Files and templates: the map scaffolding, the workbooks and the authoring guide

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Four files.

Event map scaffolding — stage rallyThe folder tree, empty, with a Spectator Zone, a Parc Exposé and a Service zone to copy and rename. Open it in Google Earth and draw the event into it.event-map-scaffolding.kml
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Event map scaffolding — course eventThe folder tree for gravel, running, trail, cycling and triathlon: COURSES by name, a Start-Finish Village, an Aid Station Zone and a Spectator Zone to copy and rename.event-map-scaffolding-course.kml
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Schedule workbookOne row per run and per timeline item. The headers it accepts are on its second sheet.schedule-import-template.xlsx
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Sponsor workbookThe sponsor library, where each sponsor appears at this event, and a logo manifest.sponsor-import-template.xlsx
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You do not have to use them. Most organizers send the course file and the schedule they already keep, and we work from those.

THE AUTHORING GUIDE

How the map file is read.

Open the scaffolding in Google Earth and draw the event into its folders. Three rules decide what the import makes of every placemark.

1The folder says what it is. A line in STAGES or COURSES is a stage or a course. An outline or a pin in a type folder under a zone is that type: PARKING, RESTROOM, MEDICAL, VENDORS. Spelling never decides.
2The name says which one it is. A stage line carries the stage name; a course line the name spectators know, Gravel 62 Mile. A stage point carries its keyword and its stage: Start 7/11, Finish 6. Everything else is named for what it is: Food Trucks, Shuttle Stop, Water - Mile 22.
3The description is optional. A line note: … in a placemark's description is shown to spectators on that place. Everything else in a point's description is discarded, so a stage captain's phone number never reaches the app.

THE FOLDER TREE

NEW EVENT - YEAR                      the event folder; its description carries the event, place and dates
├── STAGES  (COURSES at a course event)  one line per stage or course, drawn start to finish
├── ZONES                                 a folder per zone, named for the place; type folders inside it
│   ├── Spectator Zone X                  SPECTATOR AREA · PARKING · RESTRICTED · RESTROOM · MEDICAL · VENDORS · OPERATIONS
│   ├── Parc Exposé                       EXPO · PARKING · VENDORS · RESTROOM · MEDICAL · OPERATIONS · MEDIA
│   ├── Service                           SERVICE · PARKING · PADDOCK · SPECTATOR AREA · RESTRICTED · RESTROOM · OPERATIONS · SERVICE IN · SERVICE OUT
│   ├── Start-Finish Village              VILLAGE · BAG DROP · PARKING · VENDORS · RESTROOM · MEDICAL · EXPO · OPERATIONS
│   └── Aid Station Zone                  AID STATION · FEED ZONE · PARKING · RESTROOM · MEDICAL · OPERATIONS · CUTOFF
├── POINTS
│   ├── STAGES  (COURSES)                 Start, Finish, time controls, cautions, named with the stage: Start 7/11
│   ├── SPECTATOR                         a viewing point that labels its area
│   ├── EVENT                             the public places: Food Trucks, Shuttle Stop, Water - Mile 22
│   ├── RESTRICTED                        an access-control point
│   └── OPERATIONS                        staff only; never shown to spectators
└── TRANSIT
    ├── SPECTATOR                         public routes, and a point on a junction where spectators may cross
    ├── VOLUNTEER                         staff routes
    └── COMPETITOR                        organizer reference

Folder names are not case-sensitive, and singular or plural both work. Empty type folders are ignored, so the scaffolding can be used as it is and the folders you do not need left alone.

NAMES

What a name does.

A stage lineIts name: Southern Loop. The numbers, dates and times come from the schedule workbook, so the map file never needs retyping when the schedule changes.
A course lineIts name as spectators know it: Gravel 62 Mile, Half Marathon. The schedule workbook names the same course in its Course column.
A stage pointKeyword and stage: Start 7/11, Finish 6, ATC 8/12. With no number it links to the nearest stage, or to every course whose line passes within about 60 m.
A zoneA folder named for the place: Spectator Zone 2, Aid Station 3. Whatever is inside belongs to it, a pin as a place and an outline as an area, each wearing its type's symbol.
A crossingA point in TRANSIT on the junction where spectators may cross a closed stage. Directions use it; a point called Crossing anywhere else is not one.
A transit routeA line in TRANSIT under SPECTATOR, VOLUNTEER or COMPETITOR. The subfolder decides who sees it; a route in a bare TRANSIT folder stays staff-only.

DESCRIPTION FIELDS

Write a field as key: value on its own line in a placemark's description. Anything that is not a field stays as prose on an area and is discarded on a point.

Field	On	What it does
`note:`	point · area	Shown to spectators on that place. On a point it is the only text kept.
`type:`	point · area	Forces the type: a point type (medical, parking …) or an area type (parking, operations …).
`stage:`	point · area	Links it to that stage by hand: stage: 3/7, or the stage name.
`distance:`	stage line	Length in miles; otherwise measured from the line.
`surface:`	stage line	gravel, tarmac … shown on the stage card.
`warn:`	stage line	One warning line on the stage card.
`capacity:`	area	How many it holds.
`walk:`	area	The walk from parking, e.g. walk: 10 min.
`access:`	area	The road in.
`terrain:`	area	What underfoot is like.
`safety:`	area	A safety line shown on the area.

WHO SEES WHAT

Public by default, staff where it should be.

Spectators seeStart, Finish, service park, parking, the event and amenity points, spectator areas and the public routes; every zone type except operations.
Staff onlyTime controls, cautions and danger points, radio and net control, medical, marshal and crew check-in, everything in OPERATIONS, and the VOLUNTEER and COMPETITOR routes.
Every rowCan be flipped in the import preview, and later in the portal.

THE SCHEDULE WORKBOOK

One row per run.

Date, the stage number or the course name, the wave, a title, the first-car time and the last-car time, and a note. A course with two waves is two rows; a row with no stage and no course is a timeline item, called what its title says. Change the schedule and send the workbook again; nothing on the map moves.

IMPORTING AGAIN

Send the same file, or a newer one, as often as you like. The preview shows every row as new or refreshed before anything is written, keeps what was decided in the portal, refreshes what the file is the source of, and asks when a row could be one of yours renamed.

We do the import with you.

The guide is here so your file comes in clean the first time. Send what you have and we walk the preview together.

DISCUSS YOUR EVENT EXPLORE STAGE GUIDES

THE FILES WE BUILD FROM.