Trail Search Tool

[jacobroecker]

OK:

I've added a feature to trailbrain.com that might be of some interest. I'm building a custom search engine that looks at trail information for a variety of websites across the internet.

For example if you do an Expanded Search from http://www.trailbrain.com it will search crankfire.com trailbrain.com and mtbr.com to get your results.

I need to know of any other good trail websites I should include in the search since information about so many trails is localized it makes a search tool one of the best ways to find the information online.

Thanks all!

-Jacob Roecker

[Summit]

Outstanding start!!! Great potential. In what format and how do you intend to gather more trail data, from let's say . . . North Carolina?

[whitefoot_hp]

trail brain told me that my search for the appalachian trail yielded no results

[whitefoot_hp]

never mind i did not do an expanded search, sorry!

[jacobroecker]

Trails are added by users of the site. The site's based on mediawiki which is not the easiest thing to learn--but well worth it because of it's popularity.

If you know of a site in NC to search for trails I'll gladly add it to the expanded search list. Someone in CT just gave me 12 more sites to add to the search so it will cover local CT databases (I'll apply these within the next day or so).

Over time the trails in NC will get added. A couple times a week I go search trail websites for information then put the skeletons of the trails on the pages. From there users can fill in the blanks that I've created by selecting "edit" on a section they know about. I've been picking a different state each week--so I haven't covered them all yet. I did one trail in Alaska just 'cause the state looked lonely.

Until I can get my help vidoes up to explain how to start/edit pages better I'd recommend three possible courses of action:
1. look at the help files on wikipedia
2. wait until I get the help videos up
3. send lots of money so I can hire someone else to make the videos for me.

In the meantime enjoy the search tool. I hope it helps get people to enjoy the outdoors a bit more.

-Jacob
http://www.trailbrain.com