Showing posts with label othr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label othr. Show all posts
2016/08/07
Log 2016080701
A sweep of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource agencies is complete. Every now and then, this is necessary between editions to check if there's been any changes to transit along the Buckeye, North Country and American Discovery Trails in Ohio. When something is found, I write either a "transit alert" or a "map update" depending on how permanent it is. A new edition (including new maps and guide) is only written when there's enough map updates to warrant it.
2016/08/01
Log 2016080101
About two days ago, I did some work on the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR). The part of the Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail in the Hocking Hills has the greatest transit potential given where it is. And in all the years that I've covered it, we've always had the Greyhound Affiliate: GoBus stop in Logan of Hocking County. The area is also served by the local "Logan Public Transit. " on a reservation based service and a specific zone.
Well, Logan caters to the general public, but it's one of the only agencies that doesn't cover an entire county. Instead, they cover the City of Logan, 2 whole townships and a 1/3rd of two others. Previously, they had a 2 mile radius from the city limits. I designed a downloadable map of that based on 2mi distance "as the crow flies."
At that rate, areas between Lake Logan and Hocking Hills State Park weren't in transit range because their spurs exceeded 3.0 miles. But the distance between those areas was about 19 miles, which exceeds the 15mi + reserve. Last year, I found a cabin for rent in the area that might accept hikers for two nights. This year, the Logan Public Transit expanded to all of Falls Township in Hocking County, which potentially brings the Old Man's Cave Section, Pts. 14 - 16 into transit range, cutting the route to the Hocking Hills State Park somewhat in half.
Because it's necessary to complete the BT in one single hiking trip at this rate, OTHR's guide is based off of their abilities. On the Buckeye Trail (BT), records of how long it has taken thru hikers to complete it have been recorded, but perhaps not averaged. It's not a race, but between several hikers and members of the Buckeye Trail Association, most hikers come in at about 90 - 110 days. OTHR comes in at 110, but it's mock hikers utilize a zero day every 5 - 9 days. Some people can go 21 days without one.
Knowing somewhat of an average is what OTHR's thru hike rate is based on. When I write a mock hiker based on this, I use the following parameters:
20mi per day in the west, north and east of Ohio
4.9mi reserve
4.0mi maximum amenity spurs (unmarked, the route between the trail to an amenity)
Total Hiker Output: no more than 24.9mi per day
15mi per day in the south of Ohio
3.0mi reserve
3.0mi maximum amenity spurs (unmarked, the route between the trail to an amenity)
Total Hiker Output: no more than 18mi per day
This is also applied to the North Country and American Discovery Trails when their not concurrent as covered by the OTHR. It's mock hikers use lodging and commercial campsites in addition to the free ones. The "reserve" is in case the amenity is closed, or there's no vacancy at a camping or lodging establishment. In this case, the hiker might have 3.0 or 4.9 miles to figure something else out before "running out of gas," or reaching the end of their stamina. OTHR assumes that at the end of these the hiker will be at their end, so an automatic zero day ensues for any mileages surpassing 15, or 20.
These are written to try and suit most hikers and be realistic documents that can stand some scrutiny by the hiking public. And it's only a thru hiker rate, too. They can stand as a performance measure for these three trails, such that they could plan for the future by identifying it's weaknesses (unveiled by the document used that the mock hiker was used for) and try to make those areas better by something quantifiable. You could kick in the 10 miler data next?
Well, Logan caters to the general public, but it's one of the only agencies that doesn't cover an entire county. Instead, they cover the City of Logan, 2 whole townships and a 1/3rd of two others. Previously, they had a 2 mile radius from the city limits. I designed a downloadable map of that based on 2mi distance "as the crow flies."
At that rate, areas between Lake Logan and Hocking Hills State Park weren't in transit range because their spurs exceeded 3.0 miles. But the distance between those areas was about 19 miles, which exceeds the 15mi + reserve. Last year, I found a cabin for rent in the area that might accept hikers for two nights. This year, the Logan Public Transit expanded to all of Falls Township in Hocking County, which potentially brings the Old Man's Cave Section, Pts. 14 - 16 into transit range, cutting the route to the Hocking Hills State Park somewhat in half.
