls on slippery logs
Langley, BC
Canada
7647 Posts |
Posted - 04/16/2006 : 12:32 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Dru
What about trips that don't follow trails though?
I would suggest keeping it simple:
Location
Time taken
Elevation gain
Distance
Any special gear needs. (If it's a hiking trail you don't need to list hiking boots, right. Or get so detailed that you are giving the brand and weight of every piece of gear you carried.)
Who was there
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no matter. try again. fail again. fail better.
Trails would be optional in the design I am thinking. Also, this will tie into the traildb that shadowchaser and I are working on. The traildb doesn't necessarily have to be a trail... And the TR wizard could either link to it or not. But would leave it open in case it did - that way the TR's would link to the trail catalog.
Good suggestions!!!! |
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North Vancouver
230 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2006 : 11:27 AM
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| Not sure what fields would be required and what optional, but as a general guiding priciple, keep in mind that some trail/trip reports in the past have been very non-conforming, creative, even literary. I wouldn't like to see us lose this type of TR, which can sometimes provide valuable insights that more formal TR's might miss. |
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Langley, BC
Canada
1078 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2006 : 5:09 PM
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This is more related to the trail database than trips reports, but I'll just post it here. The trails database should have links to external sites/blogs/photo galleries.
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There are 10 kinds of people... those that can count to 10 with their fingers, and those that can count to 1023. |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2006 : 6:27 PM
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a small suggestion - only a few fields should be mandatory. let's not become like another outdoors site, where a too-strict requirement to input lat/long has led to a decrease in quantity of photos and trip reports.
about the drop-down menu of participants - what if they are not ct members? instead, I would recommend inputting a comma-delimited list, unless you are thinking of linking the trip report to each of the participants, even though only one person has written it.
re matt's suggestion for external links - this comes back to the suggestion of making URLs easier to embed into a trip report. Perhaps there could be a screen in the wizard for simply entering an URL and an optional name for it (like a report on NWHikers)
re external links to other sites - NWHikers has links to Flickr, starting with the most recent 30 photos and working backwards into the past. What I do appreciate is the ease of integration of flickr photos into a NWHikers trip report, you pretty much drag and drop the photos you want to use in your report.
re scorpio's request to keep the language of a trip report intact - let me echo that request as well. However, let's have some consistency about the trail name, and adopt a convention that we all ascribe to. Perhaps use the names in 103 and Fairley? |
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God fearin' music packin' animal BBQin' funny trip reportin'.... cheese lovin' MH lover who skinny dips in Ling secret lakes
Somewhere between pomp & circumstance, British Columbia
Canada
1402 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2006 : 7:03 PM
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I would like to see a "Dog Friendly" check box so we can build a data base for those that hike with their pooch. Nothing worse than getting all fired up about a hike, drive to the trail head only to find dog not permitted. You're left trying to salvage the day elsewhere or break the rules and hope you don't get caught or be haunted by guilt on your hike.
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Gnomes are my friends...and my friends sometimes forget to take their meds! |
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delta, bc
Canada
647 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 06:03 AM
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Approx Cost:under $50, $50-$100, $100+ and what the costs may be
Nature of roads getting to trailhead:nothings worst than finding out your low clearance vehicle can't handle.
Special Warnings: such as vehicles have been broken into, bear in area, no Starbucks along the way. |
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Best grilled cheese maker ever
Whitehorse, YUKON
Canada
2149 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 09:19 AM
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There's some great ideas here. But I'm with seawallrunner in that I don't want CT to get super cluttered with stuff. One of my complaints with CC is that its so cluttered with just stuff. There's tons of great info on it (even though there are some members who I could do without, I'm looking at you G-Spotter!  ) But then again, there's more people on CC, so I'm not sure if this relevant. I also agree with Scorpio about some TRs being quite creative and not wanting to lose that. Those are the funnest TRs to read!
Not making categories mandatory, much like the way this is set up when one does their profile, is a great idea. That way if one wants to skip certain parts, its easy for them to do this. |
Edited by - darren on 05/10/2006 09:50 AM |
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| Dru
Mountain Grammar Police
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Sardonic sandbagging scoundrel, Cascade Climbers lobotomized spraymeister, space blanket flyer, new millennium vulgarian betaboy and friend to all squids
Climbing, a mountain
Canada
∞ Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 09:40 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
a small suggestion - only a few fields should be mandatory. let's not become like another outdoors site, where a too-strict requirement to input lat/long has led to a decrease in quantity of photos and trip reports.
It's more than just that. Here is an interesting quote I read today:
quote:
a concept called “force of the many and the architecture of participation.” First articulated by Tim O’Reilly, it means that the more a web-based service allows users to participate in supplying content, the more valuable that service becomes.
This applies to more than just trip reports and photos, also to trails and peaks and general data. Obviously I wouldn't want someone else to edit my trip report. But the concept that the underlying trail and peak database should be open to editing from all users, Wiki-style, is a good way to increase the quality. And perhaps even trip reports and photos should be taggable? If I write a trip report I usually don't bother to label every peak visible in every photo but if somebody else wants to add tags that do that, let them!
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In the void is virtue, and no evil. Wisdom has existence, principle has existence, the Way has existence, spirit is nothingness. |
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| LeeL
Advanced Member
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Extreme ski tourin, mountain bikin addict who hikes at least once a year
2507 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 10:07 AM
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| Increasingly I use CT as a go-to for trail, mountain information for local info. I also use bivouac, Fairley and Baldwin's guidebook, and sometimes 103 Hikes. Having a wiki-style guide would be great |
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Calgary, Alberta
Canada
2 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 10:39 AM
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| perhaps some idea as to ease of access? 4 wheel drive or paved road to trail head? |
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Sechelt, BC
Canada
1 Posts |
Posted - 05/10/2006 : 10:53 AM
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Hi,
I'm new on this board but I'd say integration with Google Earth would be awesome.
Sven |
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Topic |
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Suggestions for Trip Report Wizard
