AirVenture Schedule

[Hal Bryan]

Hi Howard - Thanks for the detailed and insightful feedback.

A few quick responses - forgive me if I don't have the time to go into any greater detail, but it's just that time of year...!

1. The performance of the web application is dialup speed when adding to my itinerary. I hate to imagine why so I won't speculate. When it finally says it added to my itinerary there is no obvious way to return to where I was in the list. Yes, I know that a simple "back" works, but good application design does not hide navigation.

We're investigating the performance issues, and have plans to improve the navigation. Unfortunately, this feature took a lot longer to complete than our development partner anticipated, so we elected to launch it sooner than later; launching it with optimized performance and navigation would do no good if it doesn't happen until August. This was a simple case of the ever-present compromise in software. Better have something that's usable, if a bit slow, than nothing at all, with plenty of time to improve and respond to feedback after convention.

2. I can't find a way to print the entire schedule or a query result. Personally, I would not do that, but my friend Jack Norris asked me how to do it and I could not.

While you can print your personal itinerary, there is no way to print all of the thousands of events in the calendar. This isn't something we considered to be a reasonable user scenario. Anyone who wants a hard copy can get one for free in our Visitors Guide or in the daily AirVenture Today newspaper.

3. The search is not working very well. I could not find anything under Jack's last name or "propellers" or "propellors" and yet there are four forums with that last name, two from Jack and two from Joe. The iPhone app finds them. There are even more with the prop subject.

I can't reproduce this problem - the searches work properly for me, except when searching for "propellors" - the search doesn't support alternative spellings, and our style guide dictates that we use the common and accepted "propeller." Otherwise, as I said, the searches you suggested are working fine for me.

4. The iPhone app is much better but I see from the comments above that it has issues, too. That app appears to come from Sporty's and I welcome their assistance but EAA should do better on their official site.

There's really only one issue outlined, and that is that the forum times aren't displayed in the master list, just in the details for the individual item. This is a feature that was added in the update that is in the queue, currently waiting for Apple to start their approval process. Also, just FYI, while Sporty's developed the app last year and the year before, this year they're supporting us as a sponsor, and we're doing the app ourselves along with a software vendor.

5. The "old" application also mentioned above does not seem to be accessing all of the same data. I can't begin to think why but I don't think that is how it should be.

This isn't true. The app draws from the exact same database as the web. The only difference is that the app stores the data offline (which is a must have requirement on the convention grounds) so it is only as current as the most recent update - we're planning on pushing updates frequently over the next couple of weeks, then just as needed during the event, hopefully no more than twice a day to minimize user annoyance with the notifications.

EAA should use basic IT quality control to ensure that anything that should not be seen is not seen. This means having a good development environment with development, test and "production" environments. Only the production environment should be visible to the public.

That's exactly what we've done. Personally, I spent more than 10 years in Test Engineering at the largest software company in the world, leading teams, training software testers, authoring best practices, etc. Obviously, we knew that the performance of the itinerary piece wasn't ideal, but, as I said, better something usable now, than to wait until August for something "perfect" (not that there's any such thing in software...) We have the three environments just as you laid out, and only the production environment is visible to the public. I can't imagine why you're implying otherwise.

Last year's stuff should be deleted if it is not supposed to be there.

I don't understand what you mean by this.

The search function should default to full text on title, presenter and subject at a bare minimum.

It does.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Regards,

Hal

[gbrasch]

Hal, at the risk of sounding like a suck a**, (but what do I care, Im retired) lots of us out here appreciate the work you do and your timely responses to our concerns. Glenn

[Hal Bryan]

Hal, at the risk of sounding like a suck a**, (but what do I care, Im retired) lots of us out here appreciate the work you do and your timely responses to our concerns. Glenn

Many thanks, Glenn! And I don't think that makes you sound like any kind of suck...!

I'm glad for feedback of all kinds, and for the chance to share additional insights from behind the scenes.

[jjhoneck]

Where is the EAA Airventure app for Android this year? The only one in the Play Store is from 2011.

[Hal Bryan]

The app hasn't been formally released for any platform yet. I was doing final acceptance testing on the Android version today, and sent it back to the developers for one more fix. As soon as the final versions are available on both platforms, you'll know - we'll be announcing it everywhere, believe me.

[rleffler]

Is there a way to sync My Plans across multiple iOS devices? It doesn't appear that data is being replicated via iCloud.

[Hal Bryan]

Hi Bob -

Not for this year. That's something we'll definitely look at for next year.

- Hal

[Howard Handelman]

Hal, I'm struggling with how this forum app handles responding to responses to quotes so forgive the boldface - I'm not shouting, just trying to make it easier to see the authorship.
Howard

While you can print your personal itinerary, there is no way to print all of the thousands of events in the calendar. This isn't something we considered to be a reasonable user scenario. Anyone who wants a hard copy can get one for free in our Visitors Guide or in the daily AirVenture Today newspaper.
I am with you on this, but Jack was trying to see where there might be an opening for an additional presentation and the existing access method made that extremely difficult. Generating a PDF might have solved the problem (if one accepts that it is a problem.) I could not find a way to search for all presentations in a given Forum location, for example. Maybe I was just not clever enough, but see the next item.

