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Official Launch of Hive Tracks

34K views 103 replies 46 participants last post by  dixiebooks 
#1 ·
Hi All - My name is Mark Henson. I'm a software developer and beekeeper in the western mountains of NC. I've been working for almost 2 years on a new online application for beekeepers. Hive Tracks (www.hivetracks.com) will have its official launch and débuted at the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS) meeting in Boone, NC on August 2, 2010. Hive Tracks is a FREE service. Its not just a website. It’s a powerful online database where each user can track their yards, hives, weather, inspections, feedings, medications and more. Please take a look at it and give me your brutal, honest opinion.
 
#57 · (Edited)
I think you have misunderstood my point BigDr... Hive Tracks does allow you to enter your address, e-mail and other personal info. which you can manage at the site. The point is that we will protect it. You then enter your hives and inspections and stuff. The value is the way we make your information useful, easier to use and access and better organized than it would be in say a notebook or on scraps of paper (as was my case before Hive Tracks)
 
#60 ·
I just wanted to say keep up the good work!!! I can't believe you would offer something you have put so much time and effort into for free! The beekeeping community need's more people like you! Look forward to seeing how this site progresses!!
Again, WAY TO GO!!!
 
#61 ·
Thanks so very much Ethfol. Its this kind of comment that keeps us motivated! And please everyone remember. This is Hive Tracks Version 1. Version 2 is in the planning stage and will be hosted by years end. By next spring Hive Tracks Version 3 will be even more powerful because we issued the previous versions early and then said to our members... "What's missing?" And man have they every answered! Hive Tracks will get better, MUCH better and its all becausse of YOU!
 
#63 ·
I also like the site a lot.

From a usability perspective, I believe that the Date fields should only have validation done after the cursor leaves the field. Personally, I am used to going in and changing 07/26/2010 to 06/23/2010 by simply clicking within the month, backspacing and typing in a 6 where a 7 was. It seems that the code tries to validate/correct it on each change in the field, which creates a big mess when you try to do it the way I described. Effectively, to change a date, I have to remove the whole original and retype it all again.

When I tried to put in several inspections, the second inspection pulled in all of the data from the first one, as I was trying to enter it. This created a problem on some of the second and third windows, as some of these items were radio buttons and there was no way to deselect the options completely. I would assume that closing my browser would fix this, but it would be good if the data was cleared out on successful save.

For an upgrade function, it would be nice if there were a way to track a few bits of your own metadata, that you as a beekeeper could maintain. Having a page where you could enter metadata and then having a page for each hive where you could check those bits that were relevant to that inpsection, would be great. An example might be that I could enter the following items : Fed 1 Gallon Syrup, Fed 2 Quarts Syrup, Fed Pollen Patty, Fed Dry Megabee, Took Frame of Brood for a Swarm Catch/Cut out, Moved old frames to outside, etc.. Then, these would populate a form on the inspection sheet and allow me to check what I wanted for each inspection (and I could go back and add more, delete old ones or edit existing ones at a later date.)
 
#64 ·
All excellent points that are now on the list. The thing with not being able to reset radio buttons in the inspection dialog is a really a bug that I will fix. The meta data thing has been requested in one form or another by other users and will also be on the todo list. Thanks for taking the time write a thoughtful review.
 
#68 · (Edited)
I will soon have a feature to import the inspections exported by bee tight. I've been looking at their exported data and its pretty simple. The only problem is it gives me nothing about the hives and yards. So... I will automatically create a new yard and hives in Hive Tracks with the new inspedtions and then you can move stuff around from there using the "Edit/Cut" menu. Sound good?
 
#69 ·
Hive Tracks supports any number of hives, any number of yards. If you try to put too many colonies in one yard the image we render gets pretty large. So for 600 colonies I would split them up into logical yards even if they are not really separate. For example you could put 300 in the "east side" yard and 300 on the "west side" yard. Be sure to see the last page of the Create Hive Wizard; it lets you create up to 300 hives with one click!
 
#70 ·
Let me modify this response a bit. While its possible to put 300 hives in a single yard it might be better to split it up even more. Perhaps more like 200 or 100 per yard. It just like files in a folder. It’s better to have a few folders with understandable names than to have all your files on your desktop!
 
#73 ·
Not to bother you but I noticed one thing on the test demo. I was going to add a solid bottom board below the screen bottom board but when I added it it was above the screen bottom board, so I selected it and pushed the "Move Down" button but it didn't do anything. It's probably nothing but it just caught my interest.

Bee Kid
 
#77 ·
Got into it a little bit and then Internet Explorer said that it had to abort, or something like that.

I can imagine that Hive Tracks is a neat tool for the micro managing beekeeper. And/or, the beekeeper who is really trying to keep track of what they did in each individual hive and yard, especially if you are a bee breeder I guess. But I stopped writing down what i did in each yard a number of years ago and I certainly don't go back and read them or get much out of them when I do. So, I doubt that I will be using Hive Tracks.

From the little I saw, Hive Tracks looks like a good and potentially useful tool for some beekeepers. Thanks mark for designing it, bringing it to the attention of beesource members and taking the constructive comments to heart and improving your product. Best of luck to you and your users.

I still like a paper and pencil to remind me of what I need to do. If I can find them at the time. Otherwise, it don't matter that much.
 
#78 · (Edited by Moderator)
2 things:

1. You got the error because you are using an older version of IE. I would fix it but I can't (thanks a lot Microsoft.) The solution is to upgrade your browser (or use something like Firefox).

2. I hear ya on the detailed notes thing. I must confess my note taking is weak too. But Hive Tracks is in its infancy. We're working on an "instrumented hive" technology that will change beekeeping forever. It’s going to be a while before its available but when it does come out, hives will deliver their own data to Hive Tracks. It will be far more accurate than the notes humans take. When collected and analyzed in large amounts we will be able to deliver a level of understanding of beekeeping that is unprecedented. We will NEVER be caught flat-footed again by something like CCD. It’s ambitious but that’s the plan.
 
#79 ·
Laudable goals Mark. i like a person w/ initiative and ambition.

I'm not geek enuf to upgrade to be able to use Hive Tracks. I'll muddle through some how. i'm sure the younger beekeepers coming up will use it to it's maximum potential and that it will be for them a useful tool.

Again, my best wishes.
 
#82 ·
Sorry for the trouble. I'm not sure this particular issue is due to the browser you are using. I'm looking at the logs and see no errors today... did you try this today or was it a few days ago? Lets take this maintainance issue off this thread and into support. Please send your response to support@hivetracks.com. I have a few questions so if you like send an e-mail to me with a phone number and I will call you and see if we can find the problem. If you don't want to do that (and I understand if you don't) then all I can do is plow the logs.
 
#81 ·
I love it!! It’s the kind of program I have wanted since I started beekeeping. It is easy to use, intuitive and full of great visual aids. Bravo well done, I can’t believe you are giving it away. Would I pay for it? You Bet!
 
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