[philmont] PhilSearch News for December

November proved to be a much more productive month than I had anticipated.

· Over 250 photos were added to the database
· The Virtual Tour feature was started & completed
· Composite Features were added to Trek Search
· Trek Summaries were verified vs. the 2006 Treks Book

Literally hundreds of photos have been added this month which created enough
critical mass to support other planned (and some unplanned) enhancements.
Of particular note are contributions from Craig Maes (Cito’s ancient Totem
Poles) and Calvin Grey (Autumn Adventure) which put things in a whole new
perspective … check out Beaubien under a light blanket of fall snow ...
Craig also provided the last shots needed to cover each and every staffed
camp on the ranch. The sheer number of photos caused me to make
improvements to the Photo Album in the form of a “photo sets” feature that
allows photos to be viewed based on a topic other than location or program
feature (for instance infrastructure, staff cabins or Autumn Adventure). I
expect more enhancements here as more photos are added.

The Virtual Tour feature debuted this month as the photos needed to support
it spurred me on to develop the logic needed. This feature is available now
in what I expect to be pretty close to its final form. This feature lets
you walk through a trek and see photos of the campsites and program features
associated with that trek, Further enhancements are planned here to add
shots of the check-in process (near term) and trails between camps (longer
term) as the mapping logic is improved. As you can see some treks have
better coverage than others as many camps have only one or two photos in the
database … this feature relies on having a general shot and a campsite shot
so if you have these please consider contributing.

A new capability in Trek Search called “Composite Features” is designed to
allow trek selection using groups of similar program features rather that
specific features … for instance you might desire a trek with a program
meal … chuck wagon breakfast, dinner or Mexican dinner all being equally
acceptable, but at least one being required. Previously there was no easy
way to do this, the composite features selection criteria addresses this
need, There are half a dozen or so composites defined including Theme
Meals, 10K+ peaks, Cantina (with or without show) and more. I’m receptive
to suggestions for more composites and can add them easily … you can see the
current set by selecting Trek Search and then clicking on the Composite
Definition link near the bottom of the dialog box.

A big Thank You to Doug Latimer who manually cross checked PhilSearch’s Trek
Search output with the 2006 Treks book, I’ve posted most all of his
suggested changes – those that were corrections to the data set – others
requiring logic enhancements will take a little more time. I believe that
the material errors in data entry have been corrected … Just in time for
those that got confirmed reservations for 2008.

On the personal victory front I’ve finally nailed a problem that I’ve been
chasing since the beginning that resulted in a sporadic error on the home
page that made the site appear to be down. As one would expect it was a
coding error on my part, obscure for sure but my bad, I’m just happy for
having vanquished it.

I’m still looking for more photos, probably always will be. There are
activities and campsites that still have no photos and others that could use
better ones. I’m always looking for the special shots as well, please think
of contributing.

For the moment the focus is back on mapping and routing, I hope to make a
major breakthrough this month, although as I’ve previously indicated mapping
probably won’t be in place in time for ’07 but rather will be more useful to
’08 crews.

As always your comments, good or bad, and suggestions are welcome.

If you choose to share photos please include the Photographers name,
location where the photo was taken, Troop # (including city & state), trek
#, expedition number and year so I can include proper photo credit.

Thanks

YIS
Jim
HA ASM Troop 6
HA Chair Chester County Council
www.troop6bsa.org?cmd=philmont
PSR '74(16) '04(4) '06(26)
IWTGBTP
www.troop6bsa.org?cmd=philsearch

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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
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Received on Thu Dec 7 23:48:35 2006