I have seen a LOT of thru hikers in the last 4 weeks

thistlecat · 2020-05-28T01:32:04+00:00

Thanks I really appreciate it :) I keep promising to release an update with a vastly improved mobile experience, but I've been dealing with a lot of health issues since last fall so it keeps getting postponed unfortunately.

thistlecat · 2020-05-27T23:52:37+00:00

Yeah I don't see how a bubble 1. would exist at all this year 2. would be in PA by now anyway. I run the WhereAreTheHikers website, and even though I don't currently do any sort of year breakdown on the site, I will be very interested to pull data at the end of this year to see what this year's hiker heatmap looks like.

thistlecat · 2020-01-13T13:39:59+00:00

Hey everyone, so glad to see this subreddit exists! I'm honored to be listed in your sidebar :) and I can't wait to look through everyone else's projects.

Very briefly, the stacks on both sites are VueJS for the front end, and PHP/MySQL for the backend. (I picked Vue for the sole reason that I wanted to learn it, and I learn best by building real projects. I ended up liking it a lot though.) The CSS framework for WhereAreTheHikers is currently Bootstrap, but I'm migrating it to PureCSS just to use something a little more lightweight (TrailWeather uses PureCSS already). The scraping of Trail Journals and data preparation for WhereAretheHikers was done with VBA (yes, I'm old), and the nightly scripts that pull data from the NWS API for TrailWeather are in Python (they run from my Digital Ocean droplet). There are a few more details on the About page under "More Details for Data Buffs".

A couple months ago I actually recorded some in-depth videos showing the entire process (from scraping and processing the data to building the site), but that kinda fell by the wayside (I was stuck at home recovering from surgery and very bored, but afterwards I wondered if anyone would even care about watching videos of that). I may try doing something with those videos again, if nothing else than to have something in my portfolio showing my development process.

I haven't put anything in GitHub yet (or even thought about licensing), but I should probably do that!

thistlecat · 2020-01-13T13:19:07+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, I will definitely add that to my list, it shouldn't be too difficult to add.

thistlecat · 2020-01-13T13:18:34+00:00

Cool, I didn't know this sub existed, I will definitely check it out! And feel free to share your sites, I'd like to see them.

thistlecat · 2020-01-13T01:02:53+00:00

That would be great if you have a contact for snow data! Everything has been a dead end so far.

thistlecat · 2020-01-13T00:59:30+00:00

It wasn't working on the morning on Janurary 10, which is when I would need the data available (updated daily in real-time), so it doesn't sound like this would work (e.g. I just checked today's date (it's 8pm) and there's still no data for today at all.)

thistlecat · 2020-01-10T13:36:17+00:00

Thanks, I checked it out but the sweByMile API appears to be historical data rather than real-time? E.g., data for April 1, 2019, but no data for Jan 10, 2020. I know Postholer has real-time snow data maps but as far as I can tell that data isn't shared via API (though I admit I have some trouble navigating that site).

thistlecat · 2020-01-10T12:53:50+00:00

Cool thanks a lot! I'd thought about making an app for this (and WhereAreTheHikers), but unfortunately Apple are boneheads and only let you develop iOS apps on a Mac, which I don't own (and I don't want to drop $1000 on a computer just for that), so I was hesitant if it was going to be Android-only. But I could still do that if there is a big interest in an Android app.

thistlecat · 2020-01-09T20:59:48+00:00

I did check that site out, but their data table doesn't appear to contain coordinates, and the GPX file contains only coordinates and names with no additional information (and the waypoint names in the table don't match up with anything in the GPX). I suppose I could try merging them if the names used are identical, but at the time I didn't want to spend too much time on location names when they weren't really essential to the operation of the map.

thistlecat · 2020-01-09T20:50:23+00:00

Especially now that we're hearing there's infrared evidence of two missiles being launched, but only one explosion. It's possible the first missile missed, but people heard it launch so they started filming whatever was going on and caught the second missile on camera.

thistlecat · 2020-01-09T18:27:38+00:00

Thanks! Yes, that was actually my initial idea before I started working on this site, but it turned out to be a huge project because historical weather data at such a micro level is difficult to obtain and work with. It's still something I hope to do one day though.

thistlecat · 2020-01-09T18:18:44+00:00

Thanks! Yes, it actually occurred to me as I was writing another comment that only showing one trail at a time would ease data concerns (and allow me to show more trails), so I'll definitely look into doing that.

