Well, www.annotatedearth.com is up and available. Kinda nice to have the real site up. I had some initial problems with the database, but it’s all working very nicely now. I’ve been in clean-up mode on the web. Adding mapping (Yahoo, TerraServer, Mapquest links), general screen cleanup, and adding some new functionality (put in the plumbing and web page to do “my locations”). Probably want to do a pop-up on findloc, listing that, Also need to put delete in on the view location page (hehehe, needing that lot right now, trying to get clean locs in). Also am now doing sortable columns on the data grid.
I also got the user registration (email-based verification) working, put in the about, intro, and dev text.
Two big ones I’d like soon are adding a picture of a location. Still thinking about it – might put in the DB, or upload to a file. Need to see what .NET facilitates best, as I don’t want to have to screw with it much. ‘Course that also means I really need to put user limits on # of locs and picture K or something.
So, it’s going pretty good. I still need to add a new “Find Loc” (one that will search around a city/state/etc., as it’s all loc based now). Yeah, I know, that’s the point of this system, but I’m leaning towards allowing the AE web site to also be a general repository of GPS coords and info.
I’m really hoping to be done with the web (this version, at least), really soon now. I need to “fix” the MFC app, then do a C# client and a VB client. THEN on to PocketPC (99% sure that’s my next target, as I don’t want to have to muck with learning how to program the pilot right now).
I also need to get some more locations in the DB. There’s a few public repositories of locations out there, I’d like to start gathering a list of some good ones and enter them. I’ll also start getting more Columbia locs as I can.
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Site
Well, I’ve been working on AE off and on since the last entry, but haven’t gotten around to entering new info here (been busy!)
The trip was interesting. I've been thinking of all kinds of things you could use AE for. Like, I was sitting in a restaurant in the mountains and wondered what others were around - users could submit to a restaurant list, rate them, do pics of them (maybe pics of the food and menu?), and then I could have requested a list of those restaurants within 5 miles, sorted by rating. Then could make a comment and rate (and take a pic, etc etc).
Also could be used for driving around a neighborhood and find out what's for rent or sale (maybe a revenue stream there? Charge Realtor to submit their listings).
The web site is almost ready to go. The Add/Find/View functions are all there and working nicely. I spent the weekend working on making it look sharp (colors, navigation, making the grid view look good and sortable, plus minor bug fixed).
I’ve also spent a lot of time getting the web off of the recordsets. Instead of calling the location data object layer, *EVERYTHING* now calls the .NET Service. This means that the same thing that serves up data to clients is the same as what the web uses. Which is REALLY good – all that stuff is in one place, so changes and such can take place there. Plus, the web site is basically now the baseline “client”. Hehehe, anyone could write the same web site, just using that service. Kinda cool, and what I’m trying to get to – the eventual goal is to be the definer of the technology (how it works and hangs, from an enterprise level), and the owner of the data. The rest of it (web sites, clients, whatever) can be written by third parties.
I’ve also finally registered www.AnnotatedEarth.com. I’m just camping the name right now, but hope by the end of the month to upgrade the package to dev on activehost (so I’ll get full .NET + SQL Server 2000)… so it will actually be LIVE! :)
For the most part, I need to test a bit more on the web, add some more web links (right now it just goes to mapquest, would like to do a few more) and fill it out (like location of the day, dev info, user setup, forums, etc.)
After that, I need to finish some clients up. I have a working MFC client (well, not working ATM as I made some slight XML/Service changes – they may not impact it, but I’m not sure). The next will be a VB, and then probably a C# .NET app (should be fairly easy, I hope, as I can rip stuff off from the web site to do that). Then I need to get it on at least one PDA. I’d like to do the Pilot, but don’t want to take the learning curve time, so will probably go with some CE-based device/pocket PC (same thing? Not sure…). I also need to get wireless locally, to test on a laptop. Hope Columbia has some wireless leaks downtown, need to check that out (or arrange for a access point somewhere downtown).
I’d like to go live with the web site soon, just to have it up and running, and to develop against. I’d also like to get a lot more locs. There’s some well know locs (like the SC capital, etc.) that I can enter. The web site itself should be usable – not really useful for the location-aware part of things, but as a straight waypoint registry, it works really nice.
I just wish I had more time to write this stuff – work’s been VERY busy the last couple of months, so I’ve only been able to work on AE on the weekends (usually to tired on weeknights to work on it). The only reason I’m working on a Monday is ‘cause I was so in the groove last night, really nailing this stuff. The big one this weekend was getting the web on top of the service. That had been a major annoyance, and what I considered a big architectural flaw.
ToDo:
- Voting
- Add hyperlink to all locs (let user enter)
- User setup
- User registration
- New “Find Loc” (have “Find Near” and just “Find”)
- Text for web
- Move group logic out of sp to location service. Allow a list to be passed into service. Validate against allowed groups for passed user, and then pass as additional part of where clause
- Add “My locations” to grpup search
The trip was interesting. I've been thinking of all kinds of things you could use AE for. Like, I was sitting in a restaurant in the mountains and wondered what others were around - users could submit to a restaurant list, rate them, do pics of them (maybe pics of the food and menu?), and then I could have requested a list of those restaurants within 5 miles, sorted by rating. Then could make a comment and rate (and take a pic, etc etc).
