Ok this is either perfect timing or perfectly bad timing. But while i was stranded at the airport overnight this past weekend i actually went through with what I said i would in that post from months ago when we first started talking about the coworkingdb. Its here on my home dev svn but i was planning on putting it on my public github account in the next few days (still a few tweaks left). There's just a few catches. I didn't write it in ruby. I know the language but to be honest, what was stressed over and over was the ability for people to be able to take this db base and use it in their own manifestations. Right now i'm willing to bet only another programmer can tell me how you'd actually go about hosting a website which is built in ruby/ror. Plus not every hosting service offers it in their shared hosting (which is what most of these coworking sites use). So i just stuck with basic php5 for a small front-end which really only does three things: 1)it's a secure login page where owners can register an account + are immediately taken to a short form letting them enter in all their coworking facility data. There's an admin side to it that can master delete/edit if necessary, also just keep track of them all. If they ever want to change anything about how their coworking facility is displayed they only need to re-login using their account data that they used to register with. 2) It gives us a centralized database (once again i went with something every host would have - mysql) where you won't have spammers being able to add crap listings nor will there be so many duplicates, which is the case with all the current online lists. 3) Every time that a new or old coworking listing is edited, upon clicking the update button a simple script runs the address through a geolocation service to find the lat/long, then sends it in the appropriate format either updating, deleting or adding to the master list that is pubicly viewable at google spreadsheets. It does this using their API and is all automated, and instant. Because it's google spreadsheets, if the spreadsheet changes it automatically updates any map that someone has embedded using their easy export/embed/widget functionality. There is only one master account for that spreadsheet so people can't cheat the system. The spreadsheet is public, so in every way shape or form imaginable you can use whatever part of that data, or even embedded map (or the georss feed that google spits out) and use it for your own needs like most sites already are doing. 4) The code for the db also has incorporated into it a simple API structure so that if you didn't want to use google's services, google goes down for any reason or stop offering what everyone is relying on, or you just want specific data... i..e just the locations within 10 miles of miami, FL., you can send a post or get call out to the site and it will return the results in the format of your choice (xml, json or rss).
Now, you're probably asking, what about the ones already existing in the database that we've been using for the past year or two? Well, that's where i'm still a little hung up at. I have a few ideas but obviously majority would rule on this one. My idea was that the list would remain however you wanted to change a current listing all you'd need to do is when registering, use a box provided to 'claim' one already on there. Then once that checks out their account would be assigned that listing and they could do whatever they want with it. What do you guys think (and btw, where's this 400 list you speaking of? I've got 6 different lists i've taken from various sources including the one mentioned that was used for the iphone app + is on the wiki and have tried my best to prune all the crap that is currently on them. but none are 400. I've got a few under 100 listings, the main one which is a lil over 376, and then this one that I came acros which originally was 580+. A few runs of various python scripts comparing them to google maps later and that list is right now about the same that's on the wiki. That's because some awesome soul must have already started the pruning process since we first started talking about this db project. Now this also complies with that strange db schema image that is in the coworkingdb file section here on google as far as where certain parts of the data go to, and eventually I can convert it over to ruby. I just went with what i'm best at as far as being able to know that it'd both secure, fast as possible and universally adaptable by anyone with even the cheapest 4 dollar a month hosting account. I'm just going to go ahead and say this that I am volunteering the actual bandwidth and hosting for this part of the DB and while I'd love to say I can promise to host it for eternity, don't know what lies down the road expect that I CAN promise that it will have free hosting via me/my company for at least the next 5 years or until someone in a neutral position decides to sponsor it. It really is nothing as far as loading/bw even if it was heavily used. If you'd like to host it yourself though as i said it will very shortly be placed in an openly available, free github account so you can fork it and do whatever you wish with it on your own servers. I'm just offering this because I can, I have no financial gain by doing this + therefore there's zero reason to alter the way it displays the data to perhaps favor a location over another and also because i'm just a nerd who loves my own work, have been my own sysadmin for over 10 years and at least know that this version will not have any problems with hosting/ scripting/etc.. unless it's at the datacenter level. I also have learned from life experiences that you should never trust any free service (google spreadsheets) with something that you're trying to or currently are generating revenue from. They can take it down, it can go down on its own (like it did last night for about 20 min) or they could even start charging for it. It'll auto export though just so no one who currently uses it would have to change anything at all). So, I realize i didn't participate in your planning session for the coworkingdb, but then again, you stress at the bottom that you needed a coder to actually make