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

[Lori Bowen Ayre]

I can chime in on one thing....if you'd rather use
drupal.evergreen-ils.orgthan RSCEL.org, that's fine by me.

And one more thing I'll share and that is the reason for doing this.  I
think you hit the two nails on the head:

Primary purpose:  watch the spread of Evergreen across the nation and world!
Secondary purpose:  who near me or like me is using Evergreen (but I sort
of think this one is addressed by the database more than the map).

Lori

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Lori Bowen Ayre //
Library Technology Consultant / The Galecia Group
Oversight Board & Communications Committee / Evergreen
(707) 763-6869 // Lori.Ayre at galecia.com
Availability:  http://tungle.me/lori.ayre

<Lori.Ayre at galecia.com>Specializing in open source ILS solutions, RFID,
filtering,
workflow optimization, and materials handling
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On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 5:25 PM, Jim Craner <jim at galecia.com> wrote:

> **
> 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
> Availability:  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>
> Date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 6:45 AM
> Subject: Suggestion for the Map
> To: bshum at biblio.org, lori.ayre at galecia.com
> Cc: Chauncey Montgomery <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) NeeperCommunity Library <http://sunbury.cool-cat.org>
> 44 Burrer Dr.
> Sunbury, Oh 43074
> Tel:  (740)-965-3901
> [image: cool-cat.org] <http://info.cool-cat.org>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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