One of the little known features that we have had on our website since we went live is the ability to show route maps for the events that we have posted. It's been a little difficult to navigate and frankly was a little difficult for us to maintain so we really haven't pushed it too much. The problem for us is that we had to use a third-party tool to actually create the map and then copy the coordinate mapping to our site in order to display it. I knew that wouldn't work long term but there have been a lot of other priorities that prevented me from fixing it. I finally have had some time in the past couple of weeks to go back and do something about it. This is an exciting new addition that I think you will really like. We now can not only display the route, but we also have the ability to create them directly on the site using internally developed mapping tools. For the immediate future I'm keeping the create ability internally until I've ensured that the bugs have been worked out, but the plan is to open it up so that you can create your own route maps as well.
You will notice on our website a new menu item in the footer labeled "Routes". Selecting this will give a list of available routes along with a search box. You can use this to find routes by distance and for a particular area. We have always attached a route to every event that we post results for, but unfortunately many of those are just placeholders and don't actually have any map. We're working hard to get this fixed but it will take some time to find and get them all posted. If you find one that you are looking for that isn't shown properly, let us know and we'll work to get it corrected. If you have the actual route, please send it to us and we'll get it posted.
There are a few cool features that you will notice when viewing a particular route. One is the ability to place the mile markers on the route. By default, it doesn't show them but if you toggle the option on the map toolbar, the mile markers will appear. This is a best approximation as defined by the mapping software. We're making use of Google maps which actually does a really good job. The other feature that you will like is the elevation chart. Toggle that option and a chart will appear below the map giving you the appropriate elevations. Finally, there is a print box on the toolbar. This simply uses the browser's print facility to print the page minus all of the unneeded menus, banner, etc. It just prints the map and elevation chart if displayed. I'm hoping to improve the print facility as the browser doesn't always handle it correctly and a portion of the map can sometimes get scaled incorrectly. Keep checking back for more improvements.
I hope that you like this new feature and is yet another service that Athlete Guild is trying to give the community. We're working hard to give both the race director and participants the tools to have a great event. Please give us any feedback about the tool that you may have.
