7 Cool Features on Dive Advisor

This will be the first of a series of updates that I will be sharing you with what's going on with diveadvisor.com as a platform. We have been working really hard for over a year in building something really awesome and we’d like to brag a little bit about what we have done. I will keep such updates, short, sweet and rare :)

№1 - Media Publishing

We have worked really hard to optimize our photo publication dialogue and interface, to make it as user-friendly and as easy-to-use as possible. There are a couple of little nuances that I think make it look cool and stand out a little.

• The ability to tag to an existing Dive Log. Once this is done, the dive site + shop + country fields are auto-filled, and the picture is visible when viewing the dive log.
• If you don’t have a log, you can select the dive site from 20,000+ options and the dive shop from 6,000+ options.
• If there are any tags, this photo will appear on the profile page of the dive site, the dive shop, and the country page gallery e.g. diveadvisor.com/maldives
• Animal Tagging- we have over 1,000 animals with names and pictures in our directory. Whenever you start tagging one, you get the auto-complete suggestions with images to show you the animal.

№2 - Dive Logging

We have tried to make the dive logging a little more like microblogging, with an emphasis on geolocation and animal tags.

• You can establish the same connection between dive log and media here, by clicking ‘Add Media’ and tagging photos to the log.
• Another cool functionality that we are launching shortly is the ability to export any dive log, or your whole logbook to a PDF format.
• Dive Shop Listings will have a more sophisticated logging platform, and will be able to log dives en masse, for the same dive. Recipients can get the PDF if they are not diveadvisor members.
• Finally, we have a verification process. So if you click ‘Save & Verify’, the business will get a request to stamp that log digitally. We carefully monitor and manually check each and every listing and cross reference the data with their websites and 3rd party sites like padi.com.

№3 - Articles

We have been convinced that a lot of people prepare to share their posts through an article form, rather than through a dive log. We have been working hard to create a platform that is both convenient as well as contextual.

Just like with everything else, you can tag an article to a dive site and dive shop, and tag marine animals to the article. Similarly, that article will appear on the profile pages of those entities.

№4 - Dive Sites Management

One of the most important data types in our directory are Dive Sites. We thought long and hard on how to make this page type not only appealing, but with the ability to admin itself. We have followed the Wikipedia model, but with our own twist.

Firstly, each Dive Site aggregates all photos, articles, dive logs and reviews that it's tagged with.

Secondly, each site has an area for ‘Site Advice’ as well as a ‘Site Map’. The Site Map is a graphical depiction of the Dive Site, whereas the Advice tab is written suggestions on how to dive the site.

Thirdly, any user can adjust the location of an existing dive site. And finally, any user can create a new dive site.

All changes to the dive site info get stored in the ‘Revision History’ and so it’s possible to roll-back to the previous advice written and vote it up or down.

№5 - Dive Stream

The Dive Stream is probably our funnest creation.

In a nutshell, it follows a similar logic to tumblr and twitter, and any feed basically. You ‘Follow’ any user, dive site, dive shop or country.

Once a user that you follow posts any content it will appear in the dive stream. Similarly, if you follow a Dive Site, and somebody tags a photo to that Site, it will appear in your stream.

Besides commenting, rating media and liking a post, you can re-post any content and it will get shared to your followers as well as get published in your blog. Read about that below.

№6 - Your Public Profile

We decided that we will have two views of your profile and the content you post. Your Profile Page- mine is diveadvisor.com/t- and your Blog, which is at t.diveadvisor.com.

The blog view publishes the content you post in an interesting time-line period, much like wordpress or tumblr, and the Profile Page provides a summary page of all your activity.

№ 7 - Mobile Applications

Although still a work in progress, our mobile applications already offer some useful features:

1. Directory of Marine Animals- You can easily search through animals and view their photos and basic behaviours.

2. Directory of Scuba Certifications- You have a list of all the courses offered by the top associations.

3. Directory of Dive Shops- Location, Address, Email Address, Phone Number and a messaging functionality to message them directly from the shop.

4. Directory of over 800 articles- Advisory and general articles on diving our beautiful planet.

I will publish a separate update for our mobile application.

Please, please let us know if you find any problems with our system, or can think of improvements directly at support {at} diveadvisor.com

Thanks for reading!