Google maps is useful for many things, but my favorite maps of the downtown area are provided by the GWCC. Click the two PDF map links on this page.
I like to print out a copy for myself, and copies to share. They are especially useful if you are staying downtown and walking, or if you need to know where to park. They are clear, and show the MARTA stations as well.
Be sure to check out the FIRST website as well. Usually they have pit maps and the recommended walking route. The latter is recommended for safety.
Just as a test here is a street view from google in the vicinity of the georgia dome. street view aimed at the parking lot across the street. You can swing the view 360 degrees. go back to map and drop the little orange guy on a street for another view. This is not good for carrying around, but if you’ve never been there, you can get familiar with how it looks. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/35378
shows the orange guy dragged from the zoom bar over next to the dome http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/35379
click and it deposits the guy and enables a view of the area.
I’m still experimenting to see if the other, non-street walking paths can be viewed too.
I like those GWCC guides too. I’ll be printing a new set to replace the folded/crumpled/grungy pair from last year.
I’ve been volunteering at the Champs for many years. A few years ago I clocked 36 miles on the pedometer during my days at Championships; last year was “only” around 28 miles if I recall correctly. It’s a lot of walking.
NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) is hosting a session for all adult/college age mentors on Friday, room C207 in the GWCC. It’s free, you don’t need to belong to NEMO. We’ll be discussing any non-technical topics/concerns that you want to talk about like fundraising, recruiting/retaining mentors, teambuilding, team organization, etc. Come and go as you need to between 10am and noon. This is a great way to network and make new FIRST connections!
I believe there is no wi-fi in the pits. On page 14 of the essential information document it says
Wireless internet access is now available in the concourse areas of the GWCC. This
access is not available in the pits. Daily rates start at $15.00. Teams will not be
allowed to set up their own wireless networks at the Championship. While we certainly
appreciate the positive potential team-created wireless networks could represent, there
is a chance such wireless networks could interfere with planned activities during the
event
At the GTR, theres usually a section for cheering and dancing and stuff, which they took out this year. Annoying, cause as my friend said, we’re a party team. I was wondering if they had anything like this in Atlanta.
You can definitely party in the stands, but please do so with everyone else behind you in consideration. If your team wants to party in the stands you can, but you will get yelled at to sit down or move. I know team 33 was asked to move to the side of the field because they were blocking vision, and they did very graciously. And it is not just with signs, just standing up blocks vision.
NOTE to everyone! Please do not stand up in the stands during a match. There are other people in the stands such as scouts and spectators who cannot see when people stand up. The slope in the dome is really shallow so if you stand 20 rows in front of someone, you are still blocking the field. And when someone close to the field stands (don’t know why, they are already really close to the field), everyone has to stand behind them and it is still hard to see over/impossible. We were in the back of the stands so we could get power (we are changing this so we can go further down the stands) and in front of the handicapped section. We were annoyed, but we just stood up with our clip boards and scouted the robots we could see, but those in wheel chairs do not have that ability. :o
Please don’t take the word “stands” literally and stand in the stands.
<closes eyes tightly> I do believe in Champs divisions, I do believe in Champs divisions, I do believe in Champs divisions…<opens eyes> Dang there still not here :eek:
When reading the essential information for the championships, it said that working on the robots and setting up pits on wednesday was ok, but a couple pages later it said teams couldn’t do that.
This year, they are allowing work on robots, as well as pit setup, wifi encryption, etc on Wednesday night. In past years, they have not. I suspect conflicting documentation is a result of poor year to year updating.
Bring the opposite bumpers or bumper cover to what you need in a match, a spare battery, and some simple tools so you don’t HAVE to walk back to the pits. In the past we’ve had matches that were relatively close together and we would chose to stay out in the dome and wait for our next match because it didn’t make sense to go back to the pits for 15 minutes just to walk out again.
Have someone in the stands give you updates via text or phone call so you know what match is on the field. You can’t always rely on announcements or the feed to the pits. I’ve also found that you should leave about 4-5 matches ahead of your scheduled match just to make sure you’ll be there in time. I always allotted our team about 10 minutes to get from the pits to the field last year. This time will vary depending on what division you’re in, Curie and Archimedes Pits are closest to the Exit of the Pits, but the fields are furthest from the Entrance to the Dome, and the opposite is true for Newton and Galileo.
I think it got changed. Page 5 of the latest document indicates the new rules under Load-In. Page 9 refers to this change in the section for Registration and Uncrating.
That’s where i read it. It just seemed like the same thing to me. And if they changed it, why leave the section on page 9 about not being able to work on the robot or pits?
