I can chime in on one thing....if you'd rather use <a href="http://drupal.evergreen-ils.org">drupal.evergreen-ils.org</a> than RSCEL.org, that's fine by me.<div><br></div><div>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: </div>
<div><br></div><div>Primary purpose: watch the spread of Evergreen across the nation and world!</div><div>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).</div>
<div><br></div><div>Lori<br clear="all"><div><div><br></div><div>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=</div><div><div>Lori Bowen Ayre // </div><div>Library Technology Consultant / The Galecia Group</div>
<div>
Oversight Board & Communications Committee / Evergreen</div><div>(707) 763-6869 // <a href="mailto:Lori.Ayre@galecia.com" target="_blank">Lori.Ayre@galecia.com</a></div><div>Availability: <a href="http://tungle.me/lori.ayre" target="_blank">http://<span style="font-family:Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:20px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">tungle.me/lori.ayre</span></a><span> </span></div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="mailto:Lori.Ayre@galecia.com" target="_blank"></a>Specializing in open source ILS solutions, RFID, filtering, </div><div>workflow optimization, and materials handling <br><div>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=</div>
</div></div></div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 5:25 PM, Jim Craner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jim@galecia.com" target="_blank">jim@galecia.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<u></u>
<div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
Hi everyone,<br>
<br>
Thoughts on mapping EG libraries in no particular order...<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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?<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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 <a href="http://drupal.evergreen-ils.org" target="_blank">drupal.evergreen-ils.org</a>
site instead of the RSCEL site because <a href="http://drupal.eg" target="_blank">drupal.eg</a> 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.<br>
<br>
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?<br>
<br>
-- 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.)<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
Jim<div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 08/15/2012 12:07 PM, Lori Bowen Ayre wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">Hi Web Team and Ian and Jim,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I can fund Jim and Ian's time...Stephen are you willing to
help out too? Any comments?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Lori<br clear="all">
<div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=</div>
<div>
<div>Lori Bowen Ayre // </div>
<div>Library Technology Consultant / The Galecia Group</div>
<div>Oversight Board & Communications Committee /
Evergreen</div>
<div><a href="tel:%28707%29%20763-6869" value="+17077636869" target="_blank">(707) 763-6869</a> // <a href="mailto:Lori.Ayre@galecia.com" target="_blank">Lori.Ayre@galecia.com</a></div>
<div>Availability: <a href="http://tungle.me/lori.ayre" target="_blank">http://<span style="line-height:20px;font-family:Verdana,Arial,sans-serif">tungle.me/lori.ayre</span></a><span> </span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Specializing in open source ILS solutions, RFID,
filtering, </div>
<div>workflow optimization, and materials handling <br>
<div>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Bob Neeper</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:neeperro@oplin.org" target="_blank">neeperro@oplin.org</a>></span><br>
Date: Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 6:45 AM<br>
Subject: Suggestion for the Map<br>
To: <a href="mailto:bshum@biblio.org" target="_blank">bshum@biblio.org</a>,
<a href="mailto:lori.ayre@galecia.com" target="_blank">lori.ayre@galecia.com</a><br>
Cc: Chauncey Montgomery <<a href="mailto:montgoc1@oplin.org" target="_blank">montgoc1@oplin.org</a>><br>
<br>
<br>
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> Lori & Ben,<br>
<br>
I joined RSCEL to see what the website was running, some of
the underlying code and what the data entry looked like.<br>
Hoped it was perl or php and mySQL or something like that,