it for the project to even materialize.....so I took that as, i'll just do what i know works the best way i know how in addition to being able to work for anyone else who wants to use it whether they're tech savvy and are using the api or just want that embedded map that google auto-generates from the spreadsheet. When you think about it.. regardless of what laungage it's written in, you still have your coworking DB as all you'd have to do is go to the spreadsheet, select the file menu and export it in whatever format your heart desires. You could even use ruby if that's really something that you feel is necessary and have IT connect to google's api and grab the entire db (or even the api). That being said though I'm definitely up for any and all thoughts or critics? Like i said, I'll actually move the development version to a live server and place the entire source code online probably sometime before friday. I'm still toying around with a few things regarding the api and load testing it but other than that it might actually be up tomorrow. Either way i'll obviously be sharing the links to everything on here with all of you because just like this coworking group + wiki are, this is ultimately a group effort. On Dec 16 2010, 6:11 pm, "Julian @pariSoma" <[email protected]> wrote: > With great happiness, I am happy to say the Coworking App is live on > the iTunes Store. Get it while it's hot! > > David, would love to connect and talk synergies. You can find our > data > here:http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc%... > > Feel free to email julian [at] parisoma [dot] com. > > Cheers, > > The Coworking App Team. > > On Dec 16, 4:00 pm, "TechVenue.com" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > This is great news! I just wish we knew of each other more recently > > since we just published a cleaned up, fresh start version of a > > Coworking map with about 400 or so data points. Any chance there > > could be synergies between your app and the map? At the very least, a > > de-dupe/merge/purge session could be fun and useful for the > > community...Thoughts? > > > See:http://wiki.coworking.info/w/page/29303049/Directory#map > > > -- > > > Cheers, > > > David Flint, MPA > > Founder,http://TechVenue.com > > Since 1998, Your Venue for Business Technology Events and Networking > > Email: D a v i [email protected] > > Phone: (312) 772-5631 > > Twitter: TechVenue > > __________________________ > > > On Dec 16, 2:37 pm, "Julian @pariSoma" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > We are excited to tell you the iPhone App is currently "In Review" by > > > Apple. It should be published any day now. > > > > Venkat has also received the assets for building the Android app, so > > > hopefully that comes out soon as well. > > > > We will update you when it Apple says "It's Available"! > > > > Happy holidays everyone! > > > > Cheers, > > > > Julian > > > > On Nov 4, 7:10 pm, Kyo Satani <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Awesome!! > > > > I should have read this email earlier. > > > > Thank you, Jullian!!! > > > > > Kyo paxi > > > > PAX Coworking, Tokyohttp://coworking.jp/ > > > > > 2010/10/29 [email protected] <[email protected]> > > > > > > Can the app be Open Sourced so other can contribute? > > > > > > On Oct 27, 4:51 pm, Julian Nachtigal <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > > I am happy to announce that a collaborative project between four > > > > > coworkers > > > > > > at pariSoma to build a coworking app is almost finished! The app > > > > > > will be > > > > > > called "Coworking". This project truly shows the value and > > > > > > importance of > > > > > > coworking spaces. > > > > > > > The data we are using is > > > > > > *here*< > > > > >https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AoXBCgiLNmuddGdHbld6SENiU1N2...>. > > > > > > Please feel free to edit your data or submit your space if you > > > > > > don't > > > > > find > > > > > > it (*please don't change the format!*). We've collected data for 394 > > > > > > coworking spaces. A lot of the research began through the > > > > > > coworking wiki > > > > > > and then extended through web search. The goal is to keep this > > > > > > data open > > > > > so > > > > > > everyone can update their info at any time or add a new space. > > > > > > > The app is designed to: > > > > > > > - Be a mobile database of all coworking spaces worldwide > > > > > > > - Allow people to find coworking spaces in their city or in cities > > > > > > they > > > > > > visit > > > > > > > - Help coworking spaces find new members > > > > > > > The app will be submitted very shortly, within the next two weeks. > > > > > > > We hope that eventually it can become a way to identify and > > > > > > communicate > > > > > with > > > > > > other people who believe in the coworking movement and are a part > > > > > > of it! > > > > > We > > > > > > view this as a great way to help make the coworking movement become > > > > > closer, > > > > > > as there has been much discussion over this recently on the group > > > > > (coworking > > > > > > blog, coworking conference, etc.). > > > > > > > Feedback is more than welcome and in fact encouraged. We want to > > > > > > continue to improve this app and think of other potentials for it. > > > > > Please > > > > > > let us know what you think! The best way is by contacting us at > > > > > > coworkingapp [at] gmail.com. > > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > > > > The Coworking App Team > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------- > > > > > > > Julian Nachtigal > > > > > > > [email protected] | (415) 626-6406 |www.pariSoma.com > > > > > > > @pariSoma | facebook.com/pariSoma > > > > > > -- > > > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > > > > Groups > > > > > "Coworking" group. > > > > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > > > [email protected]<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups > > > > > .com> > > > > > . > > > > > For more options, visit this group at > > > > >http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > > > > -- > > > > Kyo paxihttp://paxi.jp/http://beemanet.com/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