Because it's necessary to complete the BT in one single hiking trip at this rate, OTHR's guide is based off of their abilities. On the Buckeye Trail (BT), records of how long it has taken thru hikers to complete it have been recorded, but perhaps not averaged. It's not a race, but between several hikers and members of the Buckeye Trail Association, most hikers come in at about 90 - 110 days. OTHR comes in at 110, but it's mock hikers utilize a zero day every 5 - 9 days. Some people can go 21 days without one.
Knowing somewhat of an average is what OTHR's thru hike rate is based on. When I write a mock hiker based on this, I use the following parameters:
20mi per day in the west, north and east of Ohio
4.9mi reserve
4.0mi maximum amenity spurs (unmarked, the route between the trail to an amenity)
Total Hiker Output: no more than 24.9mi per day
15mi per day in the south of Ohio
3.0mi reserve
3.0mi maximum amenity spurs (unmarked, the route between the trail to an amenity)
Total Hiker Output: no more than 18mi per day
This is also applied to the North Country and American Discovery Trails when their not concurrent as covered by the OTHR. It's mock hikers use lodging and commercial campsites in addition to the free ones. The "reserve" is in case the amenity is closed, or there's no vacancy at a camping or lodging establishment. In this case, the hiker might have 3.0 or 4.9 miles to figure something else out before "running out of gas," or reaching the end of their stamina. OTHR assumes that at the end of these the hiker will be at their end, so an automatic zero day ensues for any mileages surpassing 15, or 20.
These are written to try and suit most hikers and be realistic documents that can stand some scrutiny by the hiking public. And it's only a thru hiker rate, too. They can stand as a performance measure for these three trails, such that they could plan for the future by identifying it's weaknesses (unveiled by the document used that the mock hiker was used for) and try to make those areas better by something quantifiable. You could kick in the 10 miler data next?
2016/03/11
Log 2016031101
The new 2016 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource has been introduced on social media today.
2016/03/10
Log 2016031002
The new 2016 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's resource is complete! I believe that I resumed this project on November 5th with 2015's data that ran late and I couldn't publish it in time for trail maintenance on the Whipple Section. The good news is that I can probably get another 3 years out of this edition. I can't say how many people have used it. But I do know that it has been used.
Tomorrow will be the official roll out on the American Discovery's, Buckeye's and North Country Trail's Facebook page and groups, as well as my own Google+ account.
Tomorrow will be the official roll out on the American Discovery's, Buckeye's and North Country Trail's Facebook page and groups, as well as my own Google+ account.
2016/03/08
Log 2016030802
Well, the cross importation from Mozilla Thunderbird to GMail didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I guess this isn't Burger King (I can't "have it my way"). But I will say that in printed form, Thunderbird made a nice layout and I converted it to PDF. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it's links to carry over. I just logged on to the web server for the first time in months today and uploaded the new directory and guide and linked them.
The next step is to organize parts of the OTHR's map into sections and trail portions so that if the end transit hiker were to click on the "Burton Section," they would only see, or download the transit that pertains to that area. Ordinarily, to reduce the workload and redundancy, OTHR isn't organized like this. It would need to be reorganized 30 times with there being something different with each one. Afterwards, the data would then be uploaded to Google Maps somehow and it's web address would be copied and pasted into the proper link on the OTHR website. Those 30 files would then need to be converted to .gpx format one at a time and then also be linked on the website. Finally, every downloadable resource will all be combined into a single .zip file for mass downloading of the entire resource.
The guide was really the last of the big hurdles. I'm on the "downhill" side of a new edition right now. The hardest thing coming up is the upload and linking of all the maps.
The next step is to organize parts of the OTHR's map into sections and trail portions so that if the end transit hiker were to click on the "Burton Section," they would only see, or download the transit that pertains to that area. Ordinarily, to reduce the workload and redundancy, OTHR isn't organized like this. It would need to be reorganized 30 times with there being something different with each one. Afterwards, the data would then be uploaded to Google Maps somehow and it's web address would be copied and pasted into the proper link on the OTHR website. Those 30 files would then need to be converted to .gpx format one at a time and then also be linked on the website. Finally, every downloadable resource will all be combined into a single .zip file for mass downloading of the entire resource.
The guide was really the last of the big hurdles. I'm on the "downhill" side of a new edition right now. The hardest thing coming up is the upload and linking of all the maps.
Log 2016030801
The guide is done and is in PDF format with working bookmarks now. There are probably some bugs like the "BELLE VALLEY SECTION" was newly added for the upcoming edition and I didn't link the name to to it's Buckeye Trail web page (trail alerts & map updates). I have to leave town in 7 days and this thing is already overdue. The Whipple Section that I supervise is going to need to be tended to in April. So, I'm at the point where I'm getting willing to sacrifice perfection.
