SF - new bike map?
02-18-05, 01:03 PM
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ok, with all that in mind (prev. msg), I'm thinking about scaling back the project for now, to just be a useable map whose primary innovation is "a well thought out method for conveying slope and direction of slope for streets". That's what I'm really interested in. If it turns out to be a good map, we can go from there on an index. Or possibly work with Lon and Paul, or maybe even the bike coalition.
Also, I would like to be clear for the record that I am not intending to make any money on this project. I would basically like to work on it kind of as an "open source" project. I have led several different open source projects on the internet, and the best way so far has been to recruit a good group of people, and move discussion over to a yahoo-group, so that we have a place to post files, and discuss esoteric stuff. I'll probably make a group sometime pretty soon.
Jon
Also, I would like to be clear for the record that I am not intending to make any money on this project. I would basically like to work on it kind of as an "open source" project. I have led several different open source projects on the internet, and the best way so far has been to recruit a good group of people, and move discussion over to a yahoo-group, so that we have a place to post files, and discuss esoteric stuff. I'll probably make a group sometime pretty soon.
Jon
02-18-05, 01:21 PM
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Originally Posted by jondrums
bostontrevor: Exactly!! except whos to say you're going up or down. That depends on what direction you're going to ride.... So you can't use red for up, and blue for down, unless you have a convention that you'll always ride a certain direction on a road, which doesn't seem to make sense.
cynikal: what's GIS - I'm assuming this is a sophisticated mapping software? I'd never heard of this, but your idea to make a layer of color indicating the slope is an awesome idea. Then we can just make the streets transparent. We may have to mess with the street name color so that its easy to read. Also it would be killer to be able to try a few different color schemes and see which are easiest to read. - I'm personally partial to white for nearly flat, and green, yellow, orange, red being a progression from flat to steep. Or maybe we don't need so many colors. I can't really tell without trying it out a little.
Jon
cynikal: what's GIS - I'm assuming this is a sophisticated mapping software? I'd never heard of this, but your idea to make a layer of color indicating the slope is an awesome idea. Then we can just make the streets transparent. We may have to mess with the street name color so that its easy to read. Also it would be killer to be able to try a few different color schemes and see which are easiest to read. - I'm personally partial to white for nearly flat, and green, yellow, orange, red being a progression from flat to steep. Or maybe we don't need so many colors. I can't really tell without trying it out a little.
Jon
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I'm not one for fawning over bicycles, but I do believe that our bikes communicate with us, and what this bike is saying is, "You're an idiot." BikeSnobNYC
I'm not one for fawning over bicycles, but I do believe that our bikes communicate with us, and what this bike is saying is, "You're an idiot." BikeSnobNYC
02-18-05, 01:23 PM
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I would love to be part of the group and I agree with the open source aspect of this. Although it would make a great grad school project. 
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I'm not one for fawning over bicycles, but I do believe that our bikes communicate with us, and what this bike is saying is, "You're an idiot." BikeSnobNYC
I'm not one for fawning over bicycles, but I do believe that our bikes communicate with us, and what this bike is saying is, "You're an idiot." BikeSnobNYC
02-18-05, 02:13 PM
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Originally Posted by jondrums
bostontrevor: Exactly!! except whos to say you're going up or down. That depends on what direction you're going to ride.... So you can't use red for up, and blue for down, unless you have a convention that you'll always ride a certain direction on a road, which doesn't seem to make sense.
Anyhow, clearly the map should always know what direction I'm going and adjust accordingly. One thought would be to give it a random orientation. Direction is left to right, bottom to top. If you're going east or north, red is up, otherwise it's down.
Maybe a better thought would be to simply code for slope and leave it at that. Depending on the resolution of your grid, you'll be able to pick out individual features and it should be pretty clear that the center is taller than the edges. This could be emphasized by leaving the topo lines in there, maybe just a few of them to help define the sape of the thing with some special indication for base and peak.
As for color, I think playing with it will obviously give you the best idea, but I think leaving the streets dark and prominently marked is important. You are, after all, trying to get somewhere. The slope info can be much less saturated as it will be broad swathes of color so it should be pretty easy to pick out.
