University Final Year Project Idea - Please Help

mossmotorsport

Hi Everyone,

As part of my Final Year Project for my degree - I have decided to build a website based around Mountain Biking. I have been advised to ask what fellow bikers would like to see in a new biking website. I have thought about a website which allows users to login, rate trails, give recommendations, and review various sites around the UK.

The site would be setup so that if you searched for "Cannock Chase" then YouTube videos would automatically appear below, as well as top rated user reviews, as well as possibly Flickr photos. It may also recommend similar Trails based on each trails characteristics.

I am required to hand out surveys and get real feedback from real bikers - so does this sound like a good or bad idea? Similar websites already exist, but for the purpose of a project I would have to improve on them.

What would you like to see if a new MTB site came about? Any ideas, thoughts, comments etc would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys!!

Anonymous

That sounds like a great idea, linking all sorts of info from different resources like Flickr, Youtube etc.
Good luck with it

Tom BB

From an mtber perspective, I rarely use websites of that type (of which numerous exist) I would prefer to see something more event/race orientated-only xcracer.com seem to do anything in this area....

Of course if you have scope to improve on trail based websites then that could be an option-its all about potential for high marks at the end of the day.

Where you studying? Staffs?

mossmotorsport

Yeah I'm studying at Staffs - just finishing off a BSC Hons Computing Science Degree

It is something that I could aim to produce - thanks for the feedback!

bluechair84

I think bringing together information from all around the net to one place would be fantastic.
You could have a page for biking clubs / locations / events /shop / venues all based on google maps so you could zoom to your area and see the locations of anything biking related. Click on the flag and go to their website.
Definatly go for bringing togehter what is already out there.

saltski

you could also include GPX files of the routes for use with handheld GPS units or monbile phones with the software on, this would allow the gradient to be plotted out so people can be aware of steep climbs.

Personally I find it frustrating when I go onto a website and look for information about the trails and it's just not there, even Cannock have a map that was created by a fan of the place and not somehting they've officially marked out themselves.

mossmotorsport

These are brilliant ideas - thanks! I did want to go down the GPS route - so that people could load these onto their own GPS devices. I also wanted the site to use HTML5 so that if a user visits the site on their iPhone for example - it would load up a mobile version!

Looks like I have my work cut out!!

.blitz

If possible my choice would be to develop an app instead of a website.

You would need a Mac and Xcode to get started, but some of the interactive media-rich magazines for the iPod/iPhone/iPad are simply stunning and IMO much more interesting than tired old websites or paper-based magazines.

To date there are no MTB app-magazines (apart from a dodgy Italian one) so you would have a unique project for your final year

Good luck with it.

Anonymous

mossmotorsport wrote:

I also wanted the site to use HTML5 so that if a user visits the site on their iPhone for example - it would load up a mobile version!

Whoa there, steady on. HTMl5 will drastically reduce the amount of people who can view this, since Ie6/7/8 are still alarmingly pupular. ie9 is still in Beta.

There are other ways to make a site automatically go to a mobile version if you're on a phone.
And besides, I thought the whole POINT of the iphone was that it could view the actual internet, not some crappy mobile version of sites?

mossmotorsport

That's very true - the iPhone will handle normal websites without any problems. I'll do some research into this - because like you say - there are still far to many people using outdated browsers...

Anonymous

mossmotorsport wrote:

That's very true - the iPhone will handle normal websites without any problems. I'll do some research into this - because like you say - there are still far to many people using outdated browsers...

It's not just just outdated browsers that cause problems though, I mean, is HTML 5 even actually standardised yet? And there are still differences between how browsers display HTML5 content.

Don't use a technology that is going to be way ahead of what the majority of your users will be using.

wobbem

Tom BB wrote:

From an mtber perspective, I rarely use websites of that type (of which numerous exist) I would prefer to see something more event/race orientated-only xcracer.com seem to do anything in this area....

?

Agreed, a site listing all events , races in regions etc would be great.
Be nice to be able to rate these events as well, some of them I've been to this year ,esp enduros have ended up being more fire trail than anything which isn't my cup of tea and I won't do next year.

jayson

I just noticed Moss ur from kettering, i lived there originally before i moved up north to york whereabouts in kett u live?

I used to live on barnwell st off stamford road where the buccleugh pub used to be b4 it was changed into a chinese restaurant i believe.

mossmotorsport

so the general view at the moment is such sites already exist - but what YOU the potential users would want is a way to view upcoming events around local areas, with a rating system, as well as the option to view related YouTube videos and Flickr photos? Google Maps could provide you with directions and appropriate imagery. GPS information would also come in handy...

Can you think of any site names that you would easily remember? It needs to be a name that as soon as people think of events, trails, races etc then they automatically remember this site.

Can't say how much I appreciate the feedback and comments!

mossmotorsport

jayson wrote:

I just noticed Moss ur from kettering, i lived there originally before i moved up north to york whereabouts in kett u live?

I used to live on barnwell st off stamford road where the buccleugh pub used to be b4 it was changed into a chinese restaurant i believe.

I live in Barton Seagrave mate - not too far from Cranford Road. Small world eh?

jairaj

how about a feature that helps you plan a weekend away?

So when you search a trial centre, you get a list of nearby accommodation and places to eat.

mossmotorsport

jairaj wrote:

how about a feature that helps you plan a weekend away?

So when you search a trial centre, you get a list of nearby accommodation and places to eat.

That is another fantastic idea - I can feel a First Class project coming on here!!

jayson

mossmotorsport wrote:

jayson wrote:

I just noticed Moss ur from kettering, i lived there originally before i moved up north to york whereabouts in kett u live?

