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Water Explorer - to shut down at end of 2022


stuart

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Hi everyone.

 

Back in 2007 I started a project called Water Explorer, to provide the first UK GPS based canal maps & "sat nav". This was at a time when phones were running on 2G services, WAP was the most popular mobile tech and the iPhone had only just been launched !

 

I've had thousands of visitors to the site in the past 15 years, with several thousand route recordings made, covering hundreds of thousands of miles.

 

The website and Windows application needs a significant rewrite and improvements made to keep up with modern technology and legal requirements.

 

I don't have the free time to dedicate to this project, so I'm making the reluctant decision to close the site at the end of 2022.

 

Once again, thank you to everyone who has helped build it, suggest improvements and use it.

 

I will be retaining the domain name, and in the future I may restart the project using modern tech, but no timescales on that decision!

 

Regards, Stuart.

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Sad to here about this, but understand your reasons. Found it really useful over the years to quickly and easily record journeys and look back at old trips and timings. Particularly liked the windows app, and having it running stopped all the questions from crew as to how far until the next lock!

 

Is there a way for members to download their old journey data? I think I've got the GPS log of most the recent stuff, but not the older ones. 

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11 minutes ago, Tom and Bex said:

Particularly liked the windows app, and having it running stopped all the questions from crew as to how far until the next lock!

 

Technically, the Windows app will still work (I think!!), it just won't get updates or be able to upload the data to the website.

 

Unfortunately there isn't anyway to download the old journey data from the website, except taking screenshots or copy+paste the summary.

 

 

Stu.

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42 minutes ago, Kiwidad said:

So the gpx files cannot be downloaded?

There isn't a user interface to download those on the site.  If you haven't deleted them, the files will be on the computer they were recorded on - in the Navvygator folder.

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I have thoght for some time that this day would come and I fully understand the reasons for shutting the site down. Thank you Stuart for keeping the site going for so long. It has been very useful. I can't beat @Dave Hunter 's totals though. So far we've only done (in two boats) 8,403 miles and 5,186 locks.

It's a shame about the gpx files but I have always known that it was not possible to download this data and accepted that fact by using the site (for free) in the first place.

 

Thanks again Stuart and do let us know if you do indeed "restart the project".

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Stuart, like many others I have got trips going back years and have most of the .gpx files still.

 

So, many thanks for all that you have done to make this happen and continue over the years.

 

Now, there used to be a facility to print out one's total coverage map but, I have noticed that it hasn't worked for quite a while.

 

Would it be possible to reinstate that for a short while so that we could create and print such maps before it shuts down and the data is lost?

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Managed to get most, if not all, our journeys by searching the sent emails for the gpx files. Found some 470 journeys

 

Many thanks for the program Stuart, we have used and enjoyed it since March 2013

Edited by Kiwidad
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  • 1 month later...

Hi Stuart, sad to hear the news since your software has been an inspiration to me over the years.  Does that mean it will go offline at the end of December and stop functioning or will it simply stop being developed?

 

A question for the wider community, what shall we all do now?  Is there a suitably good alternative out there (I remember reading about maybe being able to use Google, and as long as the mapping was cached, it could be used offline?).

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  • 1 month later...

Happy New Year all.

 

I've just clicked the "TERMINATE" button on the Water Explorer website, so its officially switched off now.

 

Thank you to everyone who used, commented and suggested improvements to the site over the past 15 years.

 

Perhaps one day, I shall resurrect the service!

 

Thanks, Stuart.

 

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Thanks for all you've done over the years Stuart. Your site has been very useful. We are going to try Nebo for a while but it doesn't count locks 😞.

We were trying to be the last boat moving on your site but we got pipped at the post by someone else!

Edited by Alway Swilby
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  • 1 month later...
13 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

@StephenA fancy a weekend project? ;)

 

 

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it's a PWA so can install on phone but doesn't need to be in a app store. Still in internal dev at the moment but has its own category in the canalplan bug tracker.

 

image.png.e96067ccbf6fa7355666576ba3886df9.png

 

Edited by StephenA
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On 25/02/2023 at 09:24, GeoffS said:

Has anyone found an alternative to store journey details?

We are using Nebo at the moment but it doesn't count locks. Apart from that it is good. https://nebo.global/ I run it on an old Android phone kept on the stern. When you shut it down at the end of the day it sends you an email with details of that days journey. You don't want to run it on your real phone in your pocket because then it logs you walking around locks, going to the shops etc. You can also see where other Nebo boats are (if they allow their location to be public).

 

A Canalplan app sounds interesting.

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1 hour ago, Alway Swilby said:

We are using Nebo at the moment but it doesn't count locks. Apart from that it is good. https://nebo.global/ I run it on an old Android phone kept on the stern. When you shut it down at the end of the day it sends you an email with details of that days journey. You don't want to run it on your real phone in your pocket because then it logs you walking around locks, going to the shops etc. You can also see where other Nebo boats are (if they allow their location to be public).

 

A Canalplan app sounds interesting.

Given it a go, it’s ok as long as you remember to set it going, DAMHIK :D 

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