The Across Canada Trails Foundation: Supporting the Free Garmin GPS Route Map

Request from Elizabeth May

2012-01-26T16:44:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Green Party of Canada
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:50:59 -0500
Subject: Request from Elizabeth May
To: Sam Vekemans

[1]

Dear Sam,

Never before in Canadian history has a governing party chosen to
vilify its citizens for the offence of commitment to our environment.
The Prime Minister has made it clear he regards the determination of
Canadians to oppose oil tankers on the BC coast and piping bitumen
crude out to the US or China as anti-Canadian activity.

The attack has included demonizing charities receiving money from US
charities to oppose the pollution of Big Oil. For years, Canadians
have donated generously to protect the Amazon or to save rare tigers.
But when other countries' citizens donate to help Canadians protect
our precious eco-systems, Stephen Harper acts as though the effort is
a threat to national security.

The tactics of the Harper Conservatives are chilling. They combine
suppression of dissent, with conflating the "public interest" with the
profits of foreign oil companies. We need to speak out clearly. The
national interest requires addressing the climate crisis, establishing
energy security and diversifying energy sources.

As the only elected leader of an Opposition party in the House of
Commons, I am very grateful for your help. Support now [2] will help
us spread the word and improve our ability to get the word out at the
grassroots.

Please take a moment to donate time (go to www.keepkyoto.ca/en [3]
to sign our petition) or write letters to the editors of newspapers
across Canada. Please make a donation [4]for as much as you can afford
to help us function after the significant reduction of our resources
due to the removal of public financing through the per vote subsidy.

Do not lose heart. We may be in the fight of our lives, but we can
revive democracy. We can restore Canada to the place of respect in the
world which we once held. It is possible to mobilize effectively and
force a change in the dangerous course Stephen Harper has set for our
nation.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Elizabeth May, O.C.

Member of Parliament, Saanich-Gulf Islands

[5] Donate Now [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

-------------------------
Green Party of Canada PO Box 997, Stn B
Ottawa, ON K1P 5R1
Opt-out of all mailings from
greenparty.ca >> [11]

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

No need to have a formal association, when you already have a community

2012-01-25T21:45:00.001-08:00

Here's an excelent post by Camron on the aust-nz osgeo mailing list.
It doesn't make sence when you don't need to deal with any funding...
the organization it's self requires paperwork,
but if it's all volunteers, and everyone just helps eachother, it's not needed.
Especially when the 'goto' is a mailing list. .. and the collective
members of the mailing list answer questions.

With Google+ it's easy, 'cause it's all with circles, and many can be
admins of pages.

It's amazing how much money is wasted, when it's not even needed.

cheers,
sam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: aust-nz-request@lists.osgeo.org
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:17 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Aust-NZ Digest, Vol 53, Issue 9
To: aust-nz@lists.osgeo.org

Send Aust-NZ mailing list submissions to
aust-nz@lists.osgeo.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/aust-nz
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Aust-NZ digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. What is the point in formalising OSGeo Local Chapters?
(Cameron Shorter)

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

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:30:55 +1100
From: Cameron Shorter
Subject: [Aust-NZ] What is the point in formalising OSGeo Local
Chapters?
To: OSGeo Discussions
Cc: "aust-nz@lists.osgeo.org"
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

OSGeo Discuss,

In Australia/New Zealand we have been discussing whether we should
legally "formalise" the Aust-NZ OSGeo chapter, and come to the
conclusion that we gain little, and loose a lot by becoming legal. Email
discussion here:
http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/aust-nz/2012-January/thread.html

Highlights:

On 3/01/2012 1:12 PM, Jody Garnett wrote:
> Where did we get to on this Aust-NZ local chapter stuff? As I recall
> we still need to register as a non profit; have a meeting with
> minuets, and set up a back account.
On 5/01/2012 11:06 AM, Jody Garnett wrote:
> The benefit would be an OSGeo local chapter; right now we have not
> "formed" as I understand it and are still listed as under construction
> on the OSGeo wiki.
On 6/01/2012 6:51 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> Right, so osgeo aust-nz would change from unofficial to official in
> the eyes of osgeo. I see very little benefit from that. I don't think
> we will attract any more osgeo converts from such a title. (If we need
> an official title, we can always call upon the greater OSGeo
> organisation).
>
> However, I do see a large drain on volunteer time. As soon as we
> require money to run, we need to worry about chasing people or
> organisations for membership fees, which is an unpleasant task which
> sucks up lots of valuable volunteer times.
On 6/01/2012 7:58 AM, mapbutcher wrote:
> In this modern age of 'meetups' do such chapters have a place? What
> does a chapter actually provide?
>
> The organic development of groups across the country in the past year
> has evidenced a growing interest and adoption of open source. It has
> not required a chapter to support this growth. There are adequate
> means of communication to support cross pollination between these
> groups IMO. We even managed to organize a [international foss4g]
> conference without a chapter if my memory serves me correctly
On 6/01/2012 8:49 AM, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
> I see greater benefit from a 'virtual' community, particularly
> considering the broad geographic region the we cover.
>
> We don't necessarily need an 'entity' as the 'go to' body for the
> Local Chapter. The mailing list and Wiki could perhaps suffice.
>
> As I see it we have a reasonably robust community as it is (if rather
> quiet at present).

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Volunteer work

2012-01-24T23:02:00.001-08:00

It's important to be doing volunteer work... no matter what field,
there is something that your good at, so it can be shared.

I'm doing a bunch of different volunteer works, and it doesn't need to
get recognized, 'cause it's just things that nneed to be done.

There are jobs that Governments, Companies, non-profits alike should
be doing.... but waiting for 'Someone else todo it' will never happen.

People are generally busy, and prefer todo tasks where they get paid
for it... or it doesn't get done.

This is what i find true with many people.... from all fields of work...

So if you can, volunteering in whatever capacity you can, is very recommended.

It's the law of returns, that is unexpected. ... & if you expect a
return, you will not get a return. Thats why you need todo more
volunteer work. :)

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Blackout - Save the Internet today

2012-01-18T23:34:00.001-08:00

FYI
please forward and share :)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dalia Hashad - Avaaz.org <avaaz@avaaz.org>
Date: Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 11:11 PM
Subject: Blackout - Save the Internet today
To: "acrosscanadatrails@gmail.com" <acrosscanadatrails@gmail.com>

Dear friends,

Today could be the day we save the free Internet. We've flipped the White House and Congress is on the back foot. Now Wikipedia's blackout has pushed the US web censorship bills to the top of the news. Today we've reached the tipping point. Let’s bury the bill for good. Click to sign the petition:

Today could be the day we save the free Internet.

The US Congress was poised to pass a law allowing officials to censor access to any website around the world. But after we delivered our 1.25 million strong petition to the White House, it came out against the bill and with public pressure at a boiling point even some bill backers are switching sides. Now, the Wikipedia - led blackout protest has rocketed the public campaign to the top of the news.

We are turning the tide. But the dark forces of censorship are trying to revive the bill right now. Let’s bury it for good today. Click to sign this emergency petition to save the Internet now and if you've signed already, to email, call, Facebook, and tweet Congressional and corporate targets. Then send this to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_action_center_b/?vl

The bill would make the US one of the worst Internet censors in the world -- joining the ranks of countries like China and Iran. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) would allow the US government to block any of us from accessing sites like YouTube, Google, or Facebook.

We got the White House to switch sides and now our global campaign and the growing public pressure is forcing Congress to abandon the bill. Last weekend, Senator Cardin, who cosponsored the legislation, announced he will vote against it! Then six prominent Republicans penned a letter requesting that the bill be shelved. Now the lower house vote is reportedly on ice.

Just days ago we were told it was impossible to stop the corporate censorship cabal, but now this is at a tipping point and amazingly we could win! Let’s stop US censorship today. Sign this emergency petition to save the internet now and forward it to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_action_center_b/?vl

This US legislation could infringe on all of our freedoms. But if we win, we will show that when people unite with one voice from all over the world we can stop the abuse of power anywhere. We have brought this bill back from the brink. Now, if we amplify our voices today, we can put an end to the most powerful Internet censorship threat that the world has ever seen.

With hope,

Dalia, Ian, Alice, Ricken, Diego, David, and the Avaaz Team

Sources:

White House statement:
https://secure.avaaz.org/whitehouse_internet_statement

Wikipedia joins web blackout in SOPA protest (BBC):
http://www.avaaz.org/bbc_sopa_wikipedia

American Censorship's fact sheet on SOPA:
http://americancensorship.org/infographic.html

Everything you need to know about Congress's online piracy bills in one post (Washington Post):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-congresss-online-piracy-bills-in-one-post/2011/12/16/gIQAz4ggyO_blog.html

SOPA and PIPA sponsors caving in to opposition (Talking Points Memo):
http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/sopa-and-pipa-sponsors-caving-into-opposition.php

White House will not support SOPA, PIPA (Huffington Post):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/white-house-sopa-pipa_n_1206347.html

Controversial online piracy bill ‘shelved’ until consensus is found (The Hill):
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/204167-sopa-shelved-until-consensus-is-found

Support the Avaaz Community!
We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.

Avaaz.org is a 10-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

This message was sent to acrosscanadatrails@gmail.com. To change your email address, language, or other information, contact us via this form. To unsubscribe, send an email to unsubscribe@avaaz.org or click here.

To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre

2012-01-11T18:41:00.001-08:00

FYI, FF (fun fact)

When writing to the Prime Ministers office, your just writing to the "Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre"
This is not an actual person, it's an Office.. think of it as a small company. Stephen Harper, is just a person, (an actor)... who speaks from speach writers and with a discussion "Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre" says something, (based on what the Executive advisers pay to say)....
... nothing is said without this office knowing about it... (or so as i gather).. and lots of info is disclosed

Also, all correspondence with "Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre" is public information.... so i'm making my responce public ...

Bold & Italicized for emphasis.

http://pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp?featureId=10

Privacy
The collection and use of personal information by this site is in accordance with the federal Privacy Act, which states that you have the right to access your personal information and request changes to incorrect information. The personal information will be used to respond to your inquiry as described in the Personal Information Bank PSU 902, 'Executive Correspondence' which is posted at infosource.gc.ca. Information may be disclosed without your consent for purposes not outlined here according to subsection 8(2) of the Privacy Act.

I sincerely doubt that my actions alone will do anything... however if "Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre" recieves a few thousand of these type of messages that i sent (not a form letter), as i doubt that does anything. ...
Perhaps it could make a difference?

& the known fact is, people DID actually vote for the Concervative party in the last election, falsly thinking that they would vote for the person and not the party they represent. ... because it's 2 choices mixed into 1. So if don't like what Harper is doing, but the PC party MP seems like he/she would do a great job, then you essentially tossed your own vote. ... because you don't understand how the system works.
MPs do not get a say in what happens ... how can they? ... the House of Commons works like a School gym sports game where everyone is yelling. ... and the benefit of everyone is that vocal cords were stretched :)

But on a serious note.... i wonder how many individuals actually take time to fill out the comment box? ... probably not that many...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Prime Minister/Premier ministre <>
Date: Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Subject: Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre
To: samvekemans@gmail.com
Cc: "Peter Kent, P.C., M.P." <>

Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister. In your e-mail, you raised an issue that falls within the portfolio of the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment.

Please be assured that your comments have been carefully noted. I have taken the liberty of forwarding your e-mail to Minister Kent. I am certain that the Minister will wish to give your views every consideration.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write.

P. Monteith
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondance
de la haute direction
pour le Cabinet du Premier ministre

>>> From : <samvekemans@gmail.com> Received : Jan 10 2012 12:45:52 AM >>>

Hi,
This is attempt #1 at trying to contact the Prime Ministers office.

I read in the newspapers/media that The Harper Government, has backed out
of Kyoto, and is in favour of setting Canada's own targets for emissions
reductions.
I'm just wondering what the specific reason is for giving tax credits and
allowing companies to emit however much they like into the atmosphere?

I understand that a private company is permitted todo what they like when
it's within a physical space, just like how a store in a shopping mall is
permitted to sell what they like in their space. And as long as they pay
rent to the mall, they are free todo what they wish (within reason). But
as soon as activities are taken outside their store. ie. if a toilet
overflows and it seeps down to the lower level of the mall, then it is of
concern to the mall management and they have the right to block activities
of the store because it's interfering with other stores.

A factory who has a smoke stack. should really obay the same rules. Where
anything that they emit outside of their permitted business area, should
apply to the height of where activities are permitted.
Houses are not permitted to be built 2x bigger then neighbors, and they are
expected to conform to what the area wants.

So yes, there is economic benefit to killing the environment for future
generations... and yes, there is benifit for polluting the waters of
Athabaska river flowing to the north. .. and yes there is benefit for
killing wildlife to make room for a pipeline which historically is known to
cause more problems.

Why does the federal government not say 'Hey, we can support total wind
power production, and make Saskatchewan power all of North America' ... i
think that there should be greater emphasis on alternative energy
sources. .... and let the Gas price to up, so then there will be
incentive to purchase less gas guzzling vehicles. ... i do notice that as
the price at the pump goes up, more people become interested in Electric
vehicle and better efficiency, but then when the price goes back down, it's
less important.

It would also be great if the elections rules were changed, so then there
would be a 2nd option on the ballet, so that everyone can vote in a MP as
well as get to vote for the Prime Minister.... since it's only the 1 MP
that gets to talk with the other world leaders.

It's also a big concern as to why there is closer ties to the USA, since it
should be put to a national vote on some issues. .. and i think that 1
person shouldn't be permitted to make those decisions. ... Or perhaps
i'm wrong, and not reading enough of the variety of news sources available?

It'll be interesting to see if i get an automated response, or a form
letter response, or someone actually reads this note and writes a
response. I'm happy to clarify & make specific questions that can be
directly answered if needed. ... and if my mailing address is need for a
response i can provide that too.

Regards,
Sam Vekemans
Victoria, BC

---
Across Canada Trails - Beyond 2017 - The National Trails Network
Victoria, BC Canada

Twitter: @Acroscscanada
Blog: http://acrosscanadatrails.posterous.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sam.vekemans
Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com<https://joindiaspora.com/people/44143>
Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Productive use of Volunteer time #CommonMap #Volunteers

2012-01-11T05:12:00.001-08:00

Hi,
For those interested, CommonMap is looking for volunteers to help
make the map great!
For those interested to make map that is INCREDABLY usefull for
everyone, CommonMap is that map.
Please contact me and I can share the task list that needs to be done :)

Thanks!
Sam Vekemans
Victoria, BC
a
CommonMap Fan :)

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

A vote of no confidennce for the Federal government 308 members - volunteers needed

2012-01-06T22:14:00.001-08:00

Hi all,
I'm looking for volunteers to help make a detailed list of all of the
308 mp's of Canada and ask them if they would support a no-confidence
vote for the current government, so to make a new election in the
fall.
If those are interested, please comment below.
Thanks,
Sam

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

online vs. offline

2012-01-05T21:45:00.001-08:00

Because technology advances so fast, the offline world has not kept up
with it's pace.
I think that this year, there will be some more changes.
The fact that facebook is blocked from Municipal city hall offices,
shows that facebook is not fully understood.

It's a commo tool to communicate quickly, it's faster than email...
but only when everyone is using it.
If 1 person in the office is not using facebook, then communications
doesn't work.

It's like everyone has their own email address, and before that,
everyone has their own phone extention #.
That allows for communication.

The reason there is sometimes a loudspeaker, is because if not
everyone has a cellphone, it's not a common denominator.

An efficient company, would allow everyone to have their own
cellphone, and have their own facebook connection.

... but the key to it is that EVERYONE in the office needs to be on
the same system.
The more people, if the entire company (all employees) has the same
system, then it work

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New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2012-01-05T09:48:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - My Kind of Music with Martin Conroy - 4th January '12 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - My Kind of Music with Martin Conroy - 4th January '12" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-my-kind-of-music-with-martin-conroy-4th-january-12/

via Mixcloud

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Looking for office space to rent in Victoria, BC (night hours)

2012-01-02T13:31:00.001-08:00

I'm looking for office space that i can rent for 1 night a month,
where i can host a online radio show. It needs to be sometime from
10pm to 10am because of time zone differences.

I know that there are a few office centres in the area, i just need to
contact them and see.

But i post here, as this is a good business oportunity, if you have an
office space that is unused as night time, you can rent out the space
for the time it's not used.
Obviously, you'll need to go through an interview and sign a usage
agreement, and if the building manager agree's it should be a good way
to get a little income, during unused office hours.