I used to live on barnwell st off stamford road where the buccleugh pub used to be b4 it was changed into a chinese restaurant i believe.

I live in Barton Seagrave mate - not too far from Cranford Road. Small world eh?

There was a cycle shop in barton called Seagrave Cycles many yrs ago when i was at school me and my cousin used to cycle over to to have a look what they had instock cause they were a marin and orange main stockist.

A few yrs later they relocated to rockingham road in kett and i ended up working there for a while but left for bigger and better things. No idea what became of the place.

Anonymous

There's plenty of great suggestions on here, I'm really looking forward to see what you come up with

mossmotorsport

Me too - need to decide now if its best hosting it all online, or setting up a VM and doing it all offline :?

Anonymous

well, when you're just developing it, host it locally on your machine.
If you're using visualstudio, then it will set up a local webserver service for you.

Or alternatively, get an old computer, and install something like FreeBSD or UbuntuServer on it with LAMP- that's what I did most recently because I knew the final site would be hosted on apache.

But for ease of configuration, you can't really go wrong with VisualStudio. (There's a ton of other really neat tools you could use as well, like expressionweb etc for creating a frontend)

mossmotorsport

Yeah - I use WAMP for testing at the moment - but using LAMP may help me learn more about Linux too.

I do have MS Visual Studio 2010 (through a university MSDN license agreement) which comes in handy. That will all be part of the extensive research part though, which technologies to use and such like. Comparing using PHP and MySQL vs ASP .Net etc.

You sound like you do a lot of Website work Yeehaamcgee?

Anonymous

Website design? Hell no!
I am a sound engineer, but I built some of our workstations. So, being nominated the "computer bod" of the company, I was asked if I could build a new domain controller for us.
Then I got put in charge of all our IT.
Now, I get asked for all kinds of things, such as what bespoke software packages would best suit people doing jobs i don't even understand, and get things dumped on me like:
"We need a website to do "X", you can do that, right? Oh, and can you also make it do "Y" and "Z"?"

My knowledge of web design is very limited to say the least, but I think I did an OK job, what with having to teach myself from scratch about everything!
I managed to keep it simple, and stuck to straightforward html and a tiny bit of javascript. No need to overcomplicate things unneccesarily!

Oh, and I'm (re-)learning to program in my spare time. I used to program as a (very geeky) kid, first in BASIC, then in Pascal, then later using assembly language on an old C64.
Recently, after nearly 15 years of not coding a thing, I decided to learn C++ and C# in my spare time. Unfortunately, most of what I taught myself as a kid has been ereased from years of drinking, partying, and women, and I don't have much spare time, so it's quite a daunting task!

My hope is to write some bespoke sound processing software for a method of audio compression that I don't think anyone else has come up with yet.

mossmotorsport

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Website design? Hell no!
I am a sound engineer, but I built some of our workstations. So, being nominated the "computer bod" of the company, I was asked if I could build a new domain controller for us.
Then I got put in charge of all our IT.
Now, I get asked for all kinds of things, such as what bespoke software packages would best suit people doing jobs i don't even understand, and get things dumped on me like:
"We need a website to do "X", you can do that, right? Oh, and can you also make it do "Y" and "Z"?"

My knowledge of web design is very limited to say the least, but I think I did an OK job, what with having to teach myself from scratch about everything!
I managed to keep it simple, and stuck to straightforward html and a tiny bit of javascript. No need to overcomplicate things unneccesarily!

Oh, and I'm (re-)learning to program in my spare time. I used to program as a (very geeky) kid, first in BASIC, then in Pascal, then later using assembly language on an old C64.
Recently, after nearly 15 years of not coding a thing, I decided to learn C++ and C# in my spare time. Unfortunately, most of what I taught myself as a kid has been ereased from years of drinking, partying, and women, and I don't have much spare time, so it's quite a daunting task!

My hope is to write some bespoke sound processing software for a method of audio compression that I don't think anyone else has come up with yet.

Sounds as though you've not had much of a choice but to get on and learn these things basically! Good luck with your sound software project - the great thing is that now there are lots of tutorials and information online which always helps!

Boy Lard

Far too much sense being talked in this thread.

I'll think you'll find what the web is most in need of, especially mtb on the web, is more porn. :idea:

mossmotorsport

I could make a MTB Milf Club?! Thats it - thats the bright idea!!

hoochylala

MTBers wifes site

mossmotorsport

How do the competitors amongst you find out what races are going ahead? If all of this information is scattered around the internet, and I was to collate it all under one roof would that help to make a better user experience?

hoochylala

I think some sort of event calendar would be usefull - I thick bike magic do something similar so that might be worth a look.

I always hear about these events but always too late - a calender would allow me to plan a free weekend/earn some brownie points for a weekend pass from the misses in advance!

bunyip

a section for multiday rides would be useful too. you could catagorise them by the amount of days the "average" MTBer would take to do the ride. the IMBA website has good info on the trans cambrian way but its not so easy to find out similar advice for other rides i.e west highland way, C2C etc. info on accom, pubs, taxis, bike shops etc could all be included.

cycle monster

Where to start! Other than the obvious notion of get elected, seize all golf clubs and hand them over to local mtb club,s well the list is endless. The web is littered with loads of sites that profess to do all for everyone and diluted as they are do little for anybody. Having been dragged into the sport my my eight year old two years ago it strikes me that there is ample room for discipline specific sites. There are those who want to jump dirt, fly down mountains, cross some country and goodness knows what else. I Usually have to drive 50 miles to get somewhere to ride off road with my family and I speak to people all the time that have no idea that these places even exist. If you could get all the guys and gals on here to divulge their secret rides you would have mighty and highly desirable tome.

There must be some serious money to be made here for someone, could that someone be you?