ClimberVoice blog

ClimberVoice v1.0 build 3586

iacoware — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:51:17 +0000

Time passes and new features gets added. Worth mentioning includes:

1. Latest stuff: This widget present the latest pitch added to the website

2. Rating: You can now rate crags and pitches

3. Print: No need of an explanation .

4. Google Maps. Lots of improvements here:

- It remembers the last position (and zoom level) you were looking at. Go check out that nice crag, when you’ll come back you’ll be exactly were you leave

- Added a pair of buttons “set starting position”/”go to starting position” to more easily save and go to a preferred location and zoom level on maps (useful when you browse & zoom like a mad and get lost)

- Full size functionality: The map is sometimes too small? Click “Full size” button to get a bigger map

5. Search in sidebar: Added a search box that’s always available on the sidebar

6. Photos: This one was the most requested features on our suggestions system. Now you have a very slick way to upload multiple photo at once and an even slicker gallery to see them.

A special thanks to all people that are working hard on ClimberVoice

Enjoy

First month

iacoware — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:51:38 +0000

We are close to the first month of life of Climbervoice. I’m pretty satisfied of the feedback I’ve got so far, all climbers are excited and eager to suggest new features.

available crags so far

Welcome Japan

iacoware — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:51:38 +0000

Welcome Japan! The first japanese crag (Futagoyama) it’s here

Futagoyama crag

New release – build 3456

iacoware — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:37:36 +0000

Highlights of this release:

You can order pitches that you have contributed.
order pitches
Added the total number of crags and pitches currently inserted in ClimberVoice.
total number of crags
Cosmetics improvements to the sidebar.
nicer sidebar
Bug fixes and other minor improvements.

Enjoy

It’s born!!! ClimberVoice goes live!

iacoware — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:42:56 +0000

After a private beta period ClimberVoice has gone finally live on climbervoice.com.

The great idea

The idea behind it is really simple, let climbers add and update the crags they know better in ClimberVoice. Make all those information discoverable through a powerful search and put them on a Google Maps map for an easily browsing.

Sounds nice but… what are the benefits?

A newly bolted pitch could be added immediately to let the world know about the new beatiful line. Guidebooks could become old very quickly, especially in active areas.
Coverage for remote areas and smaller crags that you won’t find inside any guidebooks. Currently you’re stuck on gathering some infos by dishomogeneous and sometimes outdated sources (if you’re lucky enough to find them). A lot of efforts for low quality results.
Thanks to Google Maps you can more easily plan your next climbing trip. Take a look to the crags you plan to visit.
During travels you can check ClimberVoice and see which crags are placed near you.
No middle man. If you’ve bolted a new pitch and want to share with the world, go add it.
I’m sure you’ll find a lot more…

It’s free, it doesn’t require registration for browsing and it’s open to anyone who wants to contribute (adding crags & pitches that are missing).

ClimberVoice is pretty much in its early stage and I’d like it being entirely community driven. Tell me what you think and suggest features you think it absolutely need. Check out some of the great ideas already suggested and if you like some, go vote it.

If you want to know more check out about and faq.

Credits

None of this would have been possible without help. Here’s a bunch of people who have helped me through:

Andrea Gallo for his enthusiasm, efforts and ideas to make ClimberVoice a better site.
Pietro Polsinelli for push me on the right track every time we meet and help with my (cough.. cough..) barely understandable english.
Matteo Bicocchi who has helped me with the initial graphic design (I know there’s still a lot to do…) and his precious advises on jquery
Roberto Bicchierai for his advices.
Massimo Montagni for his help with math & statistics.
Caterina Feroci who has helped me along the journey through a continuos streaming of useful advises.
All beta testers for their efforts and help.

Enjoy

ClimberVoice v1.0 build 3442

iacoware — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:26:16 +0000

Lots of new features this time, most of them “under the cover” but there are some gems to share with you:

Google maps: show an “aggregate” icon when viewing with low zoom instead of a messy multitude of icons.
crags cluster icon
Google maps: show markers in different size depending on the number of crag’s pitches.
proportional markers size
Google maps: markers at the same latitude, longitude must be moved with a small offset so they’ll be all visibles.
markers with same lat/lng
Google maps: When geocoding a location retrieve its city/region with english and locale language so we can search using both.

Enjoy

ClimberVoice v1.0 build 3413

iacoware — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:54:03 +0000

Things are slowly moving forward and after some feeback from “beta testers” I’ve just published a new version.

Fixes & Improvements:

Dramatically improved performance (5x) especially on your first visit (empty browser cache)
Help avoid duplicated crags showing a list of “similar” names that already exists, see here for more details and thanks to Carlo Gianassi for reporting it. Here’s how it looks like:
check for similar crags