I can't reproduce this problem - the searches work properly for me, except when searching for "propellors" - the search doesn't support alternative spellings, and our style guide dictates that we use the common and accepted "propeller." Otherwise, as I said, the searches you suggested are working fine for me.
I am OK with not supporting wrong spelling. I do think you need to look at how "advanced search" works. I don't think that it is doing what most people would expect. It does not find anything within 100 miles of KOSH or OSH with keyword "prop" or "Norris" or "norris" (different tries, not complex syntax) but it does find events if you leave the keyword blank. Actually, I was trying to filter the search for AirVenture, not the rest of the world.

This isn't true. The app draws from the exact same database as the web. The only difference is that the app stores the data offline (which is a must have requirement on the convention grounds) so it is only as current as the most recent update - we're planning on pushing updates frequently over the next couple of weeks, then just as needed during the event, hopefully no more than twice a day to minimize user annoyance with the notifications.
Regarding last year's app with this year's data, if you go to: http://www.eaaapps.org/Default.aspx and click on "forums" you will see that it is not complete. At least it does not appear to be. Even today I'm seeing more information this way than before. The data is either not from the same source or uses significantly different query terms. IMHO. This is the link that was provided earlier in this thread and why I said either have it work right or take it off. It is hidden, but it is still public.

That's exactly what we've done. Personally, I spent more than 10 years in Test Engineering at the largest software company in the world, leading teams, training software testers, authoring best practices, etc. Obviously, we knew that the performance of the itinerary piece wasn't ideal, but, as I said, better something usable now, than to wait until August for something "perfect" (not that there's any such thing in software...) We have the three environments just as you laid out, and only the production environment is visible to the public. I can't imagine why you're implying otherwise.
Hal, I agree with those who are thanking you for your efforts and I respect your experience and competence. I'm sorry if I implied otherwise. I can only tell what is in front of me and like most fallible humans with incomplete information, I sometimes draw incorrect conclusions. You have been candid in stating the situation and that is good enough for me. The appearance of last year's app and the flaws in this year's prompted this.


Originally Posted by Howard Handelman
Last year's stuff should be deleted if it is not supposed to be there.
I don't understand what you mean by this.
It was about the old app - see above, please. It is not clear to me from your responses if it is even supposed to be there, let alone expected to work right.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Regards,

Hal

One more thing: I struggle to understand the idea of not "formally" releasing something when it is available on the App Store. This is a language issue, not an IT one.
hh

[Hal Bryan]

Hi Howard -

Thanks for the response and the clarification. I see that there was some real miscues between us. Forgive me, as this will be really brief, but I want to get your points addressed as quickly as possible.

I see now that you were talking about the eaaapps.org site, at least in part, not the iOS app - totally misunderstanding on my part.

That site used to house our full AirVenture schedule until this year. It was a never a link we gave out directly, rather you were taken there (or data was pulled from there) as needed from and by the old airventure.org site. It still exists strictly for our internal use to be able to capture legacy data as we've migrated to the new site - I didn't catch that the link had been given out in this thread. There's not much harm in that, other than the confusion it generates when people find their way, but there's no reason anyone should be going there.

That said, I see the confusion with search. While everything lives in one giant database, we do draw a line of distinction between the year-round events calendar and the AirVenture calendar, just because of the sheer volume of data in each. If you click the AirVenture tab at the top of the site, then click Schedule, that's where you'll find those events that are exclusively part of the AirVenture calendar. We segregate them to, as I said, make the data more manageable. The search by distance stuff within the AirVenture calendar is a little wonky, because, while the rest of the calendar goes by city and state, AirVenture events are located by building. We should have just turned off the advanced search on that calendar, because, at the city/state or airport ID level, they're all happening in the "same place" - Oshkosh, WI at KOSH, even though one event might be in Warbirds, another down at Ultralights. If you'll search within the AirVenture calendar, I think you'll see the results you're looking for.

Again, I appreciate the clarification, and also your more personal feedback! Apologies for my part of the misunderstandings!

- Hal

P.S. To us, a formal launch means we're telling everyone about it - posting links on our site, blasting the word out in social media, our e-Hotline newsletter, etc. The 1.0 version of the iOS app on the app store went live somewhat unexpectedly. How is this possible? Apple manually approves all app submissions, a process we were told takes up to two weeks. In addition, they also told us that "everybody" gets their app rejected the first time around, but they won't tell you much about the criteria until you try. So, we hit a solid plateau with version 1.0 and handed it off to Apple, knowing that we'd have additional updates to release before convention, but needing to know ASAP what sorts of changes Apple would require before they'd approve it. We needed to know what issues we'd have to address in time to address them.

So, we handed it off and got back to work on versions 1.1 and 1.2, and then, suddenly, 5 days later, the app was live in the app store - a very unusual first-time approval. No harm done, plus it made it a lot easier for us to reach out to staff and key volunteers to get them using and providing feedback on the app, before the full blown launch (it's somewhat complicated to share a pre-release version of an app without it being in the app store). A small number of "real people" (non-staff) found the app organically in Apple's app store and have been using it, which is great. Version 1.1 should go live by tomorrow, and the second it does, we'll get Apple started on approving 1.2 which adds a few additional features that are only relevant starting on the 28th.

I hope this helps clarify things a bit further.

[Jeff Point]

Is there a way to sync My Plans across multiple iOS devices? It doesn't appear that data is being replicated via iCloud.

And closely related- the app should sync with the full website as well as across mobile devices. Like many I do my pre-Oshkosh planning on a desktop and/or tablet but only carry my phone with me at the event. It's a real pain to have to do all my searching and planning on this little iPhone screen!