Proof of concept interactive starchart

Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
Snakebite said:
Nice idea, I have some php skills let me know if you need any help or hosting.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer, but the project uses Go and Javascript/jQuery only, and hosting is solved for the time being.

Feel free to look at the code, it's on bitbucket. It is somewhat challenging to build on Windows, just send me a PM or email if the instructions in the readme are not adequate enough.
 

Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
New version is up:

- Some 1000 new systems from EDSC
- initial URL handling (access and share links to systems and routes)
- Commander names shown in edit page
- Fixed search showing wrong distances
 

Taimaru

Taimaru
I can confirm that search is working now and the issue I was having has been fixed :). This startchart works great and is very useful.

Thanks Biteketkergetek!
 

Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
One more thing I've changed was that if there are too many results (20 or more) then nothing will be shown, so for example "Lalande" or "lalande" by itself shows nothing. This could have listed potentially random matches, omitting the matches that are actually nearby, which is undesirable, therefore was turned off.

I need to find a way to find systems nearby in this case, I just don't know how to do it right: as far as I see the SQL engines support only fixed spatial queries (rtree index in sqlite) and string queries only. I wonder if there is a way to search for a name near a specific location efficiently, without a linear search over the whole table.
 
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I_am_Jon

I_am_Jon
Wow good work. I really like it, reminds me of the original frontier map I had on my wall years back.

Planing a trip back to my "home" system to get to know the area in more more detail and find some good trade routes. This will really help get a feel for the surrounding systems.

One bonus feature I would like is if you could popup a text list of all the systems in jump range of your current location. In my case that would be my must visit list for around my home world.
 

Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
I_am_Jon said:
Wow good work. I really like it, reminds me of the original frontier map I had on my wall years back.

Planing a trip back to my "home" system to get to know the area in more more detail and find some good trade routes. This will really help get a feel for the surrounding systems.

One bonus feature I would like is if you could popup a text list of all the systems in jump range of your current location. In my case that would be my must visit list for around my home world.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. Supporting the economy of your local virtual community is very nice of you. :)

My major goal with the website is to let commanders view the systems nearby, and support the commodity effort of mapping the in-game space using the edit system. I do keep track of new ideas, but my time is very limited to add new features.

One issue with your idea is that the number of reachable systems may be very large, in fact it might include the whole galaxy. I think such a feature could be done better in an installed app, that can generate the list you need for you. It could generate the list based on the system you're in by parsing the game log files.

For a text list of nearby systems you should try TradeDangerous, I think it has a subcommand specifically for this purpose.
 

I_am_Jon

I_am_Jon
I was just thinking a list of all systems within 1 jump of your selected location. You already show these on the map so it's just a different way or viewing the data.

Just started a detailed audit of the 15+ systems within one 24Ly jump of my home system. Would be nice to have an easy way to pull that list, or see what systems I get if I extend it to 30Ly or 2 jumps.

Not looked at the TradeDangerous tool, is that where you pull the star data from?
 

Miklos Atreides

Miklos Atreides
Excellent Job! This is an outstanding tool for "Long Jump" route planning as well as having usefull additional information sometimes.
I find this tool that good, that I will begin to add data from my runs into it.

Many thanks for that.

Regards,
Miklos
 

Flangduck

Flangduck
Just wondering why you chose to NOT include the ability to add some very important facilities when adding Stations yet others are allowed to be added:

ALLOWED
  • Permit Required
  • Black Market
  • Commodities
  • Outfitting
  • Shipyard

NOT ALLOWED
  • Re-Arm
  • Refuel
  • Repair

And as was mentioned before it would help to know the Distance (Ls) each Station is from the System entry point since some Stations are so far away that they can take too much time to get there to really not be worth it - not to mention the extra DANGER of being Interdicted while trying to deliver to those far off Stations when it takes forever to even get there in the first place.
(This requires the player to note these when they first enter the System)

I started to add the Systems that I've been to so far but am still on the fence whether or not to continue when important Facilities aren't being allowed to be listed while others are.

Thanks for what you've provided even with my ranting.
:>)


EDIT: Seems Distance is Allowed even though I didn't see it when I first used the editing feature before.
 
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Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
Re-Arm, Refuel and Repair is missing because of the following reasons:

1. These facilities seem to be always available, I have yet to see a station that does not allow it, even if said facility is not listed on the system map.
It is not clear how these are used, or how these would be useful for external tools.
2. Other data sources I'm aware of don't use or list these either.
3. Reduce clutter (TBH these were in for a short time, until we've realized points 1 and 2).

Distance has always been there in the data from the very beginning, either you remember incorrectly or the field was accidentally omitted from the output earlier.

Btw, sometimes I just make screenshot(s) of the LHS panel and enter the distance later. Or check the distance after docking. That is unusual, and I do it only if there is no distance data yet, because both for trading and route planning it might be useful to have one roughly correct distance than none, even if it is not precise.
 

Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
Miklos Atreides said:
Excellent Job! This is an outstanding tool for "Long Jump" route planning as well as having usefull additional information sometimes.
I find this tool that good, that I will begin to add data from my runs into it.

Many thanks for that.

Regards,
Miklos
Click to expand...

Thank you.

Just for the record, the data is free to use by anyone. I know only one tool, RegulatedNoise from maxh2003 that uses it, but there might be others out there.
 

