Nonrev Destination Guide Suggestions?

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02-Jan-2010, 01:13 AM
spongebue

Hey guys,

As most of you know, I'm primarily a college student. What you may not know, however, is that my majors are computer science and geography. I'm going to be back at my school-house tomorrow for about a week, and I'm sure that I'll get bored pretty quickly out there. I haven't programmed much in a while, and I'd like to get back into that. I figured I can keep myself busy by programming something, and thought it'd be nice to make a nonrev tool for when I (hopefully) get back into the business. Now, I need to plan for how I'd write this, and I figured it would be good to plan for different things that I'd want to keep track of for each destination. My plan is to start by choosing a continent, then country, then city, and information can be made (or found) at each level (for example, if there's something that should be known for an entire country, you can make a comment that would cover that country, rather than every city in that country). Now I'm trying to think of a list of things that should be recordable. So far, these come to mind:

Busy travel seasons for non-revs to watch out for
Public transit, especially from airport to get downtown or to other popular destinations (or train options for some countries/continents)
Dangerous parts of town
Departure taxes
Good places to eat
Things to see/do
Cheap places to stay (with nonrev discounts)
Google Maps integrated
Members willing to meet (give tours, etc)
Visa requirements

Thanks to Nick for these ideas:
Airport information (terminal info, destinations, restaurants)
Quirks and tips

Ideally, I'd like to see this eventually integrated with the forum's login stuff, so members can add stuff easily, but that'll be a while and I'd need help/approval from nonrev1. In the meantime, I'd set it up so anyone can see, and I'd put up any information from others.

So, anyone have any suggestions for this? Thoughts or other comments? I should mention as well, I am much better at starting projects than I am at actually finishing them, but I'll do what I can to actually finish this or at least make it usable for the general public http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/smile.gif

-Brian
02-Jan-2010, 02:04 AM
Nick

Sounds like a good idea... my only concern would be a lot of the info could prob be gleaned (& updated more frequently due to more users) on wikitravel (look up a city or an airport).

Getting it up wouldn't be so hard, but I assume keeping it up to date would? I mean there are hundreds of thousands on wikitravel, but a couple of handfuls of people here. I suppose you could bid out particular cities and give responsibility to a particular user or group of users?

Regardless, info about the airports would be good - for example terminal info, destinations you can get to from there and by who, best restaurant in airport, pics, airport taxes, how to get downtown, quirks and tips....

I like the nonrev discount part especially. I find it bothersome these days trying to find deals - our intranet has some, id90.com others, or I have to resort to emailing hotels direct. Whilst wikitravel displays hotel info, I don't usually find it that helpful as rates fluctuate and some of their splurge hotels work out cheaper than their budget ones etc. Mrs767er has heaps of ideas and contacts it seems so it would be good to pool everyones in one place. Even a slight review on each or reason why it is good (aside from cost)
02-Jan-2010, 02:34 AM
spongebue

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nick @ Jan 2 2010, 03:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Quote:

Sounds like a good idea... my only concern would be a lot of the info could prob be gleaned (& updated more frequently due to more users) on wikitravel (look up a city or an airport).

Getting it up wouldn't be so hard, but I assume keeping it up to date would? I mean there are hundreds of thousands on wikitravel, but a couple of handfuls of people here. I suppose you could bid out particular cities and give responsibility to a particular user or group of users?

Regardless, info about the airports would be good - for example terminal info, destinations you can get to from there and by who, best restaurant in airport, pics, airport taxes, how to get downtown, quirks and tips....

I like the nonrev discount part especially. I find it bothersome these days trying to find deals - our intranet has some, id90.com others, or I have to resort to emailing hotels direct. Whilst wikitravel displays hotel info, I don't usually find it that helpful as rates fluctuate and some of their splurge hotels work out cheaper than their budget ones etc. Mrs767er has heaps of ideas and contacts it seems so it would be good to pool everyones in one place. Even a slight review on each or reason why it is good (aside from cost)[/b]

Sounds good, I'm going to update my original list so I have all thoughts in one place. I know there are places out there for a lot of stuff (wikitravel, etc) but I don't see any reason not to link to that (I'd also like to have references in there for each piece of information for each area, but that'd come later). Otherwise, it'd be incredibly easy to have a link to the Airlines and Destinations link for the airport's wikipedia page (that's also updated very frequently and accurate enough IMO).

