Automapic.com updates

As we are having a quiet night in I am doing some updates to the site, based on feedback and my own to do list. These are the current things to do. (Be warned that this may be a little geeky)

• Fix zoom level and scroll position when selecting a leg. When a leg is selected the zoom level is currently too high so I will scale that back. Also the map is centered incorrectly at the first Point of Interest, rather than the start of the leg. (I published this fix a little while ago.)
• Fix the XML Atom news feed. Although the feed contains a fair bit of information, the structure isn't correct and nothing other than the title is showing up in the news readers I have tried (Google Reader and Bloglines).
• Fix the Calendar export. The ICAL export button downloads the journey itinerary in iCalendar format so that it can be imported into a calendar application. This currently works fine for iCal on the Mac and Google Calendar (the only ones I have tried). However Outlook users are reporting that it complains that the calendar scale is not a Gregorian one. Even though I am setting it to Gregorian something isn't working with Outlook. Not sure how easily I can fix this as I don't have Outlook but it's on the list.
• Google Earth export. The Google Earth export buttons have been there for a while, but are simply teasing as I have yet to hook this up.
• Nicer itinerary view. Although the current itinerary shows a nice view of the locations of the stops and their dates, unless the itinerary is imported to a calendar there is no way to glance at the itinerary as a whole. I want to add in a popup table of the itinerary or overlay it on a calendar within the site.
• Better URL handling for locations. If a URL is set for a new location, it will not work correctly unless beginning with http://
• Safari problems. Safari has been working during my tests, but it locks up when displaying a leg path on Jared's machine. I am certain this is due to me not being clever enough with the Google Map path zoom levels; each point in a path has an associated zoom level at which that point should be displayed. I can probably just set every nth one to show up when zoomed out and scale them from there.
  
• Some additions to the admin section, but those are low priority as they just affect me for now :)
  

Day 5: Miami FL to Tampa FL

A quick sprint today from Miami to Tampa. There was a danger that we would have to go a long way round as there were some big fires apparently along the road we were planning on taking, although by the morning these warnings had disappeared. We left Miami in reasonable weather; a little muggy but not raining, although it was threatening.

From 2007 USA Elises

An hour or so later and the threat level was increased from guarded to high.

From 2007 USA Elises

Then we encountered a storm that would have had Noah scurrying anxiously to his workshop, wood plane in hand.

From 2007 USA Elises

The Elises performed well in this weather even at decent cruising speeds, although I had no idea where we were or what was around us. I saw these supports at one point and inferred that we were on a bridge of some sort.

From 2007 USA Elises

Back to those fires; we saw no real evidence ourselves apart from some roadsigns warning of smoke and occasionally we could smell the remains of a fire. We were also hoping to visit a gator farm but they were apparently not on the route we took.

Tonight we are relaxing in the motel, then tomorrow we are off to Panama City.