Guys,
I am a North Texas chap based in Fort Worth. I am a keen fisherman. I also like to work in computers. A while back I created a thread on "Real Time Fishing Partner finding" ....

Well ... ive finally got a working prototype of the application running. It is browser based so if you are reading this post, you can see the application.

The test environment can be found here:

Fishing Partner Finder

Again, let me stress ... this is far from the final version ... but here is where I need y'alls help. What I want to do is find a few folks who would be willing to look at it and ask "What can be improved? How can we make it easier to use? What features are wanted/missing?"

Feel free to play with it and add fake entries for fishing offers ... login and userids aren't implemented yet, so you will always be "Bob" :-)

If you have a go and would be willing to provide a little feedback, I'd love to hear from you. Either send me a PM here or, better, email me at:

kolban1@kolban.com

Neil

Pretty cool Neal, looking forward to using this when it is complete.

Looks like it will work,,good job

Looks workable. For me, split the offers/map left and right, not top and bottom. Good idea too and I'm sure people will use it once it is up and running.

I agree with the vertical split maybe 30% left for offers and 70% right for the map. Also after I clicked find offers the tab asked within how many miles but no starting point ie zip code. It looks good though and should work, like you sid still needs fine tuning

I agree!!

very cool!

One question....at the "within miles", I think you need to specify zip code or street address

Thanks to a number of good folks here at TFF, a lot of input was received and I'm trying to include all the functions requested. The web site is getting dangerously close to going live.

The latest and greatest version can be found here:

http://www.neilkolban.com/geomeetup/web/Welcome.html

Here is a screen shot of what it looks like now:



As the core development of the project comes towards conclusion, I want everyone to know that I will be here to support it and enhance it as long as needed. If we (as a community) like it and see value in it, then I will look to host it somewhere better than "neilkolban.com". I'll either buy a new domain name (and at that time, I'll throw it open to the community again for the name y'all like) or we can look at seeing if some other fishing site (maybe even TFF) would like to host it. But I think we should only go down that route if there is interest.

Again, I'm not going anywhere and will be here to fix bugs, answer questions and add enhancements as y'all tell me ... but now it's future is going to be in the hands of the user community as to whether y'all like it or not ... and if not, what would it take to make it something you would like.

Neil

(kolban1@kolban.com)

This is a great idea, but the site seems quite slow to me.

Hi Neil
Right now this is just a "proof of concept". If we like the notion and there is enough interest in it, then I'll buy a domain name (eg. FishingPartnerFinder.com (for example)) and host it on a dedicated site. Right now it is running on a public $9.95/month web site which has no assurance of speed.

Also ... and this is only for the techies amongst us :-)

The web site is 100% Adobe Flash based. If we like the notion then I'll port to a "plain" HTML based web format which will be much faster. The reason I started it in Flash is that I can build the look and feel much quicker than a polished "classic" web site. Once I get that right and everyone is happy, I can port to web pretty quickly. The other reason for Flash is that it can (in principle) run on Android based phones and tablets. I have a "notion" that someone may be out on the lake and either post an offer or match an offer in real-time which would be possible through the phone based interface....

Neil

I added a new offer today for Benbrook lake, is there a way to add a drop down list of Lakes (ramps) when you input the offer's? I.E. for benbrook I know of at least 5 different ramps that you can put in at. If someone just says benbrook you might not know which ramp you are going to put in at.

Thanks the site looks great and I would definately use it wants it is up and running full time.

DFWSelot

dfwselot,
My initial thinking was that a push-pin on the map would point to the exact spot that the offer was being offered at (I need to improve my grammar here). So I was thinking that someone wouldn't just say "benbrook" but would instead click the ramp.

I am also thinking that there will be conversations between folks offering a trip and those joining outside of the map/date/time. This will be to arrange other details which could also include exact meetup times and places. Now having icons on the map for "put in locations" does sound useful ... but if we multiply the number of bodies of water x the number of locations we have a challenge. I don't know of any database where I could just "lift" or "query" that data ... and it is pretty obvious I couldn't just manually enter it. One notion might be to open it up to the user community to "add locations" for these areas that are visible to all.

Again, Many thanks for the feedback ... please please ... keep it all coming.

Neil

Neil,

Thanks for the feedback, I understand that It would be difficult to manually enter all the information for all of the different public access points to all the bodies of waters around here.

I wonder if TPWD does not have a database of all the public access points for the different lakes, I know you can access it via there website. Here is the websites for Benbrook and Eagle Mountain Lake.

Eagle Mountain Lake Public Access Facilities

Benbrook Lake Public Access Facilities

I am really hoping that this thing gets off the ground as I have a lot of days off during the week (rotating days off) and it is hard to find people to fish with during the week.

Thanks for all the great work.