Planned Improvements

This page, which is a jotter as much as anything, describes (sometimes rather cryptically) things that I might well do to Canalplan. By publishing it I can put down ideas here, and with luck they might even inspire better ideas from users

File last properly edited 1 May 2005 - lots of ideas from other places brought in, and some tidying up done

Current scratchpad

• Do icons always appear on map despite option checkbox (if so, change check by typeof to check by new variable defined a few lines up)
• basic moderation for tags (use RSS to notify?)
• some instructions for tags (consider POI), and for adjusting maps
• some POI is poor - there is "true" in some places, and what about "NT" as a name?
• Use those icons to add some continuity across the site (say put each on the appropriate page)
• Google AD on new gazetteer main page - only have placeholder at present
• Recycling data isn't exported

Known bugs, niggles and high priority tasks

• Improve route maps - make names more legible, reduce number of names, make markers have tooltips
• Distances on Chesterfield (email)
• Check whether "most northerly" is reliable
• use some "@media print" in the CSS to remove things like the buttons from printed pages
• Unknown place is too enthusiastic with it's "off the waterways" - it finds "whaddon" as a place without finding bridges and WHs on the KandA
• Do Stourport basins properly
• It says there is nowhere to turn on the Nene
• Formatting in churches - stray \s (see Windor Bridge)
• Slideshow should hold off putting the caption up until the photo has loaded
• Bug: When you have multiple unknown places, and "always check options", you get an options screen between each unknown place and have to select "Calculate Route" again
• Changing options for furthest place brings up the wrong screen and you can't edit it. There is no sensible fix with the current dataflow; fix when you redesign the interface
• Bug: Something can go wrong with lock flights in linear maps - Meaford is a good example
• Bugs: The Log is broken in several places - it seems to work okish (but with some strange output) for small trips, but breaks on more ambitious stuff [log temporarily turned off]
• Bug: You can get negative distances for days. Try going down the Ouse to York with short days (kept bug from 12 May 2005) for an example
• Get a better "free" quote
• Have a real blatt through emails for notes and comments that need action (or at least moving into this file)
• Have a mammoth photo session
• It should break the Itinerary+ when you turn round, and then say something
• Add better "alt" texts to maps in Itineraries (the day, and start and end place, as shown on the map)
• Itinerary+ doesn't have enough photos - I thought I'd fixed that in the past

To Data

Apart from continual improvements to the database (until every bridge, lock and significant bend is there you can't call it complete!) the following specific things need doing:

• Add more histories (you've done about half of all cities)
• Extend the Wendover branch to reflect recent reopening
• Note what every overbridge and aqueduct is over
• See if BW/Waterscape have got their list of dimensions available and cross-check with that
• Add more isolated waterways and waterways under restoration. In particular (and in an approx order):
  • The Cromford
  • The Droitwich
  • The Welland
  • The Thames and Severn
  • The W&E, Hatherley etc ("Lichfield Canals")
  • The Hereford and Gloucester
  • The Wilts and Berks
  • Those in S Wales
• Add Navigation authorities and contact details
• Include at least major hirebases and marinas - these are where most trips will start or end after all.
• Add more links of all sorts - canal societies, places of interest etc
• Carry on reordering the GU putting arms under original canals

To functionality

Note that some of the following involve using Javascript and Cookies. It is my intention to keep all the exisiting functionality without these, but some of the new features will not be possible otherwise. In each group they are arranged in approximate order of likely implementation.

