My virtual run across America, and a business idea.
 

So I'm getting over my little knee problem and have started running again, and I thought it'd be cool to plot my progress on a map of the U.S., running across the country. I've always thought it would be cool to walk across the U.S., but I can't figure out how to get my work done in that scenario, so this is my fallback.

And then I thought, "Hmm, this is a pretty good idea for a website. If I started a website, could I get enough people to sell some advertising and stuff and maybe make some money?"

So I went out looking to see if it's already out there. The concept isn't overly innovative, so I see a fair amount of sites out there that talk about it, but they all seem to be pretty lame. Here's a map, print it, color in your progress with a crayon kind of stuff.

What I'd like is a web site where you plot your progress and then see a google maps street view of your location, and then a virtual tour of towns that you walk through, and an atlas so you can pick your route as you go, and an interactive map so you can plot your route. That doesn't exist.

Is there money in this? What's the revenue model? Any web designers out there who would want to collaborate on this?

In my 15 minutes of looking, I found one web site that's actually kind of close, though it's still basic. http://exercise.lbl.gov/index.html is a federal government site, and they do the street view pictures, which is pretty cool, and the online log. However, they only give you one route, an inexplicable Yorktown, Virginia, to Florence, Oregon, route, and you can't vary from that. Also, you don't get local information along your route as far as I can tell.

I signed up for it, though, since it's the best option out there, and am now 11 miles into my journey. I've left Yorktown and am now on this nice road about 2 miles from Williamsburg. Anyone else want to wander along?

http://exercise.lbl.gov/TrailPointImage?pt_id=52

I think that idea would rock. I think you could make more than you make now if it were done right. I'm not sure Google earth street view has country roads but if it did it would be cool as hell.

So you need a treadmill with a monitor that shows google earth street view and handlebars to steer.
I bet there are software geeks out there that could make that happen.

Im in... signing up now.

Site is slooooooooooooow

I've seen stuff like this, and I've wondered if Google is working on a feature of Maps that will let you see a route in Street View in a "drive the route" sort of way, with only a couple of clicks.

I created a Google Map a couple of weeks ago that outlined a trip to Rome, and even though you can click on certain spots in Street View, it would be cool to virtually take the same tour.

I don't know how the team/partner stuff works, but if you want to try it I'm #59102. Otherwise, I'm fine to just track progress separately.

I'm doing both running and walking, and counting only my "avoidable" walking, which is pretty much just my walks to and from work.

I'm thinking simpler, so more people could do it. Just put in your mileage each time and it'll plot where you're at and what you're near.

I don't get it. It looked like it was just a video. Am I missing something?

Sounds good. I am trying to partner up now, that site is kinda slow I am 59131.

What day did your 11 miles start? Not to be competitive, but I don't wanna give you a head start. :D

I started on the 27th. They give you the option to select running partners, but then say something like "Mileage will be reset so you're in the same position." That can't be right, because it was giving me the option to pick anybody in the country and I think it would annoy some random stranger with 2,000 miles if I reset them. So I was kind of befuddled about that. I have no idea what will happen.

I have a feeling you'll pass me pretty quick, though, which again makes me wonder what the partner function is useful for. Probably worth experimenting with at this young stage, though.

It's a stream of pictures from Google Maps Street View. Someone took each picture of the path and put them all together to make it look like someone was taking a video.

Here's another one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU8h7...eature=related

Seems cool... I'll go sign up. I've begun Spring Marathon training, so I should be able to make pretty decent progress.

I've gotta take a dump on my run. Any churches or hospitals in the area? gotta know fast!

OK all signed up. 59136. I added you both. Hopefully I didn't eff up your mileage, Rain Man.

Man I really hope it doesn't take as long to log runs as it does to add partners. I'll spend more time logging than running.

Oh, and my suggestion for the site would be to combine something like this with a powerful training log. People aren't going to want to log their mileage twice, so combining the mapping aspect with a useful log is important, IMO.

I use Runner's World log, but really I just picked it because it was the first place I looked for one. It does its job of tracking when I ran and how far, but a bit more statistical analysis would be cool. They obviously have places to enter date, distance and pace, but there are also boxes for weather type, temperature, time of day, amount of effort required, etc. But you have to do your own cross-referencing to get any worthwhile information. I'd like to click a button and see what my average pace is when it's 50 degrees and compare it to my average pace when it's 80, for example. There are sites that do that kind of thing, but I'm too lazy to transfer all of my data.

Also, an easy creation of logs or progress bars to embed or link to (like for a CP signature or a Facebook update) would be awesome. I'm starting to get a little detailed, I suppose.

