1. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
   • CommentTimeJun 1st 2007 edited

    
   I went throught the forum and my own memory and collected all the outstanding suggestions for improvement that I could find and constructed a consolidated list. My thoughts are that this post could serve 3 purposes 1) give people a place to look to see if their idea has already been suggested 2) give people a forum to encouage specific suggestions by referencing the list 3) provide a forum for the Bikely team to talk about what items might come sooner vs later vs not at all vs included in other parts of Bike Radar, etc.......
   
   1 Ability to show all my routes at once on one map.
   2 Ability to view ‘most popular’ routes within an area based on times viewed.
   3 Ability to view all the routes returned from a search on a map.
   4 Add more search attributes like, total distance, total climb, total descent, route rating.
   5 Search for routes with map functionality. All routes within a certain distance of a point
   6 Search for routes with map functionality. All routes within a certain distance of a selected route (aka the old Nearby)
   7 Search for routes with map functionality. All routes within the current map view
   8 Ability to change the style and type of line is being drawn to represent specific characteristics of that section of the route.
   9 Ability to divide a route into two parts with no connection between the two parts but have the two parts shown in one bike route.
   10 Ability to remove entire sections of a route vs point by point deletion.
   11 Ability to reverse a routes direction so that the "tour" function and distance measures count from the opposite end of the route.
   12 Ability to split a route and save parts seperately.
   13 Auto routing between points
   14 Do not give a pop up warning every time one deletes a point.
   15 Would it be possible to get the map physically larger on the screen?
   16 Ability to change user name.
   17 Improved PRINTING, to add map and cue sheet combo options, support all common browsers, satilite/hybrid view, and hide ads.
   18 Ability to add hyperlinks to node points
   19 Ability to add photos on Node Points
   20 Ability to add points of interest markers that are not connected to the route line.
   21 Ability to enter linefeeds in node note comment fields.
   22 Ability to turn on the comments on node points so they all appear at once without needing to initiate a "tour".
   23 Automatically scale node note sizes to fit the text.
   24 Categories for waypoints markers to select from durring route creation. (eg directions, warning, notes, etc)
   25 Ability to write a general comment about the route that could be accessed when people are looking at the route listings. Not a node note.
   26 Attach documents to routes. Add Word, Excel, PDF and other files which people can download
   27 Bikely has a limited range of locations for routes, and some countries just have the capital city, make the list more complete
   28 Ability to leave private comments to a submitter
   29 Links to external content as part of the GPX export.
   30 More reliable and accurate elevation data
   31 Route categories as part of the GPX export (ie put the TAG values in the export file)
   32 Ability for a user to initiate an "update all" elelvation points on a route.
   33 In elevation profiles: - zooming capability - display percentages.
   34 Mash up Bikely and WikiMapia so that local landmarks for WikiMapia appear on Bikely routes
   35 The elevation profile should show the average % of any climb.
   36 Ability to alter a route and perform a SAVE AS action that retains the original route and creates a new one.
   37 Mile markers along the route line
   38 Directionof travel markers along the route line
   39 Generate automatic turn cues based on the route line
2. • CommentAuthorchrisrust
   • CommentTimeJun 1st 2007 edited

    
   37 Icons for different features on and off the route - eg cafes, rail stations, accomodation (Thanks Scot)
3. • CommentAuthorRideOnRoad
   • CommentTimeJun 5th 2007

    
   I would also request that the elevation gain for a route be displayed on the list of routes.
4. • CommentAuthoreyeless
   • CommentTimeJun 8th 2007

    
   38 Continuous drawing with automatic points being generated. Now one could not get a somewhat accurate description of a 10 km ride with less than 100 points. I made a 35 km ride which has 390 points and still it is not accurate at all and it only took like 2 hours to create. This is just not acceptable. I am hoping for some other service to offer a better solution as it looks unlikely this will be usuable any time soon ... but I keep hoping! /Jerry
5. • CommentAuthorjohnstevenson
   • CommentTimeJun 8th 2007

    
   Scot
   
   Thanks for starting this thread - excellent idea.
   
   Jules is currently on holiday but when he returns he's joining our dev team in Bath to help with the further development of Bikely and BikeRadar.
   
