GrottoCenter Blog

The exploration mission carried out in June highlighted the need for a detailed guide explaining how to organize such a mission. I am proposing an initial version of a document that outlines how to organize the study of an area. It is available here: https://wiki.grottocenter.org/wiki/Mod%C3%A8le:Fr/Investigations (only in French for now)

This is a situation frequently encountered in documents related to the caving community: the organization itself is designated as the author. It is a simple solution to implement when many club members have contributed, but it creates problems—particularly for Grottocenter. Paul wanted to initiate a discussion on this topic; he offers an analysis, a comparative study of existing solutions, and a recommendation for Grottocenter. I invite you to check out his work and contribute if you find the subject interesting. https://github.com/GrottoCenter/grottocenter-front/issues/1419

As I understand the situation, Clément went looking for cave entrances listed on Grottocenter—data originally sourced from the BRGM database. It seems he didn't find the entrance itself, but he suggested that Paul set up a compass feature on the phone to help orient the map. This feature is now active on both the general map and the specific map view for an entrance (when displayed in full screen), which should make your fieldwork easier. The second new feature relates to revision history: this now tracks changes to entrance names and recently added information, covering all types of entrances.

You’ll notice that Grottocenter is running faster this morning. That’s because it’s using Vite, thanks to work done by Paul. Here are the other advantages of Vite: - For developers, the code builds in 1 second instead of 60. - Instead of declaring 1,000 dependencies, only one is needed. - SVG images are handled very easily. - Long-running calculations are managed more efficiently. - Maintenance is now possible, whereas React—which was used until yesterday—is no longer maintained. But above all, it will be possible to create an app with the same features as Grottocenter that allows for data storage for offline use. Paul is very keen to get started on this development.

Zouhair has produced a comprehensive text on the guidelines for managing scientific data within an open science framework. https://github.com/GrottoCenter/grottocenter-api/issues/1726 This is a non-technical topic that offers fresh perspectives and useful leads. The text is clear and concise. Thanks, Zouhair.

As part of the development work assigned to him, Zouhair has just released a feature that displays the laws applicable within a protected area. This information appears on the massif's page and on the page for each entry located within the massif.

Today's new feature is truly impressive. Paul has introduced an update to the rigging sheet that allows you to use predefined abbreviations to describe your recommended anchor setup. Once your rigging sheet is complete, Grottocenter displays information on the estimated rope length and the number of obstacles to be negotiated. Beyond the quality of the work itself, Paul is helping us move forward by incorporating features that will allow Grottocenter to contribute to caver safety. Let he who has never run short of rope or anchors cast the first stone.

Throughout June, the documentation team worked on a complete overhaul of the wiki to provide you with a comprehensive user guide showcasing all the new features. Chloé created two highly instructional videos that have been embedded in the wiki. Karl, Jean Donatien, Aissatou, Bernard, Constance, Chloé, and Frédéric all contributed to this work on the wiki. An English version is currently being finalized. https://wiki.grottocenter.org/wiki/GrottoCenter:Fr/User_Guide https://wiki.grottocenter.org/wiki/GrottoCenter:En/User_Guide

As of yesterday, Clément and Paul have introduced a system on Grottocenter where only copies of images are displayed. Whether you are viewing an entry or a document page, or scrolling through a gallery on mobile or desktop, you will see only copies sized specifically for display. This reduces data traffic across networks and speeds up loading times significantly, while still allowing you to download the original via a dedicated button.

Paul has released his work on the feature for creating and editing entries. Everything is better organized thanks to the visual icon guide. Mandatory fields are displayed more clearly. And the feature for creating a network or removing an entry from a network is more easily accessible. Paul is making Grottocenter accessible to everyone!

We want to better define Grottocenter users. To do this, we are outlining typical user profiles. Visitor? Explorer? Tell us who you are and whether you identify with these descriptions. https://github.com/GrottoCenter/grottocenter-api/wiki/Personas

Paul has introduced updates that make using Grottocenter easier when working with networks. First of all, quick search results no longer return document-related answers but now include networks.

Before heading off on vacation, Chloé sent us a video providing an overview of the account management features on Grottocenter. You probably aren't aware of everything that's possible—come and find out! https://youtu.be/ukqers2mzgA

Paul has just released an improvement to the feature that allows you to designate an organization as responsible for a geographic entity. He has also updated document management to prompt for confirmation when creating a document without an attached file, and to fix a bug —identified by Benjamin— that was complicating the import of certain file types. However, the most impressive update concerns network visualization on the map. It is now possible to visualize —via links— all the entries that make up a network.

Zouhair has just released a feature that prevents the creation of duplicate entries. When you enter the name of a new Grottocenter entry, the system displays the names of caves located near the one you are typing. When you position your cursor, caves near your chosen location appear.

Last night, Zouhair released a feature that allows you to specify the responsible organizations for a given country, region, or mountain range. For example, on the France page, I listed the FFSpéléo and Spéléo Secours Français. You can do the same for pages relevant to you or for which you have information. I encourage you to take this opportunity to update the information on the organization's page as well. Thanks, Zouhair, for this excellent work.