ToSlow Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Cool, just hate seeing trespassers getting away with it. just talked to my freind in dundalk, there sleds running the trails there night and day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Highest point in southern Ontario. I'm aware of the old railway line (typical sledder's power of observation in summer). What about other trails. Twisty or fields? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToSlow Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Highest point in southern Ontario. I'm aware of the old railway line (typical sledder's power of observation in summer). What about other trails. Twisty or fields? well i figure they have to get to the rail line somehow, and there not likely to trailer there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Have to agree with you there! Lots of flash but very little substance. Very awkward to find any real information without following numerous links, often resulting in circular logic. X2 on that. 8 buttons to click along the LH side. 6 buttons across the top. 4 large clickable pictures in the middle of the page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 It sucks that our world has come to this. <_< The core issue here is that we have to protect our volunteers and ensure that we all have trails to ride. I guess you could say that is today's reality. Forget about why this and why that. You can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time, PERIOD! A supervisor @ work once told me that 90% of his problems came from 10% of the people in his group . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reved Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 X2 on that. 8 buttons to click along the LH side. 6 buttons across the top. 4 large clickable pictures in the middle of the page. This brings me to the question of 'Why is it so difficult to locate a club site?' "The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs" official site and they do not host a single site for clubs or districts. look at the money that would save having all that information on 1 place. Why is this not offered on the OFSC.on.ca address? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 This brings me to the question of 'Why is it so difficult to locate a club site?' "The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs" official site and they do not host a single site for clubs or districts. look at the money that would save having all that information on 1 place. Why is this not offered on the OFSC.on.ca address? Did the old site not allow users to click on the provincial map & you could link to any clubs in the you clicked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reved Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Did the old site not allow users to click on the provincial map & you could link to any clubs in the you clicked? You are able to still do that if you can find it. I would like to see all the District, Associations and clubs under one roof. Sure would be nice to find the information in one reliable location. Now it is hit and miss from year to year to locate a clubs web site. Heck even districts are dropping of the radar this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Did the old site not allow users to click on the provincial map & you could link to any clubs in the you clicked? Yes, it did. Now ou can get to the district, though (if there is a web page) and then maybe get to the club. Doesn't everyone have all day to play on the internets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbakernbay Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 What more can the Clubs or Districts tell you if they are restricted to describing their trails as being Open, Closed or Limited. There really isn't much more they can do. The real trail conditions are probably going to migrate to the forums on both ontarioconditions and harcoresledder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reved Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 What more can the Clubs or Districts tell you if they are restricted to describing their trails as being Open, Closed or Limited. There really isn't much more they can do. I would be nice to be able to make contact at the club level. Find out club boundaries for permit sales for instance. How does one find out where to obtain their permit under the current conditions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbakernbay Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Your right, I try and update our website a couple of times a week. I just get peeved when these liability scare tactics get in the way of helping snowmobilers who want to travel all of our trails with as much info as we can provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Did the old site not allow users to click on the provincial map & you could link to any clubs in the you clicked? Yes. It was very helpful. Also assisted by providing a visual of what clubs made up the district. At present, you have to go to "About Us', "Locate a District", see a White Screen with 12 Districts and start guessing what the Districts represent. The new system DOES take you straight to the trails, but it almost shoves the 'clubs' into the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidooer Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 The new system DOES take you straight to the trails, but it almost shoves the 'clubs' into the background. I find that to be beneficial. When I'm going out for a ride I do not care which club maintains any given section of trail, I just want to ensure that the section is not closed. I understand the clubs hold a purpose from an organizational perspective, but from a rider's point of view, everything should be under the OFSC umbrella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I find that to be beneficial. When I'm going out for a ride I do not care which club maintains any given section of trail, I just want to ensure that the section is not closed. I understand the clubs hold a purpose from an organizational perspective, but from a rider's point of view, everything should be under the OFSC umbrella. W/o the clubs though, there wouldn't be an OFSC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidooer Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 W/o the clubs though, there wouldn't be an OFSC. Yes, but that is not of concern to riders. The information needs to be in one place. I'm not trying to belittle the value of clubs, but when you are using the trail system, you will visit several clubs and multiple districts in any given ride. It is too cumbersome to visit the web page for each and every club, or look at the trail status for each district to keep up to date. The online trail guide is a great first step in merging the information into one source – I hope the trend continues in the future for other user-facing services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreezerBurnt Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Not sure that all clubs welcome other trail patrollers in thier area with vests we have on two seperate occasions caught other clubs from hundreds of miles away selling permits on the Seguin. I know that you would not do that but the image is there. Did you guys report and make that info public Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Yes, but that is not of concern to riders. The information needs to be in one place. I'm not trying to belittle the value of clubs, but when you are using the trail system, you will visit several clubs and multiple districts in any given ride. It is too cumbersome to visit the web page for each and every club, or look at the trail status for each district to keep up to date. The online trail guide is a great first step in merging the information into one source – I hope the trend continues in the future for