Flangduck

Flangduck
Biteketkergetek said:
Re-Arm, Refuel and Repair is missing because of the following reasons:

1. These facilities seem to be always available, I have yet to see a station that does not allow it, even if said facility is not listed on the system map.
It is not clear how these are used, or how these would be useful for external tools.
2. Other data sources I'm aware of don't use or list these either.
3. Reduce clutter (TBH these were in for a short time, until we've realized points 1 and 2).

Distance has always been there in the data from the very beginning, either you remember incorrectly or the field was accidentally omitted from the output earlier.

Btw, sometimes I just make screenshot(s) of the LHS panel and enter the distance later. Or check the distance after docking. That is unusual, and I do it only if there is no distance data yet, because both for trading and route planning it might be useful to have one roughly correct distance than none, even if it is not precise.
Click to expand...

The in-game Facilities listing for each Station doesn't give the actual truth of what's actually there and CANNOT be relied upon.

1. They're NOT 'always available'. In fact when I posted earlier I had just left a System with such a Station and have encountered numerous others since (and probably at some of the other 20 or so Stations I had been to before starting to keep track of these for myself).
2. So? Maybe they don't need this particular data for what they're doing. But it DOES fit in with what you're doing perfectly IMO.
3. Smaller buttons. Rearrange. Drop-down menu. Etc.

Making screenshots would help - my problem would be REMEMBERING to do it - but then I wouldn't NEED a screenshot if I REMEMBERED to look in the first place. Not all Stations will be listed on the first screen with multiple screens (has the System even been fully explored so it will be viewable?). Since you already HAVE to enter each Station to find out if a Black Market exists it's easy enough to get the distance then.
(Distance isn't a constant and can vary considerably from one visit to another but a number is needed)

Some Stations are only a single digit Ls distant and are quick and easy to get to while others are 6 digit Ls distant requiring a long haul. When you NEED something (bullets, fuel, etc) it would be nice to KNOW where it can be got as FAST & NEAR as possible. Your wallet may depend on it (Ship Insurance + Cargo) if you die along the way (do I take a 30-sec trip or a 10-min trip?). It doesn't help to know that the in-game map is lying to you when you're looking for a service.
 
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Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
I've replaced my own force based layout code with one from the excellent VPSC library from Tim Dwyer and Michael Wybrow. A test version of the site is available at http://starchart.club/test/map/.

This seems to be a little less dense but much cleaner compared to the old layout. Most importantly it's more than 100 times faster.

Let me know your opinions.
 

Miklos Atreides

Miklos Atreides
Hi again, I've learned during the past days that the starchart now is synchronizing with other tools to collect system data. Beside the fact thats a good idea soure automate data sourcing from other tools I learned also that there isn't a merge and data that has been manually entered (by me) is overwritten due to automatic replacements that might have less data. I do understand that you cannot verify each possible incoming dataset for completeness and correctness but before overwriting to check is fields filled are overwritten with empty data where information was already in should be possible.

Regards,
Miklos
 

Biteketkergetek

Biteketkergetek
Miklos Atreides said:
Hi again, I've learned during the past days that the starchart now is synchronizing with other tools to collect system data. Beside the fact thats a good idea soure automate data sourcing from other tools I learned also that there isn't a merge and data that has been manually entered (by me) is overwritten due to automatic replacements that might have less data. I do understand that you cannot verify each possible incoming dataset for completeness and correctness but before overwriting to check is fields filled are overwritten with empty data where information was already in should be possible.

Regards,
Miklos
Click to expand...

It might be a bug in the sync tools if any data was overwritten. It would be nice if you could tell us the commander name the data was entered with, possibly with system name(s) in question. PM me if you like so others don't see it.

In the long run the edit system will be replaced with a link to an external database, like eddb.io. Until then it is hard to tell which data is correct: if many external sources agree on an out-of-date value, the sync tools just pick them up as correct.
 

Miklos Atreides

Miklos Atreides
The Commanders name is Miklos Atreides. 1st example is CD-35 9019. (there are a few more around Leesti where things got lost) I entered the details for all the 9 stations in system but now all details are gone like faction,governance .... are gone and are not provided in regular by the bots delivering data like eddb.io Its not designed to deliver all that usefull sidedata yet. For me its playing a role if station is feudal or a democracy and it makes a difference to land on an industrial outpost or an Orbis Station. Right now there was some data lost which is sad and if its a bug only it would be nice if you are able to fix it.

Regards,
Miklos
 

Smacker

Smacker
Miklos Atreides said:
The Commanders name is Miklos Atreides. 1st example is CD-35 9019. (there are a few more around Leesti where things got lost) I entered the details for all the 9 stations in system but now all details are gone like faction,governance .... are gone and are not provided in regular by the bots delivering data like eddb.io Its not designed to deliver all that usefull sidedata yet. For me its playing a role if station is feudal or a democracy and it makes a difference to land on an industrial outpost or an Orbis Station. Right now there was some data lost which is sad and if its a bug only it would be nice if you are able to fix it.

Regards,
Miklos
Click to expand...

Yes, really sorry there was a bug in the updater. I have been working hard to reverse those bad updates. Will take a look at your case and put the edits back.
 
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