[*BCM*] Dynamic Bikemap? (was List of dangerous streets)

[Bror Jonsson]

Hi!

Sorry for this unfocused mail, hope you guys understand what I'm  
trying to get to...

I am a longtime lurker on the site but decided to get in on the  
discussion about listing good / bad streets. II think it would be  
fantastic with a dynamic bike map of Boston. Tripp Hyde has a good  
idea, but get it to work I think it's needed to be a more combined  
effort with a dedicated server to store the information. It is  
actually very easy to combine your own geographical data with Google  
maps. A good example is http://www.mapmyrun.com.

The problems around such a project are not technical but rather how  
to build a community that can maintain the information and have it up  
to date. I think that should be possible though.

My suggestions for such a project would be to start very small but  
with the goal for something grand in the end. With the following  
information available

* Good bike routs.
* Bad roads / road sections
* Suggested bike trips.
* Dangerous permanent obstacles (pot holes, weird intersections, etc.)
* Dangerous temporary obstacles (Open manholes, Container on the road  
etc)
* Incidents and accidents.

Imagine a site where people can find a safe way to get to work,  
suggestions on where to go for a ride on Sunday, and E-mail  
notifications on obstacles in the road. You can go there and report  
problems and accidents and Massbike etc can at the end of the year go  
to the City with hard statistics on what has happened to bikers, and  
where.

The information can be produced in many different ways. Either via  
using external web-interface, such as mapmyrun.com, via GPS, or if  
someone have access to GIS software. It is also possible to build an  
own input system in the long run.


What do you guys think? Does it make any sense?

:-)Bror

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It does me no harm for my neighbor to believe in 20 gods, or no god.
It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg
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Thomas Jefferson


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