Looking for feedback on new site for cyclists

[cyclistnexus]

Hello,

We've recently introduced a free web service designed to help cyclists coordinate their cycling activities. This includes creating routes, logging rides, managing groups (either formal or informal), and coordinating rides and events.

We just opened things up and we're still in beta mode right now, but we'd really like to hear what people think about what we've done so far.

So if you have a chance please take a look, do a search in your local area, and create a route or two and let us know what you think.

The site is www.cyclistNexus.com

Thanks,

JP Gorsky
CyclistNexus.com

 

[BobH]

I like it a lot and put in a few routes. I will be curious to see if it's really sticky.

Bob

ps, the route tracking mechanism is very cool but had a couple of glitches.

Hello,

We've recently introduced a free web service designed to help cyclists coordinate their cycling activities. This includes creating routes, logging rides, managing groups (either formal or informal), and coordinating rides and events.

We just opened things up and we're still in beta mode right now, but we'd really like to hear what people think about what we've done so far.

So if you have a chance please take a look, do a search in your local area, and create a route or two and let us know what you think.

The site is www.cyclistNexus.com

Thanks,

JP Gorsky
CyclistNexus.com

 

[cyclistnexus]

ps, the route tracking mechanism is very cool but had a couple of glitches.

Bob,

Thanks for trying out the site and for the feedback. If you don't mind answering, were the glitches you experienced due to problems with the map (roads in the wrong place, incorrect one-ways, etc) or did you have problems actually creating the route?

Thanks,

JP

 

[BobH]

I've actually spent quite a bit of time there since yesterday. I think you've done a great job.

The glitches in mapping the routes were small, but in a couple of places it automatically inserted U-turns or wouldn't let me actually map the actual route. It seemed like it was smart and knew what I didn't but that was not the case.

How did you do the routing piece? I know Tele Atlas doesn't do that (they are a client of mine) but did you write it yourself or use someone else's toolkit?

Bob

Bob,

Thanks for trying out the site and for the feedback. If you don't mind answering, were the glitches you experienced due to problems with the map (roads in the wrong place, incorrect one-ways, etc) or did you have problems actually creating the route?

Thanks,

JP

 

[cyclistnexus]

I've actually spent quite a bit of time there since yesterday. I think you've done a great job.

The glitches in mapping the routes were small, but in a couple of places it automatically inserted U-turns or wouldn't let me actually map the actual route. It seemed like it was smart and knew what I didn't but that was not the case.

How did you do the routing piece? I know Tele Atlas doesn't do that (they are a client of mine) but did you write it yourself or use someone else's toolkit?

Bob

It sounds like you're hitting errors in the road data that gets overlaid onto the google map. You've probably already figured out that in those cases you can turn off the snap-to-road feature and just click on the map where you want the route to go.

As you guessed, the basic map data that we use is from Tele Atlas, provided through google's mapping API. Also, we use elevation data from the USGS (with some custom software) to generate the route profile view.

If you PM me (or send mail to support at cyclistnexus.com) I'd be glad to explain the "secret" details on how we implemented the "snap-to-road" feature.

Regards,

JP