Getting readk for Ike

[Earl McGehee]

As our focus turns to Ike I have worked with the Wiki team to get our team
pages to fit into their new structure with categories and a table of
contents template on every page. Navigation should be easier for the team
and the public. There is a new page for each specific storm. There are new
pages that lists all the Google Maps we are maintaining and a list of all
the pages the map team maintains.

See the Maps team page
(http://www.hurricanewiki.org/wiki/Interactive_Maps_Team_Page) for a list of
To Do's in priority order.

Thanks everyone for your continued work and please use this mail list to
float new ideas and feedback about what is working and what is not working.

Notice there is a link on the team page to a list of the most viewed Wiki
pages and the Interactive Maps page is number three after Main and Shelters.

<> Earl McGehee
<> Austin, TX, USA

[Andy Carvin]

could someone give me a quick summary of the types of data contained in the maps we're building for Hanna and Ike? I may go on air at NPR at some point to talk about it and want to make sure I get it right.

thanks,
ac

------------------------
Andy Carvin
andycarvin at yahoo com
www.andycarvin.com
www.pbs.org/learningnow
------------------------

[Andy Carvin]

meanwhile, is there an embeddable map for Hanna I can put on our homepage today?

thanks

[Andy Carvin]

I can't get the maps listed for hanna on the wiki to work. They load briefly then redirect to a national view of data points along the gulf coast.

------------------------
Andy Carvin
andycarvin at yahoo com
www.andycarvin.com
www.pbs.org/learningnow
------------------------

----- Original Message ----
From: Andy Carvin <andyc...@yahoo.com>
To: hurricane-info-...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Saturday, September 6, 2008 11:52:49 AM
Subject: [hurricane-info-center-maps-team] Re: Getting readk for Ike

could someone give me a quick summary of the types of data contained in the maps we're building for Hanna and Ike? I may go on air at NPR at some point to talk about it and want to make sure I get it right.

thanks,
ac

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

[Andrew Turner]

Working on it right now :) will get back to you very shortly.

[Earl McGehee]

The Hanna maps are probably not such a good example since it moved so fast
and turned out to be not so bad. I believe everyone is concentrating on Ike
now.

Andrew is working on the fancy consolidated maps. Various others are
working on specific subject maps. The Evacuation Routes map allows you to
click on a state and get links to official state evacuation maps and other
evacuation data. We are also highlighting routs on that map. Google lets a
user click a Traffic button to see conditions for all routs on the map and
they can easily search for hotels, restaurants, hospitals within that Google
map.

The other important map now is the Evacuation Centers Map. This has some
points for North and South Caroliana and now we are starting to fill out for
Florida. This has map pens with the name, address and phone number of
public evacuation sites and any user can click a button to get turn-by-turn
instructions from wherever they are to any marked shelter.

There are also maps with links to Web Cams along roads and beaches to see
current conditions and another map to show links to local new sources at any
spot on the map.

Lots of work and not enough volunteers. But much of what we are doing on
the above maps will be relatively static and will still be there for the
next storm.

Later we will start updating an Ike specific map to show where evacuees
ended up. This is updated from Twitter reports and hopefully people will
login and enter the locations where they ended up or where their friends and
relatives found shelters. This will help people to know where hotels are
available.

Earl McGehee
Austin, TX

-----Original Message-----
From: hurricane-info-...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:hurricane-info-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Andy
Carvin
Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2008 10:53 AM
To: hurricane-info-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [hurricane-info-center-maps-team] Re: Getting readk for Ike

[Andy Carvin]

Tell me what types of volunteers you need and I'll put out a request for some.

[Earl McGehee]

We need people that with a little knowledge of Google Maps that can take a
web page of data from one of the Wiki pages and find and mark those data
spots on a Google map.

There are links in the TO DO section of the Map Team Page at
http://www.hurricanewiki.org/wiki/Interactive_Maps_Team_Page

I will update those TO DO links now to get more specific with these links.
I have been trying to get one or two sample links on the various maps to
help get people started.

Is someone staying on top of the Wiki Florida Shelters page. The link there
to the Red Cross shelters site only shows one shelter currently open in the
entire state. This sounds like a problem. Do we need to be finding more
shelters somehow?
https://floridanss.communityos.org/zf/nss/shelterpublicreport/state/FL

Earl McGehee

[Andrew Turner]

On Sat, Sep 6, 2008 at 1:05 PM, Earl McGehee <ejm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> We need people that with a little knowledge of Google Maps that can take a
> web page of data from one of the Wiki pages and find and mark those data
> spots on a Google map.

I've asked for the MediaWiki GoogleMaps/GeoRSS extension to be
installed. This would mean no one would have to "copy" data to Google
MyMaps.

However, I haven't heard confirmation from Deanne on this getting installed.

[Andrew Turner]

On Sat, Sep 6, 2008 at 1:05 PM, Earl McGehee <ejm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

> We need people that with a little knowledge of Google Maps that can take a
> web page of data from one of the Wiki pages and find and mark those data
> spots on a Google map.

