Point of Interest Manager

That Looks AWESOME! Great Job!

Looks very interesting. I'm somewhat new to using GPSr, but this looks like something I could use to make all that's possible to do with GPSr a little easier to manage. Thanks for making this program available to us.

Great job, thanks for building this.

Miss POI

Thanks for starting the new thread. I was following the old one and all the Betas but it did get quite long! You also very nicely summarized the new POI Manager/interface you created. It looks very user-friendly now!

Looking forward to using it soon.

I did take a drive of the Beta version, this is a vast improvement, look forward to using this new and improved version, great work.

Looking forward to seeing how this works. Keep up the progress.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/WorldDrknss/CSMNV.jpg
If you were following with the other screenshots the first thing you will notice is that several of the tabs have disappeared. This included: Tour Guides, Trip Planner and Music Handler. These tabs were removed to allow us to concentrate on the more import aspects of the project; such as the Point Manager. What you see here is the all new and improved manager. This new system provides inline editing of the longitudes, latitudes and point names for quick changes. There is also a full edit button that will allow you to edit additional information such as short description, description, address, city, state, proximity, etc. Now the delete button. The old system had three different buttons to handle the necessary deletion. The new and improved delete button will automatically determine what you want to delete. Either it be a point, state, or complete project.

*The above is subject to change. We are currently working on database structure and working on editing procedures for this new system. I am hoping we can figure this out so that we don't have to revert back to the old system.

Immediately after posting my comment, I stumbled across the new thread. Everything looks great, can't wait to use it!

This is an incredible project. You describe your efforts as if it were a walk in the park! To those of us who don't have a clue how to begin such an undertaking, it is closely akin to magic.

Keep at it. It looks GREAT!

Bob

OH - OH - LOOK -0 LOOK!! A windmill just magically appeared next to my name!! What an inspired way to encourage participation - kind of like earning merit badges in the Scouts for doing stuff you like to do anyway!!

Bob

And the world becomes a better place again, Thanks to people like you.
DRAlmond

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/WorldDrknss/CSIMP.jpg
What you see here is the new importing page. This time around you will be able to pick your own project name instead of the old one called "Import" which caused so many problems. Also you will notice that there is a check box that you must select before you will be allowed to import your files. That huge text are bellow will explain the do's and don'ts along with importing formats. You will have to agree to that information, no if and or buts allowed.

Yesterday I made a post and posted a screenshot of what I would have like the project display to look like. Unfortunately we will not be able to do so. The datagrid simply does not allow us to manipulate it in the various ways that we need to and also the database file would end up 3x or more the size of the current database. Although the current database will be updated to a more useful form. See that post for more information

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/WorldDrknss/CSMNV-1.j...
Here is the current project display. This will still have some of the features of the datagrid, but we will have to eliminate the inline editing. I will not go into detail on this, as it could possibly change another 1000x before we come up with a system that would be more beneficial. I will continue to work on the datagrid version and hopefully I will figure something out.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/WorldDrknss/CSMAP.jpg
What you see here is the map, but not a marker to be found. As soon as we get the database figured out and the project page figured out, those markers will returned, and updated to be a little bit better then before. Also you will notice that map now has its own dedicated page, instead of residing within a popup.

this is looking really great, can't wait till it's up and running. Great work!

I say sounds, because I am reading this at work at the moment, and photobucket is blocked here.

but I have emailed the link to myself at home, so that I can see the screenshots when I get home tonight.

in the meantime, let me join all of the others in thanking you for your efforts, and in marveling at what someone with your talent can produce.

I wish I had that sort of ability.

I couldn't agree more. This looks like a great app.

Today I took some time away from designing the layout for the manager to concentrate more of the database structure. It took several attempts to come up with something that any person could follow with ease and could be easily exported and imported. The reason why we chosen this route is to allow you to backup and restore your database from our servers.

So were does that leave us with the main project page? The simple answer to that question is in the dark. Due to the complexity of this new structure I believe we are going to go back to the DataGrid and dig as far as we can to determine how we are going to pull off what we need. As with this change we're going to have to change the way the application reads the database, saves the database, exporting formats, and how you as the user manipulates the information. Sound like a lot of tedious work, and trust me it will be. This is where the old application had issues and this time around we are going to make sure its correct.

