On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 6:20 AM, amenity applewhite <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, I'm new to this list and to the geoweb in general.
Welcome to Geowankers! > > Personally, I would love to incorporate some form of VGI into the idea. > This FarmAid map on Platial is great in that it allows users to add content, > reviews and photos. Admittedly, sustainable agriculture and organic farming > might not draw the kind of public participation in Spain as they would in > the UK or Germany where these issues are more generally more esteemed. > However, the Spaniards do have a great deal of pride and concern when it > comes to artisanal foods, so I do think there is potential for public > interest in such a feature. Another aspect to consider is the possibility > of creating a Google Earth layer like that of Fair Trade Certified. I > briefly considered applying for a Google Earth Outreach Pro Grant since > they've recently expanded eligibility to NGOs in some European countries, > but they require applicant organizations to have a technical staff member > with an html/Google Earth background. > I agree with every thing Tyler said. The groups you cite that are doing the innovative work are often from outside the the traditional realm of Geospatial. In addition, there are various ways to accomplish your project goals depending on how deep you want to dive, and how much you become comfortable with. This may start by using a simple placemarking site like Platial's FarmAid to create basic features, but then you could expand to playing with Javascript & HTML to create your own map in OpenLayers, G/Y/Mapstraction, and then potentially further to generate KML from a database to render to a map. And in fact, each of these steps is informative and moves you along the route to connecting the deep knowledge you have of GIS tools with the user-facing tools of slippy maps and lightweight data formats. This was largely the structure of the Intro to NeoGeo - moving from simple tools & spreadsheets, to programming - as desired. Hopefully it was informative (and feedback is always welcome) Specific to your project, there are other similar projects going on in different regions. I'm sure (at least hoping) they'll pipe up and offer data sources, collaboration points, etc. And definitely let the list know if you have any more questions. Andrew _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
