Scooter repair knowledge base

[chaselovell]

    I need some help with a college assignment that I am working on. I am trying to work out an idea that I had a while back during a bout of pure laziness and confusion. I was having trouble finding specific manuals for the gy6 scooter that I was working on and figured that with my limited programming knowledge I could create a "knowledge base" AI system that could compile information from manuals and questions answered on forums using specific search queries pertaining to certain models of bikes/scooters. I need to know if something like this has already been created. I also need to show my research on this. It is for a marketing class. The website that I plan on creating would be free and would help users find answers without having to do loads of Google searching, and would take the stress out of finding specific places to get their information. I would have a couple of input forms on the site that would ask for the make, model, and issues the user is experiencing. Once the user submits the information needed, the website would come up with it's own search results. No ads, no mismatched information. Just details pertaining to the specific requests of the user.

[snaker]

Wow, you have some vast plans.
I'm not up on the latest and greatest but I think your looking at something that would the size of a ISP system.
I'm guessing you would have some sticker shock at the costs involved

I built up a large data base on snowmobile data, guessing over a thousand pages, and still nowhere near complete.
Can even guess the hours spent.
I changed formats from spreadsheet to MS Publisher to Word, essentially retyping what ever had been done to that point.

My biggest disappointment has been that the format versions change and my file doesn't work right with the new version
I kind of stopped out of frustration, it just wasn't fun any more

At one point my file was setup on MS Publisher web builder but I never did actually put it out on the net
I could see it on a web preview function and print out pages
One thing that I worked with a lot and came in handy on the preview was "Hyperlink"

Hyperlink is you friend and something you should consider using on your project
That allows you to have a menu page and will send users to another page when they click on a item

Can't say how any of that would work with AI

[90GTVert]

I don't know of anything like that. For your specific issue with a GY6, it would be tough. That's because it's a Chinese scooter. With some Chinese scooters, there are probably hundreds of similar makes and models. I've never dealt with them to tell you for sure, but I've heard for years that some manufacturers in China would brand and badge scooters with whatever make and model you wanted to call them for as little as one shipping container full of scoots. In that case, it's often best to organize by engine type (139QMB/GY6 50, GY6 125/150, Minarelli clone and so on). You can come up with the biggest brands quickly enough, but you'll need to know what to associate with what to get info to come up for a lot of Chinese bike owners or have an option to search by engine type or generic make/model.

You may run into issues with major brands. I used to have Kymco manuals here for free and I was contacted by Kymco publishing reps with a demand to remove them or face legal action. I would have to imagine they'd feel the same way about having their manuals or info included in some database. Who knows how long before Yamaha, Honda and others could do the same thing and wipe out a large portion of any database that you built unless you have the legal budget to assert your right to their content or buy rights.

You may be missing out on some forum content. There was much more available even a few years ago. A couple of big model specific ones like Zuma Forums and Total Ruckus disappeared in recent years and I'm sure there are more but I really only follow my own forum. I guess facebook groups and that sort of thing are more popular now. There's still a lot of great info on forums, but there are less around.

Is this mostly some sort of search form that will access a collection of manuals that you add as well as using entered info to make more refined google searches where manuals are not available or won't cover it?

[chaselovell]

Yes, I would start with just my specific model of GY6 50. It would be a collection of information from the manual as well as information that I get from questions answered on forums like this one.