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). 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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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).
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?