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Spelling: ThinkingOutsideTheBox
* Introduction [1]
* In simple terms [2]
* What is the number one feature you wish to see implemented on the
Melbourne Wireless website right now? [3]
* Do you know any accomplished application programmers with PHP )"
title=";)" />
I've had a number of suggestions made to me for improvements to the
Melbourne Wireless website over the past few months, and I've come to
the conclusion that there are too many things distracting me from
being truly productive in the short to mid term. So, I've decided to
prioritise, recruit and discuss options to ensure my own workload and
that of other Melbourne Wireless coders is not too burdensome, and to
ensure that Melbourne Wireless moves forward in a cohesive and
productive manner.
IN SIMPLE TERMS
WHAT IS THE NUMBER ONE FEATURE YOU WISH TO SEE IMPLEMENTED ON THE
MELBOURNE WIRELESS WEBSITE RIGHT NOW?
DO YOU KNOW ANY ACCOMPLISHED APPLICATION PROGRAMMERS WITH PHP )"
title=";)" /> -- TysonClugg [11]
NodeDB [12] is famous for it's elevation diagrams that come with it's
nodemaps. I believe we can go one (or two) better. How about being
able to produce "Line-Of-Sight Overlays" on our maps? I've seen a
rough version done on the San Francisco WLAN website. It will produce
an overlay on a map that shows in a different colour the areas that
have "Good" Line-Of-Sight to a given point on the map - eg the area
around a node.
If you were going to implement Elevation Diagrams you could also get
Locfinder to produce a list of nodes that have "Good" Line-Of-Sight to
any given node. This feature would be useful as for many nodes it may
show Lines-Of-Sight that the node owner may not have realised. The
Line-Of-Sight between NodeGUR [13] in Moorabbin and NodeGDW [14] in
Taylors Lakes is an example of this - it was found by a fluke of
antenna orientation. An algorithm that produces a list of all possible
Lines-Of-Sight from a node would find more of these "flukes".
As for what constitutes "Good" LoS [15] - we could create and refine
formulas that attempt to take into account buildings and trees - it's
reasonable to assume a "blanket" of houses across the landscape that
is about 7 metres tall blocks LoS [16] more or less completely.
Another "Layer" above the houses from 7 metres up to about 15 metres
above the ground level is trees, which strongly attenuate 2.4GHz
signals but do not completely block them. A LoS [17] between two nodes
could be classified as "Non-existant","Bad","Good" or "Excellent"
depending on the distance it travels through buildings, trees and open
air.
These calculations are probably pretty hard on the Locfinder server.
It would be ideal to be able to calculate the LoS [18] from every node
to every other node in the database. I don't think we'd need to do the
calculations anytime anyone requests them. They should be done
everytime a new node is created or moved - or maybe 30 minutes
afterwards in case someone starts having fun moving their node to
different coordinates all over the place. You could then build up a
"matrix" of Node-to-Node LoS [19] calculations that is stored on the
server and referenced when requested by a node. When requested by a
node, the resulting list could have various sorting options
Another more simple feature would be "Shaded contours" - that show a
colour gradation for lower or higher elevations.
I guess these ideas would take a lot of hard work in coding to
implement. But I guess you have to start with an idea first.
Please discuss... - DanFlett [20] 26/03/04
-------------------------
Nice one Dan, you distract him while I go for the wallet graybeard
[21]
-------------------------
Some of these ideas are now being looked at. See LocFinder [22] and
MapServer [23] for examples. -- TysonClugg [24] 23/06/04
-------------------------
WIKI
The search term for TitleSearch [25] comes up in the list of results.
Is there a chance of working some coding magic to exclude that string
from the results ...
eg: - in the HowTo [26] page...
### TitleSearch [27] Howto ###
returns:
* CoordinatesHowto [28] * DebianChrootHowto [29] *
GettingStartedHowto [30] * HowTo [31]
The last entry - HowTo [32] - doesn't need to be there as it's the
search term and often, the page title (HowTo [33], BSD [34] etc) --
graybeard [35] 30/06/2004
Fixed. -- TysonClugg [36] 2004-07-06
-------------------------
Continuing on the search . . .
IMHO, highlighting the occurance of search term(s) on a wiki page
when clicking through from the FullTextSearch [37] would be nice.
Here's my implementation in PHP:
function highlight( $needle, $haystack ) { $parts = explode(
strtolower($needle), strtolower($haystack) ); $pos = 0; foreach(
$parts as $key=>$part ){ $parts[ $key ] = substr($haystack, $pos,
strlen($part)); $pos += strlen($part); $parts[ $key ] .=
''.substr($haystack, $pos, strlen($needle)).''; $pos +=
strlen($needle); } return( join( '', $parts ) ); }
.. and calling from the page depends how you want to carry the
variable URL(GET) or POST are two options I can think of.
if ($_GET['highlight']!="") {$text =
highlight($_GET['highlight'],$text);
Then again, it might be far too much trouble to cater for the lazy
such as myself -- as such a method described above would likely break
URLS and so on. *shrug*
and another thing . . . How about when one elects to use the
TitleSearch [38] and no results are found it would be good if the page
presents you with a 'nice' (in true google style here) "Click here to
repeat your query in FullTextSearch [39]" link which automagically
initiates such a search. Current method is to click on the See Also
link, then retype your search terms
--gummAY [40] 2004-03-07
Why not alter the code for the FullTextSearch [41] and TitleSearch
[42] pages to do this? Hey, I'm off to do it now... -- TysonClugg [43]
2004-07-06
ACCOMPLISHED
* RDF/RSS feeds to/from other sites
* Clickable nodes on the maps
* Email notification when a node is created/updated within 5km of
your node
Links:
------
[1] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#introduction
[2] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#in_simple_terms
[3]
http://melbournewireless.org.au/#what_is_the_number_one_feature_you_wish_to_see_implemented_on_the_melbourne_wireless_website_right_now_
[4]
http://melbournewireless.org.au/#do_you_know_any_accomplished_application_programmers_with_php_sql_experiencewho_are_willing_to_donate_at_least_2_hours_per_week_of_their_time_to_melbourne_wireless_
[5]
http://melbournewireless.org.au/#which_services_should_melbourne_wireless_be_offering_via_the_website_to_help_grow_the_network_in_the_long_term_
[6] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#suggested_features
[7] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#discussion
[8] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#wiki
[9] http://melbournewireless.org.au/#accomplished
[10] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TysonClugg
[11] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TysonClugg
[12] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?NodeDB
[13] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?NodeGUR
[14] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?NodeGDW
[15] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?LoS
[16] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?LoS
[17] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?LoS
[18] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?LoS
[19] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?LoS
[20] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?DanFlett
[21] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?GlennMcKechnie
[22] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?LocFinder
[23] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?MapServer
[24] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TysonClugg
[25] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TitleSearch
[26] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?HowTo
[27] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TitleSearch
[28] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?CoordinatesHowto
[29] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?DebianChrootHowto
[30] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?GettingStartedHowto
[31] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?HowTo
[32] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?HowTo
[33] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?HowTo
[34] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?BSD
[35] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?GlennMcKechnie
[36] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TysonClugg
[37] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?FullTextSearch
[38] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TitleSearch
[39] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?FullTextSearch
[40] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TomFifield
[41] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?FullTextSearch
[42] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TitleSearch
[43] http://melbournewireless.org.au/?TysonClugg
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