First Teams Google Map

[Damian Manda]

I wanted to see the distribution and location of FIRST teams and provide a resource to all teams wishing to locate others, so I created a Google maps application that plots a database of team locations. This can be found at http://www.alpinerobotics.com/resources.php?section=map.

I have added the locations for all of the teams in Colorado (my state), but would like to expand the database. As I do not have the time to locate and map every FIRST team in the world, I have created a page on which you can submit data for your team (linked on map page or http://www.alpinerobotics.com/resources.php?section=editmap) (http://www.alpinerobotics.com/resources.php?section=editmap%29). I found the locations of where each team works through Google Earth placemarks for the latitude and longitude points accurate to the aerial map. You could do the same or use another program or GPS reciever.

Currently this application is fairly crude, but if people like the ability to find other teams I am planning to add:


Regionals Mapped (With different pin type)
More information (What would people want? I could include some from the FIRST team info database)
Auto window size (fit all pushpins)
Open info window on search for team
Address line switches so that teams can use a hosted map (without all of our surroundings) as a locator on their own sites (this would then only show the area surrounding their team point)
Ability to hide/show pushpins based on regional attendance
Anything else people might like!

[Elgin Clock]

Looks cool.

As far as data entry is concerned, does it matter whether a 3 digit team number is entered in as 3 or 4 digits?
(ie: 237, or 0237 in my team's case)

[Damian Manda]

Looks cool.

As far as data entry is concerned, does it matter whether a 3 digit team number is entered in as 3 or 4 digits?
(ie: 237, or 0237 in my team's case)

No, it would not matter which way the team numbers are entered.

Also, I have noticed that some people have submitted team information without latitude or longitude points, or with them rounded to the nearest integer. These points are the only way that the teams can be mapped, so I need this information for any entry. Please try to make the lat/lon accurate to at least 4-5 decimal places, as otherwise the pushpins will not appear in the correct place. The maximum decimal places supported is 13.

If you don't have Google Earth, some free sites to find you lat/lon are:
http://www.ffiec.gov/geocode/default.htm
http://www.geocode.com/modules.php?name=TestDrive_Eagle
http://geocoder.us/
http://www.travelgis.com/geocode/

[dubious elise]

www.terraserver.com is also fairly accurate (to approximately 8 decimal places).

Awesome plan, Damian! It's always interesting to know exactly where teams are from, and I'm sure that it will come in handy for many people.

[ahecht]

I looked up team 190, and it was not found, but when I tried to add an entry, it said something like "duplicate entry in field 1".

[dubious elise]

I looked up team 190, and it was not found, but when I tried to add an entry, it said something like "duplicate entry in field 1".
Once you look up your team number, all of the fields on the next page should be cleared, then you can fill in all of the information on the righthand side of the page. It may not be added to the database for some time, so I wouldn't expect any instantaneous results.

[mechanicalbrain]

I love this! Great work!

[ahecht]

Once you look up your team number, all of the fields on the next page should be cleared, then you can fill in all of the information on the righthand side of the page. It may not be added to the database for some time, so I wouldn't expect any instantaneous results.

Nope, still getting "Duplicate entry '190' for key 1"

My guess is that team 1190 (which is in the database) is screwing things up.

[Damian Manda]

Nope, still getting "Duplicate entry '190' for key 1"

My guess is that team 1190 (which is in the database) is screwing things up.

I just wrote the insert thing quickly last night, so there will be problems like this until I finish the code. The problem here is that someone else on your team already entered info for your team, but the add database is not searched when records are loaded, but when you try to add a duplicate number problems ensue. I will fix this shortly.

I will post again when this is done, so you can retry. The other entry is not very complete (no city/state, rounded to nearest integer lat/lon).

[Damian Manda]

Ok, the problem addressed by ahecht should be mostly fixed. One case I haven't included yet: team has map entry and update (chooses map entry to load).

I still have to write the page to tranfer updates to the main database (shouldn't take long, but I have no time), so it may be another day before your new entries show up.

