You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?

4/13/2021 8:17 am  #1


PaddlePlanner for trip planning

I've been working on a project for ~5 years now with the website Paddle Planner. I'm certain some of you have seen the screenshots I've posted over the years from the tool. Well....I'm super excited to announce a completely new version of Paddle Planner (which includes some major updates for Algonquin including a completely overhauled map we built specifically for PP) has gone live in Public Beta!

https://new.paddleplanner.com/tools/maps/algonquinmap.aspx

Please feel free to check it out, provide feedback, plan some trips and even try and break it! I am certain you guys will find this useful and much more user friendly.

The screenshot below is all calculated dynamically with plenty of options for Portage styles (Single/Double/Triple), paddle speeds, saving and sharing of trips via the website or GPX/KMZ files and all sorts of other amazing features.  

One of my goals now is to work with Algonquin Adventures to share trip report and site data across the two websites. 

 

4/13/2021 8:52 am  #2


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

Amazing! Playing with it now, will definitely provide feedback. 

 

4/13/2021 8:55 am  #3


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

I just kept clicking Next on the tool tips (of which there are a ton) and then tip 14 popped up as "congratulations, you just built your first Paddle Planner trip!". Except I hadn't actually done anything yet except click Next!

 

4/13/2021 9:08 am  #4


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

It looks very cool, but it's hard to play around with it much when you're restricted to a single waypoint. I appreciate you guys deserve to get paid for your hard work, but you may want to relax the lockdown a little bit while it's still in beta if you're hoping for feedback and bug reports. 

Last edited by Uppa (4/13/2021 9:15 am)

 

4/13/2021 9:41 am  #5


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

Uppa wrote:

I just kept clicking Next on the tool tips (of which there are a ton) and then tip 14 popped up as "congratulations, you just built your first Paddle Planner trip!". Except I hadn't actually done anything yet except click Next!

Not sure if this is hyperbole Skipping the tutorial but expecting the last page of the tutorial to be true? This only shows up the first time you visit the site...there are alot of features of the map that require a tutorial to explain. Can you give us a different idea for the tutorial?

With regards to the cost, Paddleplanner has been around for 10 years as of last week. This is not a new platform, it just needed a facelift.. The beta is simply for the new version of the site and maps. 

There is a 1 week trial account with which you can give the full features a whirl. For how much tripping you do, I think it's worth 19 bucks a year.  For the record I make no money off the site. I reached out to Ben about 5 years ago as a hobbyist web designer and offered to give him some help bringing the site to (what was) 2016 style. 

Thanks for the feedback! I am a fan of your videos as well.

Last edited by jvermast (4/13/2021 9:44 am)

     Thread Starter
 

4/13/2021 5:57 pm  #6


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

While tool tips can be useful maybe 14 pages of them as soon as you load the site is a bit much. I read the first few and then closed out. I can't really comment on how useful the rest of the tool is because of the "Upgrade Wall". While I lost momentum I will probably go back and sign up for a trial.

One BIG question is where did you get the info? A quick browse shows a lot of bad intel. Incorrect portage lengths, incorrect portage take out and put in locations. Random example (sorry the picture is so small)

Last edited by MartinG (4/14/2021 10:30 am)

 

4/14/2021 10:01 am  #7


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

MartinG wrote:

While tool tips can be useful maybe 14 pages of them as soon as you load the site is a bit much. I read the first few and then closed out. I can't really comment on how useful the rest of the tool is because of the "Upgrade Wall". While I lost momentum I will probably go back and sign up for a trial.

One BIG question is where did you get the info? A quick browse shows a lot of bad intel. Incorrect portage lengths, incorrect portage take out and put in locations. Random example (sorry the picture is so small but the site wouldn't let me expand the maps screen)

Hey Martin, thanks for the feedback! Initial portage data comes directly from Ontario Data Catalog which is constantly updated and then adjusted by us as required/based on personal accounts and GPS data that's been provided by users. Algonquin is a fairly vanilla map for Paddle Planner. The author, Ben has put an absurd amount of work to clean up things like you mentioned for the BWCA/Quetico maps and you can see the fruits of his labour over there. My/our goal is to get Algonquin to that point as well, hopefully with the assistance of experienced veterans of the park such as yourself (and myself, but not to the point of hundreds of trips, I'm only at ~20 )

I don't make money off PaddlePlanner and I never have asked to be paid in any way whatsoever. I started using the site 5 years ago and saw that there were things I could offer to improve the site and specifically, the Algonquin map, and here we are. Still fresh into the journey and excited to get first feedback from a broader set of users!

The benefit we have over traditional printed maps is we can constantly evolve and keep the map as up to date as possible and make those updates instantly available to you. 

Your picture didn't seem to show up for me, can you try uploading again? 

Last edited by jvermast (4/14/2021 10:01 am)

     Thread Starter
 

4/14/2021 11:02 am  #8


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

I've played around a little more. Discovered the layers tab. The topo layers are great. This is a very cool tool!

The Ontario Data Catalog must be full of errors. They are everywhere. Mostly just inconvenient. Incorrect lengths, portages in the wrong bay, etc.. I haven't seen anything dangerously wrong. I think trip resources should provide useful information to help plan your trip and useful information to help you navigate while on your trip. These 2 sets of information might be different. But above all else they should be accurate. I'm happy to hear the Quetico map has had more ground truthing. I'm hoping to head that way in the next year or two.

BTW, I noticed Jeff's Maps is advertised through Paddle Planner. You should get Ben to remove that. The company is defunct.

 

4/14/2021 11:38 am  #9


Re: PaddlePlanner for trip planning

Thanks for the updated image, Martin! People like you guys are what makes maps great and like I said, the benefit of Paddle Planner is that it's not a printed map. You can put a note on the two portages you marked there right on the site and we can fix the portage PLUS other people can also see your note and say "ah, Martin says this portage isn't here anymore, noted!". It's like everyone has a virtual whiteboard copy of the exact same map and via the internet we can all write on each others maps what we know/see/saw/experienced.

We're also working/talking through ways to integrate trip reports with the route in the explore mode and are really looking for all these amazing trip report authors to build trip reports around Paddle Planner routes so that other can follow along a trip report on the map instead of just reading a huge wall of text. 

Think about if you could break out your trip reports into sections and have those show up on Paddle Planner directly where that part of your adventure took place and "step through" the trip report having the different paragraphs pop up.  You could really build a story and have the visuals to go along with it.

For now, to get updates put in, feel free to message here: https://new.paddleplanner.com/memberprofile.aspx?username=bstrege
 

Last edited by jvermast (4/14/2021 12:50 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

Board footera

LNT Canada is a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting responsible outdoor recreation through education, research and partnerships.