What remains are several simple modifications to the map, glossary and site index. The hardest thing from here might the directory. My Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client has been synchronizing my contacts with GMail. In the day of smartphones, GMail is one of the options used to set up e-mail and synchronize contacts to. I plan to give transit hikers a downloadable copy of it so they can upload it into their contacts list. After they synchronize with their contacts list, it will be downloaded on their device and it would become something they could use off-line. And that's what's important about the OTHR. Ohio has it's places where, currently, even the best cellular provider still has gaps.
So while I'm on that topic, let me tell you about what's entailed with determining cellular coverage gaps on distance trails. ArcGIS Explorer might do it easier as it might have a cellular providers maps. But with Google Earth, it's a matter of visiting the web page for the coverage map. And somehow saving the web page itself to a .jpg format. I have Windows, so I just open it up in "Paint," crop out every but Verizon's rectangular map and then add an image overlay in Google Earth using that file. With Verizon's maps, they were drawn to scale and positioned over known things (like roads) perfectly. Then repeat the process until you've covered your entire route.
If you have a hand GPS, the image overlay probably won't read. So in Google Earth, you'll need to make a set of placemarks (waypoints). Personally, I label mine as "I/O" with the first character pertaining to the clockwise direction. In electronics, "I" is a closed circuit, meaning "on." And "O" is an open circuit meaning "off." This is why a variation of "I/O" is printed on the power button for most computers.
What remains are several simple modifications to the map, glossary and site index. The hardest thing from here might the directory. My Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client has been synchronizing my contacts with GMail. In the day of smartphones, GMail is one of the options used to set up e-mail and synchronize contacts to. I plan to give transit hikers a downloadable copy of it so they can upload it into their contacts list. After they synchronize with their contacts list, it will be downloaded on their device and it would become something they could use off-line. And that's what's important about the OTHR. Ohio has it's places where, currently, even the best cellular provider still has gaps.
So while I'm on that topic, let me tell you about what's entailed with determining cellular coverage gaps on distance trails. ArcGIS Explorer might do it easier as it might have a cellular providers maps. But with Google Earth, it's a matter of visiting the web page for the coverage map. And somehow saving the web page itself to a .jpg format. I have Windows, so I just open it up in "Paint," crop out every but Verizon's rectangular map and then add an image overlay in Google Earth using that file. With Verizon's maps, they were drawn to scale and positioned over known things (like roads) perfectly. Then repeat the process until you've covered your entire route.
If you have a hand GPS, the image overlay probably won't read. So in Google Earth, you'll need to make a set of placemarks (waypoints). Personally, I label mine as "I/O" with the first character pertaining to the clockwise direction. In electronics, "I" is a closed circuit, meaning "on." And "O" is an open circuit meaning "off." This is why a variation of "I/O" is printed on the power button for most computers.
2016/03/06
Log 2016030601
The special bookmarked areas have been anchored and linked for several local transit agencies who's information on their regional transit connections are prolific and often reoccurs in the guide rough draft. And it's reduced the guide from 83 to 72 pages. As to how well, it works... I'll have to test it on some different devices to know for sure.
Log 2016030601
The formatting on the guide rough draft for the 2016 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource has been undone. And the text for transit amenities that connect to the Brunswick Transit Alternative, Akron Metropolitan, Greater Cleveland, Stark Area and Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authorities has been entered at the bottom of the guide, but not bookmarked and linked yet. I decided that for smartphone functionality, that the mentioning of their connecting services would be too much for their screens to handle in some instances. This is because if the following were to be written like this:
Quick Glossary
AIR - Passenger Air Services
GLI - Greyhound, or an affiliate
(AAA) - OTHR agency code
CVSR - Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad that operates in the Cuyahoga Valley NP
AMT - Amtrak
LTA - Local Transit Agency
/s - Serviced, has in-person ticket sales
FR's - Fixed Routes, typical city buses that run a regular route on the same schedule
DIS - Disabled Only
GP - General Public
DAR - Dial-a-Ride/ Curb-to-Curb/ Shared Ride/ Demand Responsive type local transit service. These require advanced reservations.
