Routegadget 2.0: Sneak preview

[Simon E]

After the recent discussions about the problems of Java and Routegadget I have now produced an alternative: Routegadget 2.0 ( or at least that's what I'm calling it for now).

You can try it out on the HH Routegadget site.

Paul Frost has been involved and should be able to provide links to some other sites using the same system. I'll provide all of the files so that other people can install it on their sites once I have written up how to install it.

There are lots of things that still need to be sorted out, but at least this shows it can be done.

Simon

[MIE]

But only if your browser supports HTML 5.0 or higher

[DJM]

Simon,

Great that you and Paul are working on this - it has a nice and clean interface and adding the optional tails is a good touch too.

A couple of points ...

1. Maybe I just haven't found it, but the RG 1.0 feature of displaying splits and actual distances run per leg (albeit in pixels) was occasionally useful. Of course, if the map scale were known, then lengths in metres could be shown instead.

2. One refinement I wished RG 1.0 had would be the ability to mass start selected runners at any control, e.g. the start of a long leg. It would then be much easier to spot which route choices were the fastest on any leg. Is this something you'd like to add to your feature list?

PS Using IE 10 and fine on Chrome v30 too

[rocky]

It's cool you've had a go at this. I'd echo DJMs comments, thy would both be very useful features.

However more pressing for me would be adding a smartphone friendly interface. Here's how it looks on my iPhone 4S. Not a lot of map to geek over there!

[EddieH]

Am I missing something or does it not work on my machine? I can see courses and can get the tracks of runners, but I can't get any replay display.

[Simon E]

Am I missing something or does it not work on my machine? I can see courses and can get the tracks of runners, but I can't get any replay display.

This bit may need some more thought since it's obviously not quite as intuitive as it should be.

Replay uses runners selected on the results tab. Check the "Replay" box against a runner and they get added to the replay. You can see a list of selected runners on the replay tab.

[Simon E]

However more pressing for me would be adding a smartphone friendly interface. Here's how it looks on my iPhone 4S. Not a lot of map to geek over there!

Small screens are going to be a problem. The touch interface also makes things a bit complicated. I've got some ideas how it might end up, but for now I've been concentrating on getting the main functionality working on desktops.

[SeanC]

That's great work.

Many companies wont support the less commonly used browsers, typically saying a browser needs to have >5% market share. I think this would be reasonable here, particularly with the older versions of Internet Explorer which are notorious for behaving differently to everything else. Looking at the latest IE statistics, IE 7 (one of the most troublesome) should definately be off the list? http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_explorer.asp

We can always download a separate (new) browser just for RouteGadget 2, so if it can only work in Chrome or something initially that would be better than now. Whatever is easiest... other browsers and mobiles could come later.

[DJM]

Maybe we should be looking at what browsers regular orienteers use instead, and not the global population. Analysis of visitors to http://www.thejk.org.uk/2014 might do just this. For example, since 26th October, four browsers dominated the way in which the JK2014 website was accessed during 1868 visits:

IE (36%) ........... IE10 (18%), IE8 (7%), IE9 (5%), IE7 (1%), IE6 (<1%)
Chrome (26%) ... Chrome v30/31 (23%)
Safari (21%) ...... Safari 7 (10%), v6 (8%), v5 (2%)
Firefox (16%) .... Firefox 25 (7%), v24 (7%), v23 (1%)
Others (6%)

Another interesting stat is that desktops/laptops were used for 78% of visits, tablets for 15% and mobiles for 7%. Windows was the OS for 67% of visits too. It seems that the focus on getting things right for desktops/laptops is spot on!

[obody]

The difficulty with looking at existing stats is they show you who your site currently appeals to - and not those who would like to visit but can't eg because they've learned it doesn't work on their phone.

About a fifth of overall website traffic - so, similar to that for the JK site - is from mobile devices and rapidly growing.

http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-mar ... tatistics/

I'm not saying that developing RG in particular for mobile is necessarily a high priority given the challenges of small screens/big maps. But if we want to cement the sport as an over 65s only pastime, ignoring mobile trends in general seems one great way to do it.

[EddieH]

I find Routegadget notably less interesting on my laptop than a large screen desktop. I cannot visualise any conceivable way i'd be interested in Routegadget on a mobile handset.

[EddieH]

Thanks for that Simon I get it now. However if I want to see the runners without a preimposed track I need to not check the track box. But I only get the runner names telling me what colour each one is if I do check the track box.

how can I watch runners and know who is who without having their tracks premarked?

[rocky]

I find Routegadget notably less interesting on my laptop than a large screen desktop. I cannot visualise any conceivable way i'd be interested in Routegadget on a mobile handset.

Virtually all of my online activity is via my phone these days. I'm far more likely to draw my route if I can do it while I'm eating my lunch than having to go home and boot my PC up and spend the evening staring at a screen.

Come the 4G revolution and the new Garmin watches that connect to your phone via bluetooth, we could be uploading GPS routes from the assembly field as soon as we finish...

[Jayne]

I would so love it if my garmin trace would just upload onto routegadget without all the faffing around (that I never really bother with).

[Big Jon]

Congratulations - Looks great - a lot better than the original RG (that was always a bit slow and stuttery.
I'll push my club to get a licence as soon as you are ready to offer it!