March 2013: A New Site with Edit Buttons and an Easier Add-a-Pool Tool
Places2Swim has moved to new database software. Every listing now has Edit buttons for suggested changes, the Add A Swimming Pool tool has been rebuilt, and city lists fit on one sortable page.
Places2Swim has moved to new database software, and this March 2013 pool listings update explains what that means for you. Every listing now has Edit buttons for suggesting changes, and new pools can be submitted through a rebuilt form.
Why we rebuilt the site
Places2Swim went online in late May 1996. Since then the number of pools in the database has nearly quintupled, but the interface and the way the information was stored stayed virtually unchanged. With the resources we had, we put our time into content rather than design.
The back-end software we had used from the start could not support the improvements we want to make, so after 16 years we hired a programmer to rebuild the site.
What changed in the listings
Edit buttons
Listings used to rely on email links for sending us updated web links, telephone numbers, map links and reviews. An Edit button now sits beside every data point instead. Select it and complete the screen that opens; we can then review, accept or edit what you send and add it to the listing in real time.
Teams and clubs
The old listings had room for only two or three clubs of each type. A listing can now hold an almost unlimited number of swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming teams. We have also added triathlon, life saving, fin-swimming, underwater hockey and rugby teams, and SCUBA diving clubs.
Reviews and comments
The old 500-character limit on reviews and comments is gone, so a listing can carry as many reviews as we want, and we can begin adding the date we received each one. We plan to delete the undated reviews, some more than ten years old, in about a year. Until then we are keeping them, because we think most of them still have value.
Adding a pool
The old Add A Pool tool had not worked for years, so visitors had to copy a questionnaire into an email and send it to us. The new Add A Swimming Pool tool, available from the home page, replaces that process. Submit the form and we see your answers immediately. If the facility meets our listing criteria, we can add it within minutes instead of waiting for the weekly site upload.