CW: T LTA (AM) DIS DAR CCW: T LTA (PARTA) GP DAR
The in the guide rough draft's present condition, under what I just mentioned, the rest of it would look like the following:
T AIR /s - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg. T GLI (BAR) - Ravenna (Rootstown)
T GLI /s - Robert K. Plaff TC - Akron
T GLI (BAR) /s - Robert K. Plaff TC - Akron
T GLI (GO) /s - Robert K. Plaff TC - Akron
T CVSR - Various locations from Akron Northside Station
T LTA (SARTA) FR's
T AIR /s - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI (BAR) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T GLI (GO) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T CVSR - Lincoln Station - Canton
T AMT - ALC - Alliance
T LTA (CARTS) GP DAR - from Alliance
T LTA (gcRTA) FR's
T LTA (PARTA) FR's
T GLI (BAR) - Ravenna (Rootstown)
T LTA (gcRTA) FR's
T AIR /s - CLE - Cleveland Hopkins Int'l
T GLI /s - Cleveland
T GLI (BAR) /s - Cleveland
T GLI (GO) /s - Cleveland
T AMT - CLE - Cleveland Lakefront Station
T CVSR - Rockside, or Brecksville Stations
T LTA (LT) FR's
T LTA (SARTA) FR's
T AIR /s - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI (BAR) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T GLI (GO) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T CVSR - Lincoln Station - Canton
T AMT - ALC - Alliance
T LTA (CARTS) GP DAR - from Alliance
T LTA (BrTA) FR's
T LTA (MED) GP DAR
And that's just the information for one particular resource point. This would be a problem to display if all of this had to be written for the CCW side (and at times, it has). I believe that when the smartphone user tries to read that, they'll double tap on their screen to zoom in, which will re-wrap the text and make it better to read. But my indents will force some of it on to the next line and begin at the right of the screen.
Local transit in Cleveland - Akron - Canton areas is the most interconnected in the State of Ohio. OTHR's guide allows the transit hiker to know what the maximum number of options are with every conceivable connection. This can be an advantage when they break a piece of gear that's difficult to replace. But with other transit hikers, they have an array of options as to where to start and end their hikes from regional transit. Those amenities in this area are within transit range of six Buckeye Trail sections and one maintaining chapter of the North Country Trail. That's about 335 miles of distance trail.
Getting back to the guide rough draft... by writing out the five local agencies and their connections once, I can create a link to them through out the document that will make it shorter and easier to read on a smartphone.
Other than that, my whiteboards had tasks written on them that I had to do in order to clear them. So, I tended to some personal matters as well and that just about sums up my day.
Quick Glossary
AIR - Passenger Air Services
GLI - Greyhound, or an affiliate
(AAA) - OTHR agency code
CVSR - Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad that operates in the Cuyahoga Valley NP
AMT - Amtrak
LTA - Local Transit Agency
/s - Serviced, has in-person ticket sales
FR's - Fixed Routes, typical city buses that run a regular route on the same schedule
DIS - Disabled Only
GP - General Public
DAR - Dial-a-Ride/ Curb-to-Curb/ Shared Ride/ Demand Responsive type local transit service. These require advanced reservations.
CW: T LTA (AM) DIS DAR CCW: T LTA (PARTA) GP DAR
The in the guide rough draft's present condition, under what I just mentioned, the rest of it would look like the following:
T AIR /s - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg. T GLI (BAR) - Ravenna (Rootstown)
T GLI /s - Robert K. Plaff TC - Akron
T GLI (BAR) /s - Robert K. Plaff TC - Akron
T GLI (GO) /s - Robert K. Plaff TC - Akron
T CVSR - Various locations from Akron Northside Station
T LTA (SARTA) FR's
T AIR /s - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI (BAR) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T GLI (GO) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T CVSR - Lincoln Station - Canton
T AMT - ALC - Alliance
T LTA (CARTS) GP DAR - from Alliance
T LTA (gcRTA) FR's
T LTA (PARTA) FR's
T GLI (BAR) - Ravenna (Rootstown)
T LTA (gcRTA) FR's
T AIR /s - CLE - Cleveland Hopkins Int'l
T GLI /s - Cleveland
T GLI (BAR) /s - Cleveland
T GLI (GO) /s - Cleveland
T AMT - CLE - Cleveland Lakefront Station
T CVSR - Rockside, or Brecksville Stations
T LTA (LT) FR's
T LTA (SARTA) FR's
T AIR /s - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI (BAR) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T GLI (GO) /s - Canton Cornerstone TC - Canton
T CVSR - Lincoln Station - Canton
T AMT - ALC - Alliance
T LTA (CARTS) GP DAR - from Alliance
T LTA (BrTA) FR's
T LTA (MED) GP DAR
And that's just the information for one particular resource point. This would be a problem to display if all of this had to be written for the CCW side (and at times, it has). I believe that when the smartphone user tries to read that, they'll double tap on their screen to zoom in, which will re-wrap the text and make it better to read. But my indents will force some of it on to the next line and begin at the right of the screen.