Thanks,
Sam

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2012-01-02T12:13:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - The Great Outdoors with Breanden O'Scannaill 29th December '11 v2 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - The Great Outdoors with Breanden O'Scannaill 29th December '11 v2" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-the-great-outdoors-with-breanden-oscannaill-29th-december-11-v2/

via Mixcloud

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New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2012-01-02T11:51:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - The Great Outdoors with Breanden O'Scannaill - 29th December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - The Great Outdoors with Breanden O'Scannaill - 29th December '11" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-the-great-outdoors-with-breanden-oscannaill-29th-december-11/

via Mixcloud

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Why redundency is a good thing but sharing is better

2012-01-02T09:20:00.001-08:00

It's certainly OK to make money for services you provide.

However, when the information is taken from government, it should NOT
be an exclusive government contract where 1 private compay gets access
to the raw data.

This raw data should be made freely available, so many companies and
organizations can do what they wish & make cool things.
It should not be sold exclusively to 1 company.

Information like:
- postal code data
- city maps
- city services/ultilities maps
- future planning maps
-historical maps
- and statistics and survay notes

it should all be free so then everyone can access it and be creative &
put it in a form that people will learn to like.

my 2 cents,
Sam Vekemans
Victoria, BC

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2011-12-30T20:51:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - Michael O'Toole & Tom Hannon Tribute Concert - 25th December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - Michael O'Toole & Tom Hannon Tribute Concert - 25th December '11" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-michael-otoole-tom-hannon-tribute-concert-25th-december-11/

via Mixcloud

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New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2011-12-29T21:42:00.001-08:00

Des Moines Radio Show with Ron Paul - Des Moines, Iowa - Thursday December 29, 2011 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Des Moines Radio Show with Ron Paul - Des Moines, Iowa - Thursday December 29, 2011" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/des-moines-radio-show-with-ron-paul-des-moines-iowa-thursday-december-29-2011/

via Mixcloud

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Bike Shops Across Canada - @GoogleMaps and @Foursquare merging

2011-12-29T05:00:00.001-08:00

I now have this cool task that is available for some cool volunteers :)

The GoogleMap contains a bunch of Bike Shops that i've found across Canada, but now i need to add all of these places onto Foursquare. Some of the bike shops need to be manually entered into Foursquare, while others are already available, and just need to be added to the list.

Hopefully some people can help out :)

Cheers,
Sam Vekemans

---
Across Canada Trails - Beyond 2017 - The National Trails Network
Victoria, BC Canada

Twitter: @Acrosscanada
Blog: http://acrosscanadatrails.posterous.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sam.vekemans

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Across Canada Trails - Beyond 2017 The National Trails Network (Google Calendar)

2011-12-29T02:44:00.001-08:00

For anyone who wants to add their local events onto the Calendar, all you need todo is ask and you can get access to editing this calendar. I just need you email address to add you as a contributor.

Here's the code to add it onto a website.

The idea here is simple, it's a place to show where and when all of the important National Trails Network events are. ie. Local Trails Groups AGMs and Events from Across the country can be posted in it.

Cheers,
Sam

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

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New favorite on Mixcloud.com

2011-12-29T00:15:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - The Food Show with Janet O'Toole - 22nd December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

Just favorited "Connemara Community Radio - The Food Show with Janet O'Toole - 22nd December '11" by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud.com

via Mixcloud

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New favorite on Mixcloud.com

2011-12-29T00:13:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - My Kind of Music with Martin Conroy - 28th December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

Just favorited "Connemara Community Radio - My Kind of Music with Martin Conroy - 28th December '11" by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud.com

via Mixcloud

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2011-12-29T00:12:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - My Kind of Music with Martin Conroy - 28th December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - My Kind of Music with Martin Conroy - 28th December '11" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-my-kind-of-music-with-martin-conroy-28th-december-11/

via Mixcloud

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New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2011-12-28T04:40:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - The Food Show with Janet O'Toole - 22nd December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - The Food Show with Janet O'Toole - 22nd December '11" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-the-food-show-with-janet-otoole-22nd-december-11/

via Mixcloud

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Silent stories from the Magpie

2011-12-26T22:20:00.001-08:00

The Magpie.

Everyone has a story to sell, and the silence of the Magpie sitting in
the tree represents a lost story that can not longer be told.

Some migh hear the Magpie and think of it a 'noise' and others know
that 'noise' can be like the static of a radio. Where it's the
reciever, which can take in this sound, and produce a message.

The Magpie can fly without borders, and share idea's to other magpies
all over the world.

You can watch the call of the Magpie, where if it is a significant
bird, there will be thousands of ''Murders'' who gather from different
families to share the news.

Each Magpie is unique, and can produce a wide variety of sounds, and
mimic other birds.

Do a little homework, you'' see that the Articles under ''Crow'' and
''Magpie'' and ''Raven'' needs to be merged, and they are not
complete.

There is alot to learn from the Animal Kingdom, stuff that gets
overlooked, but is known by those who do the research & gather facts.

Otherwise its just.

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Green Canada Vert - December 2011 #gpc #cdnpoli

2011-12-23T21:36:00.001-08:00

For those not yet on the mailing list to get updates, there's alink on
the Green Party website to sign up :-)

Happy Holidays!
Sam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Green Party of Canada
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:51:45 -0500
Subject: Green Canada Vert - December 2011
To: Sam Vekemans

[1]

LOOKING AHEAD

By Elizabeth May

As we all prepare for the holidays, it is customary to look back at
the year that was. I am not able to do that. I cannot pretend the
events of the last two weeks belong in another part of my brain. Read
more [2]

UPDATE FROM THE HILL
Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands

Season's Greetings from Elizabeth May. [3]

Read more [4]about how one Green MP is making a difference on
Parliament Hill.

* Follow Elizabeth in the House [5]
* Watch Elizabeth in the House [6]
* Get a sneak peak of the new MP website, which is launching in
January [7]

ACTION ALERT: KEEPKYOTO.CA

We have just one year to urge all members of parliament to shelve
plans to withdraw from Kyoto. As we close in on nearly 4,000
signatures we need your help to spread the word. Throughout 2012 stay
tuned for new developments as we continue to expand our campaign to
Keep Kyoto.

Sign the petition and share with your friends today! [8]

Opinion Poll

What issues do you think will be the most important in 2012?

a. Climate Change
b. Economy
c. Government Transparency & Democratic Renewal
d. Social Justice
Vote Now! [9]

Check out the results of last month's poll:

What is the most important issue to come from the Occupy protests in
Canada? [10]

Issue Campaign Updates

This year we embarked on a variety of important issue campaigns:

* Usage Billing Broadband
* Omnibus Crime Bill
* Democracy and the Media
* CBC and Radio-Canada
* Asbestos

Read about what each campaign was able to achieve with your help!
[11]

GPC CONVENTION 2012

After a historic election in 2011 we have a lot to celebrate at our
2012 Convention.We hope you will join us in Sidney, British Columbia.
Save the date, 17-19 August 2012, and sign up to receive the latest
details on Green Party Convention 2012.
Sign-up for Convention Updates [12]

UPCOMING EVENTS

Elizabeth May on Air Farce Not New Year's Eve Special on CBC [13]
1 January 2012, CBC Television

Global Greens Congress 2012 [14]
29 March-1 April 2012, Dakar, Senegal

11th GPC Biennial General Meeting [15]
17-19 August 2012, Sidney, BC

YEAR IN REVIEW: FINANCE - HAPPY NEW YEAR TO MARK CARNEY AND THE
OCCUPIERS

By Ard Van Leeuwen

During 2011 economies around the world continued the current roller
coaster ride kicked off by the 2008 financial crises. Reports of
continued sluggish performance. Perhaps it was all summed up best by
the Occupy Movement. Read more [16]

YEAR IN REVIEW: HUMAN RIGHTS

By Joe Foster

2011 has been a year of human rights abuses, both here in Canada and
around the world. While there are glimmers of hope, such as the Arab
Awakening, even those changes remain questionable as to their
outcomes. Generally speaking, however, it has been a disappointing
year, especially for human rights in Canada. Read more [17]

YEAR IN REVIEW: PEACE AND SECURITY

BY ELLEN MICHELSON

Furthering GPC peace and security efforts has, for a few months,
been combined with my volunteering full-time for Elizabeth in her
parliamentary office. Read more [18]

ORGANIZING TEAM: LOOKING AHEAD TO 2012

By Johan Hamels With 4 years until the next federal election, the
organizing team will reach out to you during 2012 to grow the party
locally. Their focus will be on training, action and other assistance
needed to help to be the party where local groups and individual
members are at the heart of our action. Read more [19]

YEAR IN REVIEW: YOUNG GREENS

By Justin Reist 2011 has been an incredible year for the Young
Greens. The federal election allowed us to establish ourselves as an
effective body for mobilizing direct action, and we are continuing to
build off these successes and are excited to be moving into new,
exciting territory. Read more [20]

REMEMBERING ROD-PAUL MARTIN

By Adriane Carr

On Monday December 12 we lost a wonderful colleague, dedicated Green
and great friend within our party: Rod-Paul Martin. Rod-Paul was my
executive assistant, working with me in our Green Party office in
Vancouver for the last three years. Read more [21]

Greens in the News

Global Greens Press Conference at COP 17 Read more [22]

Green elected to City Council in Canada's Third Largest City Read
more [23]

Greens win a record 14 seats in New Zealand parliament Read more
[24]

Elizabeth May honoured with the 2011 EVE Award
On December 14th, Elizabeth was awarded Equal Voice's 2011 EVE Award
for her promotion of women in public life. The event was co-hosted by
Equal Voice and the Canadian Club of Ottawa.

Watch Elizabeth\'s speech. [25]

[26] Donate Now [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]

-------------------------
Green Party of Canada PO Box 997, Stn B
Ottawa, ON K1P 5R1
Opt-out of all mailings from
greenparty.ca >> [32]

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Connemara Community Radio - #mixcloud playlist

2011-12-23T18:47:00.001-08:00

You can now listen to great Irish music on mixcloud.com These are recordings from live local radio

Connemara Community Radio

Share on Facebook to vote this

"Best Playlist of 2011"

This is the playlist of past broadcasts from 87,8 & 106.1 FM Connemara Community Radio

Please check website for the latest recordings
http://www.connemarafm.com/audiopage.html

<div></object><div style="clear:both; height:3px;"></div><p style="display:block; font-size:12px; font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin:0; padding: 3px 4px; color:#02a0c7;">Connemara Community Radio<span> by </span>Sam Vekemans<span> on </span> Mixcloud</p><div style="clear:both; height:3px;"></div></div>

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2011-12-23T18:37:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - The Mickey Mack Hour with Himself - 21st December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - The Mickey Mack Hour with Himself - 21st December '11" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-the-mickey-mack-hour-with-himself-21st-december-11/

via Mixcloud

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Emergency preparedness --- FYI an earthquake WILL happen sometime within the next 100 years

2011-12-23T02:53:00.001-08:00

Yesterday there was a big earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand again, it seems like mother nature doesn't like all this fracking going on, and says "What the Frack!? Why are humans messing it up?"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/8974785/New-Zealand-earthquake-dozens-injured-in-Christchurch.html

So anyway, its a reminder that there will be an earthquake on the west coast sometime & it's important to prepare for it.

According to the local city website, there was a biggie back in 1964

http://www.saanich.ca/sep/prepared/ways/facts.html

Know the Facts

Each day we go through our lives without a disaster occurring provides us with affirmation that the likelihood of a disaster affecting us as individuals is low. It is important to remember that disasters have occurred in our region that would have a tremendous impact on our lives if they were to happen today. For example, it is not a matter of if we will experience a major earthquake it is a matter of when.

Here are some facts about recent events in our Region:

1946 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred near Courtenay. Structures were damaged as far away as North Vancouver.
1949 - A magnitude 8.1 earthquake occurred off the north coast of B.C. It was felt as far away as Jasper Alberta.
1962 - Hurricane Freda struck the coast of British Columbia. In Victoria, the winds reached 145 km/h: seven deaths were attributed to the storm.
1964 - One of the world’s largest measured earthquakes occurred in Alaska. Within four hours a 7-metre (22 foot) tsunami hit Port Alberni.
1996 - A heavy snowfall paralyzed the Capital Region for seven days. Structures collapsed and many people with medical needs were unable to get help.
2003 - A Provincial State of Emergency was declared when 2518 forest fires broke out across B.C.

******
For the survival kits, the District of Saanich has some ideas,
http://www.saanich.ca/sep/prepared/ways/index.html

7 Ways to 7 Days
Water - 4 litres of water per person, per day (2 litres for drinking, 2 litres for hygiene and cooking). Don’t forget your pets!
Food - Set aside food that won’t spoil, such as canned food, energy bars and dried fruits. Replace once a year prior to expiry. Don’t forget a can opener!
Flashlight and Radio - Wind-up radios and flashlights are essential
First Aid Kit - Make your own or buy one. Keep it with your other emergency supplies.
Special Items - include prescription medications, infant formula, pet food and equipment for people with disabilities.
Other Essential Items - Cash in smaller bills, candles, matches.
Assemble Your Supplies and Your Family’s Emergency Plan - Prepare a plan including out-of-area contact information and a family re-unification plan. Store supplies in a suitable container.

*****
It's not the best list, cities have known allergies from getting info from other cities, it's not their fault.

Here's some info from Wellington New Zealand, (the place i'd like to live in at some point).

***

http://www.wellington.govt.nz/services/emergencymgmt/preparedness/survival.html

Prepare for an Emergency - Survival Items

Family with their survival items

Prepare for an emergency by putting together some survival items or buy a Grab&Go kit, and stock up on drinking water.

Emergency Survival Items

In a major emergency, your family may need to survive at home without help for a few days. Your family should have these survival items:

water: 3 litres per person per day for at least 3 days, but more is better
food: 3 days' supply of food that will keep such as tinned food and dried fruit
alternative cooking source and utensils - BBQ, can opener, knives

clothing and sturdy shoes - be prepared for wind, rain and sun
emergency blanket
important family documents
medications, baby supplies
soap, wet wipes, toilet paper
torch with spare batteries

radio with spare batteries
fire extinguisher
notebook and pen

Grab&Go Emergency Kits

We've put together a backpack full of useful items and some first-aid supplies as, in an emergency, you may need to quickly leave your home, work or vehicle with little or no warning. There's room in the backpacks for you to add your jacket, shoes, food and essential medicines.

Keep a Grab&Go kit under your desk at work and in the boot of your car. The kits cost $60 (plus delivery):

Buy now

You can also buy these kits at the Council's Service Centre, 101 Wakefield Street.

The backpack kit contains:

dynamo-powered torch and AM/FM radio with siren
multifunction knife (with can opener)
5-in-1 survival whistle (whistle, compass, signal mirror, waterproof match holder and flint)
drink bottles and light sticks

emergency blanket and rain poncho
dust masks and leather work gloves
water purification tablets
deck of playing cards
zip-lock plastic bag for important documents
Back to Top of Page.

civil defence check-list brochure
survival instructions
first-aid instructions
accident evaluation form
tweezers, small scissors and safety pins
resuscitation mask
alcohol pads and antiseptic swabs

disposable vinyl gloves
fabric dressing strip - wound plaster
bandages, sterile pad and first aid tape roll

For more information about the size of the backpack and what it contains see:

Grab&Go Emergency Kit Flyer (598Kb PDF)

Water Containers

Water supplies could be affected in a disaster so it is essential you have a supply of stored water. You need to have at least 3 litres of drinking water for each person for at least 3 days. You will also need water for cooking and washing.

The Council sells 10-litre plastic emergency water containers at cost to the public for $5 each.

The containers are made from a durable clear plastic that is recyclable. The bottles are designed for easy pouring and you can fill them to the top so that no air is trapped - helping to keep the water fresh.

You can buy these containers at the City Service Centre at 101 Wakefield Street. They are also available at local branch libraries and selected community events.

If you want a large quantity of water containers or want to provide them at a community event, phone the Wellington Emergency Management Office on (04) 460 0650.

Related Links

Emergency Management Publications
Emergency Water

Service Centres

*****

My own logical conclusion is that you really need to take the whole situation into account. In this area there is a VERY large nuber of seniors, and many many students, where both groups needs assistance.

According to the Saanich Emergency Program (SEP) from

***
http://www.saanich.ca/sep/index.html

Welcome to the District of Saanich Emergency Program

The Saanich Emergency Program (SEP) is a division of the Saanich Fire Department that provides the citizens of Saanich with a response to emergencies, major emergencies and disasters. SEP provides for the continuity of government and the preservation of life and property through a coordinated response by elected officials, municipal departments, volunteer services and such outside agencies as may be able to assist during a major emergency or disaster.

Saanich has 100 municipal staff who have received Emergency Operations Centre training. Our Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), will act as a 24-hour "mission control" during a large scale emergency.

170 Saanich volunteers routinely train and exercise to provide support to the EOC as well as provide community support throughout the year. They are involved in the program under four components.

