Hi all,
in my two former hireboat holidays, I programmed & used a little canal navigation tool which assisted me a bit on time-planning when travelling on the canal.
That one was already based on multiple converted CSV exports from CanalPlanAC. This tool was't fit for release though as the mobile setup was non-trivial (i.e it required an Android web server with php for map tile serving) and other reasons (i.e. it used the crt map tile overlay).
Recently, I did a PWA (Progressive Web App) project for work. And I thought this might be perfectly suitable to make a canal nav app available to the public (at least some interested folks).
Normal mobile apps are always a bit of hassle to release. I collected a bit of experience with app stores while working on my other canal releated project, the Narrowboat Simulator (https://sites.google.com/view/narrowboat-simulator/). Especially dealing with the apple app store can IMHO be a bit cumbersome.
Anyway, the PWA will be able to import selected canal data and also pre-cache map tiles (in this case PNG). And store it all locally (via IndexedDB) on the mobile device for offline use.
I plan (and also tried it out) to use the canalplan api for importing canal data. Each API call however, is cached on a proxy server and the caching duration is currently set to a year. This aims to keep the load on your server low. Even, if more than two people should use the PWA.
(API calls are more of the general type, like \"give me a plan of canal x from start to end\")
Naturally, I won't release an APP/Site based on your data without your consent. And that is the point of this post.
Do you think this would be possible? I promise to make clear that CanalPlanAC data is used and would also add links to the \"gazette\" pages for displaying place & canal details.
To state it clearly:
I don't plan to make any money with this.
I won't request any work from your side. The existing API calls are already sufficient.
Should - in the future - the question of commercial versions (i.e. branded for hireboat companies) come up then I would naturally do nothing without your permission.
Thank you for reading this text monster. If my english sounds a bit funny then sorry, my native language is german. I live near Hamburg.
Michael
We have a partially completed PWA for canalplan which uses local storage and the Openmaptiles / Canalplan tile sets. It also logs locations back into a centralised DB so the idea was that you could allow people to track you (For example a fuel boat) or allow your friends to see where you were. For various reasons this is currently stalled because other work has taken us both away from both the PWA and from Canalplan itself.
We went for a PWA for exactly the same reasons - you don't need to teach yourself a new coding language and you don't need to jump through all the hoops to get applications into the app store. Plus of course it also works on small format laptops
I progressed a bit with the app. That's because I want to try it out on our oncoming holidays on the 4 Counties Ring.
If anyone wants to try it out then feel free to follow the link: https://canalcompass.de
(I chose the german .de extension because it was the cheapest domain costs for me.)
I have posted about this address only in this forum. So if you (admins) don't want this public then feel free to remove or change my post.
Be warned, the app will be buggy, stubborn and non-intuitive. It is a PWA which means, that it can be used as a website or as an app/icon. There's an \"install\" Button on the web page/PWA but then you'll have to follow the menu options specific to your browser/device to install the app icon.
Once the selected canal data has been downloaded the app can also be used offline if necessary. Map tiles are stored locally while you view them or be pre-cached for two regions.
Canal data download will not put a high load on canalplans servers as my server caches every request of the app. (Currently, for a year) So the data will probably be a bit outdated.
How to use:
It makes sense to have GPS on the device which you try this out (although there's a debug GPS option which simulates a section of the T&M from Etruria).
If you use it on a phone then it helps if it is not \"too old\" or \"too small\". Tablets work as well.
Select canals: Move the rectangle around on the map and press \"add\" when you highlighted the canals you want to travel/plan on. Repeat if required. Then press OK to download the data.
Set Waypoints: Click on the map where you want to start from -> select \"manage waypoints\" and assign it (via the arrow left on it) to the starting waypoint. Repeat the same with the destination waypoint. Use the \"insert\" arrows to add waypoints inbetween.
The app should now be showing a route between the waypoints on the map. If GPS is off then the route starts at the start waypoint. If GPS is on then the route start at your current position (if it is close enough to a canal for which you downloaded the data).
Delete waypoints: Click the waypoint marker on the map. Choose \"remove\".
Some remarks:
If the boat/location passes a waypoint, it will NOT be automatically be removed/disabled. So if you pass a waypoint the route will point back to that waypoint until it is deleted.
The app will always think you're going in the direction of the planned route. If you need to go to a winding hole first, then put a waypoint on it or just keep this in mind.
Yes, i know that 4.9 mph is too fast. That's just the GPS simulator! (just a virtual wake)
Here some impressions:
(https://i.imgur.com/FNUWf0N.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/pUFMcrb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/CvIAnWF.jpg)