Confirmed New Districts for 2015?

[dodar]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

So time to throw my hat in to the Florida Debate:

Combining this:


And this:



If Florida were to go districts as Florida only 3 teams who have only ever competed in Florida would have to find new homes (3998 in Georgia, and 4707 and 4091 from the Dominican Republic) but not the main point

If we were to host 4 districts and we would stick them in population dense areas they would be:
Fort Lauderdale
Tampa
Orlando
and The Merrit Island/Melbourne area.
And Orlando would most likely host championship

So teams such as 2556 would have to travel 5 hours to it's closest district(s).

I always thought like a good way to do it(In a perfect world) in the first year of Florida districts would be one a week: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Melbourne, Tampa, Jacksonville. Then Week 6 would be a bye week before champs at UCF.

Back in reality, though, this is why Florida is a ways off from districts. As there are enough North Florida teams to care about, but not enough team density to warrant a district.

[Maximillian]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

I know Code Red has thrown around the idea of hosting a district, if NY were to go District - we have the proper facilities (either in the High School, at Cornell, or Ithaca College) and a nice central location between Rochester, Albany, Buffalo and NYC. The thing is, we're not connected to the powers that be in organizing such a thing. Just some food for thought, I have no idea if the current team leadership/school district would be up for it.

I may be able to get Trumansburg to help out if this actually happened. We probably wouldn't be a huge help but its something. However unlikely this is it would be cool if it happened.

[Phyrxes]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

How do you figure? The DMV area has 5 very well defined population centers of teams and an operative 6th geographic center of Roanoke in the western part of the Commonwealth.

From what I've heard the issue isn't necessarily DMV but what is going to happen to NC if SC goes into a district with parts (or most?) GA (as I suspect will happen).

[AlexD744]

Originally Posted by dodar

I always thought like a good way to do it(In a perfect world) in the first year of Florida districts would be one a week: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Melbourne, Tampa, Jacksonville. Then Week 6 would be a bye week before champs at UCF.

Back in reality, though, this is why Florida is a ways off from districts. As there are enough North Florida teams to care about, but not enough team density to warrant a district.

I was going to post something along these lines in the Florida Rankings thread, but since the debate has started again here goes.

So, here's a proposal. Instead of sitting and waiting for Florida to be ready for districts, why don't we set up a committee of people to try and prepare the state for the transition. Regardless of whether or not it speeds up the process, it will make the transition smoother if planning begins a few years before the switch happens. Districts are going to happen. Period. The question is will Florida be ready?

The committee could address problems such as:
-team density (specifically in north florida)
-scouting venue locations
-securing funds for a field
-is there a good solution to accommodate our out of state friends? Perhaps discussions with them
-team retention!!!
-key volunteer recruitment and training (this is especially important to have done early. In NE this year I knew quite a few people who volunteered every week because of the need for key volunteers)
-etc.

Do we know of anyone in Florida FIRST that would head something like this up? I would certainly be willing to help as much as I can from Boston... Thinking I might send this proposal to the RD's. Thoughts?

[AlexD744]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Oops, my bad. That was a typo in the range bands on my end. Should be resolved now. The team number is also now a link to TBA.

Hoping I can find a quick way to redo all the geocoding tonight so I can redo this and actually style it in a less ugly way.

Also, Andrew. Do you know of a way to show when there are multiple teams in a city? For example, 108 and 744 are both from Ft. Lauderdale so it covers up one of them and I know there's a handful of teams in Miami, but only shows 1. I think I ran into this problem when trying to do something similar a few years ago, but never figured it out.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by AlexD744

Also, Andrew. Do you know of a way to show when there are multiple teams in a city? For example, 108 and 744 are both from Ft. Lauderdale so it covers up one of them and I know there's a handful of teams in Miami, but only shows 1. I think I ran into this problem when trying to do something similar a few years ago, but never figured it out.

