Incoming links: OpenStreetMap
These are people which Ciro never met personally, and who might not know that Ciro exists, or might never had any direct 1-2-1 online contact with Ciro, but Ciro is convinced are his brothers in some other dimension due to how many opinions or behaviours he feels they share:
- Dan Dascalescu due to articles such as:
- English as a universal language by Dan Dascalescu (2008)
- www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/9oujwf/why_archiving_old_threads_is_a_bigger_problem/ see also online forums that lock threads after some time are evil
- web.archive.org/web/20130922192354/http://wiki.dandascalescu.com/reviews/online_services/web_page_archiving see also web archiving
- random posts on OpenStreetMap, and about China: help.openstreetmap.org/questions/29300/legality-status-of-mapping-activity-in-china?page=1&focusedAnswerId=42167#42167
- kenorb see also Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions
- Gwern Branwen
Some other idealists that are a bit further out but with some similarities:
- Sylvain Poirier
- Gabriel Staples
- gabrielstaples.com/#gsc.tab=0
- github.com/ElectricRCAircraftGuy
- stackoverflow.com/users/4561887/gabriel-staplesYes, sir.
Working hard to make the Internet more complete.
At github.com/sponsors/ElectricRCAircraftGuy:I'd really like to work on open source projects more, but the need for a full-time job makes that difficult. If you can sponsor me, you help me get one step closer to my dream of not having to work a traditional "day job" anymore, so I can contribute more to the open source community, do more to educate, and do more to confront new and challenging ideas.
Ciro Santilli also things of those people as being part of his 108 Stars of Destiny troupe.
Ciro sometimes ponders why is it so hard to find people online that you truly love and admire. Maybe it is for similar reasons why it is also hard in the real world: the great variety of human interest, and the great limitation of our attention spans. But online, where we have access to "everyone", shouldn't it should be easier? Not naturally finding such people is perhaps one of the greatest failings of our education system.
Great set of long distance routes.
They are very well chosen for their high safety and level interest, so you can just go into them without putting much thought into it.
Sometimes they go a bit too much on the side of safety, making certain transitions annoying, but in general the selection is spot on.
The routes do sometimes go on a bit of gravel, so they are most adequate for hybrid bikes rather than road bikes, although road bikes would be able to to much of them. A more road-bike dedicated possibility is the The National Byway.
Note however that there are many many other local routes which are not in the network, but arguably equally, or more worthwhile.
Their diginal map distribution mechanisms are a bit shitty and sometimes asks you to pay for certain formats, which is hard to understand given that the maintainer of those maps, the Ordnance Survey appears to be public... github.com/cirosantilli/cirosantilli.github.io/issues/61 "How to see the Sustrans National Cycle Network on Google maps?"
Googling "National Cycle Netowrk KML" leads to: data-sustrans-uk.opendata.arcgis.com/ from which we can download the KML. gis.stackexchange.com/questions/216770/how-to-open-kml-file-in-google-maps-for-android then shows how to make that viewable on Google Maps by going through www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/?hl=en on the browser. TODO 2021-11:"Ralph Hughes" www.linkedin.com/in/ralph-hughes-501474121 is listed as the creator/responsible of the exports, but can't find his email. Sent an email to gissupport@sustrans.org.uk and he did reply a few days later that they are aware of the issue, and are particularly trying to reach out to Google about it. Great news!
GPSPrune 20.2-1 can open the KML however, so that file can't be entirely wrong.
- KML: nothing happens after the upload finishes, the "Select button remains grayed out
- CSV: you need to "Choose a column to title your markers", but all I tried give "Oops! We're having trouble finding those locations. Did you pick the correct location columns?"
GPSPrune 20.2-1 can open the KML however, so that file can't be entirely wrong.
OpenStreetMaps has them on by default though if you just click "Cycle Map" layer. It is not as incredibly detalied as the Ordnance Survey one, e.g. does not show which side of the street to ride on, but still, is very good.
- Google Maps download offline maps. This works very reliably, you can select the area you want to download. The only downside is that Google maps can't reliably show a route offline, and it does not contain national cycle route routes. Or those features are impossible for a software engineer to get working after trying for about 2 hours.
- OpenStreetMap on browser with cycling layer: www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/49.582/1.934&layers=C This is the best visualization of cycling routes I've found so far, contains both National Cycle Network and National Byway and a few others, and they are shown extremely clearly. But as a website it doesn't reliably work offline
- the OsmAnd app for Android is the best offline free-ish OpenStreetMap viewer I've found so far. You only have to pay after reaching 5 region downloads, and it is very cheap if you want to do so. The cycle route view is not amazing, the routes are not so clearly marked and mixed with very similarly colored big roads, but with a bit of effort you can make them out. No routing though
- I've heard Komoot can keep a predefined route (possibly auto planed) reliably offline, but haven't used it myself. I was not able to see National Cycle Route clearly marked anywhere on it
It runs along quiet roads, rather than a mixture of roads and tracks like the National Cycle Network, making it more appropriate for road bikes.
TODO interactive online app? Ahh, those charities that try to make money by individual transactions... when they die, nothing will be left of all their work.
Edit: noticed that it is on by default on OpenStreetMaps web UI under the "Cycle Map" layer marked at "NB".