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The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I clicked on the "Map Your Boat" link on the left and got a surprising notice, but no map. Have I actually visited this site 100 times over the last number of years? Is the map still active for other members?
Maximum visits allowed for maps without a paid plan is 100 visits.
This map is currently frozen. To unfreeze, please Upgrade the account that owns this map to one of our paid plans for more visits.
In case the map is not owned by any account, Sign-Up for the service and claim the map with a paid account.
JohnP 1978 C25 SR/FK "Gypsy" Mill Creek off the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay Port Captain, northern Chesapeake Bay
Looks like the map was set up by someone here who wasn’t or no longer is a paid subscriber to Zeemaps, and they are counting all accesses. It appears maybe if the association paid up, the map would become available on an unlimited basis. (?)
Dave Bristle Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired), Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
It appears the annual cost is $199. Perhaps we should take a straw poll to see how much our members actually use it. If the members consider it useful, it wouldn't be a huge expense.
I recently realized I was paying over $60. a month for some online services I seldom use, so I terminated them. After you start a service, you tend to not re-think your usage, even though the costs increase.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
I have used the map infrequently. Once in awhile out of curiosity as to where everyone is geographically located and perhaps a few times when I was going to be travelling and potential for hooking up with a fellow association member. I would be surprised if I accessed it more than 10-15 times and that is from mid-2005 to present, over 13 years !
While nice to view on a map, perhaps a database would suffice, similar to the list of boat owners but instead, arranged by state and then by body of water and town the boat is located. Then owner info.
While nice to view on a map, perhaps a database would suffice, similar to the list of boat owners but instead, arranged by state and then by body of water and town the boat is located. Then owner info.
Good idea. If the database was searchable, based on the criteria Larry suggests, it would serve the same purpose.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
How would you structure the database? For example, my boat is in Milford Harbor. That’s part of Long Island sound in CT USA. Someone else might be in Kings Cove on Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Would we list the locality, then waterbody, then state, then country, then latitude and longitude? If we ever wanted to convert it to a graphic format with a map overlay,that Lat & Long would be essential.
Having the map would be much better to identify actual location. But you would have to factor in is it worth it for the Association to fork over an annual fee for a map service that is most likely underused or infrequently used at best. A database is a compromise for establishing a work around using a map for a fee. It would not be ideal but probably could be constructed by one of our computer gurus. I see it developed with following order - First by State, then body of water (specific lake, river, bay, ocean, etc) and then by town. It would not pinpoint a boat within say a few miles but would provide a close enough proximity to where the boat is located. For example, a boat could be designated as being in Virginia, Chesapeake Bay, Chincoteague. That would provide a close enough approximation to where the boat is located. it would serve the purpose if one were to be visiting the area and wanted to know wo owned a boat in that nearby area or for those that were curious as to where one of our members had his/her boat docked. The actual marina or street address could also be listed but drilling down that far may not be necessary or desired....depending on the inputs received from the membership.
A database was suggested not because it would be better or equal to a map but because there appears to now be a charge to have or maintain a Map service. A database would just be a work-around that would still provide beneficial info as to vicinity, not exact location of the boat....and that may be sufficient info considering that many probably did not utilize the Map to any great extent, when it was available for free.
Country should also be listed for our friends in the US, Canada, Down Under and Across the Pond. Lat Long with N/S and E/W @ 2 decimal points would be sufficient for future migration to a graphical representation. A data entry form should be easy enough to setup.
Boat Name _________ Boat Model _________ Keel Type _________ Rig Type _________ Port Name __________ Waterbody __________ City ___________ State/Province _______ Postal Code ________ Country _________ Latitude N/S ___.__ Longitude E/W _____.__ (add leading zero if less than 100) Marina (optional) ___________
I've worked with other ESRI products but have not used storymaps. I did log on, however, to check it out and it very well could serve our purpose. I'm up to my neck in alligators this morning but will look into it this evening.
The "map your boat" function showed up here in December 2010. At first there was quite a bit of interest in it. But, when you think about it, if we have only reached our 100 visit limit on free access by December 2018, that doesn't reflect much long term interest in it. $200. isn't a lot of money if the members really want it and will use it, but if not, we can probably put our $200. per year to a better use.
Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind" previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22 Past Commodore
No time right now at work to check out the other map link - but maybe hat ill work. As far as a database, the addl parameters sound like a good idea that potentially expands the database usefulness.
I was not sure how far back the existing Map originated - 2010.....and only reached 100 times accessed in 2018. Not much use was made.
I'm afraid nix on the ESRI Storymap product. This free app offers some nice teasers but very limited database functionality. As I understand it, each record is limited to an image, lat/lon geotag, and a little descriptive text. The subscription version is a functional GIS with capability to import MS Excel, Access or ... files but at a cost of $500 per year. My apologies for jumping the gun.
I like the map functionally, a picture truly is worth 1000 words. You can see right off the bat where your neighbors are and the places that our members flock to, and stay away from in droves. If you’re traveling, it can give you insights into where the cool kids hang out.
But, a searchable database or spreadsheet can give you as much or more info given a bit of looking. Google sheets, Sharepoint and Dropbox all can host these data.
What would be helpful is a forms-based data entry tool with error checking that would submit the data to a file. This way users could change their own data without inadvertently changing others’.
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.