[Ryan M.]

Very nice work, Damian.

[rangersteve]

I registered 931. This is really cool. One team seems to be set at 0,0.

[Damian Manda]

One team seems to be set at 0,0.

Yes, I didn't have a location for team 443, but they were still entered into the database at 0,0.

[rangersteve]

I entered my team a while ago and it still hasn't showed up. How long does it normally take?

[Jeff Rodriguez]

Not sure how, but RAGE is on regular Google maps. (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=rage&ll=41.765355,-72.646289&sll=41.782222,-72.612500&spn=0.038254,0.067922&sspn=0.161030,0.285988&num=10&start=0&hl=en)

I added RAGE to the mix.

[Chaos204]

i just submitted team 204!

very good idea by the way

[mechanicalbrain]

Ive been checking in on this every couple of days but i haven't noticed any updates and i know allot of people have posted on the map. Is it my computer or the actual map?

[Damian Manda]

Ive been checking in on this every couple of days but i haven't noticed any updates and i know allot of people have posted on the map. Is it my computer or the actual map?

You don't have a problem, it was the database. When someone enters or updates the information for a team, it is submitted to an updates database. This will then be added/updated to the main map database. This is so that teams with no lat/lon or 0,0 do not end up on the map. I needed to write the admin interface to transfer the new points over to the map database, but was very busy last week (so much school work!).

Now I have finished the transfer page and entered all of the teams with a accurate lat/lon. Check to see if your team is on the map. If not, load the record and add more than one decimal place to the lat/lon points. The view of the map now also centers on the entire US at the start (yes I know there are international teams, but this facilitates easier viewing at first for a majority of users).

[mechanicalbrain]

You don't have a problem, it was the database. When someone enters or updates the information for a team, it is submitted to an updates database. This will then be added/updated to the main map database. This is so that teams with no lat/lon or 0,0 do not end up on the map. I needed to write the admin interface to transfer the new points over to the map database, but was very busy last week (so much school work!).

Now I have finished the transfer page and entered all of the teams with a accurate lat/lon. Check to see if your team is on the map. If not, load the record and add more than one decimal place to the lat/lon points. The view of the map now also centers on the entire US at the start (yes I know there are international teams, but this facilitates easier viewing at first for a majority of users).
YAY!! very cool and congrats this will make finding teams allot easier. You know i seem to remember a thread on a contact database. This would be a perfect tool to pair the two. Oh is their an easy way to find the cordinates of my team?

[Damian Manda]

Oh is their an easy way to find the cordinates of my team?

Use any site I posted above (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=406294&postcount=3). These are also now listed on: http://www.alpinerobotics.com/resources.php?section=editmap

[mechanicalbrain]

Oh one more thing. When you click on a team and it provides a website, none of those websites open correctly. Agian it might be my browser but the url becomes for example http://www.alpinerobotics.com/www.lahsrobotics.org instead of www.lahsrobotics.org

[Damian Manda]

Oh one more thing. When you click on a team and it provides a website, none of those websites open correctly. Agian it might be my browser but the url becomes for example http://www.alpinerobotics.com/www.lahsrobotics.org instead of www.lahsrobotics.org (http://www.lahsrobotics.org)

Yes, I have noticed this too, but haven't fixed it yet. It seems to think these are relative URL's, but the ones with the http:// prefix work properly (try 159 for example).

Edit: This has now been fixed (at least for most cases).

[Ryan M.]

You know i seem to remember a thread on a contact database.See my sig. :D There is "someone" who has contacted me about working together on the contact database, so we may actually add integration to this at some point. No promises though. :)

[Michelle Celio]

Great Idea.

Keep up the good work. :D :rolleyes:

[dubious elise]

Awesome program, I'm glad to see that you have so many teams up and running!

[Elgin Clock]

Hmm.. Team 155 appears to be in the wrong spot. Don't know who entered the info for that one.. But that's definitely not Berlin, CT.