Emergency Social Services (ESS) and ESS Level One
Search and Rescue (SAR)
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Team (COMMS)
Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program (NEPP)

For more information about the Saanich Emergency Program and volunteer opportunities check out our site. If you have any questions or would like further information, please call us at:

Saanich Emergency Program
760 Vernon Avenue
Victoria BC V8X 2W6

E-mail: SEP@Saanich.ca
Phone: (250) 475-7140
Fax: (250) 475-5556

*****

I post this, because, before actually looking at it, i had no idea that there are 4 designated emergency shelter areas.

***
http://www.saanich.ca/sep/municipal/receptionCentres.html

Reception Centres and Shelters

Saanich's Recreation Centres are the designated primary emergency reception centres (shelters) in the event that residents need shelter, food, clothing, etc., following a major disaster.

Gordon Head Recreation Centre, 1744 Feltham Road

Cedar Hill Recreation Centre, 3220 Cedar Hill Road

Saanich Commonwealth Place, 4636 Elk Lake Drive

GR Pearkes Recreation Centre, 3100 Tillicum Road

Residents should monitor local radio stations for emergency public announcements stating where shelters are located.

Saanich Emergency Social Services volunteers will set up one or all of these centres, as needed, to help care for victims and to provide a registration and inquiry service.

The Saanich Emergency Program has "Emergency Use of Facility Agreements" in place with a variety of other organizations within our Community. These Secondary Facilities will be used to supplement our Primary Reception Centres in the event of a widespread emergency/disaster.

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Non-profits not leveraging facebook/Google+/mailing lists

2011-12-22T21:07:00.001-08:00

One of the interesting things i have found with non-profits that i
have encountered, is that there needs to be something else, which is
more than just physical meetings.

All members of the foundation should be accountable to the general
public when questions are asked, and should be open to more
participation of volunteers..

The Trans Canada Trail Foundation tops the list as the most top-down
organization, who is secretive.

When making a non-profit work, there needs to be free access to information..

Facebook is the ideal place to connect with all members of the group,
and to promote the physical meetings.

Information travels faster than the organization cann handle, so it's
easy to know whats going on, faster than the actual non-profit, so
publically sharing everything that you know, and publically engaging
everyone interested is, the best way to go.

Using facebook as a Common Medium, for everyone, does seem effective.

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2011-12-22T20:29:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - Sounds A Bit Irish - 11th December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - Sounds A Bit Irish - 11th December '11" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-sounds-a-bit-irish-11th-december-11/

via Mixcloud

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

New favorite on Mixcloud.com

2011-12-22T03:34:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - Lift The Latch with Helen King & Michael O'Neill - 21st December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

Just favorited "Connemara Community Radio - Lift The Latch with Helen King & Michael O'Neill - 21st December '11" by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud.com

via Mixcloud

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

New Upload to Mixcloud.com

2011-12-22T02:48:00.001-08:00

Connemara Community Radio - Lift The Latch with Helen King & Michael O'Neill - 21st December '11 by Sam Vekemans on Mixcloud

I just uploaded "Connemara Community Radio - Lift The Latch with Helen King & Michael O'Neill - 21st December '11" to www.mixcloud.com, please listen now at: http://www.mixcloud.com/samvekemans/connemara-community-radio-lift-the-latch-with-helen-king-michael-oneill-21st-december-11/

via Mixcloud

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

How to build the National Hiking Trail of Canada

2011-12-20T23:03:00.001-08:00

Here's how to build the National Hiking Trail of Canada.

Step 1: Make a list

We need to make a clear list of all of the people that are currently
involved, or need to be involved in order to make this a reality.

Step 2:
Allign the contact details of everyone, and place all this information
on a spreadsheet.
Some people prefer
-in person
-telephone
-cellphone
-snail mail
-messenger person (seriously)
-email
-skype
-facebook
-twitter
-g+
-web form
-IRC chat
-conference call

Step 3:
From the list above, find out which is the most common form on communication

Step 4:
Draw out & create a KML track showing the proposed route

Step 5:
Contact everyone on the list, and get their ideas to make it better.

Step 6:
Share this information to everyone without restriction.

Step 7:
Repeat step 4 and 5 on a yearly basis and update step 6 regarly.

That's all.

Posted via email from Hike Across Canada

ronpaul just uploaded a video #ronpaul2012

2011-12-18T05:25:00.001-08:00

FYI for all the Americans who are reading this post. Here are details
about supporting Ron Paul!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: YouTube
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:04:55 +0000
Subject: ronpaul just uploaded a video
To: canadarideforclimate

ronpaul just uploaded a video
Ron Paul: Phone From Home Our Secret Weapon

Call the Hotline for assistance: (724) 444-7444 then use the code: 115224#
when prompted.
http://phone.ronpaul2012.com - Start today and start making a difference!
It is very easy to do. Register and verify your phone and email address,
and start making calls in minutes.
Facebook Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/phonefromhome
You can unsubscribe from notifications for this user by visiting the
subscription center:

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

How to make money with The magic of sharing - Copyright Attribution

2011-12-15T22:39:00.001-08:00

There is a delema about how to still make a living (pay for food and
shelter) and be of benifit to everyone at the same time.

For a non-profit foundation, the solution is to sell the brand, but
not the actual product. You can give the product away for free.
By selling the brand, are saying ''hey, i'm doing this work for free,
and i too have expences. By purchaising brand-items, you can support
the author, so then more focus can be put onto the product.

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

For those of you who work in the Alberta Oil rigs. #myrant

2011-12-15T18:29:00.001-08:00

For those of you who work in the Alberta Oil rigs.
How can you tell them that what they are doing it killing the environment?    Yes, it is true that the world runs on oil.   However, the world can change.   It's a difficult change, but must be needed.
Imagine this.   If Gas was taxed like cigarettes, and the price was set to 3.00/liter instead of the current 0.979 as I saw it today at Petro-Canada. Then all of a sudden, this would change the attitude of "Oh i need to get a gas-guzzler vehicle" then; all of a sudden, those more efficient vehicles that are available will become MORE available, and more people will chose to puchaise those instead.
We have found out that the Minister of Environment Peter Kent, (or Stephen Harper) does not care for the environment, but more so is concerned about the Alberta Tar sands and the amount of income that is made and wealth generated from that source.
Yes, it's true that the way Canada currently is funded, meeting Kyoto is a VERY expensive process.

So for you that I have just unfriended, I apologize. I'm sure your great and very tallented at what you do. I would rather pay more for gas tax and more to take the bus and more to fly in an airplane. As this will make bus's more efficient and the plane engines more efficient because of this demand.

There are a very few jobs... like the Truck drivers who transport the Oil, that if they decided to strike (although they cannot, because they are not unionized) they can stop the movement of refined oil. Those who operate the big machinery, or those mechanics to fix the machines. If they decide to strike, it has a domino effect on the entire process.

We all have choices to make, we can get a job wherever we want. (and yes, it's a job to just find work). Do we do what we know is right? Having a lower paid job that will make the family struggle... but knowing that the job that is being done is helpful. A cleaner who keeps the bus clean, so it is nice for everyone who uses the bus. Or a job picking up trash so then it looks nice and promotes a clean environment. A job that moves boxes around a warehouse. that gets goods to where it needs to be. A tourguide showing people what the area is all about. A libriarian who organizes books and shows people where the informaiton is, and answers questions.

Or collecting a wellfare check, because you are trying to find a job, or have a kid and need to support a kid while in between jobs.

Some say that high taxes are bad... paying more tax so then you help the government provide for those things needed. If your not making that much money, you aren't paying that much tax, and you get it back at the end of the year when you file your income tax.

Shopping local, and changing your buying habits. Do you really need to get a mortgage for a house? When you could instead rent a smaller place, and stay at home. If you have empty rooms in the house you can rent those out to people who need it.
Some say that they "need" a car, however, it's because of the choice they made to live where they do that there is no other options.

Anyway, this rant will be put to a blog post. It's just upsetting when I see on Facebook that people are accepting jobs that knowingly are hurting the environment. Maybe it's just me. I have a low paying job that I tell myself I like. But i enjoy doing things for free (my mapping work) as i know that it helps everyone. But I also now that in order to have nice things, it does take more money. So this is a very difficult choice to make.

With all of my tweeting and forwarding of what the Harper Government is NOT doing, and trying to promote Ron Paul for the USA president. Many people do not want this. Because it means that there is a change away from the comfortable, to the uncomfortable. But it's these small steps, that everyone can make that will make a difference.

So my hopes is that those who are against what Elizabeth May of the Green Party of Canada, and Ron Paul are promoting, that you will comment on my post and engage in some discussions. Your free to try and connect with local politions, and question the status quo (as i am doing). Yes it takes time. It's easier not to vote, and it's much easier to think that you, as an individual cannot make a difference.

What I'm saying is that you CAN, as an individual make a difference. The other day i saw a news article from the Times Columnist that had a broken link, and was about Saanich having a survay, where the article didn't even link to the survay. So i contacted the article author and pointed it out. Small things, but if everyone can do these small things, it makes a VERY big difference for everyone. The elected officials are supposed to represent the people. But if the people do not speak out, then these elected people cannot know what the concerns are, and use their own guess as to what the people want.

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Hostels Across Canada - Foursquare champion

2011-12-14T14:39:00.001-08:00

Which hostel in Canada that is a member of Backpackers Hostels Canada,
is shown to have the most checkins of all?

Any guesses?
I'll have the resaults in a few months, as i'n slowely updating the spreadsheet.

cheers,
sam

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Custom Property Maintenance - Business outline, (feel free to copy and use in your area)

2011-12-13T20:37:00.001-08:00

Custom Property Maintenance is a company that I started up and had for 4 years while living in Mississauga.

Here i'll freely share the concept and how this same thing can be done anywhere.

The product is 'Basic Property Maintenace' the stuff that home owners usually could do themesleves, but don't have time, or perhaps they can longer do the yard work and home tasks that are needed.

So I filled in where it's just below what a landscaper would be hired todo, and just above what the home owner would expect their kids to help out with.

The demographics is usually an older neighbourhood with homes in from 700k and up to 1million. (cdn dollars).

What i did was simply use my own bicycle and created 1/4 size fliers printed on cardstock and hand delivered the fliers to houses in the area that i wanted todo work.

The area was set to a geographical size that is small enough that it's actually possible to walk to the properties, but a bicycle is better. The idea is that it's better to concentrate on a small area so then when your doing multiple properties in a day, you can get from 1 to the other easily, and you can easily go see other properties when done work.

I kept with the familar cardstock flier, and hand delivered them out a few times during a season. The numbers were like this. 200 fliers would give a return of 2 possible connections, with 1 being an actual job.

Every time i got a call from a prospective client, i marked down their location (using reverse phone directory, it's easy to get the street address), and placed that marker on a really big wall map.

I used GoogleMaps and printed out full map segments on regular paper, then cut the pages to squares and put all the maps up on a big (actully a cardboard box folded out and tacked up to the wall does just as good a job as a cork board.

For each call, i put a flat push pin on the map at that location. This proved that there was some interest.

For each actual client (doing some work for people), i put a different type of push pin on the map to indicate that a job was done. Then for the periodic clients, i put a different type of push pin, and for the recording (regular weekly jobs like grass cutting or weeding or general yard cleanup) a different pushpin.

I used a highlighter to highlite the streets that i handed out the fliers to, so then i would keep track of it that way. Over time, I expanded the area.

Once i had the regular weekly clients, i then had some kind of 'stable' income, knowing that I would be called each week. (or not even called just schedualed) to keep their property looking tidy. I was then able to start hiring sub contractors (helpers).

I set it up as sub-contractors, where i would just call them when needed, and if they were available, then they could work. I had a growing list of about 12 or so people that i could call on & knowing what there schedual is like.

The downside of the business was that i could not leave the area, as i always need to be around since the helpers are there to ease the work-load, but not there to make me do nothing, and just get paid.

I kept with the focus of not actually owning any tools.

Why should I have my own tools when each home owner already has a garage/shed full of tools, like a lawn mower. So i just used their own lawn mower and they filled it up with gas (although i prefered the electric lawn mower). And I used their own leaf blower and rakes etc.

The reason for this, was that i could produce the quality that the client wanted.. and not the 'standard quality' that the traditional landscapers would provide.. but rather be 'customized' to exactly what each homeowner wanted for their property.

At 1st i used a Pager to be contacted, and then i got a cellphone (remember that this was 2002 when most people didn't have advanced cellphones)

I had a Palm Tungsten W, where I could take a photo of each property and add that as a contact photo. This was really handy, having my schedual all in the same place (this was before Google Calendar and all that).

Over time i did prefer to have my own better quality gloves (for things that needed it) and my own set of pruners as i got better at it, and most people didn't have the best quality pruners.

I also visited the local garden centres and Home Depot regularly to keep up with the latest tools available.

There are a few things i would do differently if i decided to startup this same business here in Victoria.

- The quality of the 'average home owner' is much better since yardwork is a year-round activity, (the ground does not actually freeze) so plants to thrive throughout the winter. With that in mind, it would be a bit of a learing curve.

- I would stick with the idea that i don't need my own tools. And the home owner would let me use their tools so to keep the property the way they like it.

- I would be a bit more environmentally friendly. I would take preference to those clients who used an electric mower vs. those clients who used a gas powered mower

- I would refuse to use chemicals "weed killer" on the lawns... this practice is actually against the law in this area... and it's harder to buy.

- It would still be a learning process, i would learn from each client exactly the way that they like to "remove weeds" (a weed is simply just some wild plants that grow that the owner doesn't like). And would use the same methods that the ower likes, rather than impose my own methods. (only if the owner likes different methods used).

- expand the work to moving jobs where i would actually assist the owner in moving. I would not need a truck, nor a van. The owner would rent their own vehicle I'd just be that extra hand to make the move possible. So just charging per man-hour of labour.

Note that it was a bit of a learning curve for when i started to introduce helpers for the jobs. Some of the clients didn't want to pay any more, so i needed to get the job done a little faster in order to make it worth it.

I also counted the value of some properties where there wasn't alot of revenue from, because there was the value that I became known in the area, as someone who does a good job at a reasonable rate.

I think that the hardest part of the work is deciding on how much to charge for the physical labour.

You don't want to quote too much, nor quote too low.

If the client sees that there is no actual vehicle (just the bicycle) you can even use roller blades, but a bicycle is easy. I might even use pannier bags, as those would be able to carry the simplest of tools.

I actually just used a backpack for the basic stuff.

As for finances (i can go into it in more detail if needed). I used the offline software program "QuickBooks"

this allowed me to print out professional looking invoices and i even made the leterhead and seasonal mailers with it. I kept track of all of my expenses, with each evening entering in all of the daily financial transactions.

My favourite clients where those who actually pre-paid for services 1-month in advance. So I showed a credit on their invoice. :)

(Note that I did take Small business Management 2 year program at Humber College, which helped quite a bit)

I would also recommend to clients to be composting and dedicating a portion of their backyard to hold all of the yardwaste, since by adding dirt to the pile and rotating it, it's really not that hard. It's much better than getting the paper bags and have it collected by the city. (That's what the city of Mississauga did).

And for leave pick up i would also recommend the same things of composting in the yard.

I would probably get an electric car, if they were permitted on the roads, but that would probably need to be my own expense, as the focus is own the home owners supplying all of the tools that are needed.

I'll detail this later, but wanted to share my experience :) As this concept can be duplicated anywhere.

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

ANNOUNCE: launching Unofficial Trans Canada Trail blogsite @tctrail

2011-12-13T18:51:00.001-08:00

Dear Trans Canada Trail,

This is a public letter to you, the Trans Canada Trail Foundation. (As im doutfull that you will respond directly to me)

Hi,

Here is the template for the Unofficial Trans Canada Trail blogsite...

http://transcanadatrail.posterous.com/

Here's the plan.

What i'll do is the same as on my blog entry.

http://acrosscanadatrails.blogspot.com/2011/11/03-0198-05-inverness-county-trans.html

I'll probably remove some of the sarcasm for this dedicated blog :-)

The purpose is to simply do what you are unable todo.. that is create a source for Trans Canada Trail information which is very easy to navigate.

Each post Includes:

-the GPX file as listed on tctrail.ca/locator

-the KML file

-the exact trail description as shown

-the pdf maps as attachments

-the GPX file uploaded to Wikiloc.com with the embedded map with the appropriate links back to the source.

-A QR Code which goes back to the blog entry (as a photo) .jpg file

After going a quick google search, i find out who the local trails group is who maintains the trails, and odds are that they have their own map so along with the link back to where i found it from, i attach the pdf map/jpg/png image of it along with the trail descriptions that are shown on the other websites.

And for editing?

Well that's easy. Just comment on the blogpost and request to be a contributor/administrator for it. You'll need to subscribe to the blog to make it work.

I'll leave this for 7 days.. and if i don't hear back from you by December 23rd, i'll go ahead and start. Although I might start January 1st. and just post 1 track segment per day. That way it'll take 365 days to upload 365 segments... and get those details uploaded on each. ... it's all done for free, so it gets done on my available free time.