Also could be used for driving around a neighborhood and find out what's for rent or sale (maybe a revenue stream there? Charge Realtor to submit their listings).
The web site is almost ready to go. The Add/Find/View functions are all there and working nicely. I spent the weekend working on making it look sharp (colors, navigation, making the grid view look good and sortable, plus minor bug fixed).
I’ve also spent a lot of time getting the web off of the recordsets. Instead of calling the location data object layer, *EVERYTHING* now calls the .NET Service. This means that the same thing that serves up data to clients is the same as what the web uses. Which is REALLY good – all that stuff is in one place, so changes and such can take place there. Plus, the web site is basically now the baseline “client”. Hehehe, anyone could write the same web site, just using that service. Kinda cool, and what I’m trying to get to – the eventual goal is to be the definer of the technology (how it works and hangs, from an enterprise level), and the owner of the data. The rest of it (web sites, clients, whatever) can be written by third parties.
I’ve also finally registered www.AnnotatedEarth.com. I’m just camping the name right now, but hope by the end of the month to upgrade the package to dev on activehost (so I’ll get full .NET + SQL Server 2000)… so it will actually be LIVE! :)
For the most part, I need to test a bit more on the web, add some more web links (right now it just goes to mapquest, would like to do a few more) and fill it out (like location of the day, dev info, user setup, forums, etc.)
After that, I need to finish some clients up. I have a working MFC client (well, not working ATM as I made some slight XML/Service changes – they may not impact it, but I’m not sure). The next will be a VB, and then probably a C# .NET app (should be fairly easy, I hope, as I can rip stuff off from the web site to do that). Then I need to get it on at least one PDA. I’d like to do the Pilot, but don’t want to take the learning curve time, so will probably go with some CE-based device/pocket PC (same thing? Not sure…). I also need to get wireless locally, to test on a laptop. Hope Columbia has some wireless leaks downtown, need to check that out (or arrange for a access point somewhere downtown).
I’d like to go live with the web site soon, just to have it up and running, and to develop against. I’d also like to get a lot more locs. There’s some well know locs (like the SC capital, etc.) that I can enter. The web site itself should be usable – not really useful for the location-aware part of things, but as a straight waypoint registry, it works really nice.
I just wish I had more time to write this stuff – work’s been VERY busy the last couple of months, so I’ve only been able to work on AE on the weekends (usually to tired on weeknights to work on it). The only reason I’m working on a Monday is ‘cause I was so in the groove last night, really nailing this stuff. The big one this weekend was getting the web on top of the service. That had been a major annoyance, and what I considered a big architectural flaw.
ToDo:
- Voting
- Add hyperlink to all locs (let user enter)
- User setup
- User registration
- New “Find Loc” (have “Find Near” and just “Find”)
- Text for web
- Move group logic out of sp to location service. Allow a list to be passed into service. Validate against allowed groups for passed user, and then pass as additional part of where clause
- Add “My locations” to grpup search
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
Trip
I’m planning on taking a trip home to MI this Labor Day. As I’m driving, it would be a perfect time to get some GPS coordinates. I’m not sure exactly what I can have up and running by them, but I’d like to do something. Even if it’s just a local store of data on a lap top, using a hand-held GPS
Friday, July 12, 2002
LOL
I just love being able to re-use stuff. Using the powerful WFC XML wrappers I wrote for NZ, and the RS URL wrappers, I’ve been able to call my .NET GPS Service. I’m able to request a distance around a loc, and get back a list and process it, from a little MFC application. While I was pretty sure it would work, it’s nice to validate it.
Once I’ve got the XML standards down, I can focus on writing the Windows Test App (and then the GPS interface).
Once I’ve got the XML standards down, I can focus on writing the Windows Test App (and then the GPS interface).
App
The first service is up. A loc can be passed, along with the # of feet to calculate, and a list is returned of stuff around that loc. So, in theory, I can just expand upon that and start writing client software. The input is a URL; the output is a XML document
I’ve gotten to the point where I need to formalize all the things that can be done in AE. Right now, the user ID is passed into the stored proc, and it returns all locs in that users groups. Do I want to keep it at that level? Do I want to be able to have the user get all groups, a specific group, or several groups? I need to formalize error handling, and the overall format of the XML document returns.
I’m going to write a quick WFC application to verify that the XML feed is working.
I’ve gotten to the point where I need to formalize all the things that can be done in AE. Right now, the user ID is passed into the stored proc, and it returns all locs in that users groups. Do I want to keep it at that level? Do I want to be able to have the user get all groups, a specific group, or several groups? I need to formalize error handling, and the overall format of the XML document returns.
I’m going to write a quick WFC application to verify that the XML feed is working.
