"Bicycle Messenger Movie" a glimpse into the deep subculture of Bicycle Messengering

Best Messenger movie I've ever seen.





Youtube: "Kenton Hoppas" | Bicycle Messenger Movie - a Kenton Hoppas film (16:12) | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69eS_23vGf0




mh

Waterfont Toronto must speed Development - 'Big Mall' backroom deal dead

" ..with a consolidated effort by progressives that targets Jaye Robinson, Michelle Berardinetti, Karen Stintz and John Parker's ward constituents - organizes those progressive majorities against the Core Service Review cuts - this nightmare mayoralty could turn to an enlightened spring by Christmas!"

Councillors Jaye Robinson, Michelle Berardinetti, Karen Stintz and John Parker, the Star says (Ford gives up goal of seizing Port Lands), we're ready to split ranks on the Waterfront Toronto / Biggest Shopping Mall Ever! issue.

The Mayor's Office reacted quickly, compromise happened and now the call out of City Hall tomorrow will apparently be:  'Hurry up the spending, let's get the Waterfront Toronto vision in place quicker!!'.

So we go from a neo-con power grab, an insider real estate deal - to a Keynesian Infrastructure spending program.

Way to go Councillor Paula Fletcher!

A great victory if this passes council. She got everything she could have hoped for - and found a way for the Fordites to save a little face too.

So, it turns out Doug and Rob Ford are secret bicycle riding, pinko-Communists - possibly closet gays? 

Nope.

Tonight I'm checking out "#codeblueTO", the Twitter list tag that has evolved as an information clearing house on the Port Lands issue in Twitter. At 2:00 AM it was refreshing with 20 new hits every 5 minutes. Check it tomorrow as this news item hits the front porches and the broadcast morning news shows.

What this shows I think, is that this so called Mayor Ford City Council is really a centre dominated house of cards. On the Port Lands issue The Mayor's Office has chosen to fight one battle at a time - they've put out this fire with-in their ranks with this 'compromise'.

And the result is a complete victory for the process, and for the progressive agenda that is Waterfront Toronto - and Councillor Paula Fletcher who's Ward 30 includes the Port Lands.

The Ford brain-trust must consider that they will be lucky if the Core Services Review doesn't split them again. With out this 'step back' by The Mayor's Office the Core Service Review would be in danger. Cuts to services are more likely to pass with out a revolt because everyone's getting gored at the same time instead of everyone focused on one issue like The Portlands. The Core Service Review on the other hand, is about thousands of issues - perfect divide and rule ground for the Mayors Office and their corporate masters.. This is a likely scenario I think, and the strategic brillance of the Ford plan is that a raucous, divided council - each Councillor fighting to save services for their wards - would never find a common voice - and call the kettle black. The Mayor Office must hope that Council would never unite around the progessive idea that spending on infrastructure - with money already approved from the Federal and Provincial levels (for Transit City and the Port Lands) will increase the cities tax base and negate the on-going deficient problem. - with NO cuts in services.

You know - Keynesian economics, rather that neo-con slash and burn reactionary policies designed to appeal to the ignorant, guilt ridden, knee-jerk, first time electors who voted for this idiot.


My point being, with a consolidated effort by progressives that targets Jaye Robinson, Michelle Berardinetti, Karen Stintz and John Parker's ward constituents - organizes those progressive majorities against the Core Service Review cuts --- this nightmare mayoralty could turn to an enlightened spring by Christmas!

Ya think?. Are there other 'tippy' canoes out there?



mh

Utne Reader’s David Doody on Bicycles and David Byrne

Cross-posted at my BicyclingToronto Blog

Here's the free Introduction, embeded, which is also available at David Byrne's website.

David Byrne’s “Bicycle Diaries,” Podcast Style

9/15/2010 10:26:30 AM

by David Doody

David Byrne’s successful book, Bicycle Diaries, probably would have sold just fine as a traditional audiobook, as well. However, never one for the status quo, Byrne wanted to do something a little more interesting than simply reading the book in silence and releasing it as a download or cd. Instead, he looked to other successful audio formats for inspiration, namely NPR shows that incorporate scene sounds and podcasts.

[...]

You can listen to and download the introduction, and pre-order the rest, which will be released on September 28.

Read the entire article at Utne Reader online.



mh

Tour de France Stage 2 - Bikes down all over the place!