Wait, so you plan to host all of the data on your servers? And this is going to be 100% free.

Once we get our site released and you become a registered member you will then be able to backup and restore your database free of charge. There will also be many other services free of charge as well. I will provide more information on services and features when we begin to build the site.

Since you asked about the backup feature I will explain a little bit about what we have in mind. We are thinking about letting all our registered members have a total of 7 stored backups. Lets say you have 7 backups already and you made another backup, which brings you up to 8. Since 8 > 7 the system will automatically delete your oldest backup.

I wouldn't have expected anything at this level of sophistication to be free of charge. But given what's recently happened to Retired Technician's efforts, are you able at this point to spell out or at least outline what kind of pricing plan you might have in mind?

I do not have a pricing plan in mind because I do not plan on charging for services. We will be running one contextual ad through either google or yahoo and there will be a contribution page if you are willing to donate to help pay for the cost of severs. Other then that all I ask for in return is that you be an active user on the forums.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/WorldDrknss/CSMNF.jpg
After much work and a ton of researching we finally get to bring back the Grid. Not only does it make the application look better it also supports proper inline editing as you will be able to see in the screenshot. The example points in this screenshot is an import of the csv version of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. We also have a functional, but buggy GPX importing script which we are also currently working on. Now that we got that out of the way, we can now concentrate on the various other parts of the project.

Wow, things sure move fast.

Great work.

Dom

things are moving at a great pace, your work is appreciated.

That's astounding. I hope the business model works out for you and your development efforts. Thanks very much.

Worlddrknss,
You have this community so worked up there is only one thing I can do now.

You are going to be thrown out to pasture with all the other COW's next week;)

That will teach you.

Miss POI

He'll be one of the Carnation contented cows.

This is an important question that I need an answer to. How many of you will need access to geocodes outside of US territories? This is crucial information because I will need to rewrite the geocode script to return results that are not in the US.

to have when traveling outside the US.

But, hey - if it's a lot of extra work, we will be glad to have what we get.

Thx for the efforts

I think that as long as it is north america that would be fine!

Its not a lot of work, just needed some feedback. I originally thought the US and Foreign Countries returned the same response, until I searched Alpes and the debugger threw an error and closed the application. I will go ahead and add it as I know there are some users here that have used their GPSr outside of US territories.

can't wait to see the new toy. played with the old builds and loved it. can't wait to get the new one

nuvi 5000 & nuvi 200w
( lifetime maps )

US is fine with me...

From what I hace seen so far, I'd be willing to contribute.

I know that yesterday there was a lack of updates, and there is a good reason for that. Since we have most of the layout done (woot) on the application we have been working on various other things. We worked on designing the website, although we did not come up with any layouts that we liked yet. (The last layout we did was hard on the eyes and eventually gave me a migraine so I had to step away for a few hours.) Therefore when I returned I got back to working on the application.

I know that most of you probably use google maps. Since our Geocode service is provided by Google we thought why not also use Google as our map provider as well. So we switched our map provider from Microsoft to Google. The first time the map started up it worked perfectly. The second time it caused problems and the third time resulted the same. Therefore we switched back to Microsoft as it works.

Then we got to working on some of the buttons. On the main page of the application both the Add and Delete buttons work. So what is so special about these buttons. Well if you are a beta tester of the old application you would know that there were 3 Add buttons and 3 Delete buttons. Making that a total of 6 buttons to do the job of only 2.

Break Down:
Add Button - Will take you to the manager page and select the proper tab based on what you have selected in the Grid. If you have a state selected it will take you to the add point tab. If you have a project selected it will take you to the new state or project tab and if you have nothing selected it will also take you to the same page as the project.

Delete Button - The delete button pretty much does the same as the add button. It determines if you have a project, state or point select and deletes it. If nothing is selected the button will not do anything.

We are thinking(the keyword here is thinking) about releasing a private alpha build. Some information that you need to know about alpha builds are that they are not featured rich or have many features that do not function yet.

If you would like to be a private alpha tester then listen up. Please send an email to worlddrknss[@]gmail[.]com with the subject "CS Private Alpha Testing" and the following information.

