Author Topic: Methodology for entering  (Read 70082 times)

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Offline jwood.ok

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Methodology for entering
« on: April 08, 2018, 06:21:47 pm »
Hi all - brand new here.  I have a decent backlog of stuff I'd like to get entered.  Just got get an idea of how a .list file should look, I'm looking at some of your files on github.  My question is, are you expected to have a mostly completed .list file when I first send an email in, or can I just put one or two basic highways in for my initial upload?

Also, curious what methodology you all use?  Try to get all interstates entered first?  Go a state at a time?  Seems a bit overwhelming, so I want to make sure I do it whichever way will be easiest!

Offline dfilpus

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2018, 06:41:13 pm »
Submit whatever you want.  Do what works for you. It can take a while to enter hundreds or even thousands of entries. Realize that you will make mistakes, such as typos or missed segments. Expect extra submits to fix errors. I still find errors in records I added years ago. Learn how to use the Highway Browser, your .log file and your stats page.

What order you enter data depends on how your records are organized. I did my .list file by entering a trip at a time. Since you need to get the data from the highway browser, you can get the waypoints for a segment of a highway and then click on the link to the connecting highway and keep going. If you have data organized by state, then do it a state at a time.

Offline jwood.ok

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2018, 06:45:29 pm »
Submit whatever you want.  Do what works for you. It can take a while to enter hundreds or even thousands of entries. Realize that you will make mistakes, such as typos or missed segments. Expect extra submits to fix errors. I still find errors in records I added years ago. Learn how to use the Highway Browser, your .log file and your stats page.

What order you enter data depends on how your records are organized. I did my .list file by entering a trip at a time. Since you need to get the data from the highway browser, you can get the waypoints for a segment of a highway and then click on the link to the connecting highway and keep going. If you have data organized by state, then do it a state at a time.

Thanks.  I agree a trip at a time would probably be easiest.  In fact, it may be easiest to start with my most recent trip!  Lots of miles to log, so it sounds like the best thing is just get SOMETHING into the system  then do some reading up on the git method if submitting and just check on it as I go along.

Offline Jim

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2018, 07:38:35 pm »
I'll emphasize that it's fine to submit list file updates as often as you'd like.  We have a good number of users who submit updates at least weekly, and it's no significant burden on me, and certainly no problem to handle for the site update process.

Offline jwood.ok

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2018, 09:31:23 pm »
Thanks Jim!  I'm going working backward from my most recent trip.  Some of my longer trips will surely take many hours to enter, but i'll get there eventually.  It will also be interesting to try to put together the entries for my home state of Oklahoma!

Offline navigator

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2018, 01:00:49 am »
Sometimes I bug Jim a few days in a row after I've been on a road trip and add to my list file, and he's always prompt about letting you know it's ready for the next site update. I tried the github way once maybe twice, but I find email easier


My .list file looks like this, but you can do it any way you want -- as long as the [State] [Road Name] [Point A] [Point B] are all correct it'll work. I do mine in alphabetical order just so it's easier to find a particular road on there and make changes when I add more miles on it.

NV NV593 LasVegBlvd ParRd
NV US95 75A NV373
OK US70 OK/AR ChoSt
SD BadLpRd I-90(131) I-90(110)
SD I-90 SD/MN 61
SD I-90 WY/SD 30
SD I-190 SD44 I-90



I also make a copy of the .list file in the folder I keep it in pretty regularly, in case I would make a mistake when entering things in for 2 hours I can go back. I'm now at "navigator - Copy (65).list"  :o


Don't know if anybody else does this, but I also make a .txt file of every road I enter in. It looks like this:

AR US49.txt
AR US49


AR1
Waypoint 12
Coords.: 34.561248°, -90.925856°

MS/AR
Waypoint 0
Coords.: 34.496512°, -90.587425°


AR US49 AR1 MS/AR




That way I can look at the "Date modified" column in a folder and see when I last traveled a certain route. It takes me a little more time but then I know the waypoints I put in are completely correct.

Offline michih

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2018, 01:50:56 pm »
I do mine in alphabetical order just so it's easier to find a particular road on there and make changes when I add more miles on it.

I think alphabetical order is the only reasonable way because trips are usually overlapping - especially in your home state.