   Maybe we should have a system by which Bikely users can vote for the features they want to see us implement next?
6. • CommentAuthordmacmurc
   • CommentTimeJun 8th 2007

    
   That sounds very good, but you might need to couple it to some sort of degree-of-difficulty/ETA response that would let us users know when we come up with some notion that's really popular, but also really difficult to implement. Jules has already explained this in connection with finding routes near others, but there must be lots of similar "This should be easy for you to do ..." issues.
   
   Of course if the implementation actually is easy, bring 'em on!
7. • CommentAuthorez1bent
   • CommentTimeJun 15th 2007

    
   28A Notification to a submitter when a comment has been made about a route
8. • CommentAuthorlelivelt
   • CommentTimeJun 18th 2007

    
   17 - but more specifically cue sheets. routeslip.com tried this but the single developer just didn't have the resources. Ideally, the user should be able to annotate a point with "right turn onto Main Street" and then print (or dump to TXT file) a cumulative list of these with both mileage from the last turn as well as total mileage.
9. • CommentAuthorradagast
   • CommentTimeJun 18th 2007

    
   Sorry, nothing creative to add to this thread im affraid, but i just wanted to say good work on the site. its potential is limitless.
   Congratulations.
   
   :)
10. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2007 edited

     
    lelivelt,
    Cue sheets are already a supported feature. Many route authors don't put information on node notes to support turn cues but those that do, the cue sheets work wonderfully.
    
    Scot
11. • CommentAuthordrewwb
    • CommentTimeJun 18th 2007

     
    All of the above are great suggestions. I personally do a lot of "in and out" trips that make the plotting of the return trip a waste of mouse clicks. A button that would allow for automatic backtracking along the same route would be fantastic!
12. • CommentAuthorgurana
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2007

     
    i wish I had checked this thread out before commenting on another one about 'return' trips...
    
    anyways, and re the previous post by drewwb, I second the "in and out" feature (if it's not already done, and I have yet to find it). From the previous thread I read on this subject, it seems one of the hang ups is that the cue sheets cues are entered in manually, making automatic reversal difficult. Note: routeslip.com had this feature, but it had a pick list of actions you could perform at any given point. E.g., 'left turn', 'bear left', 'cross'... I much prefer the more dynamic method of handling cue sheets that bikely seems to have, but I do miss the 'out and back' feature because I would use that primarily to see what the elevation profile looked like over the whole trip.
    
    Another suggestion would be a 'journal feature', similar to bikejournal.com. It wouldn't need to be all fancy like that. Bike journal has a lot of things like average speed over the course of my total logged miles... but really I only care about total miles ridden.
    
    Also, the OP mentioned something about this thread serving as a way to see which suggestions, if any, have been addressed... Reading through that list, it seems like quite a few of them made it on here, but no apparent way of making sure which ones have and which ones have not.
    
    Thanks
    MW
13. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2007 edited

     
    MW,
    None of the suggestions on the list are currently have been deployed by Bikely. They are all currently outstanding. Which is why you don't see things like, cue sheets, rate a route, favorites, search by tag, upload and download from GPS, and a bunch more. Those were all deployed prior to me putting this list together.
    
    When Jules and BikeRadar implement one of the above. I will edit the text into strikeout to show that it is complete
    
    Scot
14. • CommentAuthordmacmurc
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2007

     
    Good man, Scot!! I didn't realize you were planning on following up like that - this reminds me that we need a facility to buy one another virtual beers or something like that. Here's to ya, anyhow!
15. • CommentAuthorez1bent
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2007

     
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Virtual beers for the House !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
16. • CommentAuthorjohnstevenson
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2007

     
    I think we might have to leave virtual beers to Facebook, for the moment at least ;)
17. • CommentAuthorcricketk
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2007

     
    I'd like to be able to mark other riders' routes in such a way that I can find them through 'My Bikely'. There's a couple of routes near me that I don't yet have the conditioning to do, but would like to be able to easily find at some later point when I am up to speed and up to strength.
    
    I'd also like any comments I put on people's routes to go to them.
18. • CommentAuthordmacmurc
    • CommentTimeJun 19th 2007

     
    I think your first point may be dealt with by the Favourites icon: look for the little heart at the top left of the screen and click it to add the route you're looking at to your Favourites list.
19. • CommentAuthorRecycle
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2007

     
    How easy is it to add a topographic map view? A topo view is very helpful when trying to decide between several different routes through unfamiliar territory.
    