[dachickindapit]

Team 221 is in the wrong place; also, it doesn't exist anymore. It should be Team 857 in Houghton, MI.

[Shu Song]

added 639.

[Damian Manda]

Oops... I just added the updating to the code, and it looks like anyone who updated their record (as opposed to creating a new one) was blanked out. This means I need information of 116, 204 and 1167 again.

[Babyhueyhnx]

i added my team to the db. when you type in 486 it comes up but there is no marker.

[Babyhueyhnx]

it works now.

[JVGazeley]

Grr... Someone added 759 before I could get to it...

[phrontist]

Could we be able to download this as a Google Earth Layer? You'd just need to shove it into KML format. See this (http://www.googleearthhacks.com/) for cool examples!

[Damian Manda]

Could we be able to download this as a Google Earth Layer? You'd just need to shove it into KML format. See this (http://www.googleearthhacks.com/) for cool examples!

Yes, this would be possible. My original data for colorado was from a Google Earth file. When I have time, I will make an output for KML format.

[mechanicalbrain]

I posted our team a week ago and when i search for it it goes to the right location but it doesn't give us a marker.

[Justin]

Very nicely done. It would be cool to have a different color pin for each of the regionals as well or possibly a different map and then have driving directions to each regional, that would be a pretty nice resource as well.

Justin

[Denman]

Grr... Someone added 759 before I could get to it...that would have been me, i was bored and reading cd
its pretty accurate ey, to the exact location

[mechanicalbrain]

Uh i just started to notice a problem.... The markers are WAY to big. Like i can't see New York! Its a blob of red!

[JVGazeley]

that would have been me, i was bored and reading cd
its pretty accurate ey, to the exact location

Yup...

[Damian Manda]

Attached to this post is a Google Earth map placemark file (zipped because CD does not support .kmz) of all FIRST Competitions for 2006. The markers are placed directly on the competition arena in all cases, and have the addresses in their descriptions. I will soon add this information to the online map application, and make smaller markers for the online map if I have time.

[Damian Manda]

I finally got around to implementing the regionals points. These should be exactly placed on each competition venue, if they are not contact me and I can correct it. The competition or team points can also be hidden separately.

I am working on an option to display only the teams attending a selected regional (to see where other teams are from). Those who have entered team records recently have not yet been added, but will be in the next couple of days.

Also, this map is slow to display in IE now, due to the amount of markers, so wait for the initial load (the browser is not locked up).

[Ethulin]

I always have some qualms about reviving an old thread but I decied this is a worthy cause.

It really would be great if EVRY team who reads this posts their location!

I was looking for some local teams to scrimmage against so I head over to the handy dandy google map! Well... there is only one team listed anywhere close to me! I know their are others! Come on guys, this is a little bit of time out of your day that puts a LOT of time back into everyone else's!

[Damian Manda]

Come on guys, this is a little bit of time out of your day that puts a LOT of time back into everyone else's!
Thanks for thinking that this was actually a worthwhile effort.

I just got around to adding a bunch more teams that had submitted, now the list is up to 172 teams. I have not had any more time to work on the site, but after the build season, I will try to get the show teams going to regionals mode working (all the info is in there, it just needs implementation) and fix bugs like the strange box display of regional addresses.

Thanks to everyone for their support, this can become a great resource if most teams are availible. If you know of teams around you and have time, enter them as well, it will only help others.

[Pat Fairbank]

Awesome! I never knew that I live less than 100 miles from team 229!

[Eldarion]

Thanks for thinking that this was actually a worthwhile effort.

I just got around to adding a bunch more teams that had submitted, now the list is up to 172 teams. I have not had any more time to work on the site, but after the build season, I will try to get the show teams going to regionals mode working (all the info is in there, it just needs implementation) and fix bugs like the strange box display of regional addresses.

Thanks to everyone for their support, this can become a great resource if most teams are availible. If you know of teams around you and have time, enter them as well, it will only help others.

Thanks for all your effort. Team 81 is now on the map, in the correct location this time! :)