About Escouts Route Hiker

This free software is designed to aid in the creation of routecards for hikers of any type, being in Scouting, DofE or general use. It allows you to calculate the fields that normally would take a long time to calculate by hand. You can create multiple routecards which can be saved and then edited in the future, as well as having printer friendly versions for use on hikes.

We are proud to say Escouts Route Hiker is always being developed, and now incorporates features such as mobile phone browsing, which allow a user to edit their routecards whilst they are away from their computer on a hike. Any additional ideas will be welcomed and there is a very high chance that they will be implemented.

You can start using Route Hiker just by registering, or if you are already registered you can login

EXCLUSIVE OFFER - Claim the credit for the routecards, bag tags and drop cards

For the last three years I have been doing all 3 Duke of Edinburgh awards. When it came to creating the routecards for the hikes, I got very frustrated and annoyed: You complete the routecard, then realise you've done something wrong, or you need to make up a few extra miles, and have to start the whole thing again!
To try and solve this, I created an excel spreadsheet which would keep all the data in a tidy format, as well as calculate the timings etc, which was a huge benefit. I used this spreadsheet for about 2 years, and then realised there was a niche in the market for my idea.
On the 30th May 2005, I came forward with an idea to my fellow Scouting community at Escouts. There are a lot of friendly useful people on there, who are more than willing to help and give their honest opinions.

This is the post I made:

A few years back I made an excel spreadsheet in the shape of a routecard. When the details such as distance between legs were entered, it calculated the ETA for each leg, taking into account height, terrain and breaks/extra time.

I thought earlier today, why don't I share this with everyone, which is why i've spent a few hours today starting to convert it into a PHP/MySQL/Javascript Web Application.

I've never seen anything similar to this before, so i'd like to create a script thats unique. If we put it live on the internet, will Escouts be able to dedicate a directory to it..and claim it as their own with the Escouts logo etc?
I'm pretty certain D of E participants would be interested in this as well, so lets beat them to it and claim it for Scouting :p

I can manage most of the scripting myself, and I am about a quarter of the way there, though if I get stuck with anything (prob database stuff :p) i'll ask in here for ideas. Also, I will need some ideas for the aesthetics of the system. If anyone wants to help by creating a template please do! It will be appreciated.

Let me know your views on this,
Rich

This has resulted in a section of the forum with over 40 threads, and help with the expansion of Escouts.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes taken straight from the forum:

Posted by myself (4 hours into the build) -

"I am about a quarter of the way there"

Posted by myself -

"It will probably just be a directory and a MySql database."

Posted by scottw -

"Richard - You're doing a great job and we all really appreciate your hard work on this...When i deleted the route it closed my browser...is that meant to happen?"

Posted by phil4071 -

"wow thats.. errmmm.. ALOT of code! lol"

Anyway, I hope you'll give this program a shot, and I'd love to hear your feedback. Most importantly, I hope it aids your hiking experience to its greatest extent.

Richard Willars