So if you (the reader) sees information that should be changed or added, simply comment on the blogpost and one of the admins can easily change the article.

Cheers,

Sam

P.S. This way, i can dedicate my acrosscanadatrails.posterous.com blog and the blogger etc blogs to only showing 'Across Canada Trails' material (my own raw GPS tracks or tracks that were donated to me), and so, i can build the National Hiking Trail the same way, and keep it on a designated site.

PPS. Since i'll be setting up a shop and starting to sell ''Across Canada Trails'' merchandise, i think it's important that the references to Trans Canada Trail does need to be removed. This is why i've decided to create a dedicated TCT blog.

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Right wing media diverting attention from climate change #davidsuzuki

2011-12-13T07:46:00.001-08:00

FYI,
Instead of giving presents, giving a gift of donation to an
organization who actually helps raise awareness is a much beter idea.

cheers,
sam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Suzuki Foundation
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:25:56 -0500
Subject: Right wing media diverting attention from climate change
To: acrosscanadatrails@gmail.com

David Suzuki Foundation E-Newsletter
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Suzuki Foundation newsletter - winning
segment&org=408&lvl=1&ite=80&lea=254743&ctr=0&par=1 View it online .
Right wing media diverting attention from climate change
For the last week, the David Suzuki Foundation has been under vicious
attack from right wing media including the National Post, Fox News,
and prominent climate change deniers. This small but aggressive group
is denouncing our "
http://www.wherewillsantalive.ca/?utm_source=AdaptiveMailer&utm_medium=email&...
Suzuki Foundation newsletter - winning
segment&org=408&lvl=1&ite=80&lea=254743&ctr=0&par=1 Where Will Santa
Live " holiday fundraising campaign as fear mongering.
They want to distract Canadians from the truth: climate change
threatens our future and Canada is doing nothing to contribute to
solutions.
We are reaching out to our friends.
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=85457&utm_source=Adapt...
Suzuki Foundation newsletter - winning
segment&org=408&lvl=1&ite=80&lea=254743&ctr=0&par=1 We need your help
. Please make an online donation to support our work on climate
change. Every donation to the David Suzuki Foundation helps strengthen
our ability to speak out for the millions of Canadians who want
action.
The government of Canada has made it clear that it has no intention of
respecting the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding international
agreement with firm targets to reduce global warming pollution. To
make matters worse, Canadian officials have been accused of bullying
other countries into abandoning Kyoto as well. This is a national
embarrassment. Even China, the world’s largest producer of emissions,
has indicated that it will commit to cutting greenhouse gases in the
coming years.
With your help, the David Suzuki Foundation can be a prominent voice
of reason, taking those who exploit the environment to task. No matter
what the climate deniers say or how nasty their attacks, we will
continue our work. But we need your support.
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=85457&utm_source=Adapt...
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so that we can continue to hold political leaders accountable to
Canada's climate change responsibilities.
Climate change is real. The Arctic ice that cools the world is
melting. And right wing media outlets and pundits want everyone to
forget this. We need friends like you now more than ever.
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/donate.aspx?EventID=85457&utm_source=Adapt...
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segment&org=408&lvl=1&ite=80&lea=254743&ctr=0&par=1 Please give today
and help us fight for climate solutions.
Sincere thanks,
Peter Robinson
CEO
The David Suzuki Foundation
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Thinking for Change

2011-12-12T17:12:00.001-08:00

For those who get their news source from FOX News and from CNN, ...
don't bother reading this, it does not apply.

If however, you watch BBC and many documemntries, and share links and
articles with friends and colegues and random people... and get others
feedback, then you are much better off.

& Checking wikipedia, and challenging it, by looking for more facts...
your much better off.

By activelly contacting the local city council (those who are
permitted to recieve feedback) and question why thinngs are done the
way they are, the better you are.

And when you see news articles that don't make sence, contact the
author and comment on the article. This helps others reading the
article to get a good viewpoint.

The newpapers that do not permit user feedback and comments should be
questioned.

Open your brain, and think for a change :)

Vote Ron Paul for 2012 USA President!

The media is blocking this, just as how they initially blocked the
Occupy Wall Street protects :)

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Canada Post... an Adventure: Efficiency is illegal

2011-12-12T10:34:00.001-08:00

It's like stepping back in time when going to a post office.
Archiac does not describe it.

Canada post is allergic to touch screen kiosks where you can simply
push a button and get stamps.

Setting the package on a weigh scale and it will detect it's weight
and indicate the price of the stamps.
Payment via credit card.

..... Accept for Canada post. Efficiency is illegal..

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

[Aust-NZ] Fwd: [Qgis-developer] Geospatial Developer Needed (Re: Aust-NZ Digest, Vol 52, Issue 10)

2011-12-12T03:21:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately im not enough of a GeoGeek to qualify for this position, & they'd probably want someone local to New Zealand. However, if you know someone who is qualified, please pass it along.

Thanks,
Sam

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

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:27:50 +1100
From: Noli Sicad <nsicad@gmail.com>
Subject: [Aust-NZ] Fwd: [Qgis-developer] Geospatial Developer Needed
To: "aust-nz@lists.osgeo.org" <aust-nz@lists.osgeo.org>
Message-ID:
<CADs9uc8X2Ln_wCa=t_qaUT+4iwv-iZhiQwaq4kpWH8UDJYK-pQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
FYI.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jeremy Palmer <JPalmer@linz.govt.nz>
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:07:04 +1300
Subject: [Qgis-developer] Geospatial Developer Needed
To: "qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org" <qgis-developer@lists.osgeo.org>
Hi all, and sorry for any cross-posting,
Want to be part of New Zealand government's open data initiative and
really make a difference in opening up LINZ's data to the public? Then
maybe this is an opportunity for you.
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) is looking for a geospatial
developer to help support the development the LINZ Data Service (LDS).
The LDS uses multiple open source applications, and LINZ has a number
of other applications that use industry standard geospatial tools.
The geospatial developer will thereby be involved in work that
utilises and integrates data and applications across the breadth of
the geospatial field.
The successful applicant will have:
- a tertiary qualification in a relevant area
- significant knowledge of geospatial open source systems
- significant experience in Perl, Python, or php or scripting
- significant experience in PostgreSQL application development,
including PostGIS spatial extension, Pl/pgsql stored procedure
language
- proficiency doing geospatial data translation, ideally using
gdal/ogr, FDO or FME
- proficiency using LINUX as a development and operating environment
- strong written and spoken English to be able to elicit and interpret
the needs of a wide range of people with varying technical backgrounds
Preferably the successful applicant will have:
- experience in C++ development using Microsoft Visual Studio
- experience in QGIS core development
- experience in QGIS python plug-in development
- actively participated in open source projects using geospatial technologies
Please see http://ww.linz.govt.nz/about-linz/organisation/careers to
apply for the position.
Regards,
Jeremy Palmer
LINZ Data Service Team
Land Information New Zealand | Toitu te whenua
160 Lambton Quay | Private Box 5501 | Wellington 6145
DDI: 64 (4) 498 3537 | 0800 665 463 (NZ Call Free only)
data.linz.govt.nz
www.linz.govt.nz
#####################################################################################
This message contains information, which is confidential and may be
subject to legal privilege.
If you are not the intended recipient, you must not peruse, use,
disseminate, distribute or copy this message.
If you have received this message in error, please notify us
immediately (Phone 0800 665 463 or info@linz.govt.nz) and destroy the
original message.
LINZ accepts no responsibility for changes to this email, or for any
attachments, after its transmission from LINZ.
Thank You.
#####################################################################################
_______________________________________________
Qgis-developer mailing list
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http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer

------------------------------
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End of Aust-NZ Digest, Vol 52, Issue 10

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

The Beautiful Truth

2011-12-11T11:03:00.001-08:00

HI everyone, please pass it on and share, thanks
:-)

from http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/beautiful-truth/

The Beautiful Truth
Health 262 Comments

Raised on a wildlife reserve in Alaska, 15-year old Garrett was interested in the dietary habits of their animals.

After the tragic death of his mother, Garrett s father decided to home-school his son and assigned a book written by Dr. Max Gerson that proposes a direct link between diet and a cure for cancer.
Fascinated, Garrett embarks on a cross-country road trip to investigate The Gerson Therapy. He meets with scientists, doctors and cancer survivors who reveal how it is in the best interest of the multi-billion dollar medical industry to dismiss the notion of alternative and natural cures.
It has been said that more people live off cancer than die from it. The Beautiful Truth is a movie that can put a stop to this travesty. Here is a very practical guide to the intensive nutritional treatment of cancer and other life-threatening diseases that many would consider to have been impossible to obtain. But thanks to the work of Max Gerson, M.D., and his daughter, Charlotte Gerson, this knowledge is readily available.
Max Gerson cured cancer. He did so with a strict fat-free, salt-free, low-protein, essentially vegetarian dietary regimen, based on great quantities of fresh vegetable juice, supplements, and systemic detoxification.
Watch the full documentary now

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

open-government Digest, Vol 22, Issue 11

2011-12-10T08:57:00.001-08:00

FYI,
I don't know what it is, but it's sound cool :)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: open-government-request@lists.okfn.org
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:00:02 +0000
Subject: open-government Digest, Vol 22, Issue 11
To: open-government@lists.okfn.org

Send open-government mailing list submissions to
open-government@lists.okfn.org

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
open-government-request@lists.okfn.org

You can reach the person managing the list at
open-government-owner@lists.okfn.org

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of open-government digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. Opening Europe's Data (Jonathan Gray)

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

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 16:43:16 +0100
From: Jonathan Gray
Subject: [open-government] Opening Europe's Data
To: open-government@lists.okfn.org, EU Open Data Working Group

Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

FYI I wrote a short piece for the Guardian Datablog ahead of the
announcement on the PSI Directive that is going to be made by the EC
on Monday:

"The European Commission is set to make a major announcement about the
future of the Public Sector Information Directive on Monday. Jonathan
Gray from the Open Knowledge Foundation discusses what this might mean
for open data in Europe."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/dec/09/freedomofinformation-free...

All eyes on Monday! ;-)

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Google Maps Edit - Action taken

2011-12-10T08:28:00.001-08:00

The reports do sometimes take a long time to get looked at and
changed, but the end resault is that it's a better map for the
end-users.
Quality is good because ther is a clearly defined process, and every
feature has a full set of attributes.

I wonder if Google will eat foursquare, or perhaps they will get some
kind of deal where the POIs get 'linked' to an existing GooglePlace so
only the place name is listed.

Only time will tell.

For now, i'm upping my K+ score with the MapMaker community, so my
edits get confirmed a little faster.

below is the standard form reply indication some action has taken place.

Note that i don't actuall edit the map directly, it's not needed.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Google Maps
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:18:33 +0000
Subject: Google Maps Edit - Action taken
To: samvekemans@gmail.com

Hi Sam Vekemans,

Thanks again for sharing your local expertise with other Google users! We
have reviewed Bear on the Lake Guesthouse because of your report.

If there is still anything wrong in our information about Bear on the Lake
Guesthouse on Google Maps
(http://maps.google.ca/maps/place?cid=18357102783319000956), please
consider updating it via the "edit" link again, or by using the "report a
problem" link.

Thanks for your help,
The Google Maps team

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

A Posterous blogsite for Trans Canada Trail

2011-12-08T21:45:00.001-08:00

One idea is that I could create a designated Posterous blog, wherby
all of the trail segments that are currently being posted & updated on
Wikiloc.com can have a dedicated URL which has alll of the trail info.

I'm currently using my own blog for this, however, having a dedicated
TransCanadaTrail posterous blogsite would allow me to let others
contribute and actually edit the posts. This way, a TCT-community can
be created to make sure all content is accurate.

I noticed that someone removed my old blogposts on my Across Canada
Trails posteros site, so i think im attracting some peoples attention.

My guess is that we need to wait until the board elects a new
President & CEO (or just allows the Chair of the board to make
decisions for both Companies. The Trans Canada Trail & the Trans
Canada Trail Foundation.

I recommend a dedicated blog because soon i will be setting up a
storefront Shop with promotional items, so these posts of TCT as on
Wikiloc.com will need to be moved.

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Funding Science Projects

2011-12-08T16:52:00.001-08:00

Here's a fun one.

Science projects.
If you have an idea, and want to try it out with a physical example,
the hard part is proving that it does work.

The idea of the levating magnets is cool, 'cause it physically shows
science at work.
But it requires a little investment of materials, in order to prove
that what someone else says works, and try to unnderstand exactly why
it does work, or doesn't work.

Clearly explaining why an idea thought to work doe not, is very
benificial to others.

But simply stating that 'it doesn't work' does not help the problem solver.

And in order to test out theories, I think it makes sence to share as
much as possable.

Pattenting some invetion does not help the cause, i think that it just
slows down the development of an ideas.

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

04-0376-01 Riverfront Trail

2011-12-07T17:08:00.001-08:00

Riverfront Trail
No 04-0376-01

Trail Status	Operational trail
Province	New Brunswick
Length	19.76 km
Trail Type	Gravel Trail (double track)
Trail Category	Greenway Trail
Classification
Activities	- Walking / Hiking - Cycling
Pavilions	- Moncton-Dieppe
Comments	See other sections for Riverfront Trail (total length is 19.76 km).

Date registered 1997-09-10

from http://www.tctrail.ca/tlocator/tlocator_en.html

Riverfront Park
Riverfront Park offers five kilometres of multi-use trails along the Petitcodiac River. Twinned tailings offer both paved paths, ideal for wheelchairs, bicycles, and inline skates, and a softer dirt surface for walkers and runners. The park offers visitors beautiful floral displays, benches, and monuments, as well as convenient links to the downtown. This trail comprises the Moncton section of the TransCanada Trail, and it connects the riverfront trail system in the neighbouring communities of Riverview and Dieppe. Other points of interest include Bore View Park, Settlers Green, the Skateboard Park, Hal Betts Commemorative Sportsplex, and the Treitz Haus. Portions of the trail are cleared for winter running.

Riverfront Park is one of the most relaxing areas in town, a great place to take a stroll alongside the Petitcodiac River as you watch the tides roll in and out to sea again!

Map of Riverfront Park
For more information, contact Parks & Leisure Services at 853-3516.

from http://www.moncton.ca/Residents/Recreation_Parks_and_Culture/Parks/Riverfront_Park.htm

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
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Riverfront+Map.pdf Download this file

No_NB-031.pdf Download this file

04-0376-01.kml Download this file

04-0376-01.gpx Download this file

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

My Projects list

2011-12-07T14:03:00.001-08:00

Every so often it's good to re-organize the desktop, backup the files on to a external hard drive and remove all those downloaded files that are no longer needed.

Now that's done, i'll go over the projects for Across Canada Trails.

As most of my readers know, im aiming to create a wiki Map Book with GPS Map showing the entire National Trail Network of Canada, so then it's easy to navigate across the country.
This map is created by the users, and for the users. .. It's rather complex, and there are certain things that need to be done before this can become a reality.

I need to have a basemap that can be freely used. This map is CommonMap.
So in order to get all of the map data into CommonMap, we need to 1st organize it and catelogue it.
Koordinates.com does a great job at this.

Once the data is all uploaded to Koordinates, then it needs to be converted using QGis and can be uploaded to the CommonMap API.

For the points of interest, this is another collaborative effort.
I'm using multiple systems.
The latest is Foursquare.com where i have created public 'lists' which show points of interest in the same theme.
Im using a GoogleDocs spreadsheet, which keeps track of the Hostels Directory Across Canada, and the details from each hostel. Im using Backpackers Hostels Canada, Hosteling International Canada, and those Independent, unaffialied Hostes, trying to keep the information current.

I also have a GoogleMap showing each of these hostels., and Google Maps for each of the lists of Foursquare

For the actual routes. i have a Posterous.com blog for the proposed National Hiking Trail, and the National Hiking Trail facebook page. I have also created a facebook group where everyone is an admin which allows for open collaboration.
I have begun the concept of 1cent-a-meter Across Canada where people can donate Re-Tweets, and the number of followers who the tweet reaches, is the length of GPS track that gets dedicated to that Twitter user. This allows for great promotions efforts.
I have QR Codes designated for each trail segment as they get officially registered.

And for the Biking Across Canada Route, there is also a facebook page which allows for cross-collaboration when others are looking to find information about Biking Across the country. And i have a posterous blog dedicated to it.

Im 'Liberating' the Trans Canada Trail, where im cross-posting the trail data to wikiloc.com so then it's easier for people to find, and creating a blogpost for each trail segment. Where i do a bit of research and collect all of the local trails info and combine it.