Easyish ones

• ">I always plan it backwards, that way you can tell how many hours you stillhave to go before you reach the end of your journey. Very handy if you are running to fixed time schedule" - from Brian Holt in uk.rec.waterways. Idea - make "show remaining time" an option rather than show elapsed time
• Add a scale bar to the placefinder maps
• Export should be on itinerary and itinerary+
• Add a time for winding
• As found in a bug report from Mark Williams in Jan 2006, if you do a 6 day trip from the middle of the K and A (say), it should tell you that you can't get past Bristol. This should be coded so it doesn't happen if there is anywhere reachable in that direction from the first place, to prevent thousands of "dead end" messages from Birmingham
• Use the "narrowlength" field for fenland waterways, and add it to (eg) the Calder and Hebble [it is the max length for a narrow boat on a broad waterway]
• Widen linear map graphics slightly (particularly on the left) and put the towpaths properly under the bridges
• Make find facilities in gazetteer find boatyard facilities as well
• Show good moorings on itinerary maps (requires good moorings in database, so make wait until user contributed data is provided).
• Extend Find Nearest to cope with pubs, churches etc
• Provide option to have "invisible" (non-underlined) links to places in itineraries. Also can have for all places, not just those with an "interesting" gazetteer (in tables as well as itineraries)
• Check when start and end places are a lock and ask if should be from above or below it
• Make furthest place suggest those rings that are within (say) 15% of your chosen time
• Preference for locks for different types of waterway - so can like broad canals but dislike broad locks for example
• Shorten names as displayed on maps (eg, Godmanchester Lock No 12). Could be by manual "label" for a lot of places, or a special fuzzy match to remove "No nnnn" from labels. Best as a mix of both (eg here we probably want "Godmanchester" on the maps).
• Optionally show OS grid reference (one or two part) and or lat/long in route tables
• Continue to tidy and improve the HTML. Play a bit more with automatic validation.
• Continue to make much more use of stylesheets
• Look at graphical submit buttons - can create a mini-cgi to return them
• Automatic spurs for junctions on linear maps
• Label waterways on itinerary maps
• Distinguish bridges (road, rail, motorway) on itinerary maps
• Add )--( to the end of tunnels on maps
• Show aqueducts on maps (and label them)
• Consider displaying a lock/bridge combination as it's so common

More ambitious ones

• Rework gazetteer layout to more closely resemble index with links down the side for the home, placefinder, sunrises, edit comment, find nearest (with a drop down), searcher etc. Reorganise page (so things like the sunset go as part of the narrative at the top.
• Rework to use session tokens and database rather than passing lots of CGI parameters. Will allow better interaction between gazetteer and route (walk along route in gazetteer, show places within a time from the gazetteer with options)
• Enhancements to the log to allow it to interact with route generation. So you can generate a route before a trip, and each time you stop enter this in the log. Not only will it keep the log, it will update the schedule for the rest of the trip (thought - perhaps this is part of the scheduler: keep the existing simple route planner as it is, and build this as part of the combined scheduler log - they share code anyway (in practice, just keep completed parts as "fixed" places in the scheduler and you're there!))
• A proper scheduler including the following:
  • A way to anchor a place as an overnight stop. Can also chose a day.
  • Ability to schedule a stop somewhere, and to visit at a particular time of day
  • Preference for overnight stops at pubs, or away from them
• Revisit user editing of data. Start with new photo browser and adding stuff inspired by geopoint
• User definable exports - can define fields, preludes, postscripts etc
• Allow for different speeds for particular waterways
• Allow multiple places to have the same textual name [by using ids internally instead of names], and do a pop-up to select when user types one in. Very useful for all the M6 bridges etc
• Tidal predictions
• Symbols for Water and the like on maps (and in text?)
• Javascript enabled route lists that can be shrunk/expanded
• A way of marking pieces of waterway (such as BCN loops) to be plotted as curves
• A cruise suggester for other than straight out-and-back
• Extend the use of GD and, in time, phase out plotlib
• Develop a better flow through the process. Look at a number of input pages (tabbed) with places, options etc and a results page that updates when you go to it
• Use SVG to generate maps - much prettier, smaller, and interactive/animated
• Small maps in gazetteer to show where a place is

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Software notes

This lot is things I intend to do behind the scenes, which shouldn't have any obvious effect on the running of the programme. Putting them here means that this file is the single source of notes for future work.

• Check for stray work files, backups and development versions cluttering the file structure
• Look seriously at why DB4.1 fails
• Look at mmapping the data files instead of reading them into memory (keep the existing code for systems without mmap)
• Move extlink and urllist to use the references database
• You could have the unscaled maps pre-generated, and then load them and add the current route (propably only when maps ported to GD)

Please send me any ideas for things you'd like to see on this list.