Bryan, Sounds like an interesting project. Here are some projects that you might learn from or using as a starting point:
FixMyStreet (http://www.fixmystreet.com/ and http://fixmystreet.ca/) These sites attack a similar problem (i.e. street condition data vs. cyclist data). The .ca site is django-based, and their site design is open source: http://github.com/visiblegovernment/django-fixmystreet OpenStreetMap - You might look into whether they can store data with temporal attributes (which seems to be pretty critical for the bike data). If so, you may be able to just create an interface that adds data to their database (if you can accept their open data license) and build display tools that work with the data in their system. You may find that tiles rendered based on the OSM data are more appropriate than Google Maps (i.e. see http://www.opencyclemap.org/). To get full value of the data you collect, I would highly recommend establishing an open data license and providing an api to the data. Developers will then find ways to use and visualize your data in creative ways. - Tyler Bryan Keith wrote: > Hello, > > I am looking for some design suggestions. I'm in contact with one of the > people working on this website: > > http://www.bikewise.org/ > > The folks putting that site together are mostly non-technical. They're > cyclists. What they're trying to do is collect data, with a spatial > component of course, about bike crashes, near misses, hazards, and thefts. > The idea is that when enough data is collected transportation planners > can use this information to improve bicycle safety and facilities. Since > getting a city or region to be bicycle-friendly is a long term process (on > the order of decades), it is imperative that the data is stored in an open > format so that anyone who needs the data now and in the future will be > able to easily access it. > > I think there are quite a few people on this list with experience in this > kind of application. I also understand if this platform is built well it > only has to be built once and can be used anywhere in the world. What are > your recommendations for how the data ought to be stored? What specific > database/format/application and why? What application/api should this be > built on? How should the data and application be licensed? What other > questions should I be asking? What else should be considered? > > I'm looking for solutions that will allow the data to be available long > into the future, not just the latest spatial data fad. > > Web apps aren't my specialty. I do 3d gis-type programming for > sub-surface earth science applications (geology, water, contaminants) and > have rarely done web stuff and application design. Thank you for any > recommendations. > > Bryan > > > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org > > -- Tyler A. Erickson, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering Michigan Technological University 3600 Green Court, Suite 100 Ann Arbor, MI 48105 W 83.6889°, N 42.3021° (WGS84) [email protected] (734) 913-6846 http://people.mtri.org/tyler+erickson http://www.mtri.org http://www.michiganview.org _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
