On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 10:58 AM, Bryan Keith <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello again, > > Hmmm, not many replies here. Is there a better forum to post questions > like this? >
Tyler gave you a very good reply. Is there any suggestion in their that you followed? What were your findings? You have a bunch of rather generic questions. Let's take them one by one below -- > I know they have something that's working, coded up in Perl, and data is > stored in a proprietary database (not sure which at this point). I'm > worried that they'll collect a bunch of data that no one will have access > to. No question above, so let's keep going. > > Bryan > > >> 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? No recommendation as long as the data can be made available easily and openly in standardized formats. Choose whatever datastore you are comfortable with. Put in in a db, or keep flat files. Use whatever you have expertise in, or whatever you are forced to use by your higher-ups. > What specific >> database/format/application and why? See above. This is such a generic question otherwise that one could ramble on forever without any definitive answer. Use what you are forced to use, or use what you are best at. Just make sure that data can be put in and taken out easily. > What application/api should this be >> built on? Whatever you are good at. > How should the data and application be licensed? As free as possible. If you have any control over the issue, release the data under CC0 (as close to public domain as possible) and the application under either CC0 waiver or one of the slightly more restrictive CC licenses such as CC-BY. >> What other >> questions should I be asking? What else should be considered? Dunno to both of the above. Perhaps the first thing you should be considering is what expertise you already have to build something like this. Learning something from scratch is a lot of work, so learn something that you at least know something about. >> >> I'm looking for solutions that will allow the data to be available long >> into the future, not just the latest spatial data fad. I am not sure what "the latest spatial data fad" is that you refer to above, but yes, data should be available long into the future. Part of it is technology -- the data shouldn't become a victim of bit rot. Part of the solution is availability -- make sure the data themselves are available in a stable, well-funded, secure and long term repository. And, a part of the solution is the license or lack thereof. Make the data available under the CC0 protocol so it is available to everyone, forever, for free. >> >> 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 > -- Puneet Kishor http://www.punkish.org Carbon Model http://carbonmodel.org Charter Member, Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org Science Commons Fellow, http://sciencecommons.org/about/whoweare/kishor Nelson Institute, UW-Madison http://www.nelson.wisc.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Assertions are politics; backing up assertions with evidence is science ======================================================================= Sent from Madison, WI, United States _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
