TheWindMap.com - beta testers needed!

[Anthony]

Was finding some windsurfing spots on google maps, and had the idea for
thewindmap.com, and have now worked up a quick beta version. Basically
it's a map driven way to list windsurfing locations worldwide, in a way
that anyone can add a location, and add or edit the information without
having to bother withing logging and all that.

There's only a few locations on there right now, so if you have a few
minutes to try it out, add your favourite spot and let me know what you
think, it'd be much appreciated.

Currently it works for me in IE 6 and Firefox, works ok but a bit funny
sometimes in Safari.

http://thewindmap.com

Anthony.

(for those who care about such things, it's basically a google maps api
+ wiki kind of thing...)

[Jibe]

How do you add a site?

[Anthony]

Jibe wrote:
> How do you add a site?

Click on one of the red markers, which should zoom you into that area.
The green markers are individual sailing spots. At this point there
should be a text box under the map, type in the name of the location,
double click on the map where you want to add it, and click add.

Is it not working like that in your browser? Let me know!

Anthony

[rath...@gmail.com]

Very Cool!!!! I tried to do my part for SF Bay. Just added about 15
sites or so. Using Safari 2.0.1

[rath...@gmail.com]

Very Cool!!!! I tried to do my part for SF Bay by adding 15 or so
sailing sites. Using Safari 2.0.1 and it works OK. sometimes the "add
site" box does not appear, and sometimes the little green flags don't
go up immediately after adding the site (so I accidentally added
Limantour Beach twice)

kev

[Paul Braunbehrens]

This could turn into a VERY cool tool. I can't figure out how to add a
site either. Was gonna put in Treasure Island. Managed to eek out one
more day there today on a 5.7 and 105l board.

In article <1128898447.8...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Jibe <captainund...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> http://thewindmap.com

[Paul Braunbehrens]

I figured out how to work it. First you have to log in (create a
user). Then you have to go back to the main map and select a region.
You'll then be presented with the option to add sites.

[Paul Braunbehrens]

Guys, if you add a site, write up a little blurb too. Much more useful
than just having a location. Don't worry if the text is not perfect,
it can be easily edited if someone bothers to do so.

[uglyjiber]

I did this, and still no option to add sites?

I must be doing something wrong...

This is an excellent idea, and execution appears to be pretty sweet as
well.

J

[Anthony]

Hmmmm, logging in doesn't affect the map bit at all. What browser/OS
are you on?

[Anthony]

Hey, what an amazing response so far! up to 92 locations added in North
America now! Thanks to everyone who's added something. The idea is
that lots of people can just add little bits, instead of having to sit
down and write a book about each site, so any bit of info you can add is
helpful.

Anthony.

[Jerry McEwen]

On 10 Oct 2005 10:34:06 -0700, "uglyjiber" <jsam...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

I created a site and did not have to login.

1) View your country
2) Click where you want to add a site, then scroll down if needed to
where you see this:

Zoom in close and double click on the map where you want to add the
location. Enter the spot's name:

Type in a name and click ADD IT, then look up to the location where
you should see a balloon which says, "Add a new location here? Do it!"

[Dan Weiss]

One suggestion is to zoom automatically. Using IE I click on a balloon only
to see a prompt asking me to click on zoom, again. Redundant. The "more
info" link is great for the last layer, but why have to choose between it
and zooming when simply navigating a region? For example, clicking on the
balloon for the USA means I want to see more granularity within the USA, not
anything else. No need for options at that level. Otherwise, great!!!

-Dan
"Anthony" <adm...@removethistoemailthewindmap.com> wrote in message
news:_3y2f.4223$yL....@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...

[rath...@gmail.com]

I'm Safari, and sometimes the "add site" dialog boxes do not appear.
Once gone, I can't figure out how to get them back other than to go
back to the first level and keep zooming in. sometimes, it seems that
zooming in on a particular site makes the "add site" boxes disappear,
so instead I zoom in on parts of the map (not green balloons), and use
the manual zoom slider on the left side of the map, and the "add site"
boxes stay around.

kev

[Anthony]

>sometimes, it seems that
> zooming in on a particular site makes the "add site" boxes disappear,

Think i've fixed that now (and a few other things...). Have started
regrouping some spots too, e.g. san fransisco so it's not just a big
blob of markers!

Anthony

[rath...@gmail.com]

Thanks Anthony for putting this website up. Sorry about all the San
Francisco sites, but there are a lot of launches, and some of the
lesser known ones are really good!

kev

[Steve Elliott]

Anthony,

Some areas of confusion:

1. When you add a site, maybe go right into the edit form. It's not obvious
that you have to edit it. I have mistakenly added text to the discussion
page, which should be the main article.
2. After you edit a site, how do you get back to the map that you were last
looking at. My back button gives me the world map, necessitating a repeat
of my navigation. I think after you enter the site article, and submit, you
should be returned to the map so you can see the site you just added.

How much would you pay me to validate everyone's input? Of course, you'd
have to supply the lodging, airfare, equipment. Year round of course :)

Steve

Anthony <adm...@removethistoemailthewindmap.com> wrote in news:ARz2f.12376
$Nv6....@newsfe6-win.ntli.net:

[Anthony]

Steve,

> 1. When you add a site, maybe go right into the edit form.

Good one, i'll try and at least make it more obvious that there is a
follow on page from the map after you add a site.

> 2. After you edit a site, how do you get back to the map that you
were > last looking at.

One problem with the Google maps style setup is that it "breaks" the
back button, can think of a few ways around it if you're going to the
info pages and coming back though.

Thanks for the ideas!

Anthony

[Anthony]

> > 1. When you add a site, maybe go right into the edit form.