And here's the interesting bit.
Last week (or 2 weeks ago)
I got notice that my acrosscanadatrails.posterous.com blogsite got changed so that i was no longer an admin, and later i could see that all of the subscribers got removed, (as they were all admins).
I also notice that my old posts on this blog were also removed.
Fortunatly, all of my posts are cross-posted to blogspot. And now they get all cross-posted to my wordpress blog, so that shouldn't happen again.

I guess someone got a little annoyed at my work, of constantly putting down the work of the Trans Canada Trail

Especially since i made my Trans Canada Trail video publically available.

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/12474060/trans-canada-trail-interview-resume-intro

and for a backgrounder on it
http://acrosscanadatrails.posterous.com/pages/trans-canada-trail

And the Trans Canada Trail staff probably doesnt like how im making this informaiton freely available, when they prefer to sell it (as explained i the video)

Part of the promotions efforts will be in the Postcards and the Puzzels that im making :0)

I'll also be opening up a Shop on the Across Canada Trails blog, as a way to try and get somekind of income, since the Trans Canada Trail doesn't want to hire me, and the Canadian Trails Federation dont want to hire me eithor.

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

READ this is getting old...

2011-12-06T23:06:00.001-08:00

I wonder how many people get fooled by this?
The best way to avoid spam is to use a different email address,, and
set up autoforward.
This way, it's easy to change email addresses. I use multiple email addresses.

Gmail does filter out lots of junk, and reporting it does help a little.
What i like about Google+ is that if your want to reach someone, try
circling them 1st, then wait a few days and see if you get circled
back.
Contact direct through G+ is pritty good.
The other option is via facebook, as everyone recieves messages on it,
accept if they have email notification turned off.

Having the subject heading more descriptive also helps. I get lots of
email every day, so if it's an unknown sender and a subject heading
like this...

... i'll blog about it :-)

Your welcome,
Sam

On 12/6/11, lcjamie@telus.net wrote:
> M.SOFT wish to notify you that your mail box emerge as a 1,000,000.00GBP
> award
> recipitent .Your Name, Mobile, Address, Age. is requried for amount
> remimtance
> to you.
>

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

District of Saanich December 12, 2011 Public Hearing (Notice)

2011-12-06T11:30:00.001-08:00

dec12agenda.pdf Download this file

NOTE: This post & the last 2 posts are sample posts pending actual approval from the Clerk, it can be removed if needed. The purpose is to simply make this information more freely available, across multiple websites.

from
http://www.saanich.ca/living/mayor/agendamin/agendamin.html

According to the Clerk

"...
The agenda package on our website includes all the information presented at the Council meetings. You will find that link here: http://www.saanich.ca/living/mayor/agendamin/agendamin.html

(click on the date of the meeting you are interested in). We do not keep the packages on for extended periods of time due to their size. Minutes of the meetings are usually released thereafter; they are a written summary of everything that was mentioned at the meeting and any motions that Council make. These are also posted to the website once they are adopted at the next Council meeting.
...
"

The Corporation of the District of Saanich
c/o The Legislative Services Division

770 Vernon Avenue
Victoria, BC V8X 2W7

E-mail: clerksec@saanich.ca
Website: www.saanich.ca

So here's the attached file from
December 12, 2011 Public Hearing

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

District of Saanich December 5, 2011 Inaugural Council/Committee of the Whole

2011-12-06T11:25:00.001-08:00

dec5pkg.pdf Download this file

from
http://www.saanich.ca/living/mayor/agendamin/agendamin.html

According to the Clerk

"...
The agenda package on our website includes all the information presented at the Council meetings. You will find that link here: http://www.saanich.ca/living/mayor/agendamin/agendamin.html

The Corporation of the District of Saanich
c/o The Legislative Services Division

770 Vernon Avenue
Victoria, BC V8X 2W7

E-mail: clerksec@saanich.ca
Website: www.saanich.ca

So here's the attached file from

December 5, 2011 Inaugural Council/Committee of the Whole

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

District of Saanich November 28, 2011 Council/Committee of the Whole

2011-12-06T11:06:00.001-08:00

nov28pkg.pdf Download this file

from
http://www.saanich.ca/living/mayor/agendamin/agendamin.html

According to the Clerk

"...
The agenda package on our website includes all the information presented at the Council meetings. You will find that link here: http://www.saanich.ca/living/mayor/agendamin/agendamin.html

The Corporation of the District of Saanich
c/o The Legislative Services Division

770 Vernon Avenue
Victoria, BC V8X 2W7

E-mail: clerksec@saanich.ca
Website: www.saanich.ca

So here's the attached file from
November 28, 2011 Council/Committee of the Whole

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Share-a-phobia alergies to sharing usefull info

2011-12-06T10:40:00.001-08:00

Share-aphobia is common among Government and organizations of all types.
This is the fear of making a mistake and looking bad because your
information that your providing might not be perfect.

It's common with City Hall councils, where there are motions passed,
and later they discover that they were wrong, as new information is
found.

Sharing allows for others to not repeat the same mistakes and learn from it.

So the cultuire of 'protecting information' needs to be changed, as it
is a duplicate effort when other cities don't know what has been
discussed.

Presentations are made in a closed room where no video recording
equipment is permitted, and the audience is not permitted to speak,
unless a report is submitted before hand, and is vetted by the clerk
before entering 'the chamber'.

So this 'chamber' by design is old and redundent because no
information is escaped from outside 'the chamber walls'.

And the raven says, 'nevermore'....

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

NASA's Kepler Confirms Its First Planet In Habitable Zone

2011-12-05T13:04:00.001-08:00

I thought this is cool, so i copy it directly from the web page (so then it's stored all over the net)
I think it should be named 'Ubu' as a free & Open Source planet where everyone can freely find info on it.

I checked Google Sky and havent found it yet. Searched 'kepler 22b' and didn't find anything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_22

So it would be cool if more people who have telescopes can point in this direction & share images :-)

copied from http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-373

NASA's Kepler Confirms Its First Planet In Habitable Zone

This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
› Full image and caption

Share393

December 05, 2011
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the "habitable zone," the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.
The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.
Previous research hinted at the existence of near-Earth-size planets in habitable zones, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Two other small planets orbiting stars smaller and cooler than our sun recently were confirmed on the very edges of the habitable zone, with orbits more closely resembling those of Venus and Mars.
"This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe."
Kepler discovers planets and planet candidates by measuring dips in the brightness of more than 150,000 stars to search for planets that cross in front, or "transit," the stars. Kepler requires at least three transits to verify a signal as a planet.
"Fortune smiled upon us with the detection of this planet," said William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., who led the team that discovered Kepler-22b. "The first transit was captured just three days after we declared the spacecraft operationally ready. We witnessed the defining third transit over the 2010 holiday season."
The Kepler science team uses ground-based telescopes and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to review observations on planet candidates the spacecraft finds. The star field that Kepler observes in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra can only be seen from ground-based observatories in spring through early fall. The data from these other observations help determine which candidates can be validated as planets.
Kepler-22b is located 600 light-years away. While the planet is larger than Earth, its orbit of 290 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our world. The planet's host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.
Of the 54 habitable zone planet candidates reported in February 2011, Kepler-22b is the first to be confirmed. This milestone will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
The Kepler team is hosting its inaugural science conference at Ames Dec. 5-9, announcing 1,094 new planet candidate discoveries. Since the last catalog was released in February, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler has increased by 89 percent and now totals 2,326. Of these, 207 are approximately Earth-size, 680 are super Earth-size, 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter.
The findings, based on observations conducted May 2009 to September 2010, show a dramatic increase in the numbers of smaller-size planet candidates.
Kepler observed many large planets in small orbits early in its mission, which were reflected in the February data release. Having had more time to observe three transits of planets with longer orbital periods, the new data suggest that planets one to four times the size of Earth may be abundant in the galaxy.
The number of Earth-size, and super Earth-size candidates, has increased by more than 200 and 140 percent since February, respectively.
There are 48 planet candidates in their star's habitable zone. While this is a decrease from the 54 reported in February, the Kepler team has applied a stricter definition of what constitutes a habitable zone in the new catalog, to account for the warming effect of atmospheres, which would move the zone away from the star, out to longer orbital periods.
"The tremendous growth in the number of Earth-size candidates tells us that we're honing in on the planets Kepler was designed to detect: those that are not only Earth-size, but also are potentially habitable," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead at San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif. "The more data we collect, the keener our eye for finding the smallest planets out at longer orbital periods."
NASA's Ames Research Center manages Kepler's ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managed Kepler mission development.
Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes the Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA's 10th Discovery Mission and is funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters.
For more information about the Kepler mission and to view the digital press kit, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler .

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov
Michele Johnson 650-604-6982
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
michele.johnson@nasa.gov
Trent J. Perrotto 202-358-0321
NASA Headquarters, Washington
trent.j.perrotto@nasa.gov
2011-373

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

The Tribe has Spoken

2011-12-04T01:53:00.001-08:00

Try again to post.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sam Vekemans
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 20:04:10 -0800
Subject: The Tribe has Spoken
To: post@posterous.com

(to be edited)
Dear readers, it appears that on the blog
(posterous.acrosscanadatrails.com) where i was activelly assignig
subscribers to Admins.
And someone decided that they would remove me as an admin.
So i couldnn't edit theblog.
Then i saw that all contributors where removed, and left me as the
only admin for the blog.

I also saw that on the Across Canada Trails facebook page, i got
removed as an admin, so i can't edit it.
However, i can still share things to the pages wall.

It's not a bad thig, its nice to see that it took on a life of it's own :)

cheers,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

fb places editor & foursquare

2011-12-01T22:09:00.001-08:00

I have now began to help edit facebook Places using the Places Editor.
Specifically, i'm helping to find duplicate listings, so then the
store manager/owner can just use 1 facebook page to learn from the
customers/users.

So when others 'check in' it's to the same place.

On Foursquare, there is also some duplicates and information (basic
name & address) is not always listed nor correctly listed. So i can
help with that.

I'm creating a 'list' each for Hostels & Bike Shops & Campgrounds, so
then others can help maintain the list.

Reporting that a place is closed, or under new management, makes a BIG
difference.

cheers,
sam

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Canada: Commit to Kyoto or go home

2011-11-30T17:29:00.001-08:00

I don't think that Peter Kent knows how to use email..
But if the letter can be printed out and faxed? that might help Or
even snail mail.

I think that the Harper Government (Formerly known as Canada) is being
rather foolish by attending a metting just to stop action.
Canada should be a leader with stopping the Tar Sands and building up
wind power.
... there is enough wind potential to power all of USA.

ILLIMINATING SUBSITIES TO DIRTY OIL will make it less attrative as an
option, and spur innivation. Gas price is ARTIFICALLY LOW BECAUSE OF
GOVERNMENT SUBSITIES.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Suzuki Foundation
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:11:29 -0600
Subject: Canada: Commit to Kyoto or go home
To: acrosscanadatrails@gmail.com

[image]
Having trouble reading this email? View it online.

[image: David Suzuki Foundation header]

Send a letter to Peter Kent and your M.P.

[image: kyoto-now-or-never]Tell Environment Minister Peter Kent and
your M.P. that you want Canada to commit to the Kyoto Protocol or
leave the UN climate change summit.

Not only is our government planning on abandoning the Kyoto Protocol
-- the only legally binding international agreement with firm targets
to reduce global warming pollution -- they have been secretly urging
other countries to abandon the agreement as well.

Click here to take action: http://action.davidsuzuki.org/kyoto

This is a national embarrassment. If our leaders do not plan to
contribute to global efforts to stop climate change, they should go
home and stop impeding other countries from finding solutions.

Join us this week in telling Peter Kent and your M.P. that we want
Canada to commit to Kyoto and cooperate on climate change or go home.

Read more on Canada's plan to abandon Kyoto:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/11/28/pol-durban-conference.html

Photo credit: Peter Blanchard via Flickr

[image: share on:] [image: facebook logo] [image: twitter logo]

This email was sent to acrosscanadatrails@gmail.com
Take Action | Donate | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy

David Suzuki Foundation
219-2211 West 4th Ave., Vancouver, BC, V6K 4S2
604-732-4228 | contact@davidsuzuki.org

[image: ]

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Harper steers Kyoto to rocks

2011-11-29T19:08:00.001-08:00

Forward like & share :)

& here's a video :)

If enough people can make enough noise, then those who are in a position of power (ie supposed to be the local MPs) can help to make the changes needed :)

---
Across Canada Trails - Beyond 2017 - The National Trails Network
Victoria, BC Canada

Twitter: @Acrosscanada
Blog: http://acrosscanadatrails.posterous.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sam.vekemans
Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Green Party of Canada <webadmin@greenparty.ca>
Date: Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 6:41 PM
Subject: Harper steers Kyoto to rocks
To: Sam Vekemans <samvekemans@gmail.com>



Dear Sam, CTV News has revealed that the Harper cabinet has approved a plan to legally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol, but to keep their intentions secret while attending the COP17 negotiations. In fact, they only intended to make their plan public on December 23rd, after the House has risen for winter recess and when Canadian families are busy with holiday plans. It’s hard to imagine how a government could be so duplicitous. It is bad faith negotiating in Durban, all the while planning to legally withdraw. Green Party leader Elizabeth May offers a powerful fact check on Kyoto distortions put forward by those who can’t seem to see any further than immediate profit. As Bishop Desmond Tutu welcomed world delegates to the 2011 Climate Change talks, he referenced Canada and other wilfully ignorant governments, saying, “Now, we want to tell them, we have only one home. We destroy this home and we have had it.” Yesterday, Elizabeth May made a motion for an Emergency Debate on Canada’s negotiating position to COP17 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). (Read her full letter to the Speaker of the House here). Sadly, the Speaker denied the motion. If there was ever a political issue where the word “emergency” applies, this is it. We will be sending you more information as it develops and will offer actions you can take to tell your MP, the media, and the Conservative government to take action on Climate Change. Sincerely, Johan Hamels Executive Director, Green Party of Canada

Green Party of Canada

PO Box 997, Stn B
Ottawa, ON K1P 5R1

Opt-out of all mailings from greenparty.ca >>

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

CivicAccess-discuss Digest, Vol 52, Issue 31

2011-11-29T15:17:00.001-08:00

[Thanks Winnie for subscribing :) ]

In the 1st message, it's a good article about voluntary sharing.
Especially with non-profits.

This seems like an Oxymoron, since the objective of a non-profit is to
give outwords (of some sort). So the notion of sharing internal data,
is obvious... but not directly apparent to the founder of the
organization.

The concept of OpenFinances, where the day-to-day expences are freely
open, is kind of 'hushed' when opening up to the core is actually a
benifit :)

Subscribe to the discussion list as a digest if you want to get all of
the updates (mostly from Ottawa)

cheers,
Sam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: civicaccess-discuss-request@civicaccess.ca
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:53:51 -0500
Subject: CivicAccess-discuss Digest, Vol 52, Issue 31
To: civicaccess-discuss@civicaccess.ca

Send CivicAccess-discuss mailing list submissions to
civicaccess-discuss@civicaccess.ca

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
civicaccess-discuss-request@civicaccess.ca

You can reach the person managing the list at
civicaccess-discuss-owner@civicaccess.ca

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of CivicAccess-discuss digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. Fwd: [spno-data] FYI - Setting the Standard: Data sharing and
standards in the voluntary sector (Lasa Knowledgebase)
(Tracey P. Lauriault)
2. Former Chief Statistician received the Confederation Centre
of the Arts? Symons Medal (Tracey P. Lauriault)

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

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:37:22 -0500
From: "Tracey P. Lauriault"
To: civicaccess discuss
Subject: [CivicAccess-discuss] Fwd: [spno-data] FYI - Setting the
Standard: Data sharing and standards in the voluntary sector (Lasa
Knowledgebase)
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"

Good one Ted!

