AstroSpots.com – international map/database for astronomy viewing sites

[PeterAST]

Hello, IceInSpace community!

I would like to share information that our small startup AstroSpots.com (https://astrospots.com/) has been released.

The main purpose of the application is to build an international map/database of viewing spots for astronomy observations and astrophotography under the dark sky.

The project is still in the starting phase. The basic functionalities have been added. Including - adding, rating, commenting spots, map features (a full list is available on the project website).
Each point is described by properties like name, GPS location, information about the shape of the horizon line N, S, W, E, Bortle scale, travel parameters, etc.

But I would like to ask more experienced colleagues from southern hemisphere for opinions and suggestions. What would you like to see/use in this kind of website? What can we improve?

Any feedback is more than welcome and I will be happy to answer all your questions.

Regards
Peter AST

[PeterAST]

Hello there.

We managed to add few new features to astsospots.com Hope this will place it at you favorites astronomy tools list 😊

Astronomical Events
List of upcoming astronomy events, moon phases, conjunctions, comets, meteor showers, etc. If you are aware of interesting events in the coming months, leave info in the comment and we will add them to the list.
https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=268651&stc=1&d=1606420145

Weather forecasts
We managed to integrate and implement the weather API for the next 24 hours, including cloud cover, temperature, wind, sunrise/sunset moon, and sun. We still have some data to pull out, like the lunar "noon", the phases of the moon, distance from the earth, etc. So definitely you can expect more 😊
The data seems fairly accurate and more accurate than on some mobile apps - we'll see how it looks like over time.
https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=268652&stc=1&d=1606420268

Light Pollution
the first version was implemented previously; in this release, we improve performance and adjust the legend to be more friendly.
https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=268653&stc=1&d=1606420268

Plans and Summary
We need you are in application evolving, we want to introduce it to the wide astronomy community around the world. That why we help in adding astronomical points/locations - we strongly encourage you to add them. If you have any questions, difficulties, or doubts, just let us know in the comments

Feedback is extremely important to us. Let us know what you think about existing functionalities.
If you believe that there is functionality or integration that would make astrospot.com more useful also please let us know!

Clear skies friends!
Regards
Peter AST

[PeterAST]

Hello there!

I just wanted to let you know about the next https://astrospots.com/ update, this time we added:


• Possibility to upload a photo of the location during adding a spot,
Link to the spot with photos: https://astrospots.c...spot/8fdechqo2h
This should make, much easier to find the location as well as the initial reconnaissance of what
we can expect on the spot

• creating an account / logging in via Facebook
Now you can easily create an account and login - using your favorite social media,



Next on the list is, redesign of the mobile UI and weather forecast, we plan to add more data and trials for use.



Finally, I cordially invite you to try out the application and add spots. Feedback is always more than welcome ^_^


Regards and clear skies
Peter

[PeterAST]

Hello

Another update of AstroSpots.com (https://astrospots.com/) is behind us. The project is constantly evolving and the database of locations is growing, too.
Interesting spots have appeared in the United States, but also Spain and Greece.

We would like to point new feature that you might find interesting and useful for Astro observations:

we increased the weather forecast to 72h,
weather forecast now includes moon illumination and moon phases,
we have added a "Resources" tab to the user's profile, where we will place files, freebies and gadgets related to astronomy. As first, appears - Astronomy Form for notes and sketches from observations,
now on each spot, you can check how long it will take to reach it and what are the possible routes,
we improved the section with upcoming astronomical events:https://astrospots.com/astrospots/astronomy-events

and finally, we added a feature called - "stargazing opportunity", and this is a feature that we are using daily now since we develop it.
1.user can define its own weather parameters condition, related to the observation, on his profile (point 1 on the picture)
2. when checking the weather forecast for a given location, the system will show how many hours of
stargazing opportunities you have during the night (point 2 on the picture)
3. you can always check the details of the forecast and determine whether these are really good conditions for you (point 3 on the picture)




This are probably the most important information. Let us know what you think. Your comments are valuable and welcome - also the critical ones!
For me, astrospots.com is great fun, both in designing and in gaining astronomical knowledge.

Hopefully, over time we will create a useful tool for the whole community and bring astronomy closer to the people.

Regards and clear skies
Peter