Runstoppable Blog

Last night we pushed out the 1.1 release of Runstoppable. This contains a bunch of features we’re excited about (elevation, internationalization, lots of groups improvements,etc), so we’re glad to finally let our users enjoy them. Unfortunately, the USGS elevation data source that we use (the same one used by the gmap-pedometer and others) seems to be down today. We’re still investigating the issue, and hopefully this will be fixed soon.

I guess we didn’t have any “luck of the Irish” today…

We hope you’ll enjoy Runstoppable 1.1.

I figure that I’ll take a break from development tonight to provide a brief update as to Runstoppable’s status and what’s coming in the near future.

Runstoppable has over a hundred users who have logged over 2100 miles so far. Considering that’s coming from almost no effort on our part, that’s pretty good. We want to work on features now and save the marketing for later.

Right now we’re working on the 1.1 release, which is very close to completion. This release will bring a lot of features that we wanted to fit in to 1.0, but just didn’t have time. This includes elevation graphs, a much-improved groups system, a “there and back” feature in the route editor, and many smaller features throughout the site.

I’m most excited about our elevation graphs, because I think they’re more useful and readable than those on other popular sites. Here’s an example (click the image for a larger picture):

Note how you’ll be able to track your mouse over the elevation graph in order to see the corresponding location on the route. We’re hoping that people will find this feature to be useful and interesting.

For the 1.2 release, our priorities are: continued improvement of the groups system, a much more powerful statistics system (more on this at a later date), shoe mileage tracking, data export, and a lot of behind-the-scenes changes that need to be made. I’m sure that there are things missing from the list, but that’s the basic idea for now. Following that release, the focus will be on the route editor, as there are a lot of improvements we’d like to make in that area.

As always, we look forward to your continued feedback.

After another long night of coding, we’re finally ready to roll out Runstoppable version 1.0. That’s right: you can now log in to www.runstoppable.com. The beta site still works and uses the same data as the main site, though we expect to shut down the beta version soon in order to better use our resources.

Most of the changes for this release were cosmetic: new colors, revised logo, and a few small improvements. In the near future we’re looking to rewrite the statistics page and spend more time on the groups system.

Tell your friends!

Two months in the making… Beta 3 is finally here!

This is going to be the final beta before the first public release, which should be coming soon. I could write here about all the new changes, but why not just try it out for yourself? Head on over to beta.runstoppable.com to create an account and get started!

Beta 3 is nearing completion (it should be done around Jan 14). As always, the upgrade from Beta 2 to Beta 3 will be automatic, there’s nothing you need to do. Here are some of the things you can expect in Beta 3:

• Groups - Finally! Create or join groups that have forums, upcoming event listings, and announcements.
• Edit a Run - If you made a mistake while logging a run, you can simply go back and edit the run.
• Public Signup - No need to deal with invite codes anymore, anyone can simply come to the site and sign up.
• Custom Fields - Is there something you’d like to log for each run, but wasn’t listed on the site? Soon you’ll be able to define “custom fields” to record things like weight, heart rate, weather, or whatever.
• Lots of small fixes

This will most likely be the last full release before our public 1.0 release, depending on the feedback we get. After that, we have a lot planned for a new statistics system (the current one is pretty boring), a modified route editor, and improved group features.

Our second of (most likely) 3 betas has been released. You don’t need to do anything special to start using it, just log in to http://beta.runstoppable.com/ like usual. Changes with this release include better navigation, the ability to invite friends, a reorganized routes tab (based upon user feedback), and lots of bug fixes. The priority is now to complete the Group functions. This will be done for Beta 3. As always, use the feedback functions and the forums to let us know what you’d like to see.

If you aren’t a beta tester yet and would like to try it out, email beta at runstoppable dot com.

After months of work, we’re finally here: Beta 1 of Runstoppable.

The core features are there, and we think it’s time that people gave it a try so that we can get some feedback. With that said, we aren’t opening the site up for public signups yet. We’re looking to get about a dozen beta users in the next week. These users will be sent an invite code which will allow them to register on the site. If you’d like to help us test, send me an email at beta at runstoppable.com. Anyone who wants to log their runs and will provide feedback on the system is welcome to give it a try.

We’re going to be rolling out a new version (beta 2, 3, etc) every week until we’re comfortable with the features and stability of the system. There’s no date set for a general release… we’re going to see how the betas go first.

Most of the content that doesn’t require an account isn’t there yet, but feel free to take a look at http://beta.runstoppable.com/ if you’re curious.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a demo video is worth… I don’t know, a lot.

I’ve now completed the first iteration of coding on the Runstoppable Route Editor. If you have Macromedia Flash Player installed, you can watch a demonstration at http://www.runstoppable.com/demo/. Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas. I’m pretty much on schedule right now, hoping to push ahead over the weekend.

Tim and I worked on a to do list and schedule for all the stuff that needs to get done before we can start with the beta testing. As we should expect, the “last” 20% of the work takes 80% of the time, which took a bigger toll than expected. Anyway, based upon the outlined tasks, we expect to have a limited beta start during the first week of November. This means that you’ll have to contact one of us directly in order to get a registration code to sign up for the code (just so that we can control our numbers). After the first iteration of testing and subsequent changes, we’ll open the site up for a wide, open beta. Following further testing and changes, Runstoppable will be released.

I really need to start sleeping less.