Took away the main page, which was just filler getting in the way of getting to places. Now the most recent images are on the places page - everything is there, and a little more streamlined.
The signing in process and joining process are now streamlined. It should all make more sense, and you can sign in from any page instead of just the home page.
You can now download GPX files! Most GPS units can load these so you can follow someone else's track. (Disclaimer: the track the person took may not be safe or still accessible). Also there are numerous other little fixes. Notably, when you upload a background for a place, the site lets you know that it is uploading it rather than nothing happening.
GPX files are now displaying a track on a place's map! Within the next few days I'll get the upload and download of the gpx files working.
I'm just back from a long roadtrip, so just a few small updates. There are now options for adding climbs and campgrounds - the climbing option was requested, and on my roadtrip we stayed at a few campgrounds I'd like to review. And it was harder to find good campgrounds in the US than I thought it would be. Granted, it was August and everyone and their dog is on vacation in August, so most of the campgrounds were full.
Brian, this one's for you. I updated the maps on this site to enable zooming by scrolling. Should make things a little quicker to find in general. I also added terrain maps, and set them as default. You can still switch to satellite view if you need that information.
Snazzy backgrounds for places are working! I really enjoy the atmosphere this can add to a page without a user having to click on anything. Yes, they slow down the loading time a bit, but not too crazily if you compress the pictures decently. If I notice any horribly slow ones I'll replace them. You will want to make sure any backgrounds you upload are 1920 pixels wide to accommodate high definition (1080x1920) monitors. I think we need to worry about wider than that for a while.
You can now delete any pictures you upload. When you are logged in there is a little "x" on all the pictures you have uploaded. Click the x, confirm that you actually want to delete it, and it will be gone for good.
This site is about giving you the information you need to get outside and enjoy yourself.
With this site you can find interesting places by location. There are descriptions and photos of many trails and other interesting places. If you join you can keep track of places you've been, share them with others, and upload pictures of your travels.
I built this site for people who enjoy the outdoors as much as I do. Finding good hiking trails and interesting places to see can be difficult. Even if you know where you want to go, you may want to see what kind of adventures you may experience once you get there.
Browsing Places
If you click on the "Places" tab at the top, the page will show you a map and a list of places. As you zoom in on the map (double click or use the scale control on the top left), you will notice that the list of places will refresh. The places in the list are all the ones shown in the map, so the more you zoom in, the fewer will be in the list.
Once the map is showing the particular area you are interested in, there may still be a lot of places in the list. You can arrange them, or narrow them down further, by using the top row of the list. If you click on a heading ("Rating" or "Date Added" for example) the list will order itself according to this information. There is also a column that says "All Types". If you are interested in only "Paddles" for example, you can change the select menu to this, and the only places displayed in the list and on the map will be places you can boat.
If you are looking at a place you've been, and if you're signed in, you can rate it. To rate a place, you can click on the stars right below the place name on the page for that place.
Joining
To join, go to any page, and on the top left you will see a "Join" button in orange. Go to the join page, enter at least your email and a password (you may also enter more info if you would like), click "Join", and a few minutes later you should receive and email at the address you provided. Click on the link in this email to confirm your account, and then you can "Log In" with the email address and password you entered at the beginning. If you ever want to change your password, you can do this on your "Profile" page when signed in.
Why do I insist on your email address? Because I don't want spam filling up this site and making it unusable. I don't sell your address, and I don't send you email. Your email address is also not visible to anyone else.
Adding Places
To add a place, you must be logged in. Once you are logged in, from any page you can click on the orange "Actions" tab, and click on "Add Place" from the drop down menu. Once you click this, you will be taken to a blank template for this new place. Click on any of the sections to edit them. All the areas you can edit will turn blue when you put your mouse over them.
For the "Types" section, you can add as many as apply to this place. It might be a good roadside stop as well as a hike, but if it's not worth stopping unless you hike, leave out the roadside stop.
For the "Summary" just try to sum up the place in a few words. This will appear on the page which lists all the places.
For "Quick Info", you can add as many as you have information for. Some won't apply depending on what type it is. Just add any that make sense (to add more click on the "+" button). If you make a mistake you can always click on the "-" button next to the heading. That will remove the quick info section it is next to.
The "Closest City" is used to get the weather for this place. If the weather doesn't show up after you have the closest city added, you can come back and edit this to be the next closest major city.
To add pictures, click on "Upload Photos". If you added this place, you will see two form fields. If you do this on a place someone else has added, you will only see one. Only the person who adds a place can set the background. To upload photos, just click on the "Browse" button, find a photo from this place on your computer, and select it. It will upload to this place for everyone to see, and will automatically resize it. However, it is best to not upload huge files as this will take a long time, and take up a lot of space on our server. For photos, they will look best if they are at least 1920 pixels wide, and at least 1024 high. After you've uploaded photos to a place, you can always delete them later by clicking on the "X" overlayed on your picture thumbnails.
To make the "Map" section useful, find the area on the map, zoom in so the place fills the map, and click "Save Map Zoom Level". If you want to add any pins to the map, such as trailhead, parking area, or other points of interest, click "Edit Points" and then click on the map where you want to add a point. If you make a mistake, you can click on a point you've already added and either edit it or delete it.
Deleting Places
Right now you can't delete places. Once they're added, they're there to stay. If I notice a place for which there is no information and it stays blank for a few days, I will delete it. If you really, really want a place you've added to disappear, you can delete all the information from it, and I will delete it after a bit.