1.) Your POI Factory Screen Name:
2.) Did you beta test the old version?
3.) Previous Alpha/Beta testing experience.
4.) Why do you want to be a beta tester?
5.) Are you willing to communication via AIM, Yahoo, MSN, or GTalk
6.) and send this line back to me "I agree to release Clique Studios of any liability related to the software."

By sending me this information you agreed that you have read the following:

Alpha/Beta testing software is a great way to experience and help shape the development of new software programs. It often gives you access to tools you may need months before they are available to the general public, and it gives you a way to influence the development of that software by having direct access to the developers during the creation process. This is your opportunity to try a great new software and to help shape the development of that software. With this opportunity, however, comes some responsibilities. First, you must remember that this software is under development. The software is stable, but there is the possibility that not all functionality is in tact and that it may even crash. We don't think so, but that is where we need your input, ideas, and the diversity of your experience and equipment. Second, you must realize that there is no telephone technical support for these products. Support and Communication will take place via email and IM. Third, private builds may be released from a few weeks to a few months from your acceptance. Finally, you must agree to release Clique Studios of any liability related to the software.

We will then go through all the emails and select some candidates as private alpha testers, and return confirmation emails to those individuals. With additional information.

New Screenshot: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/WorldDrknss/CSMNC.jpg

It would be a great idea to support geocodes outside of US territories or it could be done as update in future release. You never know when you may need the gps especially in foreign places.

Great job!

Consider Canada.

Good point! However for display foreign names, popular foreign character sets (Unicode) need to be supported in both software and GPS unit.

US and Canada would probably be perfect.

Dom

Geocoding for Canada is already functional. US & CA return the same response information. I think we will limit it to US & CA for the time being.

Not that I need it, but for example in my FM and AM radio stations POI, I have some hits for Guam. I assume that the question you are asking relates to the return of + or - values for longitude.

I have no problem if you exclude some of the US Territories, just wanted clarification.

We have selected 2 Alpha Testers for the current up coming release within a few weeks (This is because we have family members coming in from Ohio). We will be contacting both testers shortly.

Welcome aboard: dstith76 and deppeler and congrats to the both of you.

It has been very quite around here lately because we have been working extremely hard on the backend, and finally got a site design that we are going to go with. I would provide you with more screenshots, but who wants screenshots of lines and lines of coding. Anyways I would like to address something that may be coming up shortly. Does CSPOI Manager support cross platform, and the answer is yes.

System Requirements:

WINDOWS

Intel® Pentium® III 1GHz or faster processor, 512MB of RAM
Recommended: Pentium 4 2GHZ or faster, 1GB RAM
Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise including 64 bit editions, Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SP2 and SP3, Windows XP SP2 and SP3, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows 2003 Server

MAC OS X

Intel Core™ Duo 1.83GHz or faster processor; PowerPC® G4 1GHz or faster processor
Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Mac OS X 10.5.4 and 10.5.5
512MB of RAM

LINUX

Intel® Pentium® III 1GHz or faster processor, 512MB of RAM
Recommended: Pentium 4 2GHZ or faster, 1GB RAM
Fedora 8, Ubuntu 7.10, openSUSE 10.3

since this application is cross-platform we will not add anything special for other operating systems, therefore each individual will receive exactly the same application.

Also we are very close to releasing private alpha builds to our alpha testers and will allow them to tell you their experience of the application as builds are released and work our way up to beta builds, so look forward to that.

Absence: I will most likely been gone for the next few weeks because I have finals for a classes approaching next week, so its that time to study and study hard.

An online POI storage facility with discussion forums...
...that sounds very familiar

Am I the only person who sees this venture as a huge threat to POI-Factory?

but it will have to be one hell of a site to top this one.

as long as you and all of the other veterans stay put, things should be fine, right?

No, you're not. Then again it's all in the pricing, terms, and atmosphere so we'll see.

But a database is the only logical way to go, imo.

A database instead of a bunch of separate CSV files could be pretty impressive. But then I'm an Access geek and would use that over Excel any time!

.....unless it be Canada, and I don't plan to be driving around much.

This is a wonderful contribution to the Factory community. You betcha maintaining active status in the forums is a small price to pay in return for all you offer.

perhaps I missed it, but I have not heard anything about this promising software for awhile.

was it related to a possible perceived conflict of interest and a possible proposed site similar to poi-factory?

Photobucket seems to be reporting that your illustrations can no longer be found...