All, remember Friday at Ottawa City Hall accessibility Camp and Saturday,
Hackfest!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ted Hildebrandt
Date: Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 3:00 PM
Subject: [spno-data] FYI - Setting the Standard: Data sharing and standards
in the voluntary sector (Lasa Knowledgebase)
To: "spno@yahoogroups.com"
Cc: "spno-data@yahoogroups.com"

http://www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/datastandards **** Setting the
Standard: Data sharing and standards in the voluntary sector****

By *Sarah Parker, Lamplight Database Systems* ****

*?'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said... 'it means just what I choose
it to mean ? neither more nor less.'? (Through the Looking Glass, Lewis
Carroll)*

When we talk about impact, outcomes, outputs and demographics, we rely on
the words and categories we use meaning the same to each of us. Yet
sometimes they are different enough to cause real difficulties in
communication. These difficulties are being addressed but this needs to go
further and requires significant levels of co-operation to overcome. ****
Assessing impact in the sector****

Data-sharing is becoming increasingly important for charities and voluntary
organisations. It's not new: the sector has always produced and shared
various performance data with funders and others (?this year we helped over
1300 people do...?). But increasingly organisations want to look at the
work they are doing and assess their impact against others within the same
sector. In some cases they want to be able to open their data up, making it
freely available on the internet for other organisations to use and learn
from. (For more on open data see the knowledgebase article Opening Up To
Open Data ). ****

In other cases organisations want to band together in consortia to better
deliver the services they provide and strengthen their case to funders and
commissioners. Data standards are essential for successful data-sharing in
consortia. Organisations must take the disparate sets of data they collect
as individual organisations ? or even projects within a single organisation
? and standardise the terminology and categories they use. They must agree
on what data is important and what compromises have to be made. They must
define the common standards which will guide the work they do and the
monitoring they undertake. ****
Types of data standard****

It's worth distinguishing two types of standard which need to be developed
in these cases: a Client Standard Data Format and a Reporting Standard Data
Format. ****
Client Standard Data Format****

A Client Standard Data Format (CSDF) is a consistent client-level data-set.
What demographic categories are relevant and how are they sub-divided? For
infrastructure organisations, what is the set of 'organisational types'?
What is the range of presenting needs being captured? What outcomes are
being measured and how? How is work or events being recorded and broken
down? What data collection methods will they use and so on? ****

Organisations can approach these questions in isolation and produce their
own definitions. However, there are also numerous organisations indirectly
addressing CSDFs. (e.g. NCVO's Value in Infrastructure
Programme,
Triangle Consulting's Outcomes Star and
New Philanthropy Capital's Well-Being
Measures.
In using such broader, standardised tools, or sharing the tools they
develop themselves, organisations can begin to extend their definitions
from their own work into the sector more generally. ****
Reporting Standard Data Format****

The second set of standards is a Reporting Standard Data Format (RSDF).
This would specify some common statistics that are frequently reported. So,
such a standard might define a 'menu' of key performance indicators, for
example 'number of people supported in a month' or 'the average rate of
change for outcomes measures', and organisations would choose from the menu
as they need. ****

Once the content of the reports is specified there then needs to be a file
format which is accepted as the standard format for import and export of
such information. This will again facilitate the sharing of data. So, for
example, data should be produced in machine readable-formats ? not pdf or
word processed tables. ****

In both cases such standards, while serving their purpose at consortia
level, will only fulfil their potential if they go on to apply across the
voluntary sector as a whole. ****
The way forward****

The development of standards as a process arising from the sharing of
standards between organisations has some parallels with the development of
web standards. Individuals and groups of organisations developed code to
publish information to the world wide web. However, like the old saying
that ?the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose
from?, the danger is that ?standards? will proliferate and the situation is
made worse . ****

To solve this problem internet developers and software companies
formed a membership
organisation to set and agree standards. Corporations
which might not otherwise seem obvious allies (Apple and Microsoft for
example) co-operate to work on these standards. This means that web pages
can be viewed by any browser rather than dedicated browsers for different
applications. A similar approach would seem a natural route for the
voluntary sector. ****

However, reporting and monitoring requirements do not just arise within
voluntary organisations themselves. In addition to their own internal
monitoring, funding bodies, charitable trusts and government all impose
their own requirements. These requirements can be incompatible with each
other and frequently multiply the work load of the organisations they fund.
Duplicate data entry and running similar but sufficiently different
quantitative reports to satisfy different funders can be a huge drain on
time and resources. Any data standards therefore need to be developed with
the central ? but not exclusive ? involvement of government and funders. ***
*

Suppliers of systems designed to capture and analyse such data will also
need to be involved to ensure that software solutions are capable of
keeping pace with, and informing, the development of such standards. ****
The benefits****

The benefits of developing a set of data standards go beyond the learning
and accountability benefits of data-sharing. The frustrating duplication of
labour and inefficiency of running multiple systems and reports for
multiple funders would be reduced, or even eliminated, saving a vast amount
of money. ****

Moreover, the notion of data ownership becomes more meaningful.
Organisations could transmit, share or move information between systems
without the costs of data migration that can be involved. ****

The practice and uses of data-sharing will inevitably become more
widespread and appreciated. Consortia will proliferate and the expectations
on them to deliver more detailed and wide-ranging reports will increase.
Data standards are not useful tools to facilitate that, they are essential.
They are the dictionary that makes meaningful conversation possible.****
About the author****

*Sarah Parker, Lamplight Database Systems*****

Sarah is Managing Director of Lamplight Database
Systems.
Lamplight works with organisations nationwide and across the sector, and
provides a flexible, low-cost case management database system.****

** **

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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:53:48 -0500
From: "Tracey P. Lauriault"
To: civicaccess discuss
Subject: [CivicAccess-discuss] Former Chief Statistician received the
Confederation Centre of the Arts? Symons Medal
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"

Excellent!

Symons was a pretty cool guy for Canadians, who had a particular incling
toward geography and maps!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Walter Piovesan
Date: Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 5:09 PM
Subject: Symons Lecture
To: CAPDU@yorku.ca

This afternoon, Canada?s Chief Statistician Emeritus, Dr. Ivan P. Fellegi,
received the Confederation Centre of the Arts? Symons Medal and gave the
9th national Symons Lecture on the State of Canadian Confederation.

http://www.confederationcentre.com/en/symons-lecture-read-more.php?symons_lec...

source : http://www.cynthiaking.ca/?p=767

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

[HOT] HOT Chat tomorrow 1pm PST (wednesday) I think

2011-11-29T13:27:00.001-08:00

FYI.
It's good to see that there is now a dedicated irc.openstreetmap.org
URL to handle the chat.
Mibbit.com can be used (i think) to get onto the chat room, it's an
easy user interface that works.

The HOT organization is handy, because when extra mapping* is needed,
thats the mailing list to use.

*mapping means all maps need to be updated, and attention given.
www.Wikimapia.com map is used by some
maps.google.com is another
and
fosm.org is another map
on mapquest.com you can report errors
and many other maps allow for some kind of error reporting mechanizm.

Detailed maps are always needed, this is why there is a push for all
governments to make their data free (unrestricted) so then all maps
can be updated using the best data available.

cheers,
sam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Harry Wood
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:12:48 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [HOT] HOT Chat tomorrow
To: "hot@openstreetmap.org"

The "HOT Chat" idea died down a little bit, but let's kick it off
again, since we have plenty to chat about at the moment.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team/HOT_Chats

I've scheduled the next one for tomorrow Wednesday 11pm GMT
Check your timezones. It's this time:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=HOT+chat&iso=2011113...
That's just under 24 hours from now in fact

I don't think we need to make a big deal of having an agenda. We don't
even need somebody to be in charge of the conversation. Let's just
meet and chat at this scheduled time. See the first link for all the
details including how to get onto IRC

Harry Wood

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

#opengov #statscan #goodstuffs

2011-11-29T07:54:00.001-08:00

Here's some interesting stuff, (it needs to be posted onto 3 separate
posts), that is the geography data to be make available. (With nice
vauge specifics)

I'll aim to get this data uploaded to koordinates.com when it becomes available.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: civicaccess-discuss-request@civicaccess.ca
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:58:53 -0500
Subject: CivicAccess-discuss Digest, Vol 52, Issue 30
To: civicaccess-discuss@civicaccess.ca

Send CivicAccess-discuss mailing list submissions to
civicaccess-discuss@civicaccess.ca

You can reach the person managing the list at
civicaccess-discuss-owner@civicaccess.ca

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of CivicAccess-discuss digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. Ma Mairie / My City Hall - track and interact with municipal
politicians (James McKinney)
2. Re: PCCF - not determined if it will $10k or free
(Russell McOrmond)
3. Fwd: Response to your inquiry on Stat Can's free data
(Tracey P. Lauriault)
4. Accessibility Developers un-conference @ Ottawa City Hall
this Friday! (Tracey P. Lauriault)
5. Government plans open data push - UK Guardian
(Tracey P. Lauriault)

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

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:42:38 -0500
From: James McKinney
To: civicaccess-discuss@civicaccess.ca
Subject: [CivicAccess-discuss] Ma Mairie / My City Hall - track and
interact with municipal politicians
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

I?d like to draw your attention to MaMairie.ca, one of the projects
completed during the recent Hackathon organized by Montreal Ouvert and
hosted by the City of Montreal.

To give some context (i.e. "why did I build this site?"): Municipal
politics receives comparatively little attention compared to federal
and provincial politics. If a newspaper doesn't write about something
happening in council, I'll never hear about it. Yet, municipal
government has a much more direct effect on my quality of life, as
it's responsible for most of the services I use every day.

MaMairie.ca's mission is to fill that gap by allowing citizens to
track and interact with their municipal elected officials. The
municipal level is a good place to start because that?s where
representatives are most likely to take notice. Each MP in the House
of Commons represents on average 100,000 Canadians. A City of Montreal
councillor represents 15,000. I think there's a huge opportunity for
cities to be more participatory, consultative and responsive with the
smart, creative use of online tools.

MaMairie could not have got this far without the efforts of about a
dozen volunteers over two hack days (who will be acknowledged once the
about page is up :). Going forward, MaMairie will be a project of Open
North (http://opennorth.ca/).

The site is not complete and over the coming days and weeks we will be
adding major features such as mini-budget consultations and new data
such as attendance records. The code running the site is fairly
flexible and we are hoping that once we're satisfied with the feature
set we can work with people in other cities to get it running for
their citizens, too. If anyone knows that they'd already like to work
with us, please contact me!

All comments and suggestions are welcome. Feel free to reply off-list.

Thanks,

James

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

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:49:58 -0500
From: Russell McOrmond
To: civicaccess discuss
Subject: Re: [CivicAccess-discuss] PCCF - not determined if it will
$10k or free
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 12:11 PM, Joe Murray
wrote:
> I've heard that the determination of whether PCCF will be included as a base
> geographic product that is available for free or will continue to be
> available only for $10k has not yet been made, and that this is partly
> responsible for the late delivery of 4Q update. What would be a good way to
> lobby for the inclusion of this product in the open data initiative?

Who would ultimately be making the decision? My old petition
relating to PCFRF (Which could be derived from this + the riding
shapefiles Elections Canada already offers for free) sent messages to
MPs. Not sure if that would help or hinder in this specific case.

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Google Map Maker vs. MS OpenStreetMap

2011-11-29T04:58:00.001-08:00

So far, I have just done a few edits with Google Map Maker. The
biggest difference is that each edit is carefully peer reviewed and
every node(point) way(line) area(polygon) is carefully detailed, with
a submission of an edit.

Unlike MS OpenStreetMap, where there is no clear approval mechanism.
Everyone, from a new editor to an experienced editor can equally mess
up the map.

With Google Map Maker there are presets for everything.
Classification of category is something that needs work. However,
when you start typing in what category you think it should be, some
preset options do show up. Its not perfect, but helps narrow it down.

Choosing an Icon would probably make Google Map Maker easier for classification.

Unfortunatly, GoogleMap Maker does not allow for exporting of the
source data into new works. Nor does MS OpenStreetMap. You need to
take the whole database or nothing & must give back.
GMM doesn't have the ability to create Garmin Maps. But can export kml/gpx

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

How to help Bike Shops around the world Thrive in a downward economy #canada #free

2011-11-28T03:14:00.001-08:00

Here's some tips,
The Bike Shops of the world are like the mechanic of the 1900's.
They are the basics that are needed for everyone to have good transportation.
Sure, you can fix your own bike, but odds are, you dont have the tools
to really make the bicycle sing.

1 - Make sure your bike shop has a GooglePlaces listing and it's
verrified. ... this is free.
2 - make sure the GoogleMap shows the bike shop and building outline
on the map correctly. ... this is also free

3 - your bike shop needs a facebook page this is also free

4 - make sure the bike shop has a twitter account

5 - make sure your shop has a QR code that goes to your website

6 - setup a foursquare listing of the shop

7 - get a Google+ Page for your shop.

Then on days that your shop is slow, get online and make it known!

8 - setup a youtube account and post videos on how to maintain the
bike and promote the new arrivals and demos of the bikes in use :-)

All this is free... Enjoy :)

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

OpenFinances - Across Canada Trails

2011-11-28T02:54:00.001-08:00

One of the fun thing s about being the OpenSource Trails Database is
that for tracking the expences and income, making the info open source
and publically available, shows the potential donors exactly how much
is needed, and where the money gets spent.

Hiding this info from public view doesn't make sence...
It's like blindly giving money away.

Contributing with tangable things like giftcards, and hardware /
shopping list items is better than cash. And paypal and bitcoins are
good too :)

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Scatterweb - Trail Info sharing - Across Canada Trails #gps #maps #info #parks

2011-11-28T02:16:00.001-08:00

One cool thing about the web is how much info is out there already.
The challenge is on getting the info to the right place so it can best be used.

Here's the layout.
Multiple people email out content and attach gps track and pictures
and pdf maps and trail specs, to Posterou and blog it out to the net.

It can be added to wikiloc.com (check if the same trail exists
already) and paste in the trail detais as they are known. Imbedding
the map into the email blogpost increases coverage.
& making a screenview of this map helps people take a quick view
without needing to go to wikiloc.com
and so, sharing info with all the other websites make for a good clean
info site.

It's not possable to dictate where info should be put... so it's
better to freely cross-post everywhere :) Then when 1 website fails,
the info is still alive :)

cheers,
sam

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Volunteers Needed - no pay but +k

2011-11-27T13:07:00.001-08:00

Test.
I don't think it posted last time, i try again.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sam Vekemans
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:51:18 -0800
Subject: Volunteers Needed - no pay but +k
To: post@posterous.com

Hi all,
I have a bunch of projects going on & it's all related to the Across
Canada Trails group of projects that need to be done 'cause it's good
to have...

1 - Bike Shops Across Canada GoogleMap
The map needs editing, and all of the listings that are not verrified
by owner need to be directly contacted & asked if they can help.

2 - Campgrounds Across Canada GoogleMap needs to be edited and more
listed to the map

3 - National Hiking Trail needs more details on the blog
hikeacrosscanada.posterous.com

4 - Trans Canada Tral segments need to be uploaded to wikiloc.com
copied with link and details from tctrail.ca locator

5 - Trans Canada Tril pdf maps need to be uploaded to mappery.com

6 - Bike Across Canada blog needs to be updated bikeacrosscanada.posterous.com

7 - CommonMap development website needs updating with geodata from all
available sources

8 - Koordinates.com needs updating from all sources of data.

9 - Garmin IMG files with SRTM contour data

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Cross-posting trails info with Posterous.com

2011-11-26T21:52:00.001-08:00

What I'm doing is freely sharing & cross-posting info so then if 1
website fails, the info does not get lost.
I'm copying the exact text and photos from other websites, and clearly
listing where is came from. Like Wikipedia, its better to not just
have a list of links for people to sift through, but to actually
provide the content on the same page.

So instead of showing .pdf documents, i do include the attachment, but
to make the info as a png file zoomed to 100% so it's easy to read on
all devices & ca even be printed.

By freely sharing trail info across Canada, i'm liberating the data
that is inappropriatly held in Copyright.

cheers,
sam

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

The concept of Sharing ideas in the Open Commons - Makes me feel old

2011-11-25T21:59:00.001-08:00

This concept, where the idea of freely sharing ideas, where you don't
expect things in return..

When you want to get some program or software or map made, you 1st
give of your tallents freely. Continue to give of your tallents to
the Open Learning community 'Open Commons' and others will be wanting
to help out with sharing what they know.

I have tallents in some areas, and lack tallents in others.
So by freely sharing my own tallents, i get, in return, whatever the
Open Commons Universe can provide back.

I does make me feel old, since students who get introduced to the
internet now, never did know a time when there was no wikipedia, or
there was no 'edit' option on GoogleMaps or there was no facebook page
for local polititions, and twitter accounts for everyone. And a time
when everyone can freely blogpost and it gets automatically shared to
many websites.

Slowely, those who are in the Top CEO positions of companies will
resign or retire, so then this can happen. :-)

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Comment on MappingAU in google-mapmaker -Report an error & use CommonMap :)

2011-11-24T21:50:00.001-08:00

It would be great if MapMaker i Austrailia was ope & the rest of the world.
The last comment here states 'please be patient' and 'report and error'.

What this does is adds to the list of error reports. If there are
more error reports in the area, that could mean that the part of the
map can be updated.

The challenge (I don't know if google will admit it) is that every
city in the world should have their own map.
As soon as that map becomes available, it would make alot of work to
integrate it into the 'main map'.

The solution is to use CommonMap as the 'dumping ground' for all
geodata and just not render it. The rendering can happen with another
map Just picking out the data and choosing it for rendering.
all of the other data (old data) can still stay in the map, its there
because it allows for all mapmakers to use their versionn (less
quality) and directly compare it.

cheers,
Sam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: google-mapmaker@googlecode.com
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 22:54:29 +0000
Subject: Re: Comment on MappingAU in google-mapmaker
To: samvekemans@gmail.com

Comment by felix.ra...@gmail.com:

Please be patient ;-)

If there's a specific error or inaccuracy on the map, try using the "report
a problem" link in the bottom right corner of the map on maps.google.com.au.

