[Evergreen-web-team] Fwd: Suggestion for the Map

Wed Aug 15 20:25:55 EDT 2012

Hi everyone,

Thoughts on mapping EG libraries in no particular order...

1) I think the last time the idea of a map of Evergreen libraries came 
up a year or two ago, the discussion got bogged down at the meta level 
-- did we want to map "Branches vs. Library Systems vs. Consortium 
members" or some combination thereof.  So it would be good to reconcile 
this before diving into the tech specifics.

Aside -- Cartography 101: maps can answer a question and/or tell a 
story.  Are we trying to tell the story of the geographic spread of 
Evergreen across North America and/or the world?  Are we providing a 
geographic interface for people to find their closest Evergreen 
community member or Evergreen-using institution at the state/provincial 
level or at the city level?  Something else?  Some combination of the above?

2) There are a few somewhat related, minor and surmountable problems 
with crowdsourcing the map data entry: if this is "one way to get on the 
map" then I'm worried about making sure we are only asking users to 
enter the data once and we are only storing/managing it in one place.  
IOW, we don't want a few dozen libraries on the EG-ILS site's Google map 
and another several dozen libraries on a RSCEL "Initiatives" map and 
another team working on some "canonical list" of EG installs.  There is 
also the problem of "who is entering 100 branches into the map system 
for the big consortia" but we could make those special cases and just 
have me import those branches via spreadsheet, provided directly by 
someone at each of those consortia.

3) Drupal has some map-based modules but these days it's not necessarily 
easy to build a decent map-driven application because some of those 
tools are not properly maintained.  And if no one objected, I'd want to 
go forward on the drupal.evergreen-ils.org site instead of the RSCEL 
site because drupal.eg is Drupal 7 and the geo-modules that are 
maintained these days are only available for D7.  RSCEL is D6 so the 
mapping tools are more limited and somewhat older.

4) Big picture question - is there value in collecting data for 
membership/directory and community-management reasons and worrying about 
the geo visualization (aka "map" :-) later?

-- Sorry for going all "meta" on this stuff here but I guarantee that if 
we just start throwing together a quickie map app in Drupal, each one of 
these points is going to come up within a week so I figured we might as 
well chat about them now.  (Or tomorrow on the web team call if you prefer.)

