Google maps and RunningAHEAD (Read 447 times)

    Oh, and you don’t even want to know how much I’d pay for the “Search” feature alone. That probably sets the RA log apart more than anything else. What’s the fastest pace I’ve run a 20-miler? How many 70-mile weeks have I run? Can I see a list of all my 5k races? How about all my runs when the temperature was below 10 degrees? I feel like the Elias Sports Bureau with this thing. There’s not much you can’t look up. And a pretty high percentage of runners are stat geeks.

     

    MTA: the log just told me yesterday that I passed 15,000 miles since coming here. So that’s something too.

    Dave

    gsaun039


    Caffeine-fueled Runner

      So, I'll put in my few words.

       

      I don't rely upon the maps here at all.  They are nice to check a certain grouping of runs from my workouts table.  But honestly, I have Gamin, Strava, and then the import functions of every other running program that imports Garmin's output.

       

      I use the graphical functions of the logging function.  It's also easier to put my training plan here.  But the if Google is costing so much (and thereby costing it potential customers to the point that they are their only customer because nobody else can afford to use it), just drop it.

      PR's--- 5K  24:11,   10K  49:40,   10-Mile  1:26:02,  HM  1:56:03,   Marathon  4:16:17

      Maniac #11112, Fanatic #14276, Double Agent #2335


      Outside Lane

        +1

         

        So, I'll put in my few words.

         

        I don't rely upon the maps here at all.  

         

        ...if Google is costing so much...just drop it.

        See how they run...

        eric :)


          I've been working on switching to OpenStreetMap for the last 2 weeks and I'm no closer. I'm using OpenLayers for the rendering and I'm struggling to make it work. If you are familiar with OpenLayers, I would love to talk to you about it. I'm using Visual Studio 2017 and TypeScript. Here are some of the problems I ran into:

          • Version 5.3 directly from the repo does not compile at all. I get many errors in Visual Studio
          • Compiling with tsc.exe also yields many errors
          • The precompiled v5.3 package appears to be v4.6. (e.g. ol.layer.TileLayer (v.5.3 API) doesn't exist, but ol.layer.Tile (v4.6) does).
          • Events don't contain useful info. For example, there doesn't seem to be a public way know which vertex point is being dragged, which is needed to update distance markers.
          • Distance markers (features) can't be removed from the route.
          • The API distance calculation yields a different value from the formula I've been using all these years. I will need to plot a reference route to know which is correct.

          It shouldn't be this difficult to migrate to a different maps API. Much of the underlying code could be reused so it should be a matter of hooking up to the new API. I'm going to take a look at Leaflet, the OpenLayers alternative.

          LedLincoln


          not bad for mile 25

            Ugh, that sounds grim. Sorry I can't offer any help other than my condolences.  I have noticed that OpenWeatherMap has a pretty nice map implementation using Leaflet.

            cuencacuenca


              spam
              wcrunner2


              Are we there, yet?

                Late to respond, but I've never used the map feature here.  I'm here for the log, the user groups, and once in a while the forums.  I would have no issues with maps or some of the other features being premium choices, but then I don't use them either.

                 2024 Races:

                      03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

                      05/11 - D3 50K
                      05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

                      06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

                 

                 

                     

                LedLincoln


                not bad for mile 25

                  Funny, it's invaluable to some people, and ignored by others.


                  an amazing likeness

                    Funny, it's invaluable to some people, and ignored by others.

                     

                    When I pull up a workout from my log to see it's detail, the Map tab of the workout is my starting point 90+% of the time. I glance at the map to remind myself where I ran, the elevation and then go back to the Splits tab to look at other details.

                     

                    I wonder if this reflects my having always used a GPS device, so the course name is pretty general, and I depend on the map to show where I actually ran that day.

                    Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.

                    kcam


                      I almost never use the map feature to map out a new route but I am constantly looking at maps of runs and races I've done in the past.  Looking to see where hills were etc.  I find it very, very useful and would find the RA log much less compelling without this feature.

                      ViBe71


                        I almost never use the map feature to map out a new route but I am constantly looking at maps of runs and races I've done in the past.  Looking to see where hills were etc.  I find it very, very useful and would find the RA log much less compelling without this feature.

                        +1 to this, but I’m also using maps here to create new routes, it’s very helpful and valuable to me

                        Frequent Racer Group

                         

                        PRs: 400m- 1:04.94 (2015) / 1M - 5:13 (2022 & 2023) / 5K -18:23 (2017) / 5M - 31:14 (2022) / 10K - 39:29 (2018) / 10M -1:05:11 (2023) / HM - 1:27:34 (2023) / FM -3:15:08 (2023)

                        Coming up:   Be Kind 5k (4/13/24), Bookin for Lookin 10k (4/21/24), Broad Street 10M (5/5/24)

                        LedLincoln


                        not bad for mile 25

                          I wonder if this reflects my having always used a GPS device, so the course name is pretty general, and I depend on the map to show where I actually ran that day.

                           

                          Kind of the opposite for me; before I had a GPS, I had to have the map feature for measuring my runs.  I created a gazillion routes manually, usually before I ran them, but sometimes after.  Now, my Garmin makes it a lot simpler, but it's still really nice to review my runs on the maps.

                          eric :)


                            Hi all,

                            I decided to roll out the migration to OpenStreetMaps in stages to reduce the amount of money I have to pay to Google ASAP. I rolled out the first set of changes tonight. I replaced most of the non-editable maps since most of the Google maps access are to view the maps, as opposed to editing them. The OSM viewer sports a new graphing package so the elevation map should be "prettier" and renders faster. It doesn't have all the features of the original map yet, but I also can't wait for everything to be completed.

                             

                            The next stage is to replace the map editor. It is almost completed, just need to put back the niceties such as undo, reverse route, etc.

                             

                            I was thinking... I don't have to get rid of Google maps completely. Its map tiles load much faster than OSM. I modularized the map renderer so in theory, I can plug in Google maps without too much trouble. I might allow users with an ad-free subscription to switch to use Google maps if they so choose. I'll explore that option after I get the map editor switched over.

                             

                            eric Smile

                            eric :)


                              Part of the reason it took so long to switch over to OSM is that I went with OpenLayers originally. It turned out that its API was completely inadequate for my use case. I struggled with it for 2 weeks, and finally switched over to Leaflet. It took me less than 2 days to get to the same point as OpenLayers. I never struggled with Leaflet.

                               

                              Development was slowed by the failure of my home server. It experienced multiple hard drive failures in a short span of time such that all the data were inaccessible. RA's data was not affected since both the primary and back up servers are housed in data centers. I had to send the drives out to a data recovery service, which was shockingly expensive and nebulous. They were able to recover most of my data, but was not able to recover the VM I use to deploy updates to RA so I had to rebuild it. I hope this will be the end of large expenditures and unwanted distractions.

                              Altair5


                              Runs in the rain

                                I checked out my mapped courses and they do look more colorful with major routes marked very clearly. I did have some issues when magnifying the maps, the names of the smaller roads did not seem to appear and sometimes I would find areas of blank grey. It could be my computer which is running slow and needs a cleanup or maybe the data is not loading as fast as it should. The elevation chart is different and now shows the range starting from zero when Google would just show around the elevation range of the course, like for example 700 to 1200 feet. The advantage to that is a greater exaggeration of the vertical scale making it easier to see where you will be doing an incline or decline. Alos, can we get the option for when you view the map full screen to eliminate the elevation chart so you just see the course map? Thanks Eric for your times and expenses in keeping RA great!

                                Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?
                                Get up, get out, get out of the door!