Local transit in Cleveland - Akron - Canton areas is the most interconnected in the State of Ohio. OTHR's guide allows the transit hiker to know what the maximum number of options are with every conceivable connection. This can be an advantage when they break a piece of gear that's difficult to replace. But with other transit hikers, they have an array of options as to where to start and end their hikes from regional transit. Those amenities in this area are within transit range of six Buckeye Trail sections and one maintaining chapter of the North Country Trail. That's about 335 miles of distance trail.
Getting back to the guide rough draft... by writing out the five local agencies and their connections once, I can create a link to them through out the document that will make it shorter and easier to read on a smartphone.
Other than that, my whiteboards had tasks written on them that I had to do in order to clear them. So, I tended to some personal matters as well and that just about sums up my day.
2016/03/02
Log 2016030201
80 of 83 rough draft guide pages have been proofread and corrected. The remaining three are dependent on getting in-person GPS tracks of the Medina Fixed Routes of the Medina County Public Transit. That won't happen until later this week.
2016/03/01
Log 2016030101
I input corrections to the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource's (OTHR) 2016 Edition guide rough draft up to page 20 of 83. The document has some formating issues and I'm thinking that I'll either have to copy it Notepad, take out all of the indents and then copy it back over (the word processor won't get rid of some of the existing indents). And in NE Ohio, the mentioning of all of the local, regional, interstate and international transit amenities are a bit lengthy. I'm concerned that they will not display well on a smartphone. So, I've been considering placing them in an area beyond the final page of the main guide's text and linking a bookmark to them.
So far, inputting the corrections has gone slowly and that's probably because I have to use the word processor's search function to "jump" around the document using key phrases that it will hopefully lock on to. And in a couple instances, there's been need for new, or revised text. Yesterday, I added an advisory area for Bedford 24. These are areas where the user might see an opportunity for transit, but I don't suggest that they go there... usually because of vehicular traffic. I was going to put down one of these placemarks at Scioto Trail 25, but the transit amenity south of there was at about 3.2mi away and Scioto Trail Section is 15.0mi day with a 3.0mi reserve (total of 18.0mi put together) and lastly, a 3.0mi trail to amenity (doesn't add in, but counts against) maximum on the OTHR.
So far, inputting the corrections has gone slowly and that's probably because I have to use the word processor's search function to "jump" around the document using key phrases that it will hopefully lock on to. And in a couple instances, there's been need for new, or revised text. Yesterday, I added an advisory area for Bedford 24. These are areas where the user might see an opportunity for transit, but I don't suggest that they go there... usually because of vehicular traffic. I was going to put down one of these placemarks at Scioto Trail 25, but the transit amenity south of there was at about 3.2mi away and Scioto Trail Section is 15.0mi day with a 3.0mi reserve (total of 18.0mi put together) and lastly, a 3.0mi trail to amenity (doesn't add in, but counts against) maximum on the OTHR.
2016/02/29
Log 2016022901
In the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource, an "amenity spur" is a route from the trail to something else that is unmaintained by signage or in-person labor myself. Today was the first time that I needed to clarify one of these with a hand GPS set to record my movement. At current day Bedford 24, the hiker could walk north on OH-306 and reach the LAKETRAN [coded T LTA (LT)] transfer point at the Lakeland Community College. The problem is when the highway rapidly changes names, it inclines/ declines on a two lane road at 40 MPH with heavy traffic near an exit with Interstate 90. It's not safe to be a pedistrian on that incline/ decline.
So I changed the spur to leave the Bedford Section - Buckeye Trail at a maintenance drive that leads to Kritland - Chardon Road. Then the OTHR has the transit hiker reach the transfer point by way of Lakeland's back (east) entrance.
