Trail states: say what shape the trail is in
Groomed, icy, muddy: besides Open, Work in progress or Closed, show the state of each trail with your own states, an icon, a color and a name in French and English.
"Open" answers the question "should I go?". It says nothing more: you can't tell whether the trail was groomed this morning, whether it's icy, or whether it's muddy after the rain.
Trail states fill that gap. Next to access (Open, Work in progress, Closed), each trail on a conditions board can carry a state picked from a list you define: groomed, powder, icy for cross-country skiing; dry, wet, muddy for biking.
Two pieces of information, two jobs:
| Access | State | |
|---|---|---|
| Values | Open, Work in progress, Closed — fixed | Your list, per activity |
| What it says | Should I go? | What will I find there? |
| Automatic update | Yes, a started task puts the trail under work | No, the state is changed by hand |
Where: left navigation bar, under Trails → Trail states, right below Trail conditions.
One list per activity
The list depends on the activity chosen in the top bar, like conditions boards. "Groomed" means nothing for a hike, "Muddy" means nothing for an alpine ski run: each activity has its own list, shared by all its boards.
The states of the activity chosen at the top.
- 1The handle reorders the list: it's the order of the menu on the boards.
- 2A state without an English name is flagged "To translate".
Start from the suggested list
An empty list offers Use the suggested list. Sentinel then adds a ready-made list for the activity, already translated, with an icon and a color for each state. For example:
| Activity | Suggested states |
|---|---|
| Cross-country skiing | Groomed, Powder, Hard pack, Icy, Soft, Thin cover |
| Snowshoeing | Packed, Fresh snow, Icy, Soft, Thin cover |
| Mountain biking, hiking, running | Dry, Wet, Muddy, Snowy, Icy, Fallen trees |
| Snowmobile | Groomed, Bumpy, Icy, Thin cover |
It's a starting point, not a cage: rename, remove, add your own states. Clicking a second time only adds what's missing, never duplicates.
Add or edit a state
Add a state opens a page; clicking a row in the list opens that state's page.
A state's page.
- 1The French name, and the English name for the widget. English is optional.
- 2An icon, optional. Without one, the state keeps a simple colored dot.
- 3One of the eight colors, or your own with the picker at the end of the row.
The English name is what English-speaking visitors of your widget see. If it's missing, they see the French name: nothing breaks, but the list flags it "To translate".
The icon comes from a fixed set (groomer, snowflake, snow, drop, sun, wind, footprints, tree, alert…). There is no image to upload: the icon must stay readable at a tiny size in the widget.
The color tints the icon. It's a cue, not an alert: the alert is access. Keep red for a state that really deserves attention, like "Thin cover".
A preview shows the state as it will appear on the boards. Nothing is applied before Save, and the app holds you back if you leave the page with unsaved changes.
Renaming a state updates every board and the widget right away: trails point to the state, not to its name.
Set a trail's state
On a conditions board, the State column sits between the trail name and its access. A click opens the menu of the activity's states; the choice is saved right away, with its time ("2 hours ago").
- On a folder, Apply to the whole folder gives all its trails the same state: the move to make after a snowfall.
- The State ▾ header changes the whole board at once, folders included, after a confirmation.
- New state…, at the bottom of the menu, creates a state without leaving the board and applies it to the trail.
- No state removes the state.
On mobile, tap the trail: its sheet offers the same states, with their icon. A folder header and Whole board do the same for a folder or the whole board. States aren't created there: the list is managed here, on the web.
Like access, a trail's state is copied to the other boards of the same activity that contain it.
What a visitor sees
On your website, the widget shows the state under the trail name, with its icon and how long ago it was set: "Muddy · 2 hours ago". Visitors read it in their language, French or English.
A closed trail shows no state: there's no reason to describe the surface of a trail nobody should ride.
What deleting does
Deleting a state removes it from every trail that showed it, on every board and on your website. The trails stay, just without a state. You delete from the state's page, in the Danger zone, with a confirmation.
When in doubt, rename instead: it's risk-free.
Who can do what
| What you want to do | The permission you need |
|---|---|
| See the list of states | Trail conditions with write access |
| Set a trail's state on a board | Trail conditions with write access |
| Add, edit, reorder or delete states | Trails and Trail conditions, both with write access |
A field crew can therefore set states without changing the list. If the add buttons are missing, ask for the Trails permission in your role.
Three tips
Keep the list short. Five or six states are enough. Beyond that, the menu gets long and crews hesitate between two words that mean the same thing.
Translate right away. A state added without an English name shows in French to your English-speaking visitors.
Update the state after maintenance. "Groomed" at 7 a.m. doesn't mean the same thing at 4 p.m.: the time shown next to the state reminds visitors.