I also make a copy of the .list file in the folder I keep it in pretty regularly, in case I would make a mistake when entering things in for 2 hours I can go back. I'm now at "navigator - Copy (65).list"  :o
Don't know if anybody else does this

It's automatically done for everyone, e.g.: https://github.com/TravelMapping/UserData/commits/master/list_files/navigator.list
And you can see the changes of every submit/commit, e.g.: https://github.com/TravelMapping/UserData/commit/e7c1ea63e11b23e1fd6200b49657f98b23fb3c66#diff-43512f5872cfb8105b74f8a0accff736

Offline si404

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2018, 07:30:14 pm »
I think alphabetical order is the only reasonable way because trips are usually overlapping - especially in your home state.
Other ways of sorting are reasonable - eg my home region is first, then expanding out (in alphabetical order within the sweep) geographically (so the rest of my country, my continent, the US, elsewhere).

Offline michih

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2018, 11:17:58 am »
Sure, alphabetical order within each system or region. The order of the regions itself can be random. Just my 2ct.

Offline jwood.ok

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2018, 09:31:52 pm »
Thanks everyone, I've been doing the alphabetical thing by state so far.  I started working at my most recent trips and am working backwards.  My recent trips are really easy to get in just right because my routes are usually also logged on my google timeline (I know, what a cheater!  :D)  Previous nationwide trips will require a lot more time.


Offline dave1693

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2018, 06:17:54 pm »
When I first started putting my highways in (back in the CHM days), I couldn't go trip by trip because too much of it was all mashed together in my memory. So I broke my North America file into ten geographic areas, for ease of editing. Within each area, the states/provinces/territories included are also ordered semi-geographically; I don't expect that internal ordering to make sense to anyone but me.

I am giving serious consideration to going trip by trip from here on out, though. I'll see how it goes. (I am also working on adding Europe as an eleventh region, trying to work out my two journeys -- both over 30 years ago -- from hazy memory, a few things salvaged from the itineraries, and some 1984 maps where I vaguely kept track of the route traveled on my second trip.)

Offline jwood.ok

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2018, 03:36:35 pm »
Yeah I definitely have some overlap.  I think I'm also missing a few concurrents.  On my oldest trips, I'm going back and tracking routes down based on pictures I took  ;D .  Looks like I may get all my backlog in about the time that I leave on a summer trip and add a bunch of new stuff!

Offline Bickendan

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2018, 12:34:43 am »
My way of doing it is by system then region.

Interstates
Aux. Interstates
US routes
Aux. US routes
State routes
TCH
Provincial routes
Europe routes
European national routes

Offline CharlotteAllisonCDTG

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #13 on: May 03, 2018, 10:48:44 am »
I totally agree.  I do the following:

Interstates
U.S. Highways
state highways (sorted by state)
foreign highways
Completely clinched:  I-24, I-35W (MN), I-97, I-124, I-126, I-155 (MO-TN), I-190 (SD), I-195 (MD), I-240 (NC), I-295 (FL), I-375 (MI), I-516, I-520, I-526, I-564, I-585, I-640, I-675 (GA), I-895A, US 178, US 276

Offline oscar

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Re: Methodology for entering
« Reply #14 on: May 03, 2018, 11:47:05 am »
My ordering is roughly similar to Bickendan's. It's based largely on when route systems were added to CHM (which started with Interstates, then expanded into US routes and other systems) and TM.

-- Interstates (regular then business then future), by state with the states ordered more or less from west to east

-- provincial freeway systems (ON, QC, NS)

-- U.S. routes, ordered similar to Interstates with some variances in the state order depending on how hard it was to reconstruct my travels in those states

-- TCH

-- "select" freeway sets in the U.S., except numbered freeways sometimes got moved to state route sets when they went active or into preview

-- state/provincial routes, in order of when those route sets were rolled out in at least preview

-- national park and some historic highways, by state in more or less random order

-- Mexican and European routes go at the end, no matter when they were rolled out

There's enough inconsistency in my entry order that I often need to do a Wordpad search within my list file to find where in the file I put them, or where to add new entries.

One other thing I do is try to group together entries for a route within a state, in order of where they show up in the Highway Browser. That makes it easier for me to fold entries together when I fill the gaps between them. Some trips focused on such gap-filling shortened my list file while covering more mileage.

Also, I try to remove or avoid adding list file entries that are entirely concurrent with other routes (in early CHM days, we needed such duplicate entries, but now automatic multiplex detection makes them unnecessary). For example, many Texas Interstates are concurrent with U.S. routes, so I just list the U.S. routes without duplicate entries for the Interstates.