other user-facing services. I think you are both correct, because you are looking at it from different points of view. Skidooer is looking at from the perspective of someone going out to ride and get trail conditions. This part of the new site is actually working OK, although I do agree that more detail would make it much better. However, I think revrnd is looking at the OFSC site as a full information site. From this point, one would want links to the clubs and where they are located. This becomes invaluable when planning a trip because you can contact locals for information on conditions, lodging, restaurants, where to buy a permit, etc. Sometimes, there really is nothing like talking to a knowledgable warm body. IMHO, the old OFSC site did a much better job of fulfilling this role. It was easier to find the information you were looking for. And you could get to the information with a minimum number of clicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidooer Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Skidooer is looking at from the perspective of someone going out to ride and get trail conditions. This part of the new site is actually working OK, although I do agree that more detail would make it much better. I was actually thinking beyond trail conditions. I am interested in hearing about club events, news, etc. from all the clubs, in a single newsfeed format. There is no technical or social reason for me to have to visit all of their websites, one by one. From a rider point of view, there is no single club I am affiliated with. I ride the trails of many. I ride the OFSC trails. That is why the information needs to be centralized. I do agree that there is a need to have contact info broken out on a club-by-club basis, but beyond that, I do not see the value for user-facing services. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sledjunk Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I was actually thinking beyond trail conditions. I am interested in hearing about club events, news, etc. from all the clubs, in a single newsfeed format. There is no technical or social reason for me to have to visit all of their websites, one by one. From a rider point of view, there is no single club I am affiliated with. I ride the trails of many. I ride the OFSC trails. That is why the information needs to be centralized. I do agree that there is a need to have contact info broken out on a club-by-club basis, but beyond that, I do not see the value. Ok, I can see that. However, wouldn't be better served up with some sort of geographical filtering? Otherwise it would be an information overload. Or maybe a user applied filter to club, district , or province level??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidooer Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Or maybe a user applied filter to club, district , or province level??? That would be a quite reasonable UX decision, and is actually what I was also thinking. If it were tied into the interactive guide, the newsfeed could be selected based on the visible bounding box. i.e. if you zoom in on a section of trail, you would get the details about all of the clubs that maintain that section; their news, contact info, upcoming events, etc. There are all kinds of interesting and exciting possibilities now that we finally have GIS trail data available and in use. I have always said that the data is not about replacing paper maps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02Sled Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Tough to sue MTO in court when their trails are engineered highways ! Hey Bill , you and I both know what the verbiage means and its still on the page that links to the OFSC interactive trail status http://www.ofsc.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=27.. • OPEN: Trails are open to snowmobiles to enter at their own risk • CLOSED: Trails are not open and unsafe for snowmobiling • LIMITED: Some trails are passable for marginal snowmobiling so extra caution is advised • DATA NOT REPORTED: Status of trail not available. Or would everybody like to read ... Trail C Open from uncle stuckeys outhouse to hollows narrows , From Hollows narrows Limited to the old goat path watch for deer droppings just past the hole in the wall. A stones throw from there c trail closed due too logging so you will have to bypass using B1o5 to the monument then reconnect to C-trail at Aunty Lillies marine.... Just opens us up to more scrutiny when human error occurs and the big word wait for it (LIABILITY)....... The text info was too confusing for the TOURISTS from out of town , sure the locals (who ride with out permits cause it's there god given right) new where Uncle Stuckeys outhouse was since thats where they torch all the vandalized and stolen signage....... I'm with you Yukon. I like the new format. When we were looking at going to Wasaga last weekend it was great to just look at the website and see where the trail went and the status. The old format was a pain. I would look and see B limited and B111 whatever etc. I had to sit there with my large paper map open beside me trying to figure out where it goes since I didn't know the trails and didn't know where Uncle Buck's or the Watering Hole was. Change for the sake of change is a waste. Change for improvement is always worth it. As far as I'm concerned it's an improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutter Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 That would be a quite reasonable UX decision, and is actually what I was also thinking. If it were tied into the interactive guide, the newsfeed could be selected based on the visible bounding box. i.e. if you zoom in on a section of trail, you would get the details about all of the clubs that maintain that section; their news, contact info, upcoming events, etc. There are all kinds of interesting and exciting possibilities now that we finally have GIS trail data available and in use. I have always said that the data is not about replacing paper maps. This is something that could now be doable with club boundary GIS data available (once we have all the clubs updated GIS data to current trails), before it was just a crap shoot where clubs physically started and stopped. I don't think the OFSC site needs to have the club details on it, just a quick easy link to get to their websites. If it's doable tech wise I'd like to see something like move your curser over any trail on the interactive map, click it, and a corresponding club tab pops up, which you can also double click to open a new window to that clubs website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToSlow Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 This is something that could now be doable with club boundary GIS data available (once we have all the clubs updated GIS data to current trails), before it was just a crap shoot where clubs physically started and stopped. I don't think the OFSC site needs to have the club details on it, just a quick easy link to get to their websites. If it's doable tech wise I'd like to see something like move your curser over any trail on the interactive map, click it, and a corresponding club tab pops up, which you can also double click to open a new window to that clubs website. that sounds like a good plan rick, can you get'er done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutter Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 that sounds like a good plan rick, can you get'er done Just as well as anyone else can, I can suggest the idea and see where it goes from there if it's something that's doable. After posting I starting thinking that if it tech wise can be done it's obviously something that would have to be done after you magnify to certain level or it'd just be a mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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