Google maps only has one location for a city, so it's a baked in limitation. More precise data (high schools maybe? But that would be a good deal of manual work) would separate the points.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

Google maps only has one location for a city, so it's a baked in limitation. More precise data (high schools maybe? But that would be a good deal of manual work) would separate the points.

I'm actually halfway through implementing a fix for this using leaflet.js. The geocoding tool I initially used decided it didn't like... well anything outside the continental US (somehow 383 is from Portugal...) So I'm redoing that. If you don't care about the fact that non US teams are just blatantly wrong shoot me a PM and I'll send you a link.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I'm actually halfway through implementing a fix for this using leaflet.js. The geocoding tool I initially used decided it didn't like... well anything outside the continental US (somehow 383 is from Portugal...) So I'm redoing that. If you don't care about the fact that non US teams are just blatantly wrong shoot me a PM and I'll send you a link.

I speak a too soon!

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by AlexD744

I was going to post something along these lines in the Florida Rankings thread, but since the debate has started again here goes.

So, here's a proposal. Instead of sitting and waiting for Florida to be ready for districts, why don't we set up a committee of people to try and prepare the state for the transition. Regardless of whether or not it speeds up the process, it will make the transition smoother if planning begins a few years before the switch happens. Districts are going to happen. Period. The question is will Florida be ready?

The committee could address problems such as:
-team density (specifically in north florida)
-scouting venue locations
-securing funds for a field
-is there a good solution to accommodate our out of state friends? Perhaps discussions with them
-team retention!!!
-key volunteer recruitment and training (this is especially important to have done early. In NE this year I knew quite a few people who volunteered every week because of the need for key volunteers)
-etc.

Do we know of anyone in Florida FIRST that would head something like this up? I would certainly be willing to help as much as I can from Boston... Thinking I might send this proposal to the RD's. Thoughts?

This a thousands times this and not just for Florida but everywhere.

It is a lot of work to make the transition to the district. For PNW FIRST originally told us they wanted us to move to the District system for the 2013 season in mid 2012. We put it off for a year and used off season events, with an official field, between the 2012 and 2013 season to start to train FTAs and other volunteers. About this time in 2013 people started to tour potential tons of sites.

One thing that could potentially lessen the cost of moving to the District system is the new field that AndyMark developed. It has yet to be approved for official use by FIRST but will be used for IRI and some other off-season events and FIRST personnel will observe how it performs and if it is similar enough with the current field. FIRST wants to be able to make a single design of game specific elements that will work properly with both versions. The AM field is set to retail for $20,000 including the 3 road cases that it fits in. This is much less than the current field purchased from the fabricator that FIRST uses and that doesn't include the road cases which is another significant cost.

Andy had fliers about the field that he was handing out at CMP.

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Mr V

One thing that could potentially lessen the cost of moving to the District system is the new field that AndyMark developed. It has yet to be approved for official use by FIRST but will be used for IRI and some other off-season events and FIRST personnel will observe how it performs and if it is similar enough with the current field. FIRST wants to be able to make a single design of game specific elements that will work properly with both versions. The AM field is set to retail for $20,000 including the 3 road cases that it fits in. This is much less than the current field purchased from the fabricator that FIRST uses and that doesn't include the road cases which is another significant cost.

Andy had fliers about the field that he was handing out at CMP.

How did they manage that? I've packed a few offseason fields, and the field barriers alone probably take up two cases. Even if you really skimp on the safety stuff (thinner field barriers, different driver station construction), I doubt your be able to fit that stuff into three road cases.

That said, if this really does work as well as a regular field, it would be really nice in terms of transportation. Few people realize how logistically difficult it is just to transport this stuff. If we could fit a field in the back of a large van or two rather than a moving truck, it would make events a lot easier and cheaper to plan.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

How did they manage that? I've packed a few offseason fields, and the field barriers alone probably take up two cases. Even if you really skimp on the safety stuff (thinner field barriers, different driver station construction), I doubt your be able to fit that stuff into three road cases.

