Artificial climbing walls and gyms

[MelwinQ]

It seems, currently artificial climbing walls and gyms cover a minor fraction of thecrag's database. However, I'd like to ask you if you actually want them to be included or not. cons:

• artificial walls don't necessarily have permanent routes, ie every time when new routes are set, a node's number of routes increases
• owners of commercial walls or gyms may engage in edit wars to make their place look most favourable

pros:

• many climbers live (or often stay) in the muddy lowlands. Finding anything to scratch that itch is as crucial as finding a crag in the mountains.
• ARTIFICIAL is an elastic term. Where does artificial start? A route with chipped holds, an abandoned quarry, buildering, a commercial plastic wall?
• offering gym owners exclusive placement in the search results or the PDF-guides may generate some funds

Either way you decide, it should be made clear on the website. Especially if you opt for it, it would be helpful if "gym" or "artificial wall" were an area type with special attributes.

[scd]

I think we want them, but need to flag and treat them differently. There are way more indoor climbers then outdoor.

There is a lot to consider with the artificial gym walls. It's on my mental list of issues to cover, but I don't want to do it halfheartedly so I will hold off addressing this one for a bit longer. My personal current next priorities are bulk edit, then getting in some facilities for businesses and climbers to sponsor the site.

As you also pointed out there are potentially commercial issues around any solutions here.

[brendanheywood]

Some random thought following on from above (to think about somewhere down the track):

• Do we add them as a new node type (eg Gym as a child or a region) or as a completely new separate type of object more like a classified / business listing which could also cover things of interest to a climber like gear shops, accommodation etc? There is value in both so perhaps a 'Gym' could be a hybrid of both.
• Are they paid listings or free, what about free outdoor gyms like the like skatepark / bouldering park in Canberra?
• Issues around currency of data will be really important here. Even just maintaining a list of still operating gyms would be an undertaking.
• Possibly a fringe case - what about someone who may want to log a problem on their private woodie. do we care?
• What about 'official' ascents like the setting of routes at a gym for a competition and using the crag for scoring etc. I've run a few comps and I think creating a service that would be generically useful to lots of competition runners, and easier that say just using excel will be a big ask. I think the value here might be more on the climbers side, their logbook becomes more like a CV or a platform for spraying (like A8)

[brendanheywood]

@MelwinQ just a heads up that the first basic round of gym stuff is going to be released soon.