Feature request: Map Areas Multiple delete and Area subfolders.

[LJinFLA]

I am trialing Mission Manager for our team. IT works great for most of what we want but the Maps have a couple of features lacking which severely limit the maps for our uses.  We currently issue printed maps to the field units which have their areas shown and with map coordinates shown at each  (or most corners), the number of acres covered by the area. and known hazards.  We use external tools to create these maps.  They could be imported into MM maps, how ever it becomes quite messy.   The import results in hundreds of Areas and locations point being imported. Having the ability to organize areas into folders which would allow an area to be defined as everything inside that folder would be helpful.  What I mean is Area 1 would consist of folder containing the polygon area AND all the waypoints which are coordinate labels.  Or at least just storing things in folders (ie one for coordinate waypoints and one for area polygons) would allow me to turn off the display or print of coordinates when viewing all the areas.

However the biggest problem is not being able to delete multiple items at once in the map area. With hundreds of areas and point in the list after import if anything changes and multiple items need to be delete (or all) it takes hours to delete each one one at a time.  THis problem alone makes the map function TOTALLY unusable for our needs. Can that be added quickly?

Lastly a related item.  I am trialing this partly to get away from the printing of all the maps.  I would like to use SARapp to facilitate checkins and area assignments.  The MM API will download the area polygon of areas assigned to a team. however that will not include the coordinate waypoints at the corners of that area.  That is why I would like to have an area defined in your system as everything contained in a folder under the "AREAS" section of your maps tab. That way, if your api looked at folders it should download polygon and waypoints to the SARapp.  That way we could eliminate the paper maps and the teams could have coordinates. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on these suggestions.

LJ

[Radishworks]

The import results in hundreds of Areas and locations point being imported.

It is not recommended importing this type of information into maps as map elements.   Hazards and things that are part of the maps would be much better as a Map Layer, like the existing layers showing Earthquakes, Floods, Weather, etc.  MM allows you to add you own custom layers in the Configuration.  It would be interesting to hear more about what types of hazards you have for your maps and what program you are using to create and maintain them.  With more information, we can give you some better ideas for converting your information into a much more efficient map layer. 

However the biggest problem is not being able to delete multiple items at once in the map area.

There is a new delete [X] button on the "Area Locations" section.  This button will delete all the elements in that section that are currently on (checked).

I would like to use SARapp to facilitate checkins and area assignments.

This is really up the makers of SARApp.  The MM API will allow access to all the team assignment areas, including all the way points.  The whole ideal of MM is to move toward a paperless mission and push information to teams electronically.  Contact the makers of SARApp and ask for the features you need. 

Thanks for the post.

Mike

[LJinFLA]

It would be interesting to hear more about what types of hazards you have for your maps and what program you are using to create and maintain them.  With more information, we can give you some better ideas for converting your information into a much more efficient map layer. 

What we mark as hazards does not really lend itself to building layer files. They are typically things learned in briefings, reconnaissance, talking to LEO, Fire, Forestry,Fish and Game, and locals. They are marked up on the fly. This would include flooded areas, homeless camps, animals such as Alligators, Panthers, etc. (Florida, of course, gators and cats mean no search dogs allowed), meth houses, Snake/ python infestations, land slide area, etc.  The reason I brought this feature up, however is not for the hazards.  They are few.  What accounts for the majority of the items is the waypoints/labels (you call them locations) at the boundaries of each area.  The maps we currently print and supply in dispatch packets label the boundary corners with the coordinates so that if they aren't using a GPS unit with the grids downloaded they have a map with coordinates they can follow. We want to go paperless, but will likely still give maps as backup since electronics fail. So if  days search has 25 areas and each area has 5 coordinate labels associated with it you can see there would be 150 items in the Areas/locations list. if ti a larger couple of day search with more assets, you can see that hundreds of points would not be out of the question. This tends to slow things down on your system pretty bad. 

The new delete button works great and will help when we need to replace en masse.   Thanks!

I would like to use SARapp to facilitate checkins and area assignments.

This is really up the makers of SARApp.  The MM API will allow access to all the team assignment areas, including all the way points.  The whole idea of MM is to move toward a paperless mission and push information to teams electronically.  Contact the makers of SARApp and ask for the features you need. 

OK, let me try to be more clear. The first reason I think folders in the Areas/Locations would be great is simply for organization of the hundreds of areas, tracks and locations which we work with often.  IT would be nice to have certain areas and coordinates on one folder and other in another.  One reason for this is that all this gets pretty cluttered and slows the app down when all of this is displayed at one time.  Google Earth does this right. You can add a folder at any level and move any item into that folder so you can organize how you want. 

So to your point about going paperless. one of the possible applications for folders would be to group each area with its associated coordinate labels and hazards in their own folder.  This is where I think that SARapp is not yet the issue.  SARapp has no way of knowing what location points go with what area, or what hazards belong in what area.  When MM assigns an area to a team, and that team Checks in with SARapp, it downloads the area only for the assigned team. it does not know of the other things.  Likewise to add all these things individually to the TEAM tab in MM and have them each checked individually would be impossible because since the location label name is the coordinates themselves, the planer assigning areas would never be able to figure it out among a hundred coordinates. Thus I was envisioning being able to associate all the items for an area assignment by putting them into a folder.  Then on the TEAM tab in MM the planner or the operations people could just check the folder name and all the items would be assigned and downloaded to SARapp. Maybe there is a better way but I have not come up with any other ideas on how to associate items for download from such a long potential list with names that don't make sense easily.   Maybe you can. Now once a way to group these things together is figured out, SARapp may need to make some changes but I think MM needs to facilitate this in MM and the API first.  I am new to your system so I may be wrong. Would enjoy hearing your ideas on this.

Thanks Mike

Lee

[Radishworks]

The first reason I think folders in the Areas/Locations would be great is simply for organization of the hundreds of areas

Folders are already on the wish list. 

Google Earth does this right.

Yes it does.  Google Earth is an actual executable program you install with the freedom to use an near unlimited amount of memory, as well as the acceleration gained by direct video card access.  MM runs in a browser and has to remain compatible with even the worst preforming ones.  While browsers are getting better all the time, a browser can not compare to the performance you can get from Google Earth.  Hazards collected over time, really need to be kept on the server and not overload the browser with so much data.

I think MM needs to facilitate this in MM and the API first.

It is very possible for an API that would allow the posting of "hazards" or whatever by teams.  The MM server could maintain them and server only the correct ones to the current map view, eliminating browser overload. 

The wish list is long and has to balanced with the ($) cost of MM .

Mike

[LJinFLA]

I hope you don't misunderstand.  I am so grateful for everything have done here and appreciate that the budget is limited with you project. I understand the difference that browser based app makes and the really want the point of the Google Earth comment.  I was simply mentioning them in terms of the folder paradigm they use.

I will play with the server hazards layer idea a bit.  As you can see by the type of hazards I mentioned above, they are temporary in nature, so long term storage may not be of much benefit since the next time we search there they likely will be gone., and we rarely visit the same areas multiple times, but never say never.  maybe we should keep them for future reference.  That is a small part of the reason for the need for folders.  I do not find the performance of MM to be a problem in any way (other than when I overload the map display, but that is true of any mapping program, exe or browser.

I just wanted to get this into to pot of things you think about as you are designing for the future.   Thank you again for the delete button and for the consideration of the ideas, and for the great program.

Lee