The new Sanoodi site has a number of extra features that allow you to draw your routes more accurately and provide more information about them. This Post covers how to draw and edit a route on the new site. Sanoodi supports Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 7. If you are not using one of these browsers, you may not be able to save or edit a route.

CREATING A ROUTE

Once that you have logged in to Sanoodi, Click on Share from the top menu bar and select Create a route from the menu.

If you have just logged in you can also select Create a route from the Welcome Your Username Banner.

FINDING THE START OF YOUR ROUTE

The next step: Where does your route start? If for example you want to draw a run that you have just completed in Cairo. Type “Cairo” in the Where does your route start box and select Go.

This will take your map to Cairo in Egypt! Why? Because this is what our system and the services that it uses regard as the most popular Cairo. If however your run was in the US, then typing in Cairo, US will bring up a window displaying all the Cairo’s in the United States. Selecting the correct Cairo i.e. Cairo, NY will display a map centered on Cairo, NY.

If you want to avoid these steps! Simply type in the placename  (separated by a comma) and the country, or State/County/Region i.e. Cairo, NY or Boston, UK or London, Canada would all take you straight to the correct map. If the place that you have typed in is not recognised, try to think of a place that is nearby that is a bit bigger.

STREETNAMES, ZIP CODES and POSTCODES

Entering a street name will like Cairo in our previous example take you to what our system thinks is the most popular. For instance typing Bond Street, will take you directly to Bond Street in New York. If your route is in Australia, entering Bond Street, Australia will bring up all of the known Bond Streets in Australia.

If you know the ZIP Code or Post code for where your route is i.e. if your postal code for Melbourne is 3079, entering VIC, 3079 or 3079, Australia will take your map to that code automatically. Other examples; the UK - CM23 2HP, for the US NY 10012, for Germany 51519, Germany.

The next release of Sanoodi will center your map where your existing routes are by default. The above steps would still be needed though if your route was in a different country.

SELECTING APPROPRIATE ZOOM AND MAPPING BACKGROUNDS FOR YOUR ROUTE

Now that you are looking at the right place on the map, you can use the zoom control on the left hand side of the map to display the correct level of detail for drawing the route.  You can also move or drag the map using the drag tool (the hand) on the toolbar on the top right of your map. The Drag tool is the active (default) tool when you start to create a route.

SELECTING A DIFFERENT MAP OR BASE LAYER

If the map that you are looking at does not have the correct level of detail for your route, you can change the map type and provider (Base Layer) i.e. if Google’s topographical/relief map does not have the level of detail that you need to draw your route accurately, you can now change this map to other Google maps or Yahoo maps (in future releases, we hope to increase the range of mapping providers).

To change your map or Base Layer, select the + sign on the right hand side of the map. This will bring up the maps that are available for this area. In the example we have changed the map for the route that we will draw from Google to Yahoo by selecting the Yahoo option from the list. To close the map pop up click on the - sign at the top right of the pop up.

DRAWING A ROUTE

To Draw a route, select the draw route tool from the toolbar on the top right of the map, place your mouse where your route’s startpoint is and click ONCE for each point! If you make a mistake, click on the undo tool on the toolbar (second from left) each click on the undo button will remove a waypoint from your route. Moving your mouse back to the map and your route will default back to route drawing mode.

Once that you have completed your route click TWICE to confirm. If your route returns back along the same path (there and back) once that you have drawn your route to its furthest point select the out and back button (the leftmost button) from the toolbar.

ENTERING YOUR ROUTE DETAILS

You can now give your route a name, a description, and confirm the activity and date that you did it, by selecting the fields at the bottom of the map and entering any relevant information. To give your route a rating i.e. was it easy, difficult ? Move your mouse over the rating meter and hold it over the level above the rating that you want to give it i.e if it is a moderate route hold your mouse over the difficult in parts section. Click once to save this. If you have selected the wrong rating double click and then when you are in the correct place click once to save.

If you want to give your route some tags i.e. cycling, NY, US, Kona, slog etc then enter them against the route.
You should now be ready to save your route! Click on the save button at the bottom right of this panel. Some browsers or internet connections might be slow, so please give this at least 10 seconds.

EDITING A ROUTE

Did your GPX upload have a few spikes in it? Does a route that you created on the site have one or two inaccuracies? With the new Sanoodi site you can now edit routes easily and accurately.

To edit one of your routes on the site. Login, select ‘my routes’ from the welcome bar or from the share option on the top menu. Find the route that you want to edit from the my routes pages and open it up.

To switch to edit mode select the edit tool from the toolbar. It is the button with the red line (second from the left). Once that your have selected this button your route will become red and all the waypoints will be visible. You can drag (move) waypoints, add new waypoints and delete them too. To delete a waypoint, hold your mouse over the waypoint and hit your delete key. What’s a waypoint? Waypoints are what we call the dots that mark each new segment of your route. Every time that you click when drawing a route creates a waypoint. If you are using a GPS device a waypoint is recorded automatically every x seconds

Another handy feature when editing a route is that you can now select a different map background for your route. Click on the + button at the left hand side of the map and you will be presented with all of the different map types that are available. When you have found the map and the zoom level that suits the route best this will be saved along with any other changes.

Routes on the new Sanoodi site also have difficulty ratings to select a rating simply click on the bar and if you want to change it, double click on the level that is displayed to deselect and then click once on the appropriate level of difficulty.

GO FULL SCREEN

You can also view your route on a full page. On every route page there is now an option to the right of the page above the map called View Full Screen. Remember to select Exit Full Screen once that you have finished drawing or editing a route in order to Save your changes.

In just one year, a community of 12,000 unique users have created a log of 50,000 routes, covering over a million miles. The Sanoodi community explore outdoor routes and activities, meet people like them and share what they’re doing online.

Now, with the development of a new website and a unique range of integrated mobile devices, the Sanoodi community is set to grow and strike out in lots of different directions.

Launched on the 2nd April 2008, the new Sanoodi site is focused on building and developing the community by giving users the ability to create, join and manage their own groups, events and challenges. Users can now comment on routes and content, and yet have greater control over their own privacy.

Sanoodi users have been consulted as the new site has been developed so the new features meet their exacting requirements. Paul Sandham of Sanoodi said, “We’ve put a lot of thought into how we can add to the enjoyment people get from outdoor activities.”

“We are really excited about the new possibilities for Sanoodi users. You can now meet other people who enjoy the same activities as you and form groups to share adventures or challenge each other. And with the advances in smartphone technology this is just the start.”

Sanoodi’s unique mobile applications mean users can upload their adventures in real time, enabling users and their friends to track their progress as they train, compete or explore. With the rapid growth in GPS equipped smartphones and PDA’s (iSuppli Corp have forecast that by 2011 29.6% of all new mobile phones will have GPS Capability) the usage of these applications is set to skyrocket.

Will Davies uses Sanoodi to track his cycle rides towards his self set challenge of ascending 160,000 metres of vertical climb in a year. The routes he uploads are there for others to try and provide a record of his rides.

Will said “Sanoodi is a fantastic way for me to track my progress and share the rides I’m doing with friends, family and people like me.” With the new features Will can now meet other Sanoodi cyclists, share his images and thoughts with them, enter their events, and challenge others to join his.

Share your activities and adventures now.