------------------------------------------

July 19th 2010: I originally published this article at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog. I'm covering every stage race of the 2010 Tour de France there.

As I write this, the tour is up to stage 15. I've "Live Blogged" almost all of them - stages I haven't Live Blogged always get a race summery piece - plus I've written several interesting biographical sketches and some funny reviews of the race over all.

Have a look at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog, "Tour de France" tagged articles.

Thanks,
mh

------------------------------------------


Overall standings of all 193 riders.

The story today was once again, more crashes than we've ever seen in Tour de France. This time though it was not the wind (or the lack of it) that caused the carnage, it was intermittent rain, especially on the down hill side of a climb called the cote de Stockeu, the second last downhill, and the steepest of the stage.



Watch the video at this link (Versus won't allow embeds), at the 00:35 they go to Francesco Gavazzi of team Lampre who is just ahead of the peloton. The bike just shoots out from under him! If you watch closely he slides down the greasy road for what looks like about 6 metres! The camera bike behind him can't get traction to stop and steers off to the shoulder to avoid a collision.

As the Peloton hits the area riders trying to steer around go down and that's basically the end of the race for yellow.

I know from riding on city streets the roads are really slick when the rain is just beginning - especially after a prolonged hot, dry spell. I think the black top (which is essentially tar sands) percolates the oil that's in it (black top is a bi-product of gasoline refining) - and the oils sits on top. Add to that all the oil and grease dripping from the thousands of cars and trucks - and the first water that 'sheets' the road will have a thin layer of oil on top, because oil is lighter than water.

Now here comes the Peloton into a cloud burst and wham-mo! - bicycles all over the place.

Once while bike messengering, I was blasting east on King Street probably about 30 kph, and I took a wide corner north bound up Duncan Street, it had just started raining and I was scared, but I had a Direct on that was getting old. The bike came out from under me and as I was going down and I was thinking, 'Oh sh*t, here goes all the skin on my left side'. Happily, like on one of those water slides at an amusement park, I slid about 30 feet right up the centre of Duncan Street with oily warm water spraying in front, as my bike compassed off into the curb!

Not even a scratch. :]

Lance Armstrong said he was scared, "I think everyone was scared." he said.

Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) of team Quick Step made a sprint early to break away from the peloton - and today - it worked! Sylvain Chavanel wears the yellow jersey ... just for one day? The Versus commentators think he can hold it until the mountains on Saturday - what with his almost 3 minute lead on the next best time.

Leader board courtesy Tour de France site.

Tour de France Riders list of starters:



mh

Tour de France Stage 1 - Sprint Finish Caos

------------------------------------------

July 19th 2010: I originally published this article at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog. I'm covering every stage race of the 2010 Tour de France there.

As I write this, the tour is up to stage 15. I've "Live Blogged" almost all of them - stages I haven't Live Blogged always get a race summery piece - plus I've written several interesting biographical sketches and some funny reviews of the race over all.

Have a look at Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog, "Tour de France" tagged articles.

Thanks,
mh

------------------------------------------


Individual Standing after Stage 1 - by total time (letour.fr)

These are screen shots I took of the Sunday July 4, Stage 1 video - available at oln.ca/tourdefrance.

The big story in Stage 1 was the number of crashes. There were five in Stage 1, a record for Le Tour.

This is crash one or two. I could only find footage of four of the five crashes in Stage 1.


The "Doggy" Crash

This guy likes to bite at the ankles of cyclists it looks like. 'O Goody', he's thinking, 'some bicycles!'

'Oh sh*t I wish I hadn't done this.'The dog amazingly, was not hit but in trying to avoid him several riders went down.

I guess lesson learned is remember to leash your dog when the peloton is coming through.


The medium to high winds that were expected all along Stage 1 never materialized. Instead the climbers (who are generally better in the wind) and the sprinters all stay together. At the end of the race the course is too narrow to accommodate all the riders who think they have a chance at the yellow jersey, and the extra points that go with it.

To reduce the number of crashes race officials introduced a new rule: three kilometres from the finish every one in a group gets the same time even if you crash out of your group.


Crash Three

This crash happens at about 2km from the finish, so the crashed riders get the same time as those who avoided the mayhem - as long as they can finish the stage.




Crash Four

This is the straight narrow run to the finish.



The forth crash of Stage 1 happens 300 metres from the finish, a hugh pile-up of the peloton which looks to include about 50 riders. Only 25 riders are in front of the crash and have a chance to get the yellow jersey. In the screen shot you can see the tip of the peloton pulling away from the crash.