I'll try to sign you both up as partners, but for some reason it's not letting me go to the "choose partners" tab. I'll try again after a restart.

Dang government low-bid work.

I made a team called ChiefsPlaneteers. Try and join the team!

What did you do to your knee?

I ask because I average running about 10 miles a week on my treadmill and I did something to my knee a couple of weeks ago on a Bowflex. It's swollen in the back, cracks, pops, and every once in a while when I step it feels like it wants to give out. More annoying than anything but I've been resting it for about a week and am wondering when I should bite the bullet and have it looked at.

I'm 49 btw and have never had a knee problem like this. Ticking me off and I'm getting lazy.

For daily logging, I use my Garmin forerunner 405. It is awesome. tracks all useful stats and uploads it to my garmin connect website. You can even link your activities (splits and all) to social networking profiles, twitter, etc. Here was my activity for the KC marathon back in October. I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone doing any serious long distance running, hiking, walking, biking, canoeing.. whatever. But then again, I am a data junkie, so maybe it is just me http://connect.garmin.com/activity/16672187

I have a 305. I always liked the graphs that the Garmin Training Center software would create, but data analysis was still tedious. Plus it didn't keep track of my treadmill runs. I avoid the treadmill like the plague, but some days you just can't get around it. I did 3 miles in the snow yesterday, and I can't imagine going much further than that.

To be honest, I didn't even know this GarminConnect website existed. I'll have to give it a shot.

Unless I'm missing something, I think you need to add us to the team. I can't seem to find anywhere to join a team. I put the team name in and clicked "create", assuming I would join or get an error, but it just let me create a new team with the same name.

Just tedonitis for me. It had been bothering me, and then went from there to outright bad pain. I had to stop doing anything for about a month for it to go away.

I have no idea what would've happened to yours. Swollen in the back?

Honestly, I am not sure... although a great idea, this government website has the performance of a one legged donkey that fell out of an aids tree

Okay, I've got you guys as partners. I'm not sure what happens now, but we'll see. I didn't get any notification when you added me, so maybe running partners are invisible to each other?

And yeah, can you add us to the team? I tried to create a team with the same name to see if it would join me up, but I get an error that says "no teams defined".

I would rather run 10 miles on snow and ice than 1 mile on a dreadmill. I ****ing hate treadmills. I have the heartrate monitor too, but I always forget to put it on before I leave in the morning. :cuss: The garmin connect does have a manual entry system so you could enter in your dreadmill runs (splits and all) if you wanted to. I would almost rather run without shoes than without my garmin. Worth every penny, and it wasn't cheap.

Yeah, my mile logging the past couple of days has gone really easy and the individual stuff like the maps and pictures. It seems like it's the partner stuff that's really doggy. Maybe once that stuff is set up it'll go easier.

The back part of my knee where it bends is swollen. The front is where it pops though.

I bought a cheap brace for it and will give it another week to see what it does. Like I said more annoying than anything so its probably nothing.

I was just looking for some cheap advice on when I should be worried about it.

I can't run on a treadmill. For some reason it makes me dizzy, and I get all nervous that I'm going to fall off and end up on youtube with a bunch of teenagers calling me a dweeb.

Oh, hey. If I go to the map and ask it to show me the teams, it shows two Chiefsplaneteers teams. I'm not sure what that means. I tried twice to create a team and got errors, so it could be mine showing up, or it could be rageumr's team showing up on at least one of them.

You're both showing up as my partners, too, both with 11 miles.

I applaud your ingenuity of a great concept to make money. Follow it thru. I could see this as a good idea!

When I do that, it shows us all with 0 miles... ROFL

here is the explanation, makes sense I guess...

We have adjusted your partner(s) mileage so that both you and your partners start at the same point. Virtual partners who started before you have had their mileage set to your mileage on your start date.


So it is just an "Go Forward" Comparison

Hmm.... mine shows everyone at 0 miles and no teams (I deleted the one I created).

I just entered distances from sunday, and now it shows me at 13.3, and you both at 9.2. So I am guessing Rain Man has entered 9.2 since sunday?

Good idea and not hard at all to implement. If you find someone who is adept at the google API... this thing basically writes itself.

The hard part is getting traffic to the site... once you have the traffic and a good community... it could make some money.

The problem I see is that it's novelty isn't interactive enough... coem up with some further "hooks" and you have a winner. Think in terms of making it more of a community or a competition.

...but from a technical standpoint... not hard to do at all.

