The Next Project
Written: October 20th 2009
For some time I have had a, somewhat neglected, website for sharing good photography locations. With a good number of holidays left to take this year I figure it was about time I took another look at it.
Photospots was the first application I created using google maps. I created it when I started taking photography seriously as a hobby and I wanted to record the places I found that offered interesting locations.
When I created the site it got very complicated very quickly. A mass of javascript code, my first attempt at Ajax, and limited PHP abilities meant it was really hard to maintain. I have wanted to updated it for a while but this complexity, really knowing I needed to start from scratch, has rather put me off.
Finally, last year (or was it earlier this year? I forget) I rewrite the entire site to run as a plugin to Habari. It was better, looked clean, easy to use, and easy to maintain. Then my hard drive died on me and all my local development work, including photospots went with it.
When I started developing this site I realised that if I was thoughtful about the way I went about creating it I could use the same code as the basis for a newly revised photospots. So that is what I intend to do.
I don't imagine the basic functionality will take long to replicate, meaning that what I am left with is time to add new and improved information and functionality for anyone using the site.
So here's the question, if you are a hobbyist photographer, if you routinely think about taking a trip out in your local area to get some great shots, what information would you want about potential places to visit?
I have some great ideas, but I always welcome more.