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hmmmm well firstly my time to spend on extra curricular activities lol has died a death over the last 4-5 months due to the arrival of Sophia
but secondly I am still not happy with the interface, you used it and my biggest criticism of it was the lack of a map facility
I am actually canvassing developers for a few addons / tweaks to our existing online campsite datatabase atm, once that is arranged and complete I am looking to approach a developer with some ideas (I want a proper map interface similar to how the ACSI CD Works)
...I am actually canvassing developers for a few addons / tweaks to our existing online campsite datatabase atm, once that is arranged and complete I am looking to approach a developer with some ideas (I want a proper map interface similar to how the ACSI CD Works)
Yes I find the ACSI interface very good. I think the main area for improvement in the ACSI guide is its presentation of the campsite information - it would be nice if more visuals could be included - photos or even video clips. Perhaps expensive to achieve unless you can use images provided by members and this is surely a big advantage of a club or forum based e-guide.
I think a club or forum based guide with good site information (based on members' experience) and a decent map interface, usable offline would be a formidable product. It could even include other useful sections of the website (some of the FAQ stuff for example). The best arrangement might be to have the same interface for the online and offline versions so that when appropriate the website (fully up to date) would be used by members only, with an annual DVD production publicly available at market price, with a discount to members who purchase it.
I'm surprised at the backwardness of the commercial guide publishers (e.g. Alan Rogers) and the main clubs, who still don't offer a lightweight and powerful DVD-based alternative to carting great heavy paper tomes around. Many (most) of us surely take a laptop with us anyway?
MHF is ideally placed to pioneer the concept because surely the combination of online updatability by members, a level of moderation (as with any forum content) and incorporation into a saleable product for offline use by both members and a wider public is very powerful.
Please let me know if you agree with this or if you think the pitfalls are more significant than I realise.
Another excellent feature is the ACSI product is its route planner which I find actually very good and competitive with either web-based or PC based alternatives - that would also be a great feature in an MHF product. Carl and Flo in their post introduce a huge additional topic though which is the potential for integration between SatNav, guides and route planning - I'm not going there, especially in relation to integration of SatNav and route planning (it's a different topic and a very big one). But at least any decent guide to campsites should show GPS coordinates as part of site data.
But finally, I do appreciate it's not easy to put this together, and it is a lot of work. Congratulations on Sophia by the way - hope she's doing well!
the ACSI interface is good but that is because it uses Navteq maps i think, I don't have pricing yet but I am expecting an extraordinary price for the functionality as this full mapping facility (such as directions / route planning etc) comes at a cost.
It is something i want to work towards though
The current incarnation of beta cd allows access to the information but its too clunky imho for release and to put my name to it so to speak
Sophia is fine, just at the stage of trying to sit up and not keeping me awake so much at night
When you say " The current incarnation of beta cd allows access to the information but its too clunky imho for release and to put my name to it so to speak " ... I understand your sentiments but don't forget that the information has intrinsic value, especially for those of us who don't have (fast) internet access all of the time.
When I'm looking for a campsite I don't exclusively use my ACSI DVD (even though I think it's great) just because it has a flashy interface. I also use POI's on my TOMTOM satnav and PC Autoroute as well as a variety of books and maps. This really is a clunky intterface but I don't mind having to cross reference the various sources to get the best site, but anything that speeds the proces up is a help.
Please consider:
a) making the beta more widely available ( at least you'll get more feedback and perhaps be able to build a better spec for a final product)
b) making the base data available so that members can produce satnav and autoroute datasets (for sole or communal use) for themselves. These are really useful when you don't have access to the website.
I'm not saying that the online and offline databases shouldn't be developed, I'm just asking that you don't assume that something has to be perfect before it becomes useful. We really won't hold you responsible for the clunky interface we'll just be grateful that we've been able to find somewhere great to stay!
regards
Mike
Last edited by madontour on Thu Jun 04, 2009 3:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
Hi Mike the main issue with making the back end data easily accessible and downloadable is that instantly it also becomes possible to grab a copy of all that data and instantly upload it elsewhere
Now it has taken years of user input and lots of dedication from the staff who check these entries and approve them to get to where we are now, yet if i make it open to access then instantly another site could popup such as www.copyofmotorhomefactscampsitereviews.com and have all that data
As for making the base CD available for others, the similar issue faced is that of copy protection,i.e. I am putting in a lot of time, funds (for developers and in the end mass production of the DVD/CD) and if i release many copies of this CD then it could simply be copied, passed around and be on a torrent site before end of the day
Believe me, I understand the ins and outs of copy protection and intellectual property rights - a long story I won't go in to here!
Presuming any data would only be available to fully paid up members of MHF I'm a bit surprised that you have worries that it would then be pirated.
Further the base data isn't the core strength here. As you say, the database is the result of thousands of members who do the inputting, checking and updating and that is the strength. Anyone who nicks the data and tries to launch another site simply won't have the volume of updates coming thru to make their site interesting (asuming they have a mechanism to collect any updates at all).
That's why camping car infos (aires database) and pocketgpsworld (speed camera locations), and their like, continue to be successful, even though their data are made widely available, as they have a critical mass of users who are keeping their sites databases up-to-date.
Anyway, I'm not out to complain or criticise. I'ts just frustrating that sometimes I find (after the event) that there was a better place to stay than the one I chose simply because I didn't have access to the interweb, and I'd love to have access to an offline version of the campsite database. If I can help in anyway to help bring that about, let me know.
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