Waterscape Canal Guides

[Windor Richard]

Once upon a time the Waterscape web site had a very useful section where a guide to a canal could be downloaded showing all sorts of useful stuff like 48 hour mooring and water points etc.

 

It seems to have disappeared. Has CART killed it off for being helpful to boaters?

[bottle]

http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/in-your-area#lat:53.540307,lng:-1.8566889999999603,zoom:7

[starman]

Once upon a time the Waterscape web site had a very useful section where a guide to a canal could be downloaded showing all sorts of useful stuff like 48 hour mooring and water points etc.

 

It seems to have disappeared. Has CART killed it off for being helpful to boaters?

No, what they've done is the usual computer age thing of replacing it with something 'new and improved' which is actually more fiddly, less informative and much less useful. Particularly when you happen to be in an area with no internet signal which is common on many canals.

I'm very glad I downloaded my Grand Union one before they dumped it; just wish I had downloaded more of them.

Maybe someone at CRT might read this and have a re-think? Fat chance methinks.

[pearley]

And, unfortunately, the new site has all the errors of the old one, still showing water points and other facilities that closed or were removed years ago. I suggested to CRT that they invite boaters to tell them of all the errors but was told that it was only a Beta version and would be corrected in due course.

 

I don't know if it is just me, but my tablet refuses to show anything other than the default whereas my laptop will show everything I request.

Edited April 21, 2014 by pearley

[alan_fincher]

No, what they've done is the usual computer age thing of replacing it with something 'new and improved' which is actually more fiddly, less informative and much less useful. Particularly when you happen to be in an area with no internet signal which is common on many canals.

I'm very glad I downloaded my Grand Union one before they dumped it; just wish I had downloaded more of them.

Maybe someone at CRT might read this and have a re-think? Fat chance methinks.

 

Yes, unless they have improved it a lot since launch, the new thing seemed close to unusable, and to seem to need the kind of bandwidth we almost never have when we need it.

 

I guess realistically nobody at CRT is likely to "read this and have a rethink".

 

Maybe if enough of us emailed them directly with our thoughts they might take more notice?

 

I suspect it is a case that those who come up with these ideas seldom have to use them at the wrong end of a poor internet connection.

[paulmorgan]

I've passed the thread onto Victoria Peckett - Digital Media Manager. No promises that anything will come of it, but we are updating various elements of the site - just comes down to time, resources, priorities and other requirements as always.

 

Leave any further feedback in this thread if you like, I'll check it later this week.

 

Cheers,

Paul

[RLWP]

For those wot understand these things, presumably the CRT data is some kind of overlay to Google maps. So, can it be accessed outside of their website?

 

Richard

[Tuscan]

I've passed the thread onto Victoria Peckett - Digital Media Manager. No promises that anything will come of it, but we are updating various elements of the site - just comes down to time, resources, priorities and other requirements as always.

 

Leave any further feedback in this thread if you like, I'll check it later this week.

 

Cheers,

Paul

Good Man

 

Thank you

[junior]

I managed to download the GU one before they did away with the downloadable versions. I wish I had downloaded all the others now as I've tried using the new 'thing' on both my mobile and tablet whilst out cruising and found it impossible.

 

Could they not think about reinstating them and doing an annual update rather than constantly keeping them current if this is why they got rid of them?

[Richard Fairhurst]

For those wot understand these things, presumably the CRT data is some kind of overlay to Google maps. So, can it be accessed outside of their website?

 

Richard Parry, at the Gloucester boaters' meeting, implied that he’d like CRT to release this data to the public: “I personally think we should be making it easier for others to make maps too.”

 

I’m trying to encourage them to do so. More voices in support would be welcome!

[MyLady]

I've passed the thread onto Victoria Peckett - Digital Media Manager. No promises that anything will come of it, but we are updating various elements of the site - just comes down to time, resources, priorities and other requirements as always.

 

Leave any further feedback in this thread if you like, I'll check it later this week.

 

Cheers,

Paul

 

Greeny!

[john6767]

The new approach using Google maps does not provide anything like the same level of information that the pdf guides did. As an example I wanted to find out what the mooring limit in Coventry Basin, the new maps do not provide any information on mooring limits, and I gave up trying to find out and had to ask on here instead.

 

If you believe what it said about the old boater guides, that they were generated from a database, I don't see why the new maps can not provide the same level of information, and why the pdfs can not still be available for those that want to download and print off the information. There only needs to be a single database of information maintained, and then different ways of delivering the information. The most important thing is that the information is available, not the form.