New OS Mapping toy - free and I need some help

infopete

Hi All,

following on from my free OS Mapping application http://www.infonote.com/free.htm I've been playing with another concept that is more suitable for "day rides".

It's only a concept at the moment and I'd like some help on what to do next.

The application is in two parts:

The first allows you to plot a short route using OS Maps. http://infonote.com/os/plotit.htm

You can select an icon to put anywhere on the map. The icon you select will be shown in the left box. You're limited in the size of the route you plot but, as yet, I've not worked out how many points you can have. (you could always chop a route into sections).

When you've plotted the route you need to click on the button "Create Short URL".

This will generate a "bit.ly" web link that contains your route. You can copy the link and send it to all your friends, post it on a website or blog. e.g. http://bit.ly/zv8lA


This will launch the second part of my application which displays the route to your friends.

I need lots more icons and ideas of what to do next. Let me know what you all think.

Regards

Pete

infopete

Hi

I've not had a single reply!

Has anyone looked at the application?

Does anyone have any comments?

Am I wasting my time posting on here?

Pete

astonandon

I suspect nobody has replied because its not very good. 10 years ago it might have been handy but in todays world of gps enabled devices and free to use, useful sites like mapmyride, plotting a map using big arrows isn't going to cut it. Having said that the OS mapping is pretty good at certain scales, especially for mountain biking, and the ability to put a pint on the map is a stroke of genius. For planning a pub crawl it has definite potential,

kingstongraham

My feedback: I don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing. I like the OS maps, but have no idea what use it is to me.

I looks like a hi-tech way of photocopying a map and writing on it. Is there a demand for that?

infopete

Hi

Every week throughout spring and summer I get email invites to go cycling with the local bunch of cyclists/drinkers.

This application makes it easy to create a route and email it.

It's also useful if you need to mark a point or two on a map and send it to the highways agency to moan about the debris farmers leave on the road after they butcher their hedges.

And finally, as you can include another web link you could even daisy chain routes for extended rides.

All I need now is a better bunch of icons. I'd like some depciting a cyclist for the points of a compass instead of the arrows.

Pete

GavH

I'd say save your efforts and just buy a Garmin 605 or 705.

Create routes using Bikeroutetoaster.com or other similar site.

Mark dodgy bits of road (if you really must be so public spirited ) by hitting the LAP key on the move.

I personally appreciate your efforts infopete, but as already pointed out, there's not a great deal of point in this app given whats on offer from elsewhere these days.

rossere

Hi Pete,

I have to admit that I have only looked at website so maybe the desktop app has something more novel to add. However, I am a regular user of http://www.bikehike.co.uk which, as far as I can tell, does everything you are doing and more.

It uses both Google maps and OS maps and uses polylines rather than just icons. It also provides you with altitude, distance and gradient data and allows users to download routes to their Garmin's.

A Garmin is on my Christmas list, but in the meantime I just print off the OS map with my route on it and stick it in my back pocket.

Sorry if this wasn't the feedback you were wanting.

alan14

Pete,

I had a quick play with your desktop app. As you say, this is very useful for capturing part of a map and printing or emailing it. Here are some ideas for possible improvements:

1. Mark each waypoint on the map with its number or text from the list of waypoints below, otherwise it is difficult to tell which waypoint is which.
2. Ability to delete a waypoint by deleting it on the map itself.
3. Ability to delete all waypoints.
4. An undelete facility.
5. Capture the whole map, without the zoom and navigation icons.
6. An option to include the list of waypoints in the capture.

With the desktop app only marking waypoints (lat/long), I can see that it would be useful for hikers with GPS to check actual positions against expected positions, similarly for off-road routes for MTBs. However for road routes - and this is also a criticism of the web app - the lack of route plotting, distances and gradients makes it less useful than other web sites.

I've used www.bikehike.co.uk and www.bikely.com for plotting road routes. These are easy to use for say, 2 or 3 individual routes, but any more than that and it gets very time consuming. Since many of my bike routes share the same local roads, what I would like is the ability to mark individual roads or parts of roads (by marking the start and end points) and save these as a 'library' of route 'elements'. When I want to create a route from these elements, I would select/unselect the required elements and have the web app automatically join them together to create a route. I think this would be much easier and less time-consuming for plotting multiple routes which share common roads.