Backdating the log, huh, cheater?

You're showing 4.1 on mine now with Rain Man and I at 0.

so you just entered today's run, cause that is what I did this morning... And I did not cheat! :cuss: If I wanted to cheat, I would go back and enter the 1191.9 miles that I have logged since 7/22/08... :D

Okay, I've now got you both in my own team called ChiefsPlaneteers. Do you see anything?

I'm starting to think that teams and partners are invisible to the other people. If true, I think it's a bit of a mistake on their part since it limits the community aspect that would be valuable. Another competitive advantage to my own web site.

Any web designers out there who want to partner on this?

I can come up with hooks. And yeah, I think the key is making a community out of it. How much would it cost to build this if I hired someone? (Roughly.)

I'm showing ziggy at 15.1 and rage and myself at 11. I can see us all having 11 because that's what I've entered.

Ah, I think I see what's happening. If ziggy entered 4.1 after we became partners, that's where we start diverging. So it only puts us all at the same starting point, which is the mileage we had when we selected partners.

So this means that we can track each other, but there's no communication or anything.

The team is showing us at 4.1 collectively, so I bet it just adds our distances together. Do you guys see a team yet? It's working on mine, but I bet you each have to build the team yourself.

Depends on the scope of the project.

Your best bet lies in one of two routes...

#1 Set out EXACTLY what you want the site to be able to do... make mock ups and write descriptions of every detail. THEN outsource the project on one of the many programming outsourcing sites where people bid for the job. (if I had to guess... shouldn't cost more than $5000)

#2 Find a capable programmer that you trust and partner with them... keeping your cost at ZERO (minus server costs which are almost nothing for a project like this)

Your left shoe needs a new sole. Fix with Shoe Goo and rest for two days.

Yep, you're right, I had to recreate the team.

I'm planning on a sixer tonight, so we'll see how that affects everything.

Every time I click on "Choose Partner" I get a script error.

I'm 59141

The Choose Partner thing is finicky. Try getting out and then logging back on, and I bet it works.

Based on our experience so far, I'm deciding that this site isn't strong competition. But if our ID numbers are really linear and there are 59,000 people, there's a demand.

Your knee forgot your birthday and thinks it's 50.

I was going to sign up, but I'm out of breath reading this thread so I guess I'm out.

Ok, so I just completed another 3.7 miles across the virtual Virginia countryside. At least the 2 new inches of snow made the ice a little less slippery. :D . I am now 4 miles from Jamestown VA, going up a hill.

I got an email today that said you passed me. Damn you.

I'm 6 miles from Jamestown. Just got passed by a car. Nice scenery, but not much room for us runners.

Dartgod, I've got you partnered up now and can see you on my map. Did you get the partner thing to work?

http://exercise.lbl.gov/TrailPointImage?pt_id=67

I did, but do not see how to join the Chiefsplanet team. I can only create a team.

Yeah, we've pretty much decided that each person has to create their own team. Not sure why.

I'm about one-third of the way to Richmond now. 32.4 miles down, 4,055.6 to go. Not sure what's going on with those cars on the side of the road.

http://exercise.lbl.gov/TrailPointImage?pt_id=147

Dang Rain Man, you have logged a bunch of miles this week. You better take it easy or you are gonna make that knee flare up again. I have a 9 miler tomorrow, so I will start getting caught back up with you.

I did a slow 12 miles today, my longest since the knee thing flared up, but my secret weapon is 3.8 miles round trip to work each day. As long as I don't have to drive, I can pile up miles during the week. Granted, those are walking miles, but they still count in my book since they're voluntary miles.

Sure... lots of folks say the health benefits of walking are almost the same as running, just a bit slower. You have inspired me to do the same. I could gain an additional 2 miles a day if I walk to work, home for lunch, back to work and then home again.

Got a question. If I sign up for this do I have to get out and actually walk the miles I log in ?
I'm thinking you could make your new website a lot more fun and appealing if people didn't have to get out and really walk/run the miles they are logging in. If we all could just type in some arbitrary number of miles we "walked" it would leave more time for surfing the internet, or eating ice cream, or....whatever you wanted to do.

Yea, I could get with an excersise program like that.

This is a great idea. So maybe just have people enter a random number when they come to Chiefsplanet.

Oh Oh Oh.....carry it a little farther.

How about we get Daface to change the user controls around so we could just enter whatever post count we wanted and maybe increase our repower.
All while sitting comfortably at home enjoying a bowl of Rocky Road.

Brilliant! Virtual jogging. All the scenery without the sweat and sore feet!

