:lol:lol does that mean you're the chap 'referred to' (read 'abused'!) on one of the sites when the parting of the ways happened, or was it the chap who wrote the original app??! :naughty
No one person developed Wayfinder, whatever you may have read or heard. This will be a long post ......... (even this simplified version of events)
The system was originally called "GLASS List of Roads". Ian Boddison, the GLASS RoW officer at the time, applied to the GLASS Executive some time during the early summer of 2001 for permission to create a working group of GLASS members that would develop a web based database of lanes for use solely by GLASS members. His application was approved.
Initially, there were (if I remember correctly) four team members, all of whom were GLASS members (including myself). My recent work background had been in database design, development and management. Two team members had some IT experience at a professional level. Ian was a novice programmer but was really the driving force behind the development and had already declared that he intended to do most of the work in creating the system.
In the following months and years (up to 2004/5), Ian wrote nearly all of the new code, though the logic of the processing was usually discussed, designed and agreed in detail by the team as a whole and, indeed, some of the processes were largely pseudocoded prior to being converted into Perl script by Ian. A primitive initial version of the "GLASS List of Roads" was launched to GLASS members at the GLASS AGM in September 2001. The system was developed over the next few years and lots of data input by GLASS members. A small team of GLASS members (only occasionally including Ian), did all the onerous and boring user accounts and data administration.
At some time during those years, Ian suggested that it might be an idea to change the name from "GLASS List of Roads" to something a bit more snazzy. He said that he owned the domain "way-finder.co.uk" and argued for the use of the name "Wayfinder". Had the GLASS Executive understood. at that time, that Ian had ambitions to sieze control of it and then open it to all and sundry, it would never have been renamed as Wayfinder.
Ian had a number of disagreements with the GLASS Executive when it became clear that their vision for the system did not coincide with his own. He also began to get a bit confused about who owned the system and its data (as distinct from who owned the copyright to the Perl script he had written). Although Ian had agreed to relinquish ownership of the Wayfinder domain to GLASS he never actually did so. This meant that he had ultimate control of the physical system and of access to it. Following one particular disagreement, Ian blocked access to the system by GLASS members. As you might expect, this didn't go down well with the GLASS Executive.
Some time during 2004/5 (can't remember exactly when), the GLASS Executive decided that Wayfinder in its present form was unlikely to satisfy the variety of needs of RoW researchers and drivers and that it should be rebuilt using a more robust and flexible means of data storage than the myriads of XML formatted text files used by Wayfinder. A "Wayfinder 3" project team was created, of which Ian was a member, but no great progress was made. In fact, Wayfinder 3 was overtaken by events.
The hosting for Wayfinder, during 2005, was provided by another GLASS member. When that GLASS member became a founder member of CRAG, he decided that he had a conflict of interest and that GLASS should move Wayfinder from his hosting onto a commercial hosting. It was agreed with him that GLASS would be given the final backup of the system prior to the termination of the hosting in April 2006 - so that Wayfinder could be moved to a hosting of GLASS's choosing. One morning in the middle of April, the GLASS Wayfinder Management Team found that they no longer had top-level access to the Wayfinder hosting, yet the system continued to exist. It subsequently transpired that Ian Boddison now had complete control over access to the "green" Wayfinder. He had been given the final Wayfinder backup by the CRAG founder member referred to above (who subsequently became an administrator of the system). Effectively, Wayfinder had been hijacked.
The GLASS Executive decided that it must continue to provide access to a system that it controlled for the benefit of its members and for the TRF and other like minded organisations - and, as soon as reasonably possible, sponsor the development of a replacement system in line with its vision for the future of Wayfinder. So, GLASS obtained new hosting and the domain "wayfinderproject.co.uk" (and others). I restored my most recent backup to that new hosting and GLASS Wayfinder (now grey to distinguish it from the rogue system) came back into being.
Shortly afterwards, the Trailwise development team came into being and was commissioned by the GLASS Executive to build a completely new system, from the ground up. Trailwise owes NOTHING to Wayfinder - not one line of code. It is effectively a "clean room" development. It uses a normalised MySQL relational database to store the data. The user interface and data access code was developed using PHP. What you see now is just the first phase.
The Trailwise development belongs to GLASS. A number of contributors own Intellectual Property in Trailwise (mainly Simon Stirley, Ross Kennedy and myself) - but it is and will always be a condition of working on the project that IP owners provide a perpetual licence to GLASS to use that IP within the Trailwise project. Full access to Trailwise is available as part of the membership package for GLASS, TRF and CRAG members and for many/most of the members of clubs affiliated to GLASS. It is also planned that limited access to Trailwise will be available to members of the public, though further development work is needed on this.
I presently do not know what the status of "green" Wayfinder is, though it is unlikely to flourish, as it has no natural user constituency.
Does this answer the question?
Cheers
Andrew
