O Map

[Adrian]

Is there a way of creating a URL for the BOF events map http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/i ... =event_map
centred on a particular place, e.g. 25km radius of DY4 0BS

[oo_wrong_way]

Sure is:

Code: Select all

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/index.php?pg=event_map&evt_postcode=so51&evt_radius=50&bSearch=1

50 mile radius centred on SO51.The trick that is easy to miss is the &bSearch=1 at the end! Don't forget to check out Ollies amazing map at http://www.sloweb.org.uk/ollie/map as an alternative.

[DaveK]

That's really impressive; he even has the Canterbury weekend events in June listed.

[epocian]

That's really impressive; he even has the Canterbury weekend events in June listed.

Blimey, are there people out there who don't use Ollie's fixture website?

Put your own postcode in at topright and the map is centred on your postcode.
Red dots are events in the next 7 days, orange 2 weeks and so on. Click on a dot
highlighted with black circle and event is detailed below.

Why would anyone trawl through BOF's fixture list?

[Mrs H]

I was just thinking that Epocian - and Olly's dots get bigger the sooner they are so the imminent events sort of poke you in the eye - besides it is so much more aesthetically pleasing!

[Clive Coles]

Yes ~ Ollie map is so much better than the BOF map ~ you don't have to scroll to get the map to fit onto your screen !

What you might also find useful Dave is the the URL stored behind the Event name now contains the info you need to get straight down to the full event details that are held on the BOF fixture record

Just click on the link and then adapt the URL for the new screen displayed to substitite British Orienteering for SLOW. For example ( the first event on todays full list)

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/index.php?pg=event&event=60921&back=%2Fevent_diary_pda.php

I did PM Ollie a little time back to suggest it would be nice to introduce this ability so that you don't need to fiddle around with URL's. May well be work in the pipeline.

[greywolf]

Don't forget to check out Ollies amazing map at http://www.sloweb.org.uk/ollie/map as an alternative

Blimey, are there people out there who don't use Ollie's fixture website?

It's definitely prettier...but when only 3 of the local club's 8 confirmed events have any locational data at all, and 2 of those are in the sea off Dublin and the Scilly Isles respectively, it's of limited use... (I appreciate this says more about RAF targeting efficiency than Mr O'Brien's coding skills)
Also, what is the "event" link supposed to do? - I had expected this to lead to event specific information but it appears to go round in circles...

[madmike]

I appreciate this says more about RAF targeting efficiency than Mr O'Brien's coding skills

Steady Tiger

[Mrs H]

You need to make sure you put a correct grid ref in the BOF listing then wait 24 hours and Hey Presto you get your dot in the right place. I had this happen with the Great Malvern Urban Race (incidently the final closing date is next Wednesday!) and asked Olly what I was doing wrong, next day I had a dot of my own, and it's been getting steadily bigger and brighter ever since.

[Clive Coles]

That's the big challenge Greywolf ~ trying to get Fixture secretaries to register details such as a post code for an event.

Without a post code a post code search cannot function. If they record rubbish you end up somewhere in mid-adlantic.

If post codes are not set up the events risk slipping under the planning radar ~ then we get folk complaining about events they would have liked to attend happening on the same day.

So setting up post codes is important if you want to rely on BOF fixture data.

To be fair ~ it's a pain having to define a post code for an assembly area in the middle of nowhere especially if there is no dwelling within miles of the event. I tended to use Streetmap as this contains a convenient Grid reference to Post code converter.

As for the Events link on Ollies map, the URL information has only recently been changed by BOF. It's true, if you click onthis link at present, you appear to go round in circles ~ all that happens is that the map selection changes and the page gets refreshed.

But as I sugggested, it is possible that Ollie may have some work in progress to make better use of the information contained in the URL. It would be great to be able to drill straight down to the BOF details. And then you can drill further down if you wish to find the club's event flyer.

Of course this will only be really useful if Fixture secretaries maintain the fixture information stored on the BOF registration record in a timely manner. Very few clubs put the link to their flyer on their BOF record even though there is an event website field they could use.

Sadly the BOF facility imposes restrictions on who can update fixture information ~ each club is allowed two nominated officials. It would have been better if in addition to the two "fixture authorities", the event organiser was also able to update details once his/her name was registered for the event. Then up to date details might get added as decisions are made.

In my experience very few fixture secretaries remain "in the loop" once the organiser/planning team get appointed. Once the person with the authority ceases to be the person who makes decisions on courses, car parking and event fees there is a risk that the BOF details are never fully recorded.

[Clive Coles]

It's not just a RAFO problem or a club problem . Just look at the internation events that must have been loaded by someone at BOF

http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/index.php?pg=118&postcode=&radius=&filter_assoc=Select...&filter_club=&start_date_day=&start_date_month=&start_date_year=&end_date_day=&end_date_month=&end_date_year=&filter_level=5&bFilter=Filter

The missing TBC info is all known but nobody has the time (or inclination) to record it.

I use the Mole Valley site to screen scrape information for our regional overseas page. thank you Moles.

http://www.clive.coles.freeuk.com/O_Holiday.htm

The information there is all available ~ it just needs someone to be given the BOF authority to update the records. Probably, now that the BOF events committees and groups have been stood down this is something that will not happen this year.

[greywolf]

To be fair ~ it's a pain having to define a post code for an assembly area in the middle of nowhere especially if there is no dwelling within miles of the event.

In Scotland it should be straightforward: one of the spinoffs of the Land Reform Act is a mapping tool on the Scottish Government website which displays postcode units overlain on OS maps.

Not aware of a similar resource south of the border but there's obviously no technical reason why it can't be done.

[ricardito]

I was just thinking that Epocian - and Olly's dots get bigger the sooner they are so the imminent events sort of poke you in the eye - besides it is so much more aesthetically pleasing!

Agreed.... but I have been thinking, all events have the same prominence on the map regardless of level. At the moment both colour and size of the dots depend on the date of the event (relative to today's date), but it could be useful to give more prominence to more major but longer-off events. How about using (say) colour to represent nearness in time and size to represent event level (or the other way round)? Or alternatively, maybe something could be done with the shape of the dots: circle, triangle, square, ... er... star?

[Big Jon]

"Without a post code a post code search cannot function"

why not use a grid reference? - they are useable with a map (grid already printed on it), we are a maps based sport so everyone should be able to read a map, post codes don't work in remote areas - no houses, no post code, so a post code might give a location hundreds of metres from the actual race turn-off, location etc.

[Big Jon]

In Scotland it should be straightforward: one of the spinoffs of the Land Reform Act is a mapping tool on the Scottish Government website which displays postcode units overlain on OS maps.

Except when clicking on mapping toll I get the following message:

"Unable to display MapService
[ERR0940] IMAGESIZE width must be greater than 0"

Another reason to use Grid References rather than Post Codes!