Crash Five

As the leaders slice towards the left side of the course in the final sprint to the line - to safe guard one of their flanks - a rider is clipped, and down he goes...




The Finish

Fabian Cancellara wins the sprint, and the yellow jersey for a day.



Versus.com seems to be the over all producer of the English content that OLN.ca is drafting. All the content your seeing at OLN on cable television and OLN.ca online is content produced by Versus.com. Their website has more online options, and some content you can pay for - you lucky people. ;)

This article chronicles Le Tour, day two - Stage 1. (Saturday's prologue isn't labeled as a stage).



mh

"Rolling Stops" a yeild to common sense over "Crack Downs"

This blog was originally published in "Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog" where I also write. See the Biking Toronto Banner in the side bar to link to my spaces there, or many of the links in this piece.

Over at the Biking Toronto Discussion group, "Bikelanes & Infrastructure" Colin McKay started the topic: "Can we please have a police crackdown on cyclists running reds?".

The inflammatory title of the piece serves to begin a discussion about the differences between cars and bike, the history of infrastructure creation and the bias towards car traffic reflected in traffic law.

No?

Oh well; but that's what I wanted to talk about here.

Three weeks and three days ago Mark added a common sense essay to the discussion the included a link to this great video below. This seems like a good place to start here.



Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

So far there are 12 comments on the discussion including one added today, by Todd Tyrtle - have a look.

My take here (Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog) and at this blogs sister site the "Toronto/GTA Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki", is that everything must change a little, some things must change a lot in the transportation infrastructure of the city to make Toronto a bike friendly environment.

I rode courier for four summers and 3 winters people running reds was never a problem. Like the video says you make a habit of running red the problem will soon be gone - you'll be dead. The main point of Mr. McKays introduction if I read it correctly is that we need to be taken seriously with in the commons.

I'm all for that - but you're not going to stop a practice used by messengers to get they're job done, on a grid that treats them like second class users - with a crack down - what ever that might be.

Equal, that's the key I think; we all want to be treated like equals, but the stage the way it's set right now has people with a car being a lot more equal than them without.

I agree that responsible cycling is key to the discussion, I even think bicycles should be licensed - along with changes to the drivers license test that includes much more about sharing the road, and perhaps even a section of the test that involves a bicycle road test for motor vehicle drivers! You can't drive a car until you've got your cycling license for example.



mh

Michael Bryant and Spin Doctors 'Diminish Us All'

(Originally published at BikingToronto, where I write, "Michael Holloway's BikingToronto Blog" and "Toronto/GTA Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki".)

Audio of Michael Bryant's press conference of May 25th 2010 - juxtaposed with video testimony of witnesses from the night of the killing of Darcy Allan Sheppard.

“We are all diminished by any loss of life,” said Mr. Bryant

I would opine that we are all diminished when after one takes the life of another, the institution we have built that maintains our civilization offers no sanction.

The starting point, the point where Michael Bryant losses his humanity to fear and objectification of the other happens before the hellish ride that kills Darcey Allen Sheppard. It starts with an assault at the intersection when Bryant uses his car to throw the cyclist onto the hood. He then brakes and backs up, spilling the injured man to the pavement, then wheels right around the man and over the bike, trying to effect an escape of the scene of his criminal act - at this point Sheppard grabs onto the side of the car. It is in this attempt to escape the consequences of his assault on Sheppard that Bryant embarks down the road to murder - and becomes Sheppard's Chauffeur of death.

Here's audio of the carefully scripted stage play that served as a news conference this morning. After, reporters pose questions that seem intended only to help Mr. Bryant flesh out the details of his spin of the story he has just delivered, to add colour to his script:



"28 seconds..." This is the theme the script writers are going with, it talks to the fact that at a moment of fear and surprise you might have done what Michael Bryant did: cross to the opposite side of Bloor Street at 90 kph and use a mail box and a light pole to "brush off", to snuff out the life of, a man hanging onto your car for dear life.

From the witnesses:



What charges do you think should be brought that will have a reasonable likelihood of resulting in a conviction?

Assault?
Dangerous Driving?
Assault with a weapon?


Story from the National Post (note the spin in the headline): Former Ontario AG Michael Bryant was ‘terrified’ during fatal encounter with cyclist.

