Bryan, Here would be my personal choices for a project like this (using an assumption that you may want to move beyond a simple "points on a map" application in the future). This is strongly biased by the technologies I regularly work with, and arguments could easily be made for replacing any of the components.
1) OS: Ubuntu Linux. Easy to setup: most of the packages you need are easily installable with a single command. Flexibility in deployment: you can rent a VPS and install it, or run it on Amazon's web service cloud. 2) Database: PostgreSQL/PostGIS. It is overkill for just storing lat/lon, but the PostGIS functionality will be quite useful if you want to do any spatial analysis in the future: statistics along routes or in regions. 3) Application Server: Django/GeoDjango. Using a web framework (especially one that understands geometry objects) helps because you can take advantage of common functionality written and maintained by other people. And I like coding in Python. 4) Focus heavily on getting the data model correct, so that you can collect useful data. You can easily improve the public facing UI in the future, but improving the data model in the future can be difficult. Take into consideration what you or your developers are skilled with, and what technologies will likely be around in 5-10 years. - Tyler Bryan Keith wrote: > Hello again, > > Hmmm, not many replies here. Is there a better forum to post questions > like this? > > 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. > > 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? 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