I've asked for the MediaWiki GoogleMaps/GeoRSS extension to be
installed. This would mean no one would have to "copy" data to Google
MyMaps.

However, I haven't heard confirmation from Deanne on this getting
installed.

On Sep 6, 1:05 pm, "Earl McGehee" <ejm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> We need people that with a little knowledge of Google Maps that can take a
> web page of data from one of the Wiki pages and find and mark those data
> spots on a Google map.
>

> There are links in the TO DO section of the Map Team Page athttp://www.hurricanewiki.org/wiki/Interactive_Maps_Team_Page

>
> I will update those TO DO links now to get more specific with these links.
> I have been trying to get one or two sample links on the various maps to
> help get people started.
>
> Is someone staying on top of the Wiki Florida Shelters page.  The link there
> to the Red Cross shelters site only shows one shelter currently open in the
> entire state.  This sounds like a problem.  Do we need to be finding more

> shelters somehow?https://floridanss.communityos.org/zf/nss/shelterpublicreport/state/FL

[Earl McGehee]

Andrew, maybe you could help some of us that are less sophisticated to understand what that plug-n would do for us. I assume it would let us have an embedded Google map on a page and that map could get data points from a GeoRSS feed. I think we can get a GeoRSS feed to show the hurricane track on the map. But can we configure the existing Google subject maps to feed their data to this map? If so would a user be able to select which layers of maps (i.e. which feeds) to view?

Should we be trying to find GeoRSS feeds for open Red Cross shelters and evacuation routes?

Would this plugin make it possible for a user to fill in a form on a wiki page to create a map point?

Thanks for you ongoing help and please keep this mail list updated on your progress.

[Andrew Turner]

On Sat, Sep 6, 2008 at 2:23 PM, Earl McGehee <ejm...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Andrew, maybe you could help some of us that are less sophisticated to understand what that plug-n would do for us. I assume it would let us have an embedded Google map on a page and that map could get data points from a GeoRSS feed. I think we can get a GeoRSS feed to show the hurricane track on the map. But can we configure the existing Google subject maps to feed their data to this map? If so would a user be able to select which layers of maps (i.e. which feeds) to view?

I am most interested in the first part - that users can edit the wiki
and directly generate maps and GeoRSS/KML from the wiki page itself.
This would prevent someone having to first enter information into the
Wiki and then go and put that into Google MyMaps.

This way any wiki editor can add locations that will be syndicated.
Look here for a good example:
http://arborwiki.org/index.php/Category:Lunch_under_5_dollars

>
> Should we be trying to find GeoRSS feeds for open Red Cross shelters and evacuation routes?
>
> Would this plugin make it possible for a user to fill in a form on a wiki page to create a map point?

Yes, see above.

--
Andrew Turner
mobile: 248.982.3609
and...@mapufacture.com
http://highearthorbit.com

http://mapufacture.com Helping build the Geospatial Web
Introduction to Neogeography - http://oreilly.com/catalog/neogeography

[Andy Carvin]

Will our google maps work on other websites? I'm writing a blog post for NPR's Weekend Edition and they'd like to include the Gustav map. Will I get api errors if I embed it on npr.org? Or should I just use a screenshot?

[Andrew Turner]

On Sat, Sep 6, 2008 at 4:28 PM, Andy Carvin <andyc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Will our google maps work on other websites? I'm writing a blog post for NPR's Weekend Edition and they'd like to include the Gustav map. Will I get api errors if I embed it on npr.org? Or should I just use a screenshot?

I added a GoogleMaps API key for npr.org - so it should work fine.

[Andy Carvin]

cool, thanks.... ac

[Edward Vielmetti]

this is a very cool/useful new orleans contraflow evacuation
google map mashup -

http://www.contraflowmaps.com/

it says about itself

Citizens Helping Citizens

While New Orleanians continue to struggle in the shadows of political
corruption, without "Road Home" funds, and amid the national belief
that New Orleans should not be rebuilt, citizens around the Greater
New Orleans area are taking on the task of recovery themselves. Our
contribution, contraflowmaps.com, converts the Official Printed
Louisiana Contraflow Maps into a Google Mashup of contraflow routes
that should make it easy to plan your evacuation. contraflowmaps.com
is being launched to coincide with the 2nd anniversary of Katrina
(August 29th, 2007). Proceeds from advertising will be donated to
Katrina Relief efforts.

Disclaimer

contraflowmaps.com and it's officers shall not be liable for damages
or losses of any kind arising out of or in connection with the use or
performance of information, including but not limited to, damages or
losses caused by reliance upon the accuracy or timeliness of any such
information, or damages incurred from the viewing, distributing, or
copying of those materials.

--
Edward Vielmetti
Ann Arbor, MI
+1 734 330 2465

Please remove eviel...@purevisibility.com from your address book.