Thanks to The National Post for the audio of the press conference.
(http%3A%2F%2Fnationalpostnews.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F05%2Fbryantpresser.mp3)




mh

The Leslieviller, The Leslieville Residents Association and the Leslieville TTC Barn by the Lake

My application to join the local chat room "The Leslieviller" was approved, so this morning I jumped right in on the fooferah about the name chosen by the new neighbourhood political action group "The Leslieville Residents Association".




Not sure what all the fuss over the name is about at The Leslieviller, but many Lesvillians posting at the site don't think "The Leslieville Residents Association" represents them.

In my post there I suggested that they join - then it will. ;)


The Issues

The Leslieville Residents Association formed after a badly advertised public consultation process by the City of Toronto about the new TTC barns at Lakeshore Boulevard and Leslie Street somehow organically gathered a critical mass of citizenry. At a loud and fractious meeting on Eastern Avenue in February, many people said they had only heard about the plan six days before. People felt like the city was sneaking around behind their backs.

With 100 of the 207 new light rail street cars the city is buying set to rumble down Leslie Street after each rush hour - on their way to their sheds - area residents were wondering why they didn't get a more of a public heads up from the city on this.

A week later at a local church, a meeting took place where The Leslieville Residents Association was formed specifically to represent the community in talks with planners that might make changes to the plan. That meeting is scheduled for this week: Thursday, 6:30 - 9:00 PM, April 8th at 895 Eastern Avenue (same place as the first TTC 'open house').

TTC Notice of new public meeting (yes, pdf file)



The Divisions?

This neighbourhood is experiencing a gentrification at the present time, in no small degree because of the tearing down of the eastern end of the Gardiner Expressway. Many new residents don't want some lefty group claiming to represent everyone de-railing the cities lake front renewal plan.

Perhaps they can't see the greater picture:

The Leslieville Residents Association undoubtedly includes citizens who helped stop Walmart a few years ago (Wake Up WalMart Blog). Perhaps there are some left over disagreements around the vision people have of Leslieville's future. The cities Box Store vision for Lakeshore and Leslie reflected a car centric view of city planning from the 1950's -1970's which was rejected by the neighbourhood. This vision that was very bad for Lesslieville which became a forgotten, dirty neighbourhood under the freeway. I think Leslieville Residents Association just wants to make sure the city doesn't impose another top down vision like that on the community again. Another car centric vision that resulted in a neighbourhood divided from the great lake by a noisy, stinky Gardiner Expressway.

I hope the new development is worked so that it opens up the Great Lake Ontario to the neighbourhood, a potentially magnificent lakeside community development that allows residents to walk, cycle or drive (through neighbourhood streets) down to the great parks being developed there.

This will correct a great wrong, a highway along the lake edge that divided this lake front neighbourhood from one of the largest fresh water lakes on the planet, for three generations.


Some Solutions?

It seems to me like it's standard operating procedure in the political bureaucracy and planning departments of the city to - instead of embracing the new communications tools of Web 2.0 and engaging the people - continue in the old vein that always seems to look like they're trying to sneak stuff past stakeholders while we aren't looking.

(ask any politician or bureaucrat, it is not possible for special interests to trump the peoples choice)

The inaccessible City of Toronto website is partly to blame - all the documentation of the public consultation on this case are nicely laid out there, but if you didn't know it was happening - why would you look? Everyone knows that going to the City of Toronto's website for anything requires a great investment of time - or in real English - a waste of time. It is the opposite of user friendly, it hides things really well.

The city should have used the TTC bus stop shelters in the area to advertise a brand-able set of keywords that gets you to the page at the cities website. Instead, the web page is buried inside a section called "Get Involved" (how many tens of thousand things can one 'get involved' with through City Hall I wonder?). Plus the document is titled in a very bureaucratic way - good for insiders - impossible to guess while Googling: "New Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) Maintenance & Storage Facility".

How's that for keywords?

Instead I suggest "Leslieville + TTC + Barn". And you arrive at that, by using social networking tools - like Twitter or Facebook or The Leslieviller chat feature - at the beginning of the consultation process; the community will tell you what the keywords are - and they'll love you for asking!



mh

Toronto: Eglington Avenue and Avenue Road to College St. and University Avenue

The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project

(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)

Tags: Avenue Road, bicycle, bike, biking, College, commute, Eglington Avenue, mapping, map, route, Toronto, University Avenue, wiki,

Cyclists who want to make their own map:

* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map)
* Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet

I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.