For more information:
http://code.google.com/p/google-mapmaker/wiki/MappingAU

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

03-0303-01 Butter Trail

2011-11-24T08:18:00.001-08:00

03-0303-01 Butter Trail

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2241340

Butter Trail
No 03-0303-01

Trail Status	Operational trail
Province	Nova Scotia
Length	25.21 km
Trail Type	Gravel Trail (single track)
Trail Category	Yellow Trail
Classification
Activities	- Walking / Hiking - Cycling - Horseback riding - Cross-country skiing - Snowshoeing - Snowmobiling - Dog sledding and kick sledding during winter - Walking / Hiking
Pavilions	No
Comments	See other sections for Butter Trail (total length is 25.21 km).

Date registered 1998-04-27

Butter Trail
No 03-0303-01

03-0303-01.GPX	GPX of the trail Butter Trail
03-0303-01.KML	KML of the trail Butter Trail
NS.GPX	GPX of the province of Nova Scotia
NS.KML	KML of the province of Nova Scotia

TCT data are for a non-commercial use only.

from http://www.tctrail.ca/tlocator/tlocator_en.html

Trans Canada Trail (Tatamagouche and Area)

The east-west portion of the Trans Canada Trail(TCT) through Colchester County follows the former railway line along the North Shore. The trail section through Tatamagouche is known as the Butter Trail, named after the Tatamagouche Creamery beside the trail. The trail crosses the French River and Waugh River (both tidal), runs through Nelson Memorial Park, and passes by Patterson Wharf Park. The Tatamagouche Area Trails Association manages this trail on provincial crown property. This trail is continuous with rail trail sections in Pictou County and Cumberland County.

A north-south route of the Trans Canada Trail is in the planning stage and will eventually extend from Tatamagouche, through Truro, to Halifax Regional Municipality.

Type: Linear

Length: 26 km one-way

Surface: Gravel, crushed gravel (through Tatamagouche), wooden bridges

Rating: Easy, flat

Marking: Follow obvious rail trail, signs

Permitted Use: Walking, cycling, equestrian, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ATVing

Access:
Parking available in these locations:
- Creamery Road off Main Street in Tatamagouche
- King Street near Patterson Wharf Park in Tatamagouche
- Nelson Memorial Park, 153 Loop of Hwy 6, west of Tatamagouche
- Sutherland Steam Mill Museum on Route 326 in Denmark

Information:

Tatamagouche Area Trails Association 902-657-2277

from http://www.colchester.ca/trans-canada-trail

Diaspora: acrosscanadatrails@joindiaspora.com

Skype: 'Sam Vekemans'

Member, CommonMap Inc. http://commonmap.org/
IRC: irc://irc.oftc.net #CommonMap
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

03-0303-01.gpx Download this file

03-0303-01.kml Download this file

No_NS-005.pdf Download this file

No_NS-006.pdf Download this file

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

Spanish & Irish #OpenGov policies (pdf link) #FreeTheData

2011-11-23T04:19:00.001-08:00

Hi all,
Below is the discussion list notice.
The 1st message shows the Irish Open data latest & greatest stats.
and the 2nd part is about the Spanish Government Adopting
'e-government' policies and mandates that all data becomes public
domain...

All data that was created using public funds should be made public
along with the medadata (discription) of it and that it use publically
demanded formats (usable formats).

This is exciting because other countries around the world can take
notes and push forward to get their governments at the highest level
to adopt these principles.

Creating data (like geo-data) and selling it back to the citizens is
WRONG. It's great to see that Spain understands this :)
I'm not a lawer, but from what i can read in the english translation,
this looks to be good news :)

It's a shift for the industries who used to pay for the data... but
totally worth it :)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: open-government-request@lists.okfn.org
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:00:04 +0000
Subject: open-government Digest, Vol 21, Issue 28
To: open-government@lists.okfn.org

Send open-government mailing list submissions to
open-government@lists.okfn.org

You can reach the person managing the list at
open-government-owner@lists.okfn.org

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of open-government digest..."

Today's Topics:

1. Irish Government announces Open Data objectives (Open Data)
2. Re: Council of Ministers adopts Royal Decree on re-use of
public sector information (Cancio Melia, Jorge)

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

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:28:25 -0000
From: "Open Data"
Subject: [open-government] Irish Government announces Open Data
objectives
To:
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hi all,

Yesterday the Irish Government published the Public Sector Reform Plan.
Contained within this Plan are objectives in relation to Open Data,
Inter-Agency Data Sharing, National Open Data Portal and Statistical
Data.

I have written a blog post which highlights these Open Data developments
- you can read it at
http://data.fingal.ie/Blog/November2011/Name,34822,en.aspx

Regards,

Dominic.

Dominic Byrne,
Assistant Head of Information Technology,
Fingal County Council.

http://data.fingal.ie
http://twitter.com/fingalopendata

__________________________________________________________

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be
legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any
action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and
may be unlawful. If you have received this electronic message in error,
please notify the sender or ithelpdesk@fingalcoco.ie. Internet
communications cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as
information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive
late or incomplete. Therefore, we do not accept responsibility for any
errors or omissions that are present in this message, or any
attachment,
that have arisen as a result of e-mail transmission. This message has
been swept by Anti-Virus software.

Watch Council Meetings at http://www.fingalcoco.public-i.tv

_________________________________________________________
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:21:07 +0100
From: "Cancio Melia, Jorge"
Subject: Re: [open-government] Council of Ministers adopts Royal
Decree on re-use of public sector information
To: "'open-government@lists.okfn.org'"

Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Dear all

Please find an unofficial English translation of the text under
http://www.datos.gob.es/datos/sites/default/files/files/17nov2011%20English%2...

Regards

Jorge Cancio

________________________________
De: Cancio Melia, Jorge
Enviado el: viernes, 21 de octubre de 2011 14:11
Para: open-government@lists.okfn.org
CC: Emilio Garc?a Garc?a
Asunto: Council of Ministers adopts Royal Decree on re-use of public
sector information

Dear all

Today the Council of Ministers has adopted the Royal Decree on re-use
of public sector information, for the national public sector.

As you will perhaps remember this Royal Decree underwent a public
consultation during November and December 2010.

The final text of the Royal Decree will be published shortly in the
Official Gazette. The announcement of its adoption can be accessed at
http://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/ConsejodeMinistros/Referencias/_2011/refc20111021...
(in Spanish). We are planning to informally translate the decree into
English in the coming weeks.

Please find attached to this email an informal summary in English of
the Royal Decree's main elements, which could be summed up as
establishing the rule of making public data open and available by
default.

I hope this piece of news will be of your interest.

With kindest regards

Jorge Cancio

On behalf of the Aporta Project Team and both the Ministry of
Industry, Tourism and Trade and the Ministry of Territorial Policy and
Public Administration

Vocal Asesor

Subdirecci?n General de Servicios de la Sociedad de la Informaci?n

Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio

www.mityc.es Tel.: 91 346 26 23 Fax: 91 346 15 77

Advisor

Deputy to the Director of Information Society Services

Spanish General Administration

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_______________________________________________
open-government mailing list
open-government@lists.okfn.org
http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government

End of open-government Digest, Vol 21, Issue 28

Posted via email from acrosscanadatrails's posterous

03-0428-01 Shortline-Jitney Trail @tctrail @canadiantrails

2011-11-23T02:27:00.001-08:00

03-0428-01 Shortline-Jitney Trail

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=2238683
<iframe frameBorder="0" src="http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=view&id=2238683&measures=off&title=off&near=off&images=off&maptype=S" width="500px" height="400px"></iframe>

Shortline-Jitney Trail
No 03-0428-01

Trail Status	Operational trail
Province	Nova Scotia
Length	42.2 km
Trail Type	Gravel Trail (single track)
Trail Category	Yellow Trail
Classification
Activities	- Walking / Hiking - Cycling - Horseback riding - Cross-country skiing - Snowmobiling - Walking / Hiking
Pavilions	No
Comments	See other sections for Shortline-Jitney Trail (total length is 42.2 km).

Date registered 1999-04-14

03-0428-01.GPX	GPX of the trail Shortline-Jitney Trail
03-0428-01.KML	KML of the trail Shortline-Jitney Trail
NS.GPX	GPX of the province of Nova Scotia
NS.KML	KML of the province of Nova Scotia

TCT data are for a non-commercial use only.

from http://www.tctrail.ca/tlocator/tlocator_en.html

from http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/SharedUse/p007.html

GENERAL INFORMATION Name: Jitney Trail County: Pictou Ownership: Province of NS, leased to Town of Pictou Trail Length: 5km Season: Year Round EMERGENCY INFORMATION Emergency: 911 DIRECTIONS From the Pictou rotary, take the Pictou exit, and follow the West River Road in to town. The road will change names to Water Street 1km from the rotary. Continue on Water Street (one-way) to Tim Hortons on the corner of Water Street and South Market Streets. Turn right here, and park at the bottom of South Market Street. The trail begins at the water's edge to the right of the parking lot. ACTIVITIES Walking: Y Hiking: N Mountain Biking: Y XCountry Ski: Y ATV: N Horse: N Snowmobile: N Coastal: Y Loop: N Wheelchair: The first 1.2km Wheelchair Assisted: The first 1.2km The Jitney Trail begins along the waterfront in Pictou and follows the abandoned rail line west around Norway Point and under the causeway to Browns Point. From the parking area the paved, 5 to 7 foot wide trail runs along the shoreline of Pictou Harbour. This paved area is excellent for wheelchair, bicycle, rollerblade, and stroller use. Black ducks are common, as well as other bird species who tend to winter here. Watch for cormorants and the majestic bald eagle who lives here. An eagle is often spotted in the large Elm tree at Norway Point. Pileated Woodpeckers have been spotted in these woods. They are the largest member of the woodpecker family found in Nova Scotia and are recognizable by their flaming red tufted head (male). Watch also for a large variety of small song birds with "big" voices. Norway Point also has interpretive signs which provide information on the surrounding land and sea. There are a number of rest stations in this area equipped with benches, picnic tables, and garbage cans. Just beyond Norway Point the trail turns to gravel. The paved trail exits at the seniors home on the bluff. From this point, you can continue to walk under the Pictou Causeway (Hwy 106), and keep right onto a wide trail (enter between two posts) which cuts through a mixed forest to Browns Point. This is an open picnic area complete with tables, garbage cans and ponds. This area is used as an outside rink during winter months. This is the official end of the Jitney trail. From here, turn around and return the way you came. Just before the causeway, you can exit back to town from here by turning left onto Browns Point Road, then right onto Haliburton Road, into town. I would suggest to keep on the trail and return directly back to the parking lot.

http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/SharedUse/p007b.html

and from http://www.activepictoucounty.ca/programs/pictou-county-trail-inventory-project-2011/

Pictou

Jitney Trail

Take a walk along the Jitney Walking Trail along the waterfront in Pictou. Walkers and cyclists can enjoy a three kilometre trail to the site where the ship Hector made its historic landing in 1773. Park benches are available, allowing you to take in the panoramic views. Along the way you can learn about Pictou through interpretive panels and views of the site the Hector settlers landing. The Jitney Trail connects directly to the Trans Canada Trail System for more avid hikers.

Click here for more info on the Jitney Trail.

County of Pictou

Short Line Trail

Located at Brown's Point to Scotsburn, this 12.7 km recreational trail is made of compacted surface suitable for cycling, walking, running, snowmobiling, skiing and ATV's. Accessible from Brown's Point, Blackie Road in Lyons Brook off Route 376 and Scotsburn, behind fire hall.

Click here for a map to the Short Line Trail

Trans Canada Trail

Take the Trans Canada Trail all the way from Stellarton to Oxford.

Click here for a map of the Trans Canada Trail in Pictou County.

Note that the link to the Trans Canada Trail is just the main locator map lol and note that the map of the Shore line trail only points to a google point.. and nothing more....

and from http://www.townofpictou.ca/outdoor_adventure.html

Jitney Walking Trail

Take a walk along the Jitney Walking Trail along the waterfront in Pictou. Walkers and cyclists can enjoy a three kilometre trail to the site where the ship Hector made its historic landing in 1773. Park benches are available, allowing you to take in the panoramic views. Along the way you can learn about Pictou through interpretive panels and views of the site the Hector settlers landing. The Jitney Trail connects directly to the Trans Canada Trail System for more avid hikers.

Trail Map and Description - click here

Short Line Trail

Located at Brown's Point to Scotsburn, this 12.7 km recreational trail is made of compacted surface suitable for cycling, walking, running, snowmobiling, skiing and ATV's. Accessible from Brown's Point, Blackie Road in Lyons Brook off Route 376 and Scotsburn, behind fire hall. This line provided a faster route for westbound Pictou County Coal than the mainline via Truro. Quarried stone from Wallace and salt from Canada's first salt mine in Malagash were shipped along this line. Freight traffic declined through the 1970's and was abandoned in 1985.

from http://www.eveningsail.ca/outdoor_adventure.html

Jitney Trail

Located on Pictou's waterfront to Browns Point, this 3 km trail is flat, partially paved, along waterfront and is lit for evening walks. Suitable for walking, cycling, cross-county skiing, running and wheelchairs. Accessible from Caladh Ave., near the Hector Heritage Quay Visitor's Marina, and Browns Point Rd. off Haliburton Rd. Park along road. The Jitney Trail is named for the noisy diesel electric train that carried passengers and freight from 1890 - 1960 along this route.

Short Line Trail
Located at Browns Point to Scotsburn, this 12.7 km recreational trail is made of compacted surface suitable for cycling, walking, running, snowmobiling, skiing and ATVs. Accessible from Browns Point, Blackie Road in Lyons Brook off Route 376 and Scotsburn, behind fire hall. This line provided a faster route for westbound Pictou County Coal than the mainline via Truro. Quarried stone from Wallace and salt from Canadas first salt mine in Malagash were shipped along this line. Freight traffic declined through the 1970's and was abandoned in 1985.

and from http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=XGL001-046

These routes are high quality, urban, level, walking trails, taking advantage of particularly attractive sections of an abandoned rail line. They demonstrate the possibilities of using these public rights-of-way to permit low-risk alternative transportation access into urban cores. Jitney Trail: This path follows the route of the former Pictou Short Line from the centre of the Pictou waterfront to Browns Point, the landing site of the original Scottish settlers in 1773. The Pictou “Jitney” was a noisy diesel electric train that once carried mail, passengers, and light freight between Pictou and Oxford Junction. The Jitney consisted of a locomotive, a mail car that also carried first-class passengers, and a second car for second-class passengers. Samson – Albion Trail: This trail follows the route of the very first Iron Railway in Canada. In 1836, the General Mining Association began construction in order to haul coal from the Albion Mines to harbour at Dunbar Point for loading, a distance of 6 mi (3.75 mi). A trio of steam locomotives was imported from England and the line opened in 1839. It closed in 1867. You can see one of the massive engines, the Samson, on display in the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton. During construction of the trail, some of the oldest railway artifacts in Canada were discovered. Musket balls, railway ties, and shillings from 1802 and 1820 were discovered. If you want to connect the two trails, consider the Jigs and Reels Water Taxi. This runs daily from the New Glasgow Riverfront Marina to the Pictou Marina, a trip of about slightly more than 10 km (6.25 mi) covered in about 20 minutes. The boat leaves New Glasgow at 0900, 1200, and at 1700; it leaves Pictou at 1000, 1300, and at 1800. The cost is $10 one-way, $18 for a return trip.

Read more at Trails.com: Jitney and Samson to Albion Trails | Pictou Nova Scotia Hikes | Trails.com http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailId=XGL001-046#ixzz1eWTgN1nW

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No_NS-006.pdf Download this file

No_NS-008.pdf Download this file

No_NS-007.pdf Download this file

03-0428-01.gpx Download this file

03-0428-01.kml Download this file

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News You cant use : Thinking for a change : ''The Anatomy of the Facebook Social Graph'' & ''Four Degrees of Separation'' link-backs needed

2011-11-23T00:27:00.001-08:00

http://news.google.ca/news/story?q=6+degrees+of+separation&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=di-d3Q-XlSWZQJMQvt7xwYtXb9irM&hl=en&ei=U5bMTvGzJ4GTiQKkxdjPCw&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=4&ved=0CFUQqgIwAw

Apologies to regular readers, this is off-topic... but always all related somehow...

I saw the news headline

6 Degrees of Facebook Separation? Try 4

and thought i'd show a little commentry of it .....

When you read the news paper, remember that it's always the point of view of the author, and they try and put their own spin on it.... (like i am putting my own spin on it here).

