Promoting Cycling
- Created by
- J Parker
- data.australia.gov.au datasets used
“Cycling in New South Wales: What the data tells us” and related data
- Other datasets used
- Google Earth and Maps data as supplied by Google; Numerous KML files as linked to on the entry web page; Report analysing recreational and commuter cycling in NSW; NSW Premier's Council for Active Living
To promote cycling as a mode of transport you need good cycling infrastructure. To build that infrastructure, we need to know where people cycle and how many, so it can be constructed appropriately and effectively.
Cyclist trip counts acquired by electronic counters around Sydney have been hiding in an old and dusty Excel file. They have now been transformed, so they can be placed in their proper context, on a web based map where they belong. This data can be used to ascertain the need for new infrastructure or how any new infrastructure has increased the number of cyclists on particular routes. This assumes you also have the routes mapped and they are free for reuse.
The prime purpose here is to encourage Government departments around Australia to make cyclist routes available, as geo served maps, that are licensed for reuse. Likewise there are hundreds of cyclist count sites in Melbourne and Sydney that could be made available for reuse.
This site left me really dissapointed.
The first thing I saw when I arrived was a hugely exciting 3d interface to bike routes in my city… which was a non-working screenshot capture.
I was then faced by a wall of text I had to dig through to find what I was supposed to use, then required to download Google earth and load in the KML sets myself, for which small links are embedded in the wall of text.
I hesitate to say it, but this single HTML page of text doesn’t really seem to belong in the competition.
The site means well, but needs MASSIVE amounts of work on approachable’ness and usability. Loading up Google Earth should be a secondary option, not the only option.
Hi Adam
It’s good to see you were disappointed. I am as well. As stated: “The aim of this exercise is to simply encourage Government to make cycling routes available on line as a Web Map Service”. I was trying to demonstrate potential usage if the data were available. I have looked into this further and have mashed up some of the same stuff into OpenLayers that may demonstrate further possibilities – look at both the Melbourne Map and the Sydney Map. That’s probably what you’re after? OpenLayers is pretty versatile but is very slow in operation, particularly for WFS serving many features. For serious work Google Earth is miles ahead and allows for “dynamic” mashing. It can also directly use any WMS server that may be set up by a Government department. That’s all I’m trying to achieve here – online cycling maps provided by the Government as a WMS. ie a good baselayer for further mashups.