UK Sites App.

Jammy
Jammy Forum Participant Posts: 39
edited October 2016 in UK Campsites & Touring #1

 I would love to use the app. But it is just too much work.

Firstly,  most towns yield no results, e.g. Abingdon, whereas there are CLs in the town.

Secondly, although the home page says "Welcome Jim " and the bottom line says "Sign Out", I can't look at my bookings without logging in again!  Again, although my web browser remembers all my passwords, the app doesn't so I have to go hunting for my password
book.

Actually, I just use the web site.  It works.

Comments

  • harryb
    harryb Forum Participant Posts: 1,536
    1000 Comments
    edited October 2016 #2

    I use it quite often without problems. I have found every area I have looked for without problem. However, I have tried looking under Abigdon, there is one cl there, but Abingdon doesn't seem to work. Even tried expanding the area up to 30 miles and it shows
    no results. According to the cl section on the website the Abingdon cl is still there so it must be some kind of glitch in the system which is not unusual for the club.

    As for having to log in I don't find it a chore, it all seems very quick.

     

  • Jammy
    Jammy Forum Participant Posts: 39
    edited October 2016 #3

    It isn't just Abingdon.  It is loads of places.

    The point about logging in is that it knows I am logged in but still asks me to do it again.  The web site is much simpler and the Search works all the time.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,311 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2016 #4

    The problem seems to be that the data base of place names is very small. If you input Lairg or Durness it returns nothing in the NW corner of Scotland. Simply I think because these names are not in the data base. Put in Altnahara and the sites show up. So
    in affect it a bit pot luck wether you get a return or not, as you need to hit on a town / village in the data base. This clearly needs expanding to Google levels.

  • k9sam
    k9sam Forum Participant Posts: 76
    edited October 2016 #5

    Great App, love it.Happy

  • Helen Aaron
    Helen Aaron Forum Participant Posts: 98
    First Comment
    edited October 2016 #6

    Hi Jammy

    I have forwarded the issues you are having onto our UK Sites App team as we did an update on the 25th October
    that focussed on the App now using map functionality native to the device rather than us including the map files within the App.
    A search radius has also been included as well as map filter functionality once on the map screen, which should make the app a little easier to use!

    We need to know if people are having problems though so thank you for taking the time to comment.

    Regards

    Helen

  • Jammy
    Jammy Forum Participant Posts: 39
    edited November 2016 #7

    Hi Helen,

    My Sites App was updated on 26th.

    Apple Maps does not have a great reputation.  I suspect that the App team will experience similar problems on iPad as I do.

    Searching using "Oxfordshire " works fine.  Searching for Abingdon in Apple Maps returns a list, headed by "Abingdon, England".  Maybe the problem lies here, in the way the app talks to Maps.

    I don't understand why we have to login again though.  Especially as the app does not pick up login details stored by Safari .

  • Jammy
    Jammy Forum Participant Posts: 39
    edited November 2016 #8

    Further tests show similar problems all over.  How about an option to use Google Maps if it is installed?  Would that help?

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,311 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2016 #9

    If it is supposed to be linking to the Apple maps data set, it is doing a very poor job. If I search for Durness and Lairg within Apple maps it has no problems finding them. There does not seem to be any link, as you start typing the place name it comes
    up with suggestions and these are very limited.

  • Jammy
    Jammy Forum Participant Posts: 39
    edited November 2016 #10

    When I search for Lairg in Apple Maps, "Lairg, Scotland" comes up as the fifth result.  Durness returns lots of results, all in Lairg. 

    I am suggesting the problem is the way the app talks to Maps and looks at results.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Club Member Posts: 11,357 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited November 2016 #11

    The problem seems to be that the data base of place names is very small. If you input Lairg or Durness it returns nothing in the NW corner of Scotland. Simply I think because these names are not in the data base. Put in Altnahara and the sites show up. So
    in affect it a bit pot luck wether you get a return or not, as you need to hit on a town / village in the data base. This clearly needs expanding to Google levels.

    youre right, Steve....you have to know the answer (specific names used by the club for that 'area') before you can interrogate the system...

    whats wrong with it being able to turn any place name into a gps location (the reverse of what it does when ypu search by gps) using some sort of standard database used by most other apps.

    having said that, the BBC weather app has plenty of holes in its locations database when you do the place search....

    however, if it uses gps to determine where you are, it sometimes gives you a forecast for a place name (usually the village or town local area) that would not have been in the database.....ie, you wouldnt have been able to search for this name if you werent
    actually there!Sad

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,311 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2016 #12

    When I search for Lairg in Apple Maps, "Lairg, Scotland" comes up as the fifth result.  Durness returns lots of results, all in Lairg. 

    I am suggesting the problem is the way the app talks to Maps and looks at results.

    I think you are probably right.

    Durness Lairg Scotland, does centre the map on Durness when touched. I assume it is put like that, as it is the postal address. All Mail to Durness is routed through Lairg. However, if the app has to use Apple maps, why can't it show the full selection in
    the drop down, at least then you could pick the most appropriate. Google would seem to be the best bet, if this could be selected as the default. 9 times out of 10 the place names seems to come top of the list, without extraneous wording.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,311 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2016 #13

    The problem seems to be that the data base of place names is very small. If you input Lairg or Durness it returns nothing in the NW corner of Scotland. Simply I think because these names are not in the data base. Put in Altnahara and the sites show up. So
    in affect it a bit pot luck wether you get a return or not, as you need to hit on a town / village in the data base. This clearly needs expanding to Google levels.

    youre right, Steve....you have to know the answer (specific names used by the club for that 'area') before you can interrogate the system...

    whats wrong with it being able to turn any place name into a gps location (the reverse of what it does when ypu search by gps) using some sort of standard database used by most other apps.

    having said that, the BBC weather app has plenty of holes in its locations database when you do the place search....

    however, if it uses gps to determine where you are, it sometimes gives you a forecast for a place name (usually the village or town local area) that would not have been in the database.....ie, you wouldnt have been able to search for this name if you werent
    actually there!Sad

    I agree, search using location would seem to be a fairly basic requirement of an app like this. Perhaps in a future update. I have also noticed that with the BBC weather, I assume it is just using the closest weather info to your location and putting it
    under where you are. Why it can't take any input place name, when at home, and give you the nearest weather info is a mystery.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,311 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2016 #14

    When they were asking for feedback, when they first released the app, I pointed out that you could not search about the site you are staying on. It did not affect  as we tend to book well in advance. However, for anyone who wants to tour it seemed a bit
    of an omission. So if you are on say Malvern Hills campsite and ask it to search for sites within 100 miles, it just returns the site you are staying on. I thought they might have fixed that by now.