Ok, after my 9 miler today (2 laps around the lake. Hilly and icy, patches of snow and ice still all over made for a nice challenging run. Not to mention it was 9 degrees at 9 am when we started... So far I am 26 miles in.

Ok, bump... WHERE YOU GUYS AT?

I just signed up today. Looks pretty cool, although the site runs like i'm on a 56k modem

I'm doing biking/running. My ID is #59338. I added you all to my list of partners.

I'm sitting on the side of the road nursing some runner's knee. I ran a six miler on New Years Day and been fighting it since then. I skipped my long run this weekend (supposed to be 12) and I ran about a quarter mile on the dreadmill last night and cut it short because every step hurt. I've been icing and 'profening up, and it feels a little better today.

Hopefully I can get that 12 in this weekend. It's actually supposed to get into the 30's on Sunday!

I'd love to see 30... high here on saturday (for scheduled 10 miler) is 9... Probably won't be that warm at 8 am when I run. No aches or pains so far... luckily. But I do have about 500 miles on my current shoes, about time to go shopping.

Added you as well RockChalk.

Cool. Once I'm able to find Matthew Broderick from Wargames to help me dial up and get in I'll add you to my list. With your newfangled biking machinery, you may pass us all pretty quick.

That's my fear. Knee problems stink. I had to sit out 7 weeks in November and December. I'm back now, but I'm slow as molasses at the moment.

I would add in biking, but I don't have a 4 wheel drive bike with snow mobile tracks on it... so I wont be logging any miles any time soon.

That would be awesome! You should also pair it with the "Sketch/CAD" program that lets you create structures and place them on Google Earth. Just think of the possibilities in your running route if you could build an Alaska-Russia bridge or a Canada-Greenland-Iceland-England-France bridge!

This whole thing about having different sets of books for each person is weird. I'd rather they just gave absolute locations.

I just passed through Charles City at 43.8 miles, and now I've got a long open stretch before I get to Glendale (16.7 miles away). The good news is that my maps have shifted up and are showing Richmond now. [Edit: well, not the map that I just pasted in.]

http://exercise.lbl.gov/TrailPointImage?pt_id=193

Why stop at America? Someone should come up with an alternative virtual reality across which joggers can run and explore. You have to log your miles to discover new and amazing views and landmarks.

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/A...F-8B46849204FC

My knees only tolerate so much running, unfortunately. My recumbent bike comes in pretty handy with they start acting up

And low-gravity worlds are much easier on the knees. I like it.

Bump, so you guys remember to log your miles. 5 more miles this morning across the antarctic tundra puts me at 36.1 total, and 5.86 mi to Charles City, VA, Charles City County

What kind of terrain are you running on? There's a trail right by my office, and I'll go on my lunch break a lot of days, but it varies from a semi-packed 3" to a deep 6" of snow along the trail right now. Extremely difficult to run in. I just did a 4 miler and felt like I was going to die. My typical 4 mile pace is in the 7:15 range, but it was like 9:30 today.

I find it hard to motivate myself to get out and run in conditions like that. Last weekend I went up to Shawnee Mission park and ran on the roads. That wasn't bad, but it can get repetitive.

I am from a small town with very little money to clear roads, so our side roads (where I run) are a mix of hard packed snow, slick ice spots, big chunks of ice, some really crunchy thicker snow and a few actual clear bits of road here and there. My 5 mile time is usually 7:45 - 8 range, and it has slowed me down to about 8:30, but I am pretty dead afterward. When running on shit conditions you have to stay tight and tense every step to make sure you don't lose footing and go down. I look at it like this; when this stuff clears up, and the air is warm enough to actually hold oxygen, I should be flying! I have been actually using this as motivation... I just tell myself, "Not everyone can push themselves through this. Most people would say it is too cold, too icy, too snowy." I have basically decided that mother nature is trying to challenge me, and I am determined to kick that bitch's ass.

53.3 miles for me so far... today really helped, 10 mile run followed by 4 mile cool down walk. I am now 53.3 mi - "7.22 mi to Glendale, VA", Charles City County
"Section: 12 Map Name: Chickahominy, 148"

Cmon guys, updates.... post some updates.

After an 8.5 mile run today and 2 miles walking afterwards, I'm at 67.6 miles now, and on my way to Mechanicsburg. 35.5 miles running, 32.1 miles walking. I appear to be in a residential neighborhood at the moment, but no one has come out to offer me lemonade. They probably don't realize that I'm running across the nation.

http://exercise.lbl.gov/TrailPointImage?pt_id=302