but I see it's Drupal.<br>
<br>
Don't know anything about Drupal, but have a suggestion
anyway.<br>
<br>
Finding info for each library and editing the KML file is
way too labor intensive.<br>
You need a better way, independent of single individuals.<br>
Get the various libraries do it for you.<br>
<br>
Expand and change the RSCEL Evergreen initiatives page data
entry.<br>
It has a good start of data, it's stored in a database and
somebody (anybody) else enters it.<br>
<br>
Add a drop down for libraries in a consortium (like the
Additional RSCEL.org users: drop down)<br>
Then have then fill in the info for each library. See next.<br>
<br>
This is the info in the kml but I think it could be reduced
as noted<br>
<b>Name:</b> Athens-Clarke County Library<br>
<b>When:</b> 2006-09-04 (Seems same as
Go-live Date)<br>
<b>Consortium:</b> PINES ( Already
entered in the main section, so pre-populate)<br>
<b>System:</b> Athens Regional Library System<br>
<b>Address:</b> 2025 Baxter Street<br>
<b>City:</b> Athens, GA 30606<br>
<b>Website:</b> <a href="http://www.clarke.public.lib.ga.us" target="_blank">http://www.clarke.public.lib.ga.us</a><br>
<b>Go-live Date:</b>2006-09-04<br>
<b>Coordinates:</b> -83.404623,33.945000,0
(See below)<br>
<br>
Getting the map coordinates is a bit harder but doable.<br>
Add a small instruction text block (like next in bold) for
finding and entering the map information<br>
<b>Click the link to open <u>Google Maps</u> in another
tab.</b><br>
<b>Use Google Maps to find the library location</b>.<br>
<b> Right-click on the map balloon for a menu. Then click
"What’s here?".</b><br>
<b>Click on the green arrow and copy and paste the
latitude and longitude coordinates.</b><br>
<b>Ex: 40.243551, -82.863007</b><br>
The first line should open Google Maps in another tab<br>
The data entry box should be sized to hold the point
information.<br>
The data should also be verified as reasonable or flagged as
wrong.<br>
Also it may need the Long and Lat swapped and ,0 added. <br>
<br>
Plug the data into a string like <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.945000,+-83.404623" target="_blank">http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.945000,+-83.404623</a><br>
Then display <u><b>Click Here To Verify </b></u>, which
opens in another tab for them to look at.<br>
Then have the <b>Save or Cance</b>l options to complete
this entry and loop around for the next library entry.<br>
<br>
This gets all the needed data into the Drupal database.<br>
<br>
The RSCEL.org user must be able to modify or add additional
libraries for the consortium.<br>
<br>
Now all that needs to happen is a piece of code (php, perl,
whatever) written to get the data and create a kml file.<br>
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.<br>
But putting it in the kml should be easily as it's
repetitive basic lines.<br>
You'd need to make it handle continuously added years rather
than stopping at 2015, for example.<br>
<br>
Use cron (or whatever)to run it every so often and upload
the kml it to the right location.<br>
Best would probably be right after an entry is complete.<br>
The data remains intact and is easily updated.<br>
Obviously, backup the data and kml<br>
<br>
One other item: write a chunk of code to parse the existing
kml file and pre-populate the database.<br>
To make the code simpler use a search & replace option
in an editor (EX: UltraEdit) to first clean up the kml<br>
This will get it down to mainly text, which is easier search
and import.<br>
<br>
I can do the kml cleanup if you decide to do all this.<br>
<br>
You'd need to push getting the libraries to enter the data
in RSCEL but that should be easy.<br>
I think librarians are born with a gene predisposed to count
everything.<br>
At least they do here for sure.<br>
So play to their "Need To Count" <span><span> :-) </span></span><br>
<br>
Hope this gives you some ideas. Bob<br>
<br>
<div>
<pre cols="80">R. W. (Bob) Neeper
<a href="http://sunbury.cool-cat.org" target="_blank">Community Library</a>
44 Burrer Dr.
Sunbury, Oh 43074
Tel: <a href="tel:%28740%29-965-3901" value="+17409653901" target="_blank">(740)-965-3901</a>
<a href="http://info.cool-cat.org" target="_blank"><img style="border:0px solid;width:100px;min-height:107px" alt="cool-cat.org" src="cid:part1.00070105.05000600@galecia.com"></a></pre>
</div>
<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br></div>