Oh, and as for being easy to get up, you'd be surprised http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...R#>/tongue.gif (I'm going to be making this from scratch, which isn't too easy).

I suppose I also need to be ready for cities with multiple airports, like Chicago, NYC, etc. Shouldn't be too hard, though.
03-Jan-2010, 12:52 AM
Irro

I did a project like this once with information that needed to be updated constantly from different sites and sometimes the easiest thing to do is to have a browser integrated in that just pointed people to the information they need.

Id really like to help with this project if I could. Ive been meaning to do something like it. Everyone here in DEN wants me to write my knowledge in a book lol. I nonrev everywhere and I never get stuck, so they want all the tips and trips lol
03-Jan-2010, 01:21 AM
spongebue

I'm still figuring out the logistics of the actual editing of the pages. From a programmer's perspective, it's very risky to have everything editable by the general public (like a wiki) without quite a few controls, which would be very time-consuming to implement. On the other hand, if I'm the only one that can add content, I want this to be something that can go on with or without me.

I think the best compromise is to give some of the regulars (Nick, nonrev1, migflanker, mrs767er, etc) access to the editing, anyone can view, and anyone can make posts with the idea that it would go on this system.
03-Jan-2010, 03:18 AM
Irro

One thing that helps me finish my projects is to start it small.. but able to expand, and when the small program is being used I add more features. It helps me stay on track..

I have problems finishing projects to http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/smile.gif
03-Jan-2010, 06:25 PM
Nick

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (spongebue @ Jan 3 2010, 05:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Quote:

I'm still figuring out the logistics of the actual editing of the pages. From a programmer's perspective, it's very risky to have everything editable by the general public (like a wiki) without quite a few controls, which would be very time-consuming to implement. On the other hand, if I'm the only one that can add content, I want this to be something that can go on with or without me.

I think the best compromise is to give some of the regulars (Nick, nonrev1, migflanker, mrs767er, etc) access to the editing, anyone can view, and anyone can make posts with the idea that it would go on this system.[/b]

What if you allowed people to add or make changes, and then these had to be approved by a group of people? There is no issue with people adding info, the only issue is whether they delete it.

That being said you can't post anything here unless you are a member anyways, and Mig seems to do alright on spam patrol http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...R#>/tongue.gif
03-Jan-2010, 09:05 PM
spongebue

That idea might work... a little harder to implement, but not nearly as bad as a wiki-style thing

I'd like to integrate it with the forums like I mentioned, but I'm not sure how much nonrev1 would go for that. We'll see when I'm done, I guess. That's kind of a vital part. In the meantime, I'll design it such that there's room for that kind of expansion.
05-Jan-2010, 12:19 AM
skipper1467

I think it's a great idea. I just now found that wikitravel site. Did some revisions to a few pages. I hate it when the information is old.
05-Jan-2010, 07:55 PM
Irro

How would you handle the data? sql?
05-Jan-2010, 09:39 PM
spongebue

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Irro @ Jan 5 2010, 08:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Quote:

How would you handle the data? sql?[/b]

Yep, probably a PHP/MySQL combination. I also know some Java/JSP stuff, but PHP is my first programming language and I feel a lot more comfortable with it. Plus, the software running this forum uses the same thing, so integration is a lot simpler.
06-Jan-2010, 08:02 PM
Irro

Awesome. Im working on a program that handles basic information for airports.. kinda like a wiki travel, but more suited to Non revs and helps people find ways into and out of the cities
06-Jan-2010, 10:09 PM
spongebue

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Irro @ Jan 6 2010, 09:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Quote:

Awesome. Im working on a program that handles basic information for airports.. kinda like a wiki travel, but more suited to Non revs and helps people find ways into and out of the cities[/b]

That'd be cool, how would you integrate the timetables and destinations with that? Seems like it could reasonably be made if you have the information loaded, but I don't know how you'd get that information (and the best sources can probably do the same things).