That said, if this really does work as well as a regular field, it would be really nice in terms of transportation. Few people realize how logistically difficult it is just to transport this stuff. If we could fit a field in the back of a large van or two rather than a moving truck, it would make events a lot easier and cheaper to plan.

The picture I saw included at least one road case that was aprox as tall as the tool road cases. I'm also not sure if the width is the same as our traditional FRC road cases though I would suspect so. One thing I know that is significantly different is that side boarders have the polycarb pop riveted to it and I believe that is what fits into a single tall case. So that takes the sides from 3 short cases to one tall case. I'm not sure how the handle the driver's stations that now takes up two tall cases and two short ones. I'm guessing each end would have their own case and I would imagine they would also be tall cases.

I for one am very bummed about the timing of this as Washington FIRST Robotics spent a big chunk of money purchasing fields from FIRST's fabricator and then spent a lot of money on parts and a lot of time to build road cases for the two fields that we own.

[Thad House]

Originally Posted by Mr V

The picture I saw included at least one road case that was aprox as tall as the tool road cases. I'm also not sure if the width is the same as our traditional FRC road cases though I would suspect so. One thing I know that is significantly different is that side boarders have the polycarb pop riveted to it and I believe that is what fits into a single tall case. So that takes the sides from 3 short cases to one tall case. I'm not sure how the handle the driver's stations that now takes up two tall cases and two short ones. I'm guessing each end would have their own case and I would imagine they would also be tall cases.

I for one am very bummed about the timing of this as Washington FIRST Robotics spent a big chunk of money purchasing fields from FIRST's fabricator and then spent a lot of money on parts and a lot of time to build road cases for the two fields that we own.

Looking at FIRST's basic field drawings for this year, it looks like all it includes is the side panels, and the supports for the driver station. Since the driver stations themselves have been different for the past 4 years, maybe those would be included with the FIRST provided parts, and the AM field would just be the sides and the uprights for the driver stations however large they are. That seems like it would fit in 3 cases without too much trouble, and is believable.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Thad House

Looking at FIRST's basic field drawings for this year, it looks like all it includes is the side panels, and the supports for the driver station. Since the driver stations themselves have been different for the past 4 years, maybe those would be included with the FIRST provided parts, and the AM field would just be the sides and the uprights for the driver stations however large they are. That seems like it would fit in 3 cases without too much trouble, and is believable.

The "standard" official FRC field perimeter includes everything for a 27' x 54' field, except the poly carb that goes over the outside sections of the driver's station. The center 3 sections of the driver's station have remained the same for a number of years, it is just the panels in the outside sections that are different or are deleted. I've got a pallet in storage at the Washington FIRST Robotics Fieldhouse with those items that were not used in this years field configuration. That includes 4 diamond plate panels and 4 of the top cross members per field.

The AM field would replicate the connection system used on the driver's station so that you could substitute a different lower panel in the outside sections of the driver's station as was done this season, where the low goal was. It would also need the ability place the corner uprights on either side of the 3 center sections where the drivers actually stand as was done last season, to attach the angled feeder station and low goal.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by EricH

For all practical purposes, 8-9 hours end-to-end, in good traffic. Hit downtown L.A. at rush hour, or central Orange County at about the same time, or worse, Valencia (northern L.A. county, but rather busy in terms of slow traffic) at a bad time, and you may as well stop and eat for an hour or more because you'll spend at least that long in the traffic. In other words, anywhere between 8 and 10 hours depending on how skilled you are at avoiding rush hour traffic.

CA is more like 14 hours end to end, but I don't know how many, if any teams are on the Oregon border.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Cory

CA is more like 14 hours end to end, but I don't know how many, if any teams are on the Oregon border.

Inside California, 0. The furthest north team in the state is in Oroville (4643).

In Oregon, there's a cluster around Medford of 4 teams.