    BTW, the cue sheet facility on this site very well done.
20. •  
      CommentAuthorPeter-DG
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2007 edited

     
    Cue sheet.
    .
    The cue sheet feature is great. I don't like the format but I just bring it into Lotus123 and change the format to what I like. It's trivial.
    .
    BUT
    .
    Big problem: I need 2 digits after the decimal point on the mileage.
    Reasons:
    1- For many segments (esp. in urban areas) .02 may be right but .04 isn't. Giving me 0.0 or 0.1 is not good enough.
    2- I show the grade of climb and 35 feet up on 0.1 mile isn't the same as 35 feet on 0.14 mile or 0.06 mile. It's esp. bad when the segment is reported as 0.0 long, as many are.
    3- Map view mileage is way off the cue sheet mileage. I expect this is due to summing up rounded step distances in one of these. I have a route that shows up as 11.3 miles on the map view and 10.8 on the cue sheet. It's very confusing for the user.
    .
    So please, PLEASE, change the cue sheet distance output to 2 digits after the decimal point. This should be trivial.
    .
    Thanks for a wonderful tool.
    .
    By the way, another suggestions, that I can work around easily:
    .
    The cue sheet column order should be:
    - Elevation at current point (don't need the decimal value here - nearest foot is much more than the data justifies)
    - Cumulative distance
    - Notes field which I code as turn::direction::road e.g. L::N::Summit Drive [ :: converts to tabs for spreadsheet ]
    - Distance for this step
    [ I don't find the direction data useful - also I'm ambivalent about the "Where" field]
    .
    I found I can "cut and paste" the cue sheet form FireFox to Lotus very nicely, but not from M S IE.
    .
    For some of my bikely maps and cue sheets generated from the bikely cue sheets go to:
    http://turula.com/ride
    .
    .
21. • CommentAuthoralanm
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2007

     
    Agree that the cue sheet function is very well done. It works even better if the creator of the route takes the time to annotate carefully. I've done that with all my routes, using conventions of one of the very large groups I ride with.
    
    R = Right turn
    L = Left turn
    SO = straight on
    SS = Stop sign
    TS = Traffic signal (lights)
    RR = Railroad crossing
    
    For eg,
    R at SS onto Any Street
    SO at TS, crossing That St, continuing on This St which becomes What St.
    
    The suggestion I'd add to the list of printing/cue sheet functions would be an option to print a "clean" cue sheet (no advertising, banner, headers, etc) so that it's ready to use.
    
    Keep up the great work on Bikely!
    ...alan
22. •  
      CommentAuthorPeter-DG
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2007

     
    Selected items in Scot_Gore's improvements list are already do-able.
    .
    Specifically, one can output the data as gpx, combine, split, reorder, and otherwise massage the data, and upload as a new route. I do that all the time.
    .
    This applies to the following items, and probably several others, in the list:
    .
    10 Ability to remove entire sections of a route vs point by point deletion.
    .
    12 Ability to split a route and save parts seperately.
    .
    36 Ability to alter a route and perform a SAVE AS action that retains the original route and creates a new one.
    .
23. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2007 edited

     
    Peter-DG
    Re: Selected items in Scot_Gore's improvements list are already do-able
    You are absolutely correct. They were included because some users have strongly expressed the desire to be able to do those things without having to leave the Bikely interface. For example, I've personally explained to people a half a dozen times how to easily execute a "SAVE AS" function with an upload and download that takes less than 30 seconds, almost everyone has replied that they would expect this more like SAVE AS is deliveried in a word processor.
    
    Re: The cue sheet column order should be:
    - Elevation at current point (don't need the decimal value here - nearest foot is much more than the data justifies)
    Being a guy who's highest point within a day's ride is 900 feet and lowest point is 600 feet, I personally DO NOT want current elevation to be in colm 1. Stick it way over to the right.
    