Ok, now after you add a site, the little window pops up asking you to
add some info. Much clearer than when it just said "site information".

Anthony

[joepring]

Anthony -

You're a genius. Thanks for setting this up.

[Jerry McEwen]

On 11 Oct 2005 06:21:22 -0700, "joepring" <joep...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Anthony -
>
>You're a genius. Thanks for setting this up.

Agreed, this is great. I wish more people would take the time to write
about their spots.

[brad]

VERY SICK. No need to rely on iWindsurf to guestimate location /
directions... and then combined with the satelite feature....

brad

[Paul Braunbehrens]

Safari and OSX (latest). You did mention that it was weird, but
actually works reasonably well.

In article <_3y2f.4223$yL....@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net>, Anthony

[Fabio Bernardino]

I tried to add a site. Managed to add it but had a failure when
entering site information.

Bad title
From TheWindMap

The requested page title was invalid, empty, or an incorrectly linked
inter-language or inter-wiki title.

I'm using Mozilla 1.7.12 on Windows XP.

--
Fabio Pereira Bernardino
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
-- Remove SPAM before replying

[Fabio Bernardino]

Also i noticed that the entry RIO (South America) is located where
should be Jericoacoara !!!!

humm ... it's not a bad idea ......

On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 06:47:57 GMT, Anthony
<adm...@removethistoemailthewindmap.com> wrote:

--

[kurt]

Very cool indeed. This could be something great; it's already good.

[GerryS]

Anthony has also added the ability to upload images.It should make the
site even cooler. It will be very interesting to see all the local
conditions from around the world. I have added a couple of pictures of
my home turf if anyone is interested. They are the 2 most northern sites
marked in North America at this time ( on Slave Lake Alberta Canada).
Gerry

[Anthony]

Yes, just got this working. Use the upload images link on the left,
then in the page use:

[[Image:youfile.jpg|thumb|put the caption here]]

Anthony

[Anthony]

Hi Fabio,

What was the name of the site you were trying to add? The wiki part
might not like some character symbols. Did it add ok to the map?

Thanks,

Anthony

[trn...@yahoo.com]

Anthony, you are a genius. What a great idea. I added a bunch of
stuff for the South West US, pics etc.... I hope it isn't too much
data. My Lake Mohave is probably overkill as there aren't 50 sailors
in the US who will probably visit there.

Thanks
Tom

Anthony wrote:
> Was finding some windsurfing spots on google maps, and had the idea for
> thewindmap.com, and have now worked up a quick beta version. Basically

[Anthony]

Hi Tom,

No risk of it being to much data, at the moment anyway. The more photos
the better really, makes the descriptions look really good. So thanks
for adding those sites - in a way the small sites are more important,
everyone knows you can go to Maui and sail, but they might be driving
past a good spot every day and not even know it's there!

Anthony

[Paul Braunbehrens]

Tom, those are the sites that are most interesting! Places that
everyone knows about are easy to find. Be sure to include some info.

In article <1129310336.7...@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,

[Nick Cox]

This is a great site, but what I find really annoying is that when I've
finished looking at a location and then hit the "back to map" link it takes
me back to the world map rather than the zoomed in map that I was just
using... so I have to zoom in all over again. This gets rather tiresome if
one is looking at multiple sites. It would be nice if this could be
changed - unless there is a reason for this.

Cheers,

Nick Cox

"Anthony" <adm...@removethistoemailthewindmap.com> wrote in message

news:jhg2f.1574$yY3...@newsfe4-win.ntli.net...

> Was finding some windsurfing spots on google maps, and had the idea for
> thewindmap.com, and have now worked up a quick beta version. Basically

> it's a map driven way to list windsurfing locations worldwide, in a way
> that anyone can add a location, and add or edit the information without
> having to bother withing logging and all that.
>
> There's only a few locations on there right now, so if you have a few
> minutes to try it out, add your favourite spot and let me know what you
> think, it'd be much appreciated.
>
> Currently it works for me in IE 6 and Firefox, works ok but a bit funny
> sometimes in Safari.
>
> http://thewindmap.com
>
> Anthony.
>
> (for those who care about such things, it's basically a google maps api
> + wiki kind of thing...)

[AD.]

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:20:27 -0400, Nick Cox wrote:

> This is a great site, but what I find really annoying is that when I've
> finished looking at a location and then hit the "back to map" link it
> takes me back to the world map rather than the zoomed in map that I was
> just using... so I have to zoom in all over again. This gets rather
> tiresome if one is looking at multiple sites. It would be nice if this
> could be changed - unless there is a reason for this.

The back button takes you back to your last page load. Because this is
now a live AJAX type app, that could've been quite a while ago.

It's really more of a browser thing rather than a site thing. I wonder how
browser makers will adjust to the new world of AJAX apps? For the meantime
you just have to resist using the back button - just like with GMail.

--
Cheers
Anton

[Anthony]

Nick - AD is spot on. For now the "Back to the Map" link on each site
description page takes you back to the map, with the site's region
selected, the site in the centre but zoomed out a little. If it's not
working like that for you, let me know!

If you've got a browser with tabs (safari,firefox etc) it works pretty
well if you open the site descriptions in new tabs, then you can open a
few up as you cruise around the map and then go and look at them.

Anthony

[Anthony]

Just a quick thanks to everyone from rec dot who's added some sites to
http://thewindmap.com - only 2 and a bit weeks in and there's already
over 500 windsurfing spots listed. If you find somewhere new don't
forget to add it! Photo uploads work now, so if you've got time to
upload a snap of your local spot that'd be great.

Thanks again,

Anthony