A new kite fliers’ community-based resource
Kite flying needs little in the way of resources to be a satisfying hobby for young and old alike. However, a good site helps a lot to know where to fly kites. www.kitemap.org is a resource created by the kiting community for the community; a database of good kite flying locations created by the community and equally importantly, maintained by the community.
Why do we need to know where to fly kites?
As a regular flyer at a location, a lot of information is taken for granted. But if you are planning on visiting a new area, or have moved recently, how do you find where to take your kites on a free afternoon? This website is designed to help that decision; as more locations are added to the database you will be able to get good directions to a site you’ve never visited or unique help in planning a road-trip!
Surely there are other sites that do this?
Well, yes, there are other sites on the Internet. We’ve visited a few, but the coverage has been quite sparse (often with limited geographic coverage based around the site owner) and there can be a question over how up-to-date the information might be. www.kitemap.org is a resource to allow the community to share information on their favorite safe and publicly accessible flying sites for the benefit of others. The website draws on the great mapping of Google Maps so you can see quite quickly if there are suitable locations listed within your area of interest, or you can jump straight in and search for the sites listed near a named place or town.
But there are so few sites listed now
Yes, you’re right. But we said it’s a community initiative. That’s where we need your help. Whilst we would dearly love to travel the world testing out kite flying locations, there are of course practical constraints! And the best information is known to those on the ground. So please help make this a site that showcases where to fly kites. We ask for your contact details so, in the future, we can check periodically to confirm whether any changes are necessary.
How can I help?
Please consider adding your local site to the database. It’s easy. Once you’ve typed the address (a town name will do) you can drag the pointer to mark the location very accurately, thanks to Google Map’s zoom features. We want to capture some fairly standard information too. If you find any factual inaccuracies, please use the ‘contact’ form to report back to the site administrator.
All locations should be publicly accessible and suited to flying a range of kites; this is not aimed specifically to
Do I need to register for an account of any kind?
No, submissions are made easily through a single form using a drag-and-drop marker and simple fields that help describe the features and facilities of the flying field you’re submitting towards dual line fliers or multi-line kites, but is inclusive. So when, as we hope, you add your favorite sites, we ask that details entered reflect the broad community that we are.
But the site is just in English
As a community resource, our priority has been to get it up and running to accept information. If you can help provide a translation of the pages for another language, we would really welcome your support. Just drop us an email or comment via the website!
How do I use KiteMap.org?
We’ve put together a couple of quick video tutorials for both searching and submitting flying sites in the KiteMap database… Granted, we’ve changed a a few things since the tutorials were made, but most relate to functionality improvements and these should still apply when you want to know where to fly kites.
Further information:
Contact via web form at www.kitemap.org or email the administrators: admin *AT* kitemap *DOT* org , or feel free to check us out on Facebook and add your comments, praise or suggestions there.