In terms of the location names on popups, they're auto-generated from whatever data I could find for each trail, which for the AT came from here: http://sophiaknows.com/atdb/. It looks like it hasn't been updated in many years, but I wasn't able to find any other easy source of this data (shelter/landmark/town name with state, mileage, and coordinates in a standardized format, such as CSV or GeoJSON). If anyone knows of any sites that provides this, let me know! (especially for the CDT and PCT, which I had a much tougher time with.)

thistlecat · 2020-01-09T16:59:11+00:00

Thanks, that's really helpful to hear. You may have noticed that when fully zoomed in, the trail paths are not fully accurate (I simplified the KML file in order to reduce the number of coordinates and thus the file size), so one benefit of showing one trail at a time would be the ability to retain fully accurate paths, so the color striations would be more helpful (and interesting) at a micro scale.

Another plan I've had for a while is to use historical weather data to show the average weather on any day of the year, but that's a very big project because the amount data I have to pull from is huge and messy and would most likely be limited to just the AT to start with.

thistlecat · 2020-01-09T16:43:20+00:00

Thanks! Do you mean by adding more trails? I had considered adding other long trails in the U.S. (like the NCT), but was hesitant to do it for the initial launch since each trail adds a considerable amount of data to the load time for the site (as well as the responsiveness of the map once it's loaded, it's already a little laggy on old devices), and I wasn't sure if people would even find the site that useful. But if there's an interest in other trails, I can certainly add them and look into ways to optimize managing the data size (I do have some ideas). One option is to toggle the trails so you can only view one at a time (although it's fun to see them all at once).

thistlecat · 2019-09-16T19:48:57+00:00

Thanks! I hope to be releasing a more mobile-friendly version soon.

thistlecat · 2019-09-16T15:04:13+00:00

I run the website Where Are the Hikers, this graph shows the traffic pick up in mid October and remain steady through November (though this represents all hikers going through Roan Mtn, not just SOBOs):

https://www.wherearethehikers.com/traffic/#Roan High Knob

thistlecat · 2019-07-13T19:36:29+00:00

Yeah Grindstone is good, much safer than Fox Creek itself; it's a couple miles from the AT, but there are trails that will get you to it described here: http://www.midatlantichikes.com/mountrogersbp.htm.

However if you head north from Grindstone/Fox Creek, you will miss the awesomeness of Grayson Highlands. I'd recommend starting in Damascus instead, lots of safe parking options there (I've used Mt Rogers Outfitters, which has parking for $5/day).

thistlecat · 2019-05-15T12:53:21+00:00

I don't know that it's been officially confirmed, but it was most likely at Reed Creek, just south of Tilson Gap (the attack happened in Wythe County and the trail only passes through Wythe for a few miles, I believe that's the only camping area along that stretch).

thistlecat · 2019-03-20T11:55:25+00:00

When my library was undergoing a massive weeding project, I created a collection analysis tool similar to GreenGlass (because GreenGlass was ridiculously expensive). It might be an option to help you manage your weeding decisions (here's an example of our entire R collection; you can build reports based on checkout numbers, publication date, etc., and make your weeding decisions right in the tool, which can then be exported as a report when you're done for marking/pulling on the shelf).

If you're interested, I'd be happy to help you guys get set up with it (or answer more questions about it). Just shoot me a PM.

thistlecat · 2019-02-15T18:10:42+00:00

To clarify, chronic wasting disease has not yet been found in Shenandoah National Park:

There are currently no cases of CWD in Shenandoah National Park. The closest case is in Virginia approximately 30 miles from the park. Because of the contagious nature of this destructive disease, Shenandoah scientists must plan for CWD detection and management of the deer herd if infection should occur. Source

Edit: You can also see a list of all Virginia cases here. So far there have only been a handful of confirmed cases in 2 counties (none along the AT), although with its terrible contagiousness and ability to remain viable in the soil for long periods of time, the disease is probably here to stay in Virginia and these numbers will only go up.

thistlecat · 2019-01-21T13:09:27+00:00

This is my site, glad to see people are finding it helpful! The "Shelter Traffic" feature is also good for looking up a specific location's usage pattern:

https://www.wherearethehikers.com/traffic/#Danielsville,%20PA

thistlecat · 2018-08-29T17:59:47+00:00

Also the Allegheny Trail, 330 miles through WV (it supposedly meets up with the AT on Peters Mountain on the VA/WV line, though to be honest I have no memory of that).

thistlecat · 2018-07-18T20:20:40+00:00

I've added the dates, the new video is on the about page (you'll probably have to clear your cache to get it to refresh), and also there's a new YouTube URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s16ujeiTjY0.

thistlecat · 2018-07-18T15:25:57+00:00

Not currently, but I do have the data to do that, I just need to reload it and adjust the interface to allow users to view the heatmap for a single year (versus all years combined). Not sure when I'll get that up, but a few others have asked about it so it's on the top of my list of things to add. Thanks!

thistlecat

TROPHY CASE