So I changed the spur to leave the Bedford Section - Buckeye Trail at a maintenance drive that leads to Kritland - Chardon Road. Then the OTHR has the transit hiker reach the transfer point by way of Lakeland's back (east) entrance.
2016/02/28
Log 2016022802
The guide for the 2016 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR) is about half way proofread. It has another two volunteer days until I'm done, then about another day to input the corrections. This time about a month from now, these logs are going to be about Whipple (Section - Buckeye/ North Country Trail) this and Whipple that.
Log 2016022801
In OTHR's maps, there are places where multiple fixed route city buses run on the same portion of road. When these agencies don't submit their systems to Google Transit, I generally supply the GPS tracks for them.
Lets say that instead of a airplane, or interstate bus, they took a magic teleporter instead and it dropped them in some Canton neighborhood and it made them dizzy. After they regain their senses, they take out their GPS with my transit tracks already loaded in and, start walking and see that they're approaching a line.
But the road that it's on actually has 4 bus lines. On the map, the reader can't see it because they're stacked on top of each other (Google Maps Engine, what I wrote them with took the exact same path over the road). And even though the users "Track Manager" in their GPS is ordered nearest to farthest, they might not put 2 & 2 together and realize that they're all on the same stretch of the road that they're approaching because the distance numbers on the device are awfully small?
So, when I'm drawing these tracks now, I'm taking concurrent portions and I'm just drawing one track. It's pretty much block by block in these cases. But the title which will appear in normal font on their Track Manager will read every bus line that that's routed over it.
For those of you who use OTHR, converting the existing fixed route tracks to suit this is going to take a couple years.
2016/02/25
Log 2016022502
Just because it's a part of my volunteer equipment and these logs hit on a Google Search fast, I have a 20 year old HP Laserjet 4000TN commercial, black & white printer. On a high yield cartridge, I can get up to a 15,000 sheet yield out of one toner cartilage. The last time I had it refilled, it cost about $43. Installing it to Windows Vista was no problem. But installing it to Windows 10 was a little tricky. HP doesn't support past Windows 7 for this printer. So what I did was manually install the driver right from it's file listing in Windows Explorer, right clicking on its .inf file and installing it that way. Then I did a manual installation in Devices and Printers app and it picked it right up.
However, I had to cancel a print of OTHR's guide because it was spitting out blank sheets after Page 3. Bi Directional Support on the printer port on the laptop is greyed out. So, I installed Open Office on The Robot and opened the guide's rough draft from the cloud. And it seems to be printing correctly now.
- One new chassis fan was mounted today, with a total of three that were connected to The Robot's power system. That brings The Robot back up to a grand total of 11.
- A few modifications were made to the guide. I had to write about newly found transit in the Oxford of Butler County and Macksburg of Washington Counties.
However, I had to cancel a print of OTHR's guide because it was spitting out blank sheets after Page 3. Bi Directional Support on the printer port on the laptop is greyed out. So, I installed Open Office on The Robot and opened the guide's rough draft from the cloud. And it seems to be printing correctly now.
- One new chassis fan was mounted today, with a total of three that were connected to The Robot's power system. That brings The Robot back up to a grand total of 11.
- A few modifications were made to the guide. I had to write about newly found transit in the Oxford of Butler County and Macksburg of Washington Counties.
Log 2016022501
I'm done editing the guide's rough draft for the upcoming 2016 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR). It now needs to be printed out again because the previous time that I only got 12 pages done, well it's obsolete now. And I wanted to print it out double spaced this time, but I just realized that I can't do that because of some of the guide's necessary formatting pertaining to other transit that is accessible from from a local agency, like regional buses and everything affected by interagency transfers. In this case, OTHR anticipates the maximum possibilities when there's multiple agencies that interconnect, or daisy chain.
I'll have to finish The Robot's repairs before I install the printers. The hard disk that they're firmware is assigned to is online. All I have to do is install one cooling fan on the chassis, plug some other ones in. Then insert every last remaining USB cable into the system.
The new heatsink on The Robot's CPU is working well. Since I don't game, it's hard to tell how well its working. But with Google Earth and surfing the Internet, my PGA 775 low grade Intel Core 2 Quad chips usually operates at a steady 30°C. With a traditional heatsink, it was at 37°C to 42°C
The 7 port USB Hub that's attached to the laptop, it's power is cutting in and out and I have yet to diagnose it. I'm going to try switching out it's USB mini cable first.
I'll have to finish The Robot's repairs before I install the