About the Kayak World Map

The Kayak World Map was created in January 2007 with the goal to offer a mapped view of everything on the Internet that has to do with kayaking (that is: as far as such things belong on a map. For instance, it does not make sense to put a general discussion on how to do an eskimo roll on a map).

And when I say 'everything', I mean more than just Playak things. Clearly, we have gathered a lot of mapping information about Playak objects during the past 2 years (e.g. registered users, playspots), so you'll see a lot of those on the map in the beginning. But it is definitely the idea that we can add information from other web sites to the map as well. There are too many good descriptions of kayak spots available on other sites to just ignore them. Of course it would even be better if we had descriptions on Playak for all spots, but since this would just be impossible, it's better to link to other sites from our map.

As a note to webmasters of other sites: if you have already gathered geo-info for your own content, feel free to contact me if you want to add that info to the Kayak World Map. After all, each marker will link back to your site, so we should all benefit from this. I also have possibilities to bulk upload such information, which will save you a lot of work.

Marker types

All markers on the Kayak world map have a few things in common. If you click on a marker, an info window will pop up that contains a link to a Google Earth placemark. For those of you that have installed Google Earth, this is a great way to fly around the place in question. Also, you'll see a link called 'Get map link'. If you click on this link, you'll be taken to the same map again, but with the info window for that marker opened. If you copy-paste the url from your browser's address field, you can actually link to that address, or e-mail it to a friend, and when they click the link, they will also get an open infow window for a marker, so they will see exactly what you wanted to show them on the map.

Most of the markers will also show an image and a link that you can click for more information.

The Kayak World Map contains different types of markers (refer to the legend above for marker type colors). Here is a short explanation of the different marker types.

• Playak Users: As a registered Playak user you'll get their own marker on the map, which will show your avatar picture and link back to your profile page. In the beginning, the Playak server will make a guess of where you are. It can also happen that it just has no clue where you are, and in that case, it will put your marker somewhere in the Sahara Desert. Why? Well I wanted to put you on land, on a place that everybody has heard of, but not on a place where other Playak users may actually live.... Anyway, if you find your own marker in the wrong place, just drag and drop it to where you actually live. And if you can't find your marker, please contact Jeroen.
• Playak Articles/Spots: Each Playak spot description or article can get its own place on the map. In fact, it can even have more than one place on the map (e.g. one for parking, one for the put-in and one for the take-out). Each marker will show a small photo of the Playak spot and link back to the spot description.
• Kayahoo Links: Kayahoo (aka Playak Links) offer the world's largest paddling link directory. Each link that's added to the map will contain a screenshot of your website, and of course a link back to you.
• Events: Each event that is listed in the Playak / Kayak Session Event Calendar can get its place on the kayak map as well. The event markers will link back to the mini event pages.
• Galleries: Since photos are always takes in certain places on earth, it makes sense to show galleries on the map as well, as long as one gallery contains photos that were all taken on the same spot of course....
• Graffiti: This is a fun feature that allows you to write something on the map, even if you don't have something to link it to. For instance: 'kilroy was here', or: 'This is where I'll go paddling this weekend. Who wants to join in?'.
Graffitis are activated immediately, i.e. they don't need to be approved by an editor. As a trdae-off, each graffiti will automatically be removed after one month.
• Non-Playak pages: This is the solution to link to non-Playak things on the Internet. For instance, if you find a great spot description on another website, and you know exactly where that spot should be on the map, you can add this to the Kayak World Map as a 'Non-Playak page'.

Marker management

To add or edit anything on the map, you must be logged in as a registered Playak user.

To add a marker to the map, find the precise position on the map, and double click on it. You will now see a menu from which you can choose the type of marker that you want to add at this location. Depending of the type of marker you choose, you'll see a slighty different form on the next page:

• Playak Articles/Spots: Use the form to search the titles of Playak articles, e.g. search for 'Bremgarten' or 'fort point', and then from the search result list, click on the spot/article for which you want to add a marker.
• Kayahoo Links: Use the form to search the titles of the links in Kayahoo, e.g. search for 'riot kayaks' or 'birmingham', and then from the search result list, click on the web site for which you want to add a marker.
• Events: Use the form to search upcoming events in the Playak / Kayak Session Event Calendar, and then from the search result list, click on the event for which you want to add a marker.
• Galleries: Click on your gallery for which you want to add a marker (attention: you cannot add markers for other people's galleries, so only your own galleries are listed).
• Graffiti: Just write one line of graffiti as a title and voila...
• Non-Playak pages: Fill in the title of the marker, the URL of the article and the name of the website (you can also choose a well known site name from the dropdown list).

You can recognize markers that 'belong' to you by their size. Big markers are ownde by you, which means that you can drag and drop them if the location needs fine tuning. Also, if you click on such a marker, you'll see an extra link on the top right of the info window, called 'edit'. Click this link if you need to change the title or link of the marker.