Thanks,
Jim

On 08/15/2012 12:07 PM, Lori Bowen Ayre wrote:
> Hi Web Team and Ian and Jim,
>
> We got some detailed suggestions for a way to integrate the desire to 
> have an Evergreen Libraries Map on Google with our RSCEL Initiatives 
> listing and it would make it much easier for libraries to get 
> themselves on the map.
>
> I'm thinking it would just be one way to get a library listed on the 
> map as not everyone will necessarily want to be part of our Evergreen 
> Directory (now known as the Initiatives Database on RSCEL).
>
> I'd like to ask Ian and Jim and Stephen to talk about what was 
> suggested in this message and see if we could try to implement his 
> ideas on RSCEL.  Seems like using RSCEL as a sandbox or lab is a fine 
> idea. And if they can make something work, we can put it on the 
> prototype Evergreen site for people to comment on.
>
> I can fund Jim and Ian's time...Stephen are you willing to help out 
> too?  Any comments?
>
> Lori
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Lori Bowen Ayre //
> Library Technology Consultant / The Galecia Group
> Oversight Board & Communications Committee / Evergreen
> (707) 763-6869 // Lori.Ayre at galecia.com <mailto:Lori.Ayre at galecia.com>
> Availability: http://tungle.me/lori.ayre <http://tungle.me/lori.ayre>
>
> Specializing in open source ILS solutions, RFID, filtering,
> workflow optimization, and materials handling
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *Bob Neeper* <neeperro at oplin.org <mailto:neeperro at oplin.org>>
> Date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 6:45 AM
> Subject: Suggestion for the Map
> To: bshum at biblio.org <mailto:bshum at biblio.org>, lori.ayre at galecia.com 
> <mailto:lori.ayre at galecia.com>
> Cc: Chauncey Montgomery <montgoc1 at oplin.org <mailto:montgoc1 at oplin.org>>
>
>
>   Lori & Ben,
>
> I joined RSCEL  to see what the website was running, some of the 
> underlying code and what the data entry looked like.
> Hoped it was perl or php and mySQL or something like that, but I see 
> it's Drupal.
>
> Don't know anything about Drupal, but have a suggestion anyway.
>
> Finding info for each library and editing the KML file is way too 
> labor intensive.
> You need a better way, independent of single individuals.
> Get the various libraries do it for you.
>
> Expand and change the RSCEL Evergreen initiatives page data entry.
> It has a good start of data, it's stored in a database and somebody 
> (anybody) else enters it.
>
> Add a drop down for libraries in a consortium (like the Additional 
> RSCEL.org users: drop down)
> Then have then fill in the info for each library. See next.
>
> This is the info in the kml but I think it could be reduced as noted
> *Name:* Athens-Clarke County Library
> *When:* 2006-09-04     (Seems same as Go-live Date)
> *Consortium:* PINES     ( Already entered in the main section, so 
> pre-populate)
> *System:* Athens Regional Library System
> *Address:* 2025 Baxter Street
> *City:* Athens, GA 30606
> *Website:* http://www.clarke.public.lib.ga.us
> *Go-live Date:*2006-09-04
> *Coordinates:* -83.404623,33.945000,0    (See below)
>
> Getting the map coordinates is a bit harder but doable.
> Add a small instruction text block (like next in bold) for finding and 
> entering the map information
> *Click the link to open _Google Maps_ in another tab.*
> *Use Google Maps to find the library location*.
> *Right-click on the map balloon for a menu. Then click "What’s here?".*
> *Click on the green arrow and copy and paste the latitude and 
> longitude coordinates.*
> *Ex: 40.243551, -82.863007*
> The first line should open Google Maps in another tab
> The data entry box should be sized to hold the point information.
> The data should also be verified as reasonable or flagged as wrong.
> Also it may need the Long and Lat swapped and ,0 added.
>
> Plug the data into a string like 
> http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.945000,+-83.404623
> Then display _*Click Here To Verify *_, which opens in another tab for 
> them to look at.
> Then have the *Save or Cance*l options to complete this entry and loop 
> around for the next library entry.
>
> This gets all  the needed data into the Drupal database.
>
> The RSCEL.org user must be able to modify or add additional libraries 
> for the consortium.
>
> Now all that needs to happen is a piece of code (php, perl, whatever) 
> written to get the data and create a kml file.
> You'd need knowledge on the data base manipulation and how to do some 
> checks and sorts to get the libraries in order by date.
> But putting it in the kml should be easily as it's repetitive basic lines.
> You'd need to make it handle continuously added years rather than 
> stopping at 2015, for example.
>
> Use cron (or whatever)to run it every so often and upload the kml it 
> to the right location.
> Best would probably be right after an entry is complete.
> The data remains intact and is easily updated.
> Obviously, backup the data and kml
>
> One other item: write a chunk of code to parse the existing kml file 
> and pre-populate the database.
> To make the code simpler use a search & replace option in an editor 
> (EX: UltraEdit) to first clean up the kml
> This will get it down to mainly text, which is easier search and import.
>
> I can do the kml cleanup if you decide to do all this.
>
> You'd need to push getting the libraries to enter the data in RSCEL 
> but that should be easy.
> I think librarians are born with a gene predisposed to count everything.
> At least they do here for sure.
> So play to their "Need To Count" :-)
>
> Hope this gives you some ideas.   Bob
>
> R. W. (Bob) Neeper
> Community Library  <http://sunbury.cool-cat.org>
> 44 Burrer Dr.
> Sunbury, Oh 43074
> Tel:(740)-965-3901  <tel:%28740%29-965-3901>
>
> cool-cat.org  <http://info.cool-cat.org>
>
>
>

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