[Andy Carvin]

Not sure if this one's been mentioned yet, but the Louisiana emergency management agency is mapping open gas stations:

http://emergency.louisiana.gov/Releases/GasStations.html

Would love to incorporate this into our primary map.

ac

------------------------
Andy Carvin
andycarvin at yahoo com
www.andycarvin.com
www.pbs.org/learningnow
------------------------

----- Original Message ----
From: Earl McGehee <ejm...@gmail.com>
To: hurricane-info-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 6, 2008 1:05:37 PM
Subject: [hurricane-info-center-maps-team] Re: Getting readk for Ike

We need people that with a little knowledge of Google Maps that can take a
web page of data from one of the Wiki pages and find and mark those data
spots on a Google map.

There are links in the TO DO section of the Map Team Page at

[Andrew Turner]

Ok - I imported the feed into mapufacture - what map(s) should it be
added? Or do we want a new recovery specific map?

--

[Earl McGehee]

There is a Hurricane Gustav Damages map that is the most appropriate of the existing maps. It's empty now.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115892917752208520996.0004567fc3ea1c88e56b9&ll=31.372399,-91.538086&spn=14.475911,24.301758&z=6

There is a Utility Power Outage Map that is also related and populated with info from Gustav and :
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113932165856461159137.000455fd4a9e930f6b943&ll=33.979809,-87.670898&spn=28.005881,48.603516&z=5

I'll be glad when Google lets us combine maps in layers so it will be easier to add and remove data like this as it is valid.

We need to add links to the map on the [[Gustav 2008 Maps]] page and the [[Interactive Maps#Damage Reports Maps]] section (the utility outages map is already there).

Thanks for the continued work.

Tonight I have been marking evacuation routes in South Texas - getting ready for Ike. Things might start getting busy tomorrow if Ike stays on it's current course.

[Edward Vielmetti]

Earl -

The Utility Power Outage Map has been updated with three systems in Texas:
the Entergy coverage N of Houston, and the AEP Texas coverage in the southern
and central part of the state, and the AEP SWEPCO slice near Texarkana.

I wasn't able to find outage maps from other parts of the state, in particular
Houston (Centerpoint).

thanks

Ed

--

[Andy Carvin]

Does any existing map seem like a natural candidate?

[Edward Vielmetti]

I've again updated the Utility Power Outage Map, this time
with a link to ERCOT, the grid operator for Texas:

http://www.ercot.com

I wasn't able to find any maps, but there's a lot of data
on that site that *could* be maps, in that they have real
time pricing for power and some considerable other
sets of data the reflect the health of the power grid.

I've adjusted the rest of Texas mapping accordingly,
if anyone goes in there there's a few overlapping regions
now which need pinpoints to make them easiest to read.

thanks

Ed

[Earl McGehee]

Thanks for your continued work Edward.

We got a nice map today from Marie documenting damages from Ike in Cuba. I
loaded her data into the Ike Damages Map and added a link to the Ike page.

I am continuing marking up the evacuation routes in Texas. I have moved to
the Houston area tonight as the storm keeps turning more to the East.
Evacuations started today in coastal Texas and will be much more widespread
Thursday.

Still no news on the Ning home page revisions. We need to find a way to
help more people find all this good info on the wiki. The shelters team has
done a lot of work keeping their info up to date.

[Edward Vielmetti]

Earl -

The Hurricane Ike twitter stream has 300+ subscribers

http://twitter.com/hurricaneike

and would be a good source of information about current
details as well as a way to disseminate the information you
have collected. It's from neowx (and the individuals involved
in it haven't surfaced by name, but there's clearly a collective
effort).

Some newspaper twitters include and I will update my
news media map:

http://twitter.com/BmtEnterprise - Beaumont Enterprise, 83 followers
http://twitter.com/chronhurricane - Houston Chronicle, 85 followers
http://twitter.com/VicAdvocate - Victoria Advocate, 3 followers
http://twitter.com/Hurricane_Ike - NOLA.com New Orleans, 19 followers
http://twitter.com/KVUE - KVUE Austin TX, 130 followers

this is some small subset of the total pulled from about 60 minutes
of twitter feed search for "hurricane ike" and looking for news organizations.

thanks

Ed

[Andy Carvin]

So which map should I now be displaying on the homepage? The one we currently have is too Hanna-focused. I need something that tightly focuses on the Texas Gulf Coast. Please let me know asap which map widget is most representative.

[Andy Carvin]

Did you see the note Marie posted regarding a KML for health clinics?

http://www.hurricanes08.org/forum/topic/show?id=2294159%3ATopic%3A5686

[Earl McGehee]

Yes. I worked on this file earlier and never could get it imported into
Google maps. It works OK with Google Earth. I tried to edit it to find the
problem but no luck. I put a link to the map on their site on our page a
week or so ago.

[Earl McGehee]

I like the Stormpulse map best of all. It's updated frequently and its
pretty.

Here is a link to the page that explains their API - how to use JavaScript
to embed their feed in a web site. Just send them an email with our URL and
they will give you a key.
http://stormpulse.wordpress.com/stormpulse-api/

Not sure what capabilities we have on Ning - do they support Java on the
server?

Here is a list of some of the other sites that use their feed:
http://stormpulse.wordpress.com/who-uses-stormpulse/

[Andy Carvin]

glad you found that; I've put in a request for an API key. Hopefully Ning will allow it. I've had no problems embedding other widgets in the page. We'll see what happens.