Flight mapper
Oct 27, 2017 | 1:41 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 96
Flight mapper
Hi there!
I have many ideas (of course
One of the ideas is a tool that will churn through all your possible itineraries and find you the cheapest one. For instance, if you want to go from SEA to PEK with a side trip to HKG and UUD, it checks SEA-PEK-SEA, SEA-UUD-HKG-SEA, SEA-HKG-SEA, UUD-HKG, HKG-SEA and so on. You might be surprised what combination will be the cheapest but it's really hard and time consuming to check everything by hand.
Naturally, the first step in creating such an app would be to create a mapping engine that will present you the route combination in the cutest possible way (
) So that's what I did and that's where I'm at currently.
You see, I don't like gcmap.com. I personally think it's not that nice looking, and color choice is really bad. I liked how Google Maps shows flights and did the same look and feel. Here's how a map with all Condorde flights will look like in this tool:
You can do a lot of customization. Here's some samples about world's longest flights:
Unfortunately, one of the limitation of Google maps is that everything on the route must fit on a single screen. Lines are not geodesic and they are not actual flight paths. Because of that I cannot draw "around-the-world" route like GC can, instead I can only do "around-the-screen":
How to use it:
1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer (yeah, I know, I know... I have some weird clipping issue in Chrome and MSIE seems to ignorant to that)
2. Go to http://FlightChurner.com
3. Click Enter New Route and enter the route you like (like, SVO-SIN-SFO).
Now, I use airport discovery engine that is not very smart and doesn't know everything. It cannot discover cities (you have to specify airport) and also it doesn't know all airports (for instance, I cannot map the Island Hopper).
4. Click Render!
You can drag the map around and the routes will change directions to stay on the current screen.
Try and play with different options. You can enter anything in the airport label field, even some HTML tags like <br> or <font color=red> or whatever.
Go ahead and try it! If you can create a nice map, please take a screenshot and post it here. I would love to see your feedback, your suggestions and your ideas.
Please note the code is copyrighted. I'm open to collaboration but I'm also looking for a job right now (wink! wink!). Anyway, will appreciate your feedback! And please please please post the maps you design in this thread. Enjoy!
I have many ideas (of course
One of the ideas is a tool that will churn through all your possible itineraries and find you the cheapest one. For instance, if you want to go from SEA to PEK with a side trip to HKG and UUD, it checks SEA-PEK-SEA, SEA-UUD-HKG-SEA, SEA-HKG-SEA, UUD-HKG, HKG-SEA and so on. You might be surprised what combination will be the cheapest but it's really hard and time consuming to check everything by hand.Naturally, the first step in creating such an app would be to create a mapping engine that will present you the route combination in the cutest possible way (
) So that's what I did and that's where I'm at currently.You see, I don't like gcmap.com. I personally think it's not that nice looking, and color choice is really bad. I liked how Google Maps shows flights and did the same look and feel. Here's how a map with all Condorde flights will look like in this tool:
You can do a lot of customization. Here's some samples about world's longest flights:
Unfortunately, one of the limitation of Google maps is that everything on the route must fit on a single screen. Lines are not geodesic and they are not actual flight paths. Because of that I cannot draw "around-the-world" route like GC can, instead I can only do "around-the-screen":
How to use it:
1. Open Microsoft Internet Explorer (yeah, I know, I know... I have some weird clipping issue in Chrome and MSIE seems to ignorant to that)
2. Go to http://FlightChurner.com
3. Click Enter New Route and enter the route you like (like, SVO-SIN-SFO).
Now, I use airport discovery engine that is not very smart and doesn't know everything. It cannot discover cities (you have to specify airport) and also it doesn't know all airports (for instance, I cannot map the Island Hopper).
4. Click Render!
You can drag the map around and the routes will change directions to stay on the current screen.
Try and play with different options. You can enter anything in the airport label field, even some HTML tags like <br> or <font color=red> or whatever.
Go ahead and try it! If you can create a nice map, please take a screenshot and post it here. I would love to see your feedback, your suggestions and your ideas.
Please note the code is copyrighted. I'm open to collaboration but I'm also looking for a job right now (wink! wink!). Anyway, will appreciate your feedback! And please please please post the maps you design in this thread. Enjoy!
Last edited by abcpp; Oct 27, 2017 at 4:52 pm
Oct 29, 2017 | 5:06 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Germany
Programs: Oneworld Emerald, *A Gold, Sixt Platinum, Etihad Gold
Posts: 108
Awesome idea! I've been looking for a better visualizing tool for routes for a long time.
I tried it out but didn't manage to get the dots/airport names working in Firefox and Chrome - maybe also a mistake on my end?
I tried it out but didn't manage to get the dots/airport names working in Firefox and Chrome - maybe also a mistake on my end?
Oct 29, 2017 | 1:37 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 96
Thank you!
It looks like Chrome does some clipping of the lines -- they are cut short of their end. It also possible I have a bug that appears only in Chrome
Could you please retry the same thing in MSIE? Also, could you please share the URL that you're getting -- it contains all necessary info for me to repro the issue.
It looks like Chrome does some clipping of the lines -- they are cut short of their end. It also possible I have a bug that appears only in Chrome
Could you please retry the same thing in MSIE? Also, could you please share the URL that you're getting -- it contains all necessary info for me to repro the issue.
