How to Plan a Trip Itinerary

The Plan Itinerary workspace allows trip organisers to define the physical path of the race, configure individual legs, and set up checkpoint coordinates for the interactive maps.

Step 1: Access the Itinerary Planner

Ensure your target trip is selected in the global Trip Selector dropdown in the header.
Open the sidebar navigation menu and click Plan Itinerary under the Trip Setup section.
The page displays your scheduled timeline as a vertical sequence of expandable Leg Cards.

Step 2: Configure the Event Launch Date

Your race schedule calculates all upcoming milestones from a single temporal anchor point:

Locate the Start Date input selector situated directly within the workspace header.
Adjust the calendar date and clock time to when the starting flags drop.
Reactive Timeline: Modifying this single header parameter instantly recalculates the operational date ranges for every single downstream leg in the UI.

Step 3: Define Leg Stops and Durations

Each leg card represents a continuous multi-day sprint between two checkpoints. Expand a card to fill out its core route details:

Leg Duration: Enter the total number of days allocated for this segment of the race.
Start Checkpoint (Town/Country): Input the name of your starting point for this leg.
End Checkpoint (Town/Country): Input the target destination where teams must log their final arrival for this stage.
Accommodation / Night Stop: Specify the town or location where teams are expected to stay during the multi-day interval.

Step 4: Geocode Your Checkpoint Pins

To ensure that positions plot accurately on the participant maps, you must map your text-based stop names to physical coordinates:

Next to a checkpoint field, click the Map Icon button to launch the Checkpoint Map Modal.
Type a specific landmark, station name, or address into the search field and press Search.
The system executes a server-side lookup via Google Maps to find the location.
Verify the temporary pin placement on the preview map, then click confirm to lock the precise Latitude and Longitude coordinates to that checkpoint.

Step 5: Save Your Planned Route

As you edit your itinerary, any unsaved field changes will flag an amber reminder badge.
Once your grid locations are locked, move your cursor to the top right of the screen and click Save Itinerary in the navigation header.
This centralized header shortcut keeps the primary save action locked to the screen, allowing you to commit your route without scrolling through long timelines.

🛠️ Automated Planner Mechanics (Background Refinements)

While you manage the core layout, the application runs several background synchronisations automatically to maintain data integrity and speed up your workflow:

Smart Sync Cascade: When you modify the destination endpoint or accommodation of a leg, the planner automatically copies that data into the start field of the immediately following leg. This creates a perfectly contiguous travel path across your map grids without manual data duplication.
Media Evidence Uploads: Organisers can optionally attach reference photos or blueprint images to checkpoints by clicking the MediaUpload trigger on the cards, allowing teams to cross-reference targets during active race legs.
Leg Deletion Safety Check: If you attempt to delete a leg from your race timeline, the system automatically crawls your backend databases. It will issue an administrative warning dialogue if active checkpoint submissions, daily photos, or team expenses are already tied to that leg, preventing accidental data loss.