Saturday, June 22, 2002
AE
Work got busy, so I haven’t had a lot of time to work on AE. I *DID* release a piece of Shareware, LEM (Live Event Monitor, http://www.ratajik.com/lem) which is very handy – I’m using it all the time at work now
I’ve actually been doing a fair amount of .NET stuff for work. Odd… I learned .Net for AE, which I had to stop to do for work (which is going very quickly as I kinda know .NET now), which is going to help with AE (as work has made me know it much better).
This evening I put together signup, login, and the main screen (flowed around the logo, looks pretty neat). I also Improved FindLoc, and added a View Loc screen. I’ve also moved the correct selection of locs, so it limits what users can see what locs, down into the stored procs. So, when you say “find a the locs 1000 feet from x,y) the stored proc itself will only return those locs that the user is allowed to see, by user group).
I’ve actually been doing a fair amount of .NET stuff for work. Odd… I learned .Net for AE, which I had to stop to do for work (which is going very quickly as I kinda know .NET now), which is going to help with AE (as work has made me know it much better).
This evening I put together signup, login, and the main screen (flowed around the logo, looks pretty neat). I also Improved FindLoc, and added a View Loc screen. I’ve also moved the correct selection of locs, so it limits what users can see what locs, down into the stored procs. So, when you say “find a the locs 1000 feet from x,y) the stored proc itself will only return those locs that the user is allowed to see, by user group).
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
ISP
Well, my Ratajik.com ISP (CIHOST) finally pissed me off to the point where I’m not going to use them in the future (for that site, or any other). The support there sucks. After looking around a bit, I realized I could get a .NET hosting site pretty easy, and, as I need to learn that for work (and I HATE old ASP/VBScript)….
I’ve moved the entire thing to ASP.NET. Right now, doing C# for the server side. I’ve spent the last couple of days moving things (didn’t take very long). Right now, you can Find and Add a loc, which is what I had running before. The basic architecture is going to remain the same.
I’ve been thinking more about what AE will allow users to do. The original thought was to have it notify the user as they got close to a know Loc. I still plan on doing that, but I might also want to be able to do the more traditional “Show me what’s around here” thing. This will then involve directions to that point (maps, routes, et al) which I *REALLY* don’t want to get into, as that’s an entire other project. I’d like to integrate into existing map software on the various platforms, which I will need to research. If I can do that (have Yahoo’s map site pop up with the route all in place and ready to go, on the PC platform for instance), then it should be fairly viable. The nice thing about just letting them know when they where basically on top of a location was mapping wasn’t really needed (“Umm…. Two steps to your left, and look under the table” *grin*).
Anyway, the decision to use .NET is a big one; one that I hope isn’t going to blow up in my face. While a lot of it it’s like stuff I’ve used before, there’s still going to be a learning curve, which will slow things down. Like, should I just use MSXML DOM stuff to I/O XML from .ASPX files, or should I move to Web Services for that part of it (remote access from applications, e.g., non-web page access). That’s basically a Web Service, so that would make sense… but I need to figure out what type of transport layer requirements I’m going to need. Having to communicate via SOAP from the Palm might (might?) be a problem. Don’t know yet, will need to figure that kind of thing out. The nice thing about straight XML is that most platforms should support it, at least current ones. And for older ones, I may need to go through a conversion service (Client->CustomStreamConverterOnWebSite->XML->Page/WebService).
I’ve moved the entire thing to ASP.NET. Right now, doing C# for the server side. I’ve spent the last couple of days moving things (didn’t take very long). Right now, you can Find and Add a loc, which is what I had running before. The basic architecture is going to remain the same.
I’ve been thinking more about what AE will allow users to do. The original thought was to have it notify the user as they got close to a know Loc. I still plan on doing that, but I might also want to be able to do the more traditional “Show me what’s around here” thing. This will then involve directions to that point (maps, routes, et al) which I *REALLY* don’t want to get into, as that’s an entire other project. I’d like to integrate into existing map software on the various platforms, which I will need to research. If I can do that (have Yahoo’s map site pop up with the route all in place and ready to go, on the PC platform for instance), then it should be fairly viable. The nice thing about just letting them know when they where basically on top of a location was mapping wasn’t really needed (“Umm…. Two steps to your left, and look under the table” *grin*).
Anyway, the decision to use .NET is a big one; one that I hope isn’t going to blow up in my face. While a lot of it it’s like stuff I’ve used before, there’s still going to be a learning curve, which will slow things down. Like, should I just use MSXML DOM stuff to I/O XML from .ASPX files, or should I move to Web Services for that part of it (remote access from applications, e.g., non-web page access). That’s basically a Web Service, so that would make sense… but I need to figure out what type of transport layer requirements I’m going to need. Having to communicate via SOAP from the Palm might (might?) be a problem. Don’t know yet, will need to figure that kind of thing out. The nice thing about straight XML is that most platforms should support it, at least current ones. And for older ones, I may need to go through a conversion service (Client->CustomStreamConverterOnWebSite->XML->Page/WebService).
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