Planning Meeting

If anyone wants involved in the organization of the project, I'd like to have a planning meeting sometime soon.  Please comment or e-mail me if you'd like to be included in the meeting.

How NolaCycle Mapping is going to work

In case you're reading this and you haven't met me and you really have no idea what's going on...here's the jist of it:

Every weekend in summer (and hopefully fall to if I can find people to help run mapping meet ups while I'm up North), I will lead a group of volunteers to map a group of neighborhoods.  We'll meet up a public park, I'll explain the project, and then I'll send out pairs of volunteers with a black and white street map of a 5 by 10 block area.  I'll give you a clip board, some colored markers or pencils so you can record the pavement quality and width of the street (is the pavement poor, moderate, or good quality for cycling?  is the road wide enough for you and a car to travel side by side in the same lane?  Or it is narrow?).  Also I'll have to mark off any bike lanes (there's a few in the city now), shared lanes, or bike trails (Levee, Audubon, etc) in the area.  We'll meet back up at the park two hours later and I'll collect the maps and supplies from you.  Then if you have time, we can hit up happy hour at some local bar!

After the meet-up and you leave to go on with your normal life, I'll start digitally recording all the data in either GIS (geographic information systems software), or with Adobe Illustrator (that's a graphic arts program).  After we collect data for all the neighborhoods of the city and I have it all digitally recorded too, I'll start working on a final map to be published.  Hopefully, depending on how much we get down in the summer, I'll have a map ready to be printed and distributed by sometime between March and next July.  

Between now and next year when the final product is out, I'd like to get a core group of volunteers together to be a planning/advisory team.  We'll make decisions about final layout, meet-up locations, finding grants, and distribution plans.  If you'd like to be in this group, please shoot me an e-mail at sullivlr@gmail.com.  

Hope to see you sometime this summer!  Thanks!

Flyer!

Here's the flyer sheet you can print off and give to all your friends! You can fit about 6 of these guys on a 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper. If you want a flyer sheet, I can e-mail one to you.

HELP WANTED!

Aside from just having volunteers to map on meet-up days, I will be needing help with other parts of the project. Feel free to apply for any of the positions...there really aren't any requirements...but it also doesn't pay anything. But, I can provide benefits! All work sessions can happen at my house were I have a pool. I'll let you use it if you help me out! (Who needs health care when you have a pool?)

Run meet-ups in your neighborhood
Explain project and send out people to map
Promotion
Hand out flyers and hang up posters
Graphics and website
Assist in developing a real website (because I don't know how!) and help with designing
posters and flyers
Media Relations
Help get the word out to newspapers, magazines, and other blogs
Grant Research
Help me find grants to we can have someone else pay to print the final maps

Map on your own!
If you can't make it to any meet-up days, you can still help map! Tell me what neighborhood you'd like to map in, I'll send you some maps, and then I'll pick them up from you when you're done.

So, Lauren, with all these help, what are you going to be doing?
Well, a lot actually...I will run most of the meet-ups, print all the maps, buy supplies, process the data, write a big long paper of why mapping for cyclist is important and how this will help new orleans, and the value of community mapping...and, well, you get the idea. Finally, I'll produce a super sweet final map and then figure out a way to distribute it all over the city and on the web!

Flyer Idea

NolaCycle Community Bike Mapping

-Help create a comprehensive cycling map for New Orleans by mapping your neighborhood!

-Cities like NYC, Seattle, and Portland have maps especially for cyclist showing the best routes and hazards to avoid, covering the entire city. New Orleans currently only has bike route maps that cover only a few roads.

-Maps help to promote cycling and encourage safer routes.
-Meet-ups every Saturday and Sunday in summer to map the city from 3 to 5 pm!

July Meet-ups
Saturday July 12th: Marigny, Bywater, St. Roch, St. Claude – Meet at Washington Park
Sunday July 13th: French Quarter, Treme, CBD, 7th Ward – Meet at Jackson Square in front of St. Louis Cathedral
Saturday July 19th: Lower Garden District, Garden District, St. Thomas, Irish Channel – Meet at Sophie B. Wright Park (intersection of Camp and Magazine)
Sunday July 20th: Uptown (Riverside and Touro Hospital Area) – Meet at Laurence Square on Magazine and Napoleon
Saturday July 26th: Uptown (Tulane, Loyola, and Audubon Areas) – Meet at Audubon Park by playground on St. Charles
Sunday July 27th: Carrollton – Meet at Palmer Park

Bring water and a messenger bag to carry maps and a clipboard! Happy Hour will be celebrated at a local bar after each meet!

Check out www.nolacycle.blogspot.com for updates!