[BikeLongmont] crazy idea: GIS based trip planner

[Devin Quince]

Richard,
	I am currently working on this same idea and am in the midst of
researching GIS tools, as they are not cheap. The city/county should be
able to provide the GIS layers, but we will let the city speak for sure.
Devin
On Tue, 2004-07-27 at 16:53, Richard Masoner wrote:
> When I look at my web referrer log I consistently see Google searches 
> for "best bike route to boulder," "longmont bike paths," and so forth. 
> People are obviously looking for some place to ride their bikes to in 
> Longmont, but they're too afraid to ride even in quiet residential 
> areas, and they don't get out enough to find the paths that meander all 
> over town. Just the other day I explored the area north of Clover Basin 
> and explored the amazing network of paths around Dry Creek back there. 
> There are a couple of discontinuities, but they're easily bridged by 
> riding on wide streets with zero traffic on them.
> 
> I have in mind something like the direction finder service offered by 
> MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, and others, except this would be local and it 
> would be for cyclists.
> 
> For a trip, a user punches in origin and destination addresses and 
> traffic comfort level (e.g. "Prefer lightly traveled streets," "bike 
> lanes only," "bike paths if possible," "shared lanes okay," etc). 
> Streets are weighted in the GIS database with information similar to the 
> current city map's green, blue, and red classifications.
> 
> Another use would be for a ride generator: I'm Joe and Jill Average and 
> I want to ride my comfort bike five miles but I don't really know which 
> way to go. Joe punches in his address, comfort level, and desired ride 
> distance. The Trip Planner picks a good destination at the halfway point 
> depending on distance and suggests a there-and-back route. Suggested 
> destinations would be some sort of reward: a place that serves ice cream 
> or something similar.
> 
> For either scenario, the Trip Planner spits out a map showing a 
> suggested route, highlights of interesting things along the way (e.g. 
> Art in Public Places, local coffee shops), a summary of road rules and 
> trail etiquette and tips on riding safely in traffic.
> 
> To this end, could city GIS be made available? If so, is there the 
> slightest chance that this data is based on any kind of open or 
> published standard?
> 
> Are there any GIS experts on this list? I'm reading up on it, but the 
> last time I worked with GIS was in the 80s when I worked on some 
> pioneering and very proprietary GIS applications from Intergraph. It was 
> all very cool, but things have changed a *lot* in 20 years.
> 
> In the meantime, I think I'll create a form asking users for the 
> information. This info then goes to the human interface (me) which makes 
> a custom, handcrafted bike route for the user.
> 
> RFM
> 
> 
> 
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