Edit: forgot to mention a problem I've already run into. I found a list of all cities and their country, state/province/region, population, and latitude/longitude. Thing is, the list ended up being about a 250MB text file which not only slows my computer way down when working with it (I need a RAM upgrade, 2GB is kinda low by today's standards), but I don't have a good way to load it into my MySQL test server on my computer. Plus, I'm on a Mac, so my program options are sorta limited.

Edit 2: Finally got that running. I now have a database with 2,699,354 cities from 231 countries. Wish I thought to use vi earlier when editing that monster file.
07-Jan-2010, 04:19 PM
Irro

I think that there are way too many sites out there with the ability to add information about places, but no actual content. Im taking the other route and not adding cities airlines or routes inless I have information about them already. So I didnt use those airport lists.

And I working with XML and SQL. I have it where it does an airline does a certain route under its name.. which airline actually flies it, and if its seasonal.. then it can take you to a different site to show the loads. And right now I just have an local based C# program that allows me to input and view data intill I get more in it, then ill move it over to a website and make it pretty
09-Jan-2010, 11:28 PM
spongebue

Hmmm, a lot of airlines have their timetables somewhere on their website if you do some searching. Maybe you could write some things to parse the file and load it? Assuming they use the same format between updates, you could re-parse the file to update things. Kinda like the airport list for my project: I had this list http://www.atlarge.com/misc/allairports.htm and copied it into a text file. If it had the header of a country, I'd pull the country name and set it to a variable I had. If it was an airport, I'd pull the airport code and airport from that line and turn it into an SQL query, using the country from that variable. Took some time to make it, but sure beat putting 2400 airports in manually.
11-Jan-2010, 02:38 AM
Irro

Yeah, but im starting with the US, and United destinations first. Things I know about. Once thats useful Ill put it up and add more. I have to keep the scope manageable you know.
11-Jan-2010, 05:29 PM
spongebue

Yeah, that's understandable. Think you could also separate UA's regional carriers, like SkyWest and Shuttle America? I might be working for Skywest soon, and it sounds like I'd have to pay a little for taking the mainline or regional carriers other than my own, so it'd be nice to know who flies what http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/smile.gif
12-Jan-2010, 09:45 PM
Irro

Yeah, I'm working on it, but I haven't found an acceptable way of dealing with data yet.

I want to have a data file, like XML, that has all the information about each airport. And one that has everything to do with the Airlines themselves, and when I put in route information you have to select the information from those two data files.. so all the data is tied together, and I wont have to input data twice, and everything is always updated.

But I havent found an acceptable way yet
13-Jan-2010, 01:58 AM
spongebue

Got it. I have worked with XML before, but only when things are already set up (just some "put this information in with this format" grunt work) so I can't help much there, sadly.
13-Jan-2010, 09:35 AM
Irro

Ill figure out the data issues soon hopefully. Im about to bored IAD-NRT-BKK so that should give me some time ti check it out
14-Jan-2010, 07:12 PM
spongebue

Hey, does anyone know where I can find a list of commercial airports? The one I have is a little too detailed, and includes airports like YIP that don't have commercial passenger service... When it's a worldwide list, that can be a little too much to work though
14-Jan-2010, 08:26 PM
Nick

I did a bit of looking up... wikipedia had some lists but it was disjointed. You could try OAG, they have several software packages you can download for a few weeks on a free trial:
http://www.oag.com/flight-products/online-...ns/oag-flights/
http://www.oag.com/flight-products/online-...el-planner-pro/
http://www.oag.com/flight-products/online-...ons/oag-access/

Not sure if they have airport lists though...
14-Jan-2010, 10:13 PM
spongebue

Hmm, I tried that one a little bit, but it didn't seem much different than Orbitz or something with my looking around.

I bumped into Skyscanner, a site I used to book confirmed travel when I was in Europe (the only way I know of to get flights with connections on RyanAir if you have to resort to that, which is nice). They have a huge list of airports, but it's fairly disjointed (like Wikipedia's list, which I had seen before). However, just for kicks, I went to their contact page. When choosing the category, they have an "integration enquiry" section. Description: "Want to add Skyscanner's maps, prices and flight information to your site? Let us know which Skyscanner features you'd like to add and be first to receive details of the new integration solutions." Seems promising, I'm going to see what a message would do...