Website Examples

• Start and Finish
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  One of the key pieces of information that most path users require is details about the Start and Finish of walks. This example clearly recognises this requirement by providing this information immediately after the name of the path.
  
  
• Searchable Map
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  Not to be confused with a standard 'search' facility, this example uses 'searchable' maps to narrow down possible paths within particular areas. For example, clicking on 'Loch Ness' brings up 12 paths all based around the Loch Ness area.
  
  
• Length
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  Most path websites give details about the length of any given walk. However, the level of information can vary from site to site. This particular example gives a total distance in both Miles and Kilometres.
  
  
• General Description and/or Summary
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  Using the same example as above, this website also offers the user a very brief summary of the chosen path. Additional information also appears in the text below the main information panel along with illustrative photographs.
  
  
• Searchable by Place/Post Code
  www.southwestcoastpath.com (then search for 'Lulworth Cove')
  This example shows the results from using the search facility available on the South West Coast Path website. By entering the name 'Lulworth Cove' (a well-known beauty spot) into the search box, a number of results are returned from a 'full' search of the website. This includes direct references to walks as well as further information found in different sections of the website.
  
  
• Difficulty of Walk
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  Most walking websites try to give some indication of the difficulty of a path and whilst some of these can be very comprehensive, others use simple icons to convey this information. The example shown uses 'boot' icons to indicate this although without a suitable scale (for instance 8 boots would be very difficult) this information might be difficult to interpret.
  
  
• Gradient of Walk
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  Not all walking websites provide information about the Gradient of paths although others go into quite a lot of detail. This particular example uses the phrase 'Severe to Moderate' under the heading 'Grading'.
  
  
• Clear Legend/Iconography
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  Although this particular example is based on Google Earth's mapping feature, the right-hand column provides the user with a very clear 'Icon' based Legend. Many maps use icons/symbols although there is a noticeable degree of inconsistency when browsing different websites.
  
  
• Search by Path or Place (In this case, the town of Tyneham)
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  This is a good example of a facility that allows the user to search for place names. In this example, we put in the name of an old (deserted) village called 'Tyneham'. As you can see, the resulting search displayed two paths along with a range of other useful information.
  
  
• Bike Access
  www.morayways.org.uk
  Information for cyclists varies significantly across Scotland. In this example (Part of the National Cycle Network), the route is displayed via colour coded, 'static' maps which can be enlarged on screen and printed if required. Some additional 'text-based' information is also made available together with some pictures illustrating the cycle route.
  
  
• Obstructions
  www.pathsonline.co.uk
  Shown as part of our demo, this path was closed some time ago due to several trees falling across the path in a dangerous cliff area and blocked the path completely. However, this obstruction was at least a mile into the walk. Therefore, the ability to warn path users of such obstructions can be very useful.
  
  
• Path Closures
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  This Southern Coastal path takes the walker through an active Army Firing Range and as such, the Path is only open at certain times and/or days and can be fully closed to the public at others. IN this particular example, information about possible closures has been included in the main summary text together with a link to a comprehensive page of information explaining what you need to know about Military Training Areas.
  
  
• Weather
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  Not all websites offer links to up-to-date weather forecasts. However, some, like the example here, offer the user a link to the local Tourist Office where such information can be obtained. However, having this information easily findable or visable for any given pathwithin a website can be seen to be very useful to path users.
  
  
• Vertical Climb
  www.walkjogrun.net
  Although not always deemed as necessary information (depending upon where the path is situated) many path websites covering Scotland benefit from displaying some Vertical climb information. This can be delivered in a number of ways from basic text description to some form of graph as displayed in this example
  
  
• Points of Interest
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  Most of the path descriptions on this example (South West Coast Path) provide a full point to point description of the walk together with excellent references to points of interest along the way. Other websites do this to varying degrees with some using 'Things to See' or 'Points of Interest' as headings on the website.
  
  
• Toilets
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  For a good percentage of path users, access and the whereabouts of public toilets is extremely useful. This example includes this information as one of its headings in the main text. In addition, it also indicates whether this is available to disabled users a well.
  
  
• Condition of Path
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  Depending upon the ability of the path user, this information can be extremely important. In this example, there is a main section called 'Terrain' and within that, there is a link that you can click to bring up further information as to suitability. Clicking on it brings up a very detailed map showing the paths, their surfaces and details of the general terrain.
  
  
• Public Transport
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  Information about public transport can be a very useful addition to any 'Paths' website although not all sites offer this. This website includes 'Public Transport' as one of its key information elements and includes an extremely useful link to 'Open Traveline Scotland'.
  
  
• Allow Public Comments
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  Some of the most interesting and useful websites allow interaction with the path users themselves. This website has a panel in the bottom right of the site where individuals can both rate a walk and give full and detailed comments about it via a pop-up window.
  
  
• Allow Photos of Interest
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  The addition of photos of any given path can be a useful extra and can often help encourage others to use a path. This example uses a combination of photographs and maps in a single panel to better illustrate the paths available.
  
  
• Information regarding Accommodation
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  Walking websites provide information about accommodation in a variety of ways from simple Google ads at the side of the page, right up to a full menu. This example uses the latter and offers a wide range of easily accessible choices.
  
  
• Information regarding Disability
  www.southwestcoastpath.com
  This example shows that disability has been carefully integrated into the map and the routes on display. When selecting certain walks, a wheelchair symbol appears in either red or green indicating whether or not the path is suitable for disabled users.
  
  
• Public Interaction
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  This website is a good example of how public interaction (in this case the potential addition of GPS/tracklog co-ordinates), can be added by members of the public. Once collected, this data could be stored/used in a variety of ways.
  
  
• Grid Reference
  www.walkhighlands.co.uk
  For many walkers, particularly those who use traditional maps whilst walking, the addition of a grid reference can be very useful. This example includes this information as one of the key pieces of information about the walk.
  
  
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