50 replies to this topic

[WBSKI]

Skimap.org will be launched on August 1st 2008.

The original plan for a new website was a skiing wiki, but we are now working on a website which has the most ski maps on the web on it. There has been a lack of ski maps on the internet since Skimaps.com closed.

If you want to talk with me, email me at contact@skimap.org
If you want to be a beta tester, go here, and follow the instructions on the thread: http://www.skiingbc....x.php?topic=189

This post has been edited by WBSKI: 17 June 2008 - 12:13 PM

[Peter]

Have you been to wikiski.com?

[WBSKI]

lol, I have actually never seen that site, hmm, I will have to change the title of the wiki and do something different. That other wiki looks pretty good

Wikiski.com currently does most things I wanted on virtualskier.net

Maybe a new Ski Maps website would be more useful..

[Snoqualmie guy]

Yes I like the idea of a ski maps site. Since Skimaps seems to be off line now.

[WBSKI]

This website will take several months to create, if you are a graphics designer, or web developer who would like to help with the project, send me a PM. I am fairly competent in PHP, but would love if someone came up with an attractive webpage template

[SkiBachelor]

WBSKI, you might want to consider checking out templatemonster.com since it offers a lot of great templates for under $70. I would help out with the project, but I have too much going on as it is.

[Bill]

Intervesting...

Skilifts.org always had intentions of branching into the skimaps realm, in fact we own the domain skitrails.org and skimaps.org.

You have to watch the copyright laws, as ski areas do copyright their maps and some of them don't want their maps on your website without permission. That was the only thing I really bumped into and haven't gone any further, but could be re-launched once I market the idea to the areas with some database driven website templates and resorts being able to change their info and upload their maps, all free of course and a chance for them to market themselves and therefore eliminate the copyright issue since they uploaded their own maps.

Just a few things to ponder and work into your site.

[Peter]

He's from Canada, so he doesn't have to worry about that stuff

[SkiBachelor]

Skier, on Mar 26 2008, 10:02 PM, said:

He's from Canada, so he doesn't have to worry about that stuff

Actually he does since the material (content) on his website would fall under US law because its owned by US firms.

It would be somewhat similar to the MP3 websites like piratebay and oink that have been shut down because they never had permission to share the copyrighted material.

[Bill]

Copyright can go international as well. Depends on what type of copyrighting they have.

[nathanvg]

Bill, on Mar 27 2008, 06:04 PM, said:

Copyright can go international as well. Depends on what type of copyrighting they have.

Any idea how http://www.ski-guide.com/ (aka http://www.skitown.com) get around copyright issues? They have tons of current trail maps. I really hope someone would start a historical trailmap site. (FYI coloradoskihisotry.com has some historical maps) Next time I go visit my parents I'll have to look for a book I owned that had 100 or so ski maps from 1989. Collecting that sort of info would be great. I wonder if the trail map artists would have copies of and be able to share old work. Might have legal issues but then again, this site could pitch this as free marketing for ski areas. Just my 2 cents.

[WBSKI]

I am not sure right now how to handle the copyright stuff at the moment. In the past, I have heard that taking pictures of lifts was even breaking copyright because the lift companies have copyrighted the designs.. Maybe a good policy would be to allow any ski area to have maps on the site at the start, then if the ski area contacts the webmaster about copyright, the trail maps for that ski area can just be switched off. I know of other websites that have a similar policy.

Bill: I like your idea of allowing only ski areas to upload maps, that will definitely avoid copyright issues, but the problem is, most ski areas probably won't bother at least until some other ski areas participate. As well, the ski areas won't upload historical maps, only their present ones. One of my main aims for this site would be to offer historical trail maps.


It is hard to know about the copyright stuff, I mean, a ton of ski websites use trail maps from ski areas without problems. I have even seen these websites showing a 'current' map which is actually 4-5 years old, which probably doesn't help the ski area's image.

[Bill]

Honestly, they probably wont even mess with you on a copyright issue. The groundwork is there in case they decide to do so. Just my $.02 worth.

[Lift Kid]

Well, I doubt ski areas would care about the copyrights, as all you're doing is providing free advertising for them!!

[WBSKI]

You can now join the beta team by going to www.virtualskier.net

[hyak.net]

As long as your not making money off of their work, there should not be any problems having maps on your site. The most they would do is say "please remove our map"..... If you do a map site, make sure you allow for OLD maps too so you can view the progression of ski areas over time through their maps.

FWIW...

Jack

[WBSKI]

Old maps of course! That is the main reason I am doing this website. Of course, all maps will be submitted by users, so whatever they upload will be hosted.

[Peter]

I have a list of ski areas in North America, I'll email it to you.

[Snoqualmie guy]

Seeing the progress of a ski area is my one of my favorite things to see on a site, which is why I liked the old Ski Acres pics.

[WBSKI]

Ok thanks so much for the list Skier! That list should be up on the database soon.

This post has been edited by WBSKI: 07 April 2008 - 03:26 PM