Buck said:I visited with the BikeMetro folks at the ESRI convention last
summer.
Quoted message said:The maps that are produced are not static "route" maps, they are
built
Quoted message said:dynamically using a geographic information system (GIS) which
utilizes
Quoted message said:user input to determine the route which best meets their
requirements.
Quoted message said:A collection of static routes is nice, but the bikemetro system
allows
Quoted message said:you to put in any address pair and find the route that best meets
your
Quoted message said:desires (steepest, flattest, lowest traffic, etc.).
The data needed for the system to work includes at least the
following:
Quoted message said:an elevation map; a complete road network (including directionality,
speed limits, traffic volumes, number of lanes, traffic control
devices, lane restrictions, etc.); and any of a number of frivolities
like local attractions, stores, background imagery, etc.
The system runs on a server with ArcIMS providing the mapping, a
database such as SQL server, and a web server for the website. It
requires considerable expertise to get the mapping portion working
properly.
If you want to set up static routes, that wouldn't be too difficult.
But what they have done is much more complex, is much more flexible,
and provides much better routes than a static system.
The rep was looking for other cities to partner with so they could
expand their program. Just keep in mind that it is expensive....
Am familiar with GIS. The graduating kids got to take classes in it
on computers that worked, while us old-timers (B.S. urban planning
1978) struggle through professional development sessions with every
excuse in the book. (Someone lost the key to the program, the key to
the computer lab room, visiting scholars are attempting to make it
work, we just got new I-Macs so we can't be bothered with this
DOS-based software, you name it...the regents refunded my tuition for
that class...but I digress.)
I don't believe I typed anything about setting up static routes.
"...any of a number of frivolities like local attractions, stores,
background imagery, etc." would seem to need to be input by a human,
not just have a layer optioned ON.
Living as I do in the area with the most in-depth GIS system in the
state, it seems to reason that a base-level BikeMetro program would be
a simple matter of importing data and then minor tweaking. Yeah, I
know, developers can write their own ticket.
And how expensive are we talking, and how come their main company
e-mail address bounces???
Inquiring minds want to know.
--Karen M.
who is really sick of the same old visiting cycle tourist queries about
how to get through/around metro Detroit and across the Detroit River