The LA times, states that it's 5, and others say 4 & 4.47.
The origional article... (I dont know where it came from) after clicking through adds from the Times of India to see an article.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/6-degrees-of-separation-Its-actually-474/articleshow/10837336.cms
.. and came from the New York Times...
PC Magazine did there own article...
the Toronto star says
"Forget six degrees of separation — it’s more like 3-5 now"
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1090628

Fortunatly, on googleNews it has the function to check what date/time the article was found and posted to the search list.

So it links back to the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/technology/between-you-and-me-4-74-degrees.html

Separating You and Me? 4.74 Degrees

By JOHN MARKOFF and SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: November 21, 2011

https://www.facebook.com/data

So it appears that many journalists just read the article and re-worded it and put their own spin on it.

I found the link from the CBC post of it that there is a link the research paper. At the cornell university library
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/11/22/technology-facebook-six-degrees-separation.html

http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.4570

Four Degrees of Separation

Lars Backstrom, Paolo Boldi, Marco Rosa, Johan Ugander, Sebastiano Vigna

(Submitted on 19 Nov 2011)

... and here's one from the Shanhaidaily.com
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.asp?id=33187

Facebook study shows our degree of separation is shrinking

Source: XINHUA | 2011-11-22 | ONLINE EDITION

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Facebook said Monday the rapid development of the online social network had reduced the average number of people linking any two individuals in society to 4.74.
****

So the point is... it's important to share information, & it would be really cool if each of the newspapers could simply quote back to the to original author a bit more. & it was actually from a facebook post.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-data-team/anatomy-of-facebook/10150388519243859

http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.4503

The Anatomy of the Facebook Social Graph

Johan Ugander, Brian Karrer, Lars Backstrom, Cameron Marlow

(Submitted on 18 Nov 2011)

In this case, it's 2 Cornell University posts that were posted on the 18th & 19th.
here (17 pages)
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1111/1111.4503v1.pdf
and here (13 pages)
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1111/1111.4570v1.pdf

Of course, reading these 2 pdf articles, along with the facebook Data Team summary, 'causes a head-ache (i haven't read it yet). However, Actually reading the source articles would give you a better idea of what was actually intended on the research, and not just someones opinion after reading someone elses article
Did each of the journalist actually read the entire 17 & 13 page document before posting the newpaper article? I doubt it. ... but links to the download pdf article are missing on many of the recycled news articles. ... sadly.

...And to end this post. Remember that linking back to the source is COOL :-)

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Across Canada Trails is now on WordPress :)

2011-11-22T22:34:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Happy to annouce that Across Canada Trails now has a WordPress blogsite :)
http://acrosscanadatrails.wordpress.com/

Sure, it's just another blogsite... but what it does is help to share the ideas from here... Since i know that many already use wordpress, and it's easier for you to keep track of whats going on.

I'm always looking for editors, so if you see spellling mistakes, feel free to comment & correct, and (if it's possable) I can set you up as an admin to this blogsite.

The idea for this is simply to make sure that the content that i post is spread out to many different websites, so then it's not all owned by 1 company. Ie. When you post a note to Facebook, Facebook owns the content of the note... and when you post a blog to Blogger.com Blogger owns the content etc. (and same with WordPress). So by sharing the ideas across to everyone, it helps for when people are searching for info, to be able to find my content. (our content) easily.

Now back to my regular posting.

Cheers,
Sam

P.S. I now have 303 Twitter followers :) Thanks to everyone who follows and re-tweets my posts, it's appreciated :)

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Talk:Trans Canada Trail (from OSM wiki) #archiving

2011-11-22T05:42:00.001-08:00

This is the article i (mostly) wrote, back in 2009 since it might get removed, i'm blogging it here.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:Trans_Canada_Trail

Talk:Trans Canada Trail

NOTE: the source of this data still needs to be verified based on the Import/Guidelines. --acrosscanadatrails 11:31, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

The intent of this Wiki project is to accurately tag on OSM a Relation_Route for each of the completed sections of the Trans Canada Trail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Canada_Trail Wikipedia Article, http://www.tctrail.ca/ Official_Website and to see the status.

And example can be see here. http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/28102

name = Trans Canada Trail network = ncn route = bicycle type = route

[hide]

TCT relation Route

Each official trail has details about the route on the official website www.tctrail.ca

note: Permission still needs to be granted to use this information. You can see this removed example http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/146837

name = Isadore Cayon Trail source = tctrail.ca tctrail:Activities = Walking/Hiking; Cycling; Horseback riding tctrail:Date_registered = 2003-03-12 tctrail:Grade = Slight incline tctrail:Length = 24.2 km tctrail:Pavilions = Cranbrook tctrail:Province = British Columbia tctrail:Ref. No. = 10-0040 tctrail:Surface = Gravel/ Crushed stone tctrail:Trail_Type = Operational Trail type = route url = http://www.tctrail.ca/tlocator/infotrail/en/infotrail.php?no=10-0040

Trans Canada Trail points of interest

Here is the list of those points of interest which are important for Trans Canada Trail users. When rendering a map, below are the Key/Value pairs that are need.

TCT Legend Values	Equivlant OSM Tag(s)	Recommended Additional (standard) Tags
TCT Pavilion	`amenity=shelter` `name=TCT Pavilion`	`operator=Trans Canada Trail`
Hardware Store	`shop=hardware`	`name=*` `phone=+1 (###) ###-####`
Resturant	`amenity=restaurant`	`name=*` `phone=+1 (###) ###-####`
Grocery store	`shop=supermarket`	`name=` `address=`
General Store	`shop=convenience`	`name=*`
Fuel	`amenity=fuel`	`name=` `operator=`
Pharmacy	`amenity=pharmacy`	`name=` `address=` `phone=+1 (###) ###-####`
Hospital	`amenity=hospital`	`name=*` `phone=+1 (###) ###-####`
Museum	`tourism=museum`	`name=*` `phone=+1 (###) ###-####` `fee=yes;no`
Information	`tourism=information`	`name=*` `information=office` `information=map` `opening_hours=(eg 9am-5pm)`
Ferry	`amenity=ferry_terminal`	`name=` `sailing_times=`
For aquestrians	*`highway=bridleway`	`horse=yes` `foot=permissive` applies only to ways, rendered differently than footpaths
Lodging	`tourism=hotel;motel;guest_house`	`name=*` `phone=+1 (###) ###-####`
Camping	`tourism=camp_site`	`name=*` `phone=+1 (###) ###-####` `reservations=yes;no;optional`
Restrooms/outhouse	`amenity=toilets`	`power=yes;no` `pit=yes;no`
Parking	`amenity=parking`	`amenity=bicycle_parking`
Drinking water	`amenity=drinking_water`
Picnic Tables	`tourism=picnic_site`
Park	`leisure=park`	`name=` `operator=`
Rest area	unknown tag	`highway=services` `amenity=bench`
Town/Community	`place=town`	most towns are already listed
Trans Canada Trail	*`route=ncn` `type=cycle`	see below a Super relation relation
Local adventures & detours	route=	local routes (connecting to the TCT)
Other trails	`highway=path`	`highway=footway` `highway=cycleway`
River	`waterway=river`	most will be imported
Highway/ Road number	`highway=*`
Trans-canada Highway	route	a super relation

See also [Relations to GPX] to create a GPX file from many Trans Canada trail route relations.

Tagging the Trans Canada Trail

Operators

The Trans Canada Trail is a multi-surface recreational trail covering all of Canada. The common physical element that you will see is the TCT Symbol, on the sign posts, and on the pavilions and local area maps, as well as in local area tourist maps. We can tag each way with this as the operator. Because the whole trail is not yet complete, we cannot create a unified relation route for it. Having the operator listed as this, should be sufficient and true for all segments of the Trans Canada Trail. Although the TCT is technically not the operator, as they provide the signs, (it is up to the provincial organizations todo that) See www.tctrail.ca for the current status and to see where the trail is. However, for OSM, we use this because we physically see the signs this helps to keep this common element. (As the surface and usage changes across the country)

operator=Trans Canada Trail

or =TCT or =Trans-Canada Trail or=Sentier Transcanadien ???

Provincial The overall routing of the trail is planned and maintained by each provincial trails organization. (Notice in the official trail reference number, there is a 2 digit number before it. .. 01-12) Each Trans Canada Trail segment which is in the same province, is associated as the operator of that province. They communicate and coordinate with the regional and local trail groups to physically put the signs in place. The list of provincial contacts can be found here. http://www.tctrail.ca/Provincial_Partners.php

operator=Alberta TrailNet operator=TrailsBC operator=Manitoba Recreational Trails Association (or =MRTA) operator=New Brunswick Trails Council Inc. (or =NBTCI) operator=Newfoundland T'Railway Council (or=T'Railway) operator=NWT Recreation and Parks Assoc. (or=NWT)

Regional

Local

Tagging Recreational Trails In Canada

See Tagging Recreational Trails in Canada

Tagging the trail Surfaces

As such, there is no 1 single way to tag it all. However, there are some common elements for the various complete trail sections.

This section is organized based on surface type.

Paved Surface (separate from road)

(insert chart here)

sometimes having a painted center line stripe indicating direction of traffic
mainly found in city centers or inter urban routes

(picture)

Gravel Surface (loose gravel, crushed stone)

usually rail-trails or dyke trails
can be very dusty

(insert picture of the surfaces)

Recreational activities handle it:

(insert chart with pictures of the various activities)

Dirt Trail Surface

could be single track or double track
generally not in the city core
hiking is

Highway shoulder paved

(picture)

can have loose gravel in spots (mainly after spring thaw)
watch for broken glass

Highway shoulder Un-paved

wishing they were paved
best to avoid if possable taking side roads
mountain bike would be better

(picture)

Primary Road rotary routes

(hopefully i didn't get that mixed up)

These are generally not separate from the road, but indicated by signage
put there by the local rotary club

Secondary highway roads

These are sparcely marked, as distances between times when you need to turn are so great.
ie. northern ontario where there is only 1 road for a great distance with no connecting roads (there is no need for signage every 100 meters)

Tagging the trail Usage

There are different levels when traveling along the Trans Canada Trail. As this trail is multi-use, it is apparent that each usage should be shown. By simple physical observations, each activity permitted should be sign posted. There are 6 general uses for the Trans Canada Trail.

Activity 1: Hiking / walking

Hiking

Walking

highway=footway

Activity 2: Cycling

bicycle=yes

Touring Bike

Hybred Bike

Expedition Touring Bike

Mountain Bike

Activity 3: Cross-country skiiing

only where there is snow :)

Activity 4: Horseback Riding

Activity 5: Snowmobiling

only where there is snow :)

Activity 6: Canoeing

only where there are rivers/lakes/water :)

OSM TCT Tagging Progress status chart

			% Complete
TCT Reference #	TCT Trail Name	OSM Route Relation #	Raw Tracks uploaded	Mapped (traced)	Labeled	Notes (description of status)
10-0001	Galloping Goose	19895	Yes tracks	Yes Mapped	Yes Labeled	See Galloping Goose Regional Trail
connection route
10-0007	Cowichan Valley Trail					See Cowichan Valley Trail

How to mark the trail on OSM?

name=Cowichan Valley Trail ref=10-0007 bicycle=yes

pavilion=no

Trail Name: Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail name=Cowichan Valley Trail

Trail Number: 06-0005 ref=06-0005

Trail Type Operational trail

Province Ontario province=Ontario

Length 19 Km length km=19

Grade Mainly flat grade=Mainly flat

Surface Gravel / crushed stone surface=gravel

Classification

Activities - Hiking / walking - Cycling - Cross-country skiing (see note below)

Pavilions No Pavilions=No

Comments

Date registered 1997-07-26 00:00:00 Date Registered= 1997-07-26

ets start from the top.

Major Highways

Like the 400 highways which has complete interchanges. .. obviously.. no bikes are alloud, they even go to the trouble and post signes 'no bikes on highway'.

Highway shoulder

bicycle = yes
Surface=paved
Name= (the name of the highway)

Highway Shoulder Unpaved=

Designated Bicycle lane

surface = paved
cycleway = track

Side road

surface = paved

Gravel Road

surface: unpaved

Gravel trail

surface: unpaved

Dirt trail

surface: ?

Step 1: Goto http://www.tctrail.ca/tlocator/ website, and find the trail(s) you have sucessfully navigated on your GPS Device.

On the site you can see the details of these trails, (Note: if you cannot find the trail you can message user: acrosscanadatrails who will be happy to help)

Step 2: If you have navigated more than 1 trail on your trip, please

split your trip into separate paths, 1 path per trail.

Step 3: (if nothing else, somewhere in the tags include ´Trans Canada Trail´ so then it can be searchable) .. preferably add in the relation . .. ´Trans_Canada_Trail´

Step 4: Include everything from the TCLocator website, most importantly the trail name & trail number.

Step 5: Include all the details of the trail, as shown below (or discus), heres an example.

Trail Name: Cambridge to Paris Rail Trail

Trail Number: 06-0005

Trail Type Operational trail

Province Ontario

Length 19 Km

Grade Mainly flat

Surface Gravel / crushed stone

Classification

Activities - Hiking / walking - Cycling - Cross-country skiing (see note below)

Pavilions No

Comments

Date registered 1997-07-26 00:00:00

Note: We can add under Activities the breakdown, indicating ´yes´ or ´no´, and have each activity that is ´yes´ listed. ... its assumed that the rest are ´no´

Activities Permitted on the Trans Canada Trail

Unofficial Trans Canada Trail GPS Map

Using the Unofficial Trans Canada Trail GPS Map it is possable to accuratly follow the completed sections of the Trans Canada Trail.

You can download the map file from map center here http://mapcenter2.cgpsmapper.com/mapview.php?id=1882

Included with the download map file are:

Virtual Trail Markers

Shown as an icon of the Trans Canada Trail (TCT), this file can also be downloaded separately from [[1]]

Trans Canada Trail Pavilions

Showing 81 of these red roofed pavilions, the user is able successfully to navigate their was to/from these permanent pavilions. Also available separately on [[2]]

All the trails which are physically marked with the TCT logo, have this logo Icon, so it is visible on the GPS Device.

How can you help?

As the saying goes, many hands make light work.

Simply marking the recreational trails in your area When anyone who lives close to a section of the Trans Canada Trail, (or one of the Across Canada Trails), along with navigating the route, can map out by mapping out the physically marked sections. Most importantly, it would be of great help to map out the way you got out to and from the trail. Ideally connecting with a major highway, which connects to the Trans Canada Highway. Your contributing help, will in-turn, help others to navigate that section of the trail easier.

Concerns

figure out how the tagging will work to be consistant across the country
how the relation route will work
- potential copyright issues (using data from other sources)
Google map maker? - none. .. This OSM is totally free, and totally wiki. .. complaints are simply ignored. .. but questions are answered, and suggestions and solutions are better. ... Go wiki wiki

Ideas

translate what im writing into true wiki form, placing it in the wikipedia context (out of the 1s person)
go back to grammer school
print this map in a map book form with some kind of print on demand site, so users can trdownload the latest version of the map. ... map being created and revised with wiki concept. So then you can have a paper map version of OSM, and only print what you need, having it bounded and made into a book. ... for All of Canada?
write a state of the map canada summery (wiki)
use and learn from other countries, regions what they are doing and copy

wiki todo list

Unofficial Trans Canada Trail Pavilions

http://www.poifriend.com/poigroup.php?poigroup_id=4386 (done, but needs updating as more are built)

Trans Canada Trail segments (as shown on the TCtrail.ca website)

[[3]] (done, but needs updating as more are named)

Trans Canada Trail Discovery Panels

Trans Canada Trail Local Information boards

Marking the Trails with activity use permitted (POIs):

Authors Notes

1 Although I would like to see this map made available on OSM, as the tracks should be 100% accurate; These tracks were downloaded from the Trans Canada Trail website as GPX and KML. So the origional source is from multiple contributors, however, I can provide the raw files and each track is already named.

2 Currently in development are t6 TCT icons representing the different types of usage, these icons will be shown on the tracks, at each road/path intersection and along the trail in appropriate places (as to not interfere with other physical way point markers, or other POI. (Idea: using part of the TCT logo which shows all the recreation types, with the TCT leaf as smaller and shown in the top right corner) This would it smaller, but still be identifiable. Comments???

WikiProject Canada

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Type:	Linear
Length:	26 km one-way
Surface:	Gravel, crushed gravel (through Tatamagouche), wooden bridges
Rating:	Easy, flat
Marking:	Follow obvious rail trail, signs
Permitted Use:	Walking, cycling, equestrian, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ATVing
Access:	Parking available in these locations: - Creamery Road off Main Street in Tatamagouche - King Street near Patterson Wharf Park in Tatamagouche - Nelson Memorial Park, 153 Loop of Hwy 6, west of Tatamagouche - Sutherland Steam Mill Museum on Route 326 in Denmark
Information:	Tatamagouche Area Trails Association 902-657-2277