(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)

All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.



mh

Greenwood and Dundas St. East to King St. West and Spadina, via King St.

The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project

(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)

Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, commute, Dundas St. East, fast, Greenwood, King St. West, mapping, map, route, Spadina, Toronto, wiki,

Cyclists who want to make their own map:

* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map)
* Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet

I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.

(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)

All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.



mh

Toronto: Greenwood and Dundas St. East to King St. West and Spadina

The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project

(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)

Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, commute, Dundas St. East, Greenwood, King St. West, mapping, map, route, safe, Spadina, Toronto, wiki,

Cyclists who want to make their own map:

* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map)
* Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet

I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.

(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)

All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.



mh

Toronto: Royal York and Bloor to Humber Bay Park

The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project

(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)

Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, Bloor, Humber, mapping, map, path, route, recreational, Royal York, safe, Toronto, wiki,

Cyclists who want to make their own map:

* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map)
* Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet

I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.

(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)

All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.



mh

Dufferin and Bloor to the Core - FAST

The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project

(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)

Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, Bloor, commute, core, Dufferin, Dundas, efficient, fast, mapping, map, route, Toronto, wiki, Yonge,

Cyclists who want to make their own map:

* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map)
* Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet

I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.

(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)

All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.



mh

Toronto: Dufferin and Bloor to the Core

The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project

(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)

Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, Bloor, commute, core, Dufferin, efficient, mapping, map, route, safe, Toronto, wiki,

Cyclists who want to make their own map:

* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map)
* Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet

I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.

(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)

All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.



mh

Toronto Star Blogs Mentions The "Toronto Biking Route Mapping Wiki Project"

The Toronto Star's Web editor, Patrick Cain, included my Biking Toronto "Bicycling Route Mapping Wiki Project” in his "A roundup of maps elsewhere" section of the "Map of the Week" blog.




Patrick is also @TorontoStarMaps in Twitter. My name in lights...



Thanks Patrick! This exposure should get others contributing maps they've made for the "Bicycling Route Mapping Wiki Project”.

Patrick Cain has done some neat things with mapping applications, they're posted in the Toronto Star's blog Map of the Week:

Map of the Week: 2009 Toronto grow operations February 25, 2010.





"A roundup of maps elsewhere" blog

Toronto Star's "Map of the Week" blog

Maps elsewhere for March 10, 2010



mh

Toronto Bicycling Route Mapping Wiki Project

Introducing "The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project"

After some articles are 'put to bed' at FilterBlogs they get a Posthumous Longtail Aperitif; links to related articles published after my original post - towards a better user experience for you, the reader:

1) Posthumous Longtail Aperitif, Friday March 12, 2010: "Google Maps Added A Bike There Feature! 5 Ways It Could Change America" How adding safe, flat directions for cyclists could put us on a faster track towards car-free living. In Planet Green, by Jaymi Heimbuch San Francisco, CA, USA | Thu Mar 11, 2010.

2) Posthumous Longtail Aperitif, Sunday March 7, 2010: "News About the Toronto Bicycling Route Mapping Wiki Project” published in Michael Holloway's BicyclingToronto Blog.

A couple of days ago over at OpenStreetMap.org, I joined, and posted this:

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, I live in Toronto Canada. It's great that Open Street Map exists!

I've got a project in mind. Please let me know if this is happening already somewhere else...

Toronto is built to move cars around efficiently, but as more and more people switch to bicycles for various reasons, there is a need for efficient and safe bicycle route information.

I think the best way to create this resource is through a user generated bicycle route wiki. Users add their knowledge of good routes by sketching them on the map of the city.

I'm hoping this knowledge base will not only be used by cyclists but also by the City of Toronto Cycling Committee to help in planning and enlighten resource allocation debates.

Michael Holloway
Location: Leslieville, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Michael Holloway 8:16 pm on March 3, 2010

That day I reported my find to the folks at Biking Toronto Forums where we have been talking about the idea of a cycle route map - I posted this (click to enlarge):

Image of SET BUG group post


After a day of study at OpenStreetMap I realized I was in over my head - OpenStreetMap has a big learning curve. If I wanted to produce a database of cycle routes this spring I'd have to go in another direction. So, the next day I left this note in my thread in Biking Toronto's Blog "The Hub":

Yesterday I left a note here in the SET BUG group, about OpenStreetMap.org – a perfect medium, I said, to create a user generated bicycle route map for the GTA.

