Re: Personal Regional Address Books

It is true that commercial sources are just a click away, but they have two disadvantages:
1. They are proprietary.  Note the difference in terms of use between The National Atlas[1] and the Earth Explorer[2].  The gate-keeping is complex, leaving aside for the moment the issue of Authority.  Rearranging the data layout creates a problem with the science behind the calculations - event times cannot be un-rounded -  so that a composite data set, a forecast, becomes differently branded.
2. Any location pull involves an element of tracking.  A user specified location, when pulled, is still under the control of the user.  A location inferred by some other mechanism, "Magic" is popular, is part of the branding mentioned above.


DWML is an "operational" format for the US.  It may be difficult to implement elsewhere - it uses integer feet for altitudes, for example.  To the good side, it appears to be neutrino-free :o)  The Government has done their part. The "idea" is that small developers and citizens should have the confidence to use location dependent PSI directly, without the coverage branding Big Data introduces into the equation.  I hasten to add that this is for forecasts, tactics, not StratML, nor does it interfere with Brand Niemann's suggested extensions to Five-Star linking.  Forecasts are intended to be forgotten once the facts are in. 


--Gannon

[1] http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mapmaker

[2] http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/NewEarthExplorer/  


________________________________
From: Chris Beer <chris@codex.net.au>
To: public-egov-ig@w3.org
Cc: gannon_dick@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 5:01 AM
Subject: Re:Personal Regional Address Books


But the Weather Channel, or Google etc, or the evening news are just a click away and far easier to access.

Solutions have to as simple as they are accessible, value adding and smart (in an e-gov sense).

What you need to support this idea is a simple and free tool for end users that encourages Gov use of the fotmat/idea...

2 cents worth :)

Cheers

Chris Beer

Sent from Samsung Mobile 


Gannon Dick <gannon_dick@yahoo.com> wrote: 



I'll try the New Zealand method (3 sentences).

If you have a new work assignment in an unfamiliar area, for example as a teacher, environment  forecasts (weather and sun) help you with short term planning until you become familiar with the new neighborhood.  A map of the available forecast data points is in the geocard.zip 'weather application' directory: PateE.dwml DWML is the National Weather Services' XML format, and the modified XSD schema is in the 'weather validation' directory in the zip file.


--Gannon

----- Forwarded Message -----
Subject: Regional Address Book, US


To lower the Government data access requirements for small shops and individuals, I have compiled an XML Data Base of Regions (County Equivalents) for the US and Puerto Rico.  I hope it will be used as an application coverage starting point.  An example of the output is here [1], just two Counties in North Texas and a couple of local schools.  A zip file with the example and complete data base (nick.xml) is in the same directory as geocard.zip [2].  CC Public Domain Mark


The advantage to this scheme is that application coverage can be scaled up by simply adding regions.  Time Zones and County Warning Areas which overlap have already been joined.


Once these "Personal Regional Address Books" are made, it's an easy matter to get Weather Information in XML, and other information, sunrise, sunset, etc. can be added to that.  A daemon to fetch the current forecast is all the 'development' work necessary.   I'll publish the Weather XML (dwml) transforms within about a week.


--Gannon

[1] http://www.rustprivacy.org/2011/phase/pab/ or http://tinyurl.com/43hhj7o
[2] http://tinyurl.com/43hhj7o/geocard.zip