    Scot
24. •  
      CommentAuthorPeter-DG
    • CommentTimeJun 20th 2007

     
    Re:
    "I personally DO NOT want current elevation to be in colm 1. Stick it way over to the right."
    The problem with "at the right" is that I expect things on the right to be at the end of the segment. But the elevation is at the beginning of the segment.
    .
    On the left I have cum. dist. at the segment start and elevation at the segment start; on the right I have distance to the end of segment and elevation gain for that segment. It's (-: obviously :-) much more intuitive that way.
    .
    P.S., my elevation range is 650 to 775 (Chicago suburb).
    .
    Also: What are the chances of getting 2 digits after the decimal point for mileage distances? That's really my reason for writing. All the other bike routing tools I've used do that, but of course they are nowhere near as feature rich as bikely.
25. • CommentAuthorneilfein
    • CommentTimeJun 22nd 2007

     
    +1 on the improved printing; sounds ambitious!
26. • CommentAuthorjointhedots
    • CommentTimeJul 1st 2007

     
    Another couple of requests...
    38 - Show nodes as popup boxes that appear when you hover the mouse over them while in the elevation view
    39 - Allow the 'Start Tour' option to work on the elevation view
    40 - I second the suggestion above by Recycle to add a topographical map layer. It would be great for planning rides in unknowns areas.
27. • CommentAuthorkawdenco
    • CommentTimeJul 2nd 2007

     
    This is awesome......I add my vote for a vote button, to help you prioritize your work. I also would like the Journal function mentioned earlier...akin to what routeslip provided.
    
    Your site is awesome. Hope you guys hold it together!
28. • CommentAuthorkawdenco
    • CommentTimeJul 2nd 2007

     
    One other improvement might be a "save as" function. I'll often start with a base route and add onto it. I did not know, at first, that if I start with a base map and then change its name, I would be replacing the base map and loosing it.
    
    I worked around this by, exporting the base map and starting a new map and then, importing the base map.....
29. • CommentAuthorkawdenco
    • CommentTimeJul 2nd 2007

     
    One other matter....the inset frame presenting the ride profile, often does not show up. I use firefox and, that may be the problem?
30. • CommentAuthoroldefezziwig
    • CommentTimeJul 2nd 2007

     
    RE: Peter-DG's feature 12: "Ability to split a route and save parts seperately."
    
    I agree that this would be a great feature and would clarify the feature as follows. I would like the ability to cut the map into several street-detail sections that when printed out and viewed side by side would form the entire route. This would not necessarily have to correspond directly to the cue sheet, nor would it have to be an exact turn-by-turn. Just generate zoomed-in map chunks that show parts of the route, each of which can be printed out separately.
    
    I did this a couple of times manually and it was tremendous help when biking in unfamiliar areas.
31. • CommentAuthorcoyoteboy
    • CommentTimeJul 3rd 2007

     
    Can I suggest being able to add more to a route than just the route - photos, a ride-report style entry etc...?
32. • CommentAuthorrubbeldiekatz
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2007

     
    Thanks for the good work so far! Improved printing would definitely at the top of my list; right now I have to manually take multiple screenshots to print a road at sufficient detail with the road being drawn (using Firefox).
33. • CommentAuthorthewhall
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2007

     
    Is there any way to take advantage of the latest improvement to google maps? Creating a bike loop on Google Maps by 'dragging the blue line' is trivial now compared to the current method here.
34. • CommentAuthorBlueMM
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2007

     
    thewhall: See the Google Maps new "dynamic routing" good for bicycle routes discussion from a few days ago, it details how to get the GMap directions into Bikely.
    
    Does anyone look at old discussions?? Maybe a better (more prominent) search would be better?
35. • CommentAuthoraltaskier
    • CommentTimeJul 13th 2007

     
    It would be really good if you one could center a map on a location and then see all routes that are in that area!
36. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeJul 14th 2007

     
    Re: It would be really good if you one could center a map on a location and then see all routes that are in that area!
    
    #'s 5 & 6
37. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2007

     
    Based on John Stephenson's post on 9/21, they plan to put some effort into
    4
    13
    14
    28
    32
    from the above list.
    Scot
38. • CommentAuthorjohnstevenson
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2007

     
    Not "plan to put some efort into" - those things are *done*. You can see them in action at mud.bikely.com. We now need them testing in a range of environments in case there are bugs we've missed.
    