After a day of study at Open Street Map I found it to be too complex for my coding abilities.

The good news is, I went back to an application I’ve used before the Sport Distance Calculator and it has all the elements I was imagining for this project – except importability.

With the Sport Distance Calculator you can create route maps and add a paragraph that describes the route. The map is then saved with the creator’s own password (to secure it). Each map has it’s own URL.

Below are the URL’s for the four maps I made today. I posted them to Twitter with the #BikeTO list tag and a short description with some keywords – safe, efficient, fast, and commute – that describe what kind of route they are.

http://www.sportdistancecalculator.com/?id=1086#map
http://www.sportdistancecalculator.com/?id=1085#map
http://www.sportdistancecalculator.com/?id=1084#map
http://www.sportdistancecalculator.com/?id=1083#map

Some Ideas to take this further

Biking Toronto users can create maps of their favourite ‘commute’ or ‘safe’, ‘recreation’ or ‘touring’ routes (to name a few keywords I’ve thought might make the data base accessible) and then post the URL’s here or in a specific list in Twitter.

I think I can create a list of images with links in them to the Sport Distance Calculator’s server.

Or using Bit.ly link customizers we can label the URL’s by keyword to help users search in a list – posting them on a separate page in Biking Toronto will give you a search-able database through Google et al. a well.

Michael Holloway

Tags: bicycle, commute, fast, generated, recreation, routes, safe, touring, user, wiki

So, to plan 'B' - the idea of creating a list of images with links to the Sport Distance Calculator.

Below is an example of how a linked thumbnail would appear - towards a data base of bicycle routes for all- by all:

West End Toronto to St Clair and Yonge

Click on map to view an interactive version at SportDistanceCalculator.com

Tags: safe, efficient, commute, touring, recreation, bicycle, wiki, Biking, Toronto, route, map

Since I have created two more maps. My idea is to publish these maps separately under the tag 'Bike Route Wiki'. These maps will be crawled and listed by search engines and be available to all.


The next thing is to help others make their own maps:

Cyclists who want to make their own map:

• Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route...
• Then post the URL of the map in Twitter and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet

I will monitor the Twitter list - when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it in FilterBlogs - with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.
(If you do change your map - re-post in the Twitter list - so I'll be aware of it - as changes may effect the search label it gets.)


Other users who are using the data base will find themselves at the large interactive map at SportDistanceCalculator.com, where if they want, they can make their own map and post the link in Twitter with the list tag. Hopefully this activity will result in a gathering of people who know map making and wiki construction better than I.

At some point I would like to help create a real wiki - a synthesis of Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap - where all these various applications are connected and where cyclists create, tag, title and post for everyone to use.

In the mean time, we're building a usable data base of bicycle route maps, and I'm happily reading, and dallying about various wikis and mapping applications, teaching myself as I go.

OpenStreetMap.org/wiki.
OpenStreetMap Toronto city bike lanes map.
City of Toronto Bike Plan.
Image of Toronto Bike Paths in OpenStreetMap - Link.



mh

College Park to Victoria Park - South Route

The Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project

(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)

Sport Distance Calculator

Tags: midtown, Scarborough, south, safe, efficient.

All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.



mh

You Still Can't Get Topography on Google Maps - Almost.

New map added October 13, 2009 10:11 PM

Despite my fascination with the Google Street View of Toronto, it was time to go home; so I got on my bike and cycled from Dawes Rd. @ Taylor Creek to Leslieville, (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). At the one third mark all your work is done. After you reach the peak at Woodbine, it's downhill all the way.

(Click image for larger view)A route map I made with the Sport Distance Calculator grabbed with Screen Grab Pro Deluxe and edited with ACDSee photo editor.

I Scouted the route and used Google Maps (Regular) to learn what will be a regular path.

Here's a topographical picture of the ride from the Sport Distance Calculator Altitude application. Woodbine is at the 2.3 km point.



Also learned to gear up at danger points - so you can power out of breaking inertia's - and gear down just before you hit those speed bumps - then shift back to the gear you were in right away - seams to preserve energy.

Tucked in over the front end most of the way.

No stops @ 3:30 AM, EDT; Wind: nil; 17 minutes! Using the Sport Distance Calculator that's 24.67 km/hr. A very good average on a traffic grid.

Exhilarating!

Looking back, I wish Google had done night shots at Richmond St. and John...



mh