About & FAQ · Adventure Ahead

About

One trip record, from idea to history

Adventure Ahead is a web app for troops, crews, packs, ships, and other scouting units. A trip can begin as an idea, become a scheduled outing, and finish as completed unit history without changing systems.

Unit scoped: Trips, members, settings, and planning tools belong to the unit you currently have open.
Private by default: Trips stay inside your unit unless every Discovery sharing choice is intentionally enabled.
One working record: Maps, calendars, imports, meeting planning, and backups all support the same trip records.

Why it exists

From a Wood Badge ticket to Adventure Ahead

Adventure Ahead started as a Wood Badge ticket for David Todd, Scoutmaster of Troop 194. He turned the troop's camping log into a searchable database so its history could become lasting institutional knowledge and support youth-led outdoor program planning.

What began as a practical tool for one troop grew from recording past outings into planning future trips. The project was originally called TripDB. As Adventure Ahead, it now supports troops, crews, packs, ships, and other scouting units while keeping each unit's history and plans together.

Trips and planning

What belongs in a trip record?

Record an outing your unit completed, scheduled, is considering, or cancelled. Start with a name and status, then add dates, location, activities, route data, logistics, lessons, contacts, or links when they are useful.

How do the trip statuses work?

Idea is worth considering; dates are optional.
Scheduled is approved and dated, so it appears on the Calendar.
Completed happened and belongs in unit history.
Cancelled did not happen as planned but remains recorded.

When a scheduled trip ends, Adventure Ahead can flag it for closeout so its outcome does not remain ambiguous.

How can we bring in existing trip history?

Editors can import a Scoutbook Activity Log or a custom CSV/XLSX file. The review step shows what will be created, updated, or skipped. New imports start Private, and each completed import keeps a row report; an unchanged batch can be undone.

How do Calendar and Map relate to trips?

The Calendar uses dated trips scheduled in Adventure Ahead and can show events from a configured external ICS feed alongside them. External events do not become trip records automatically. The Map shows trips that have coordinates or a saved route.

Access and sharing

Who can see our unit's trips?

Unit members can browse the unit's private trip records according to their role. A Private trip stays in that unit. A trip is visible to other units only through the separate Discovery choices described below.

What do the member roles allow?

Viewer: Can browse the unit's trips, calendar, meeting plan, and map.
Editor: Can add, import, edit, schedule, and close out trips.
Admin: Can also manage the unit profile, sharing, backups, people, and trip activity.
Owner: Has full control, including ownership transfer and unit retirement.

How does Discovery sharing work?

A trip can appear in Discovery only when the instance offers Discovery, the unit chooses to participate, and that trip is marked Public. Cancelled trips remain hidden. Public results use a limited sharing view that leaves out contact details, adult requirements, weather notes, resource links, import/history notes, and the source unit's drive distance.

Data and operations

Where is our data stored, and can we work offline?

Your records are stored in the database on the server hosting your Adventure Ahead site. Members use the same saved records through their browsers. The app requires a connection to that server and does not support offline editing. The site operator is responsible for hosting, database backups, and keeping the service available.

What is included in a unit backup?

Unit administrators can export the unit profile, trips, routes, lifecycle state, and meeting shortlist. Accounts, memberships, invites, sessions, and audit events are excluded. Where unit creation is enabled, restoring an export creates a new unit and keeps restored trips Private until someone deliberately shares them.

Who should I ask for help?

Ask a unit administrator about membership, unit settings, sharing, or exports. Ask the person who operates this Adventure Ahead instance about sign-in email, Discovery availability, server backups, or an unavailable site.