    The post Scot refers to:
    
    http://www.bikely.com/forum/discussion/1722/from-the-management-bikely-development/#Item_4
39. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeSep 22nd 2007 edited

     
    Hey John you might want to paste these in as live links in this forum. Like so:
    Bikely Test Environment
    
    A message to you from Bikely
    
    Some people might not make the extra two click effort and miss your content.
    
    Just a thought, no biggie.
    Scot
40. • CommentAuthorscottplan
    • CommentTimeSep 25th 2007

     
    My vote is for 3 (geographic search for routes) and 19 (cell-phone photos associated with node points).
    
    Lots of other great ideas listed.
41. •  
      CommentAuthorPeter-DG
    • CommentTimeSep 25th 2007 edited

     
    to Scot_Gore:
    How did you enter that? I have not been able to get html tags recognized as tags rather than as text.
42. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeSep 26th 2007 edited

     
    Peter,
    Turn on the BBCode option at the bottom of the posting text box and after that it will be easy. :)
    
    Scot
43. •  
      CommentAuthorKevin Pfeiffer
    • CommentTimeSep 29th 2007

     
    The map in the test environment is about 20% narrower on my small screen due to Google ads on the right side of the screen. I've never seen these on the main site (perhaps they're blocked). If they are to stay, will there be a paying option to get rid of them?? That and for having sub-directories in user accounts? It's getting to the point that I simply can't find the routes in my long list anymore, as routes on Mallorca are mixed together with routes in Durham, etc.
44. • CommentAuthorcharliecat
    • CommentTimeOct 3rd 2007

     
    I'd like to be able to 1)copy & paste my existing routes and 2) sort my routes alphabetically.
45. • CommentAuthorScot_Gore
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2007 edited

     
    Good News!!!!!!
    I updated the list with cross outs on part of #4, #13, #14, #32 and #36.
    
    It looks like there's a way to send a private message to a route author (#28) but everyone I tried I got a "user has elected not to recieve private messages" and can't find a way to say "I want private messages on my own account".
    
    John, do you have some guidance for the private messaging feature.
    
    Scot
46. • CommentAuthorDNAtsol
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2007

     
    I'd like to add my vote for #12 with a caveat. I mentioned this in another post but I'll reiterated it here. Having a route be divided into segments is great and cool but I'd also like to do the reverse and take individual segments to build a new route from existing route segments. For instance, I'm still in the early stages of training and adding distance to a route is something that happens on an almost weekly basis (so that capability is purely selfish).
    
    But second, and this is where I think I've come up with a really cool idea :),imagine a LBS wanting to sponsor a ride or race. They could come in, find or build routes in the local area and link them together to develop a race route and make it available to the riders in advance. The Profile, distance, topo etc could help in the development of the best training schedule do well.
    
    My 2 cents
    DNAtsol
47. • CommentAuthorDBike01
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2007

     
    When creating/editing a route, the auto-center function is annoying. This is especially true when you are moving point to extend the route. I have also noted that the "Next Point" button will sometimes jump 5-10 points rather than one. Likewise the "Previous Point" will occasionally do the same. It is a bit tricky to step through the points one at a time.
    
    It would be great if the "follow the road" function would work when adding points in the middle of an existing route. This one maybe wishful thinking.
48. •  
      CommentAuthorPeter-DG
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2007

     
    My understanding is that the "Next Point" button jumps to the next point that has a note associated with it, not just to the next point. But if the next point with a note is very far then it goes to a point without a note ~5?10 "steps" out.
    .
    MapMyRide.com lets you toggle the "auto-center function" on or off which is very nice - so you can have it either way.
49. •  
      CommentAuthorKevin Pfeiffer
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2007

     
    Ctrl-clicking takes you to the next note; I believe that this is not documented.
50. • CommentAuthorhelenst
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2007 edited

     
    If you are to be able to add photos to a route, would it be possible to allow flickr integration? I already upload and geocode my photos on flickr and wouldn't like to have to duplicate the effort.
    
    Splitting a route would also be great - I am currently mapping out a tour of about 1000 miles, using follow road, it's about 10,000 points so far and I can see things gradually getting slower as it grows. It'd be great to be able to split it up into days, but still be able to show all of those on one map.

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