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Latest text of pad civicappsmeetup
Saved May 19, 2010
Unofficial CivicApps Meetup Notes
May 1st, NedSpace OldTown
 
Attendees:
Kevin Turner
Jeff Schwaber
Ed Borasky
Reid Beels
Sue Gemmell
Justin Houk
Mary Anne Thygesen
Audrey Eschright
Joe Meyer
Drew Kalina
Peat Bakke
Nick Brenner
Max Ogden
 
Justin walked us through some of the data sets available for use.
 
Suggestions for improving metadata/details: showing update history, not just intended frequency, info on agencies' plans for updating (never? quarterly? yearly?)
 
Demo maps would be neat - to show what shapefiles and geodata are available, let users browse them visually. It's hard to preview geodata if you don't have GIS tools readily available.
 
Next meetup, let's invite someone who works on civicapps.org so we can talk about ui/navigation issues - you end up on the first page of the datasets list when you come back from a detail page, making it very hard to browse the data pages
 
Business district data might be a useful way of handling local search (I'm at business X, where should I get lunch?)
 
Curb ramp data: could be useful for wheelchair users, strollers
 
Some discussion of schedule data, time-based data: 911 calls are one of the few real-time resources available. Why not street-sweeping schedules, trash pickup, street or parks maintenence?
 
Wiki page: http://portlandwiki.org/CivicApps
 
Audrey, Reid, Igal, Sue worked on Food Cart Finder.
Max is working on a data interface
Ed is working on (a data applicance?) Will post to wiki page
Kevin is working with his neighborhood association
Sue is working on UI/IA for "liking" places around town, tracking poetry boxes
Nick is working on ...
Joe is interested in data visualization
Mary Anne would like to work on statistical analysis of data
 
Post-event thoughts: Adam Greenfield and others talk extensively about the city's API, interactivity. Right now the data we have is very static. We need interfaces: can any app report a pothole? tell trimet that the bus stop is trashed? request information from a public resource (fountain, when will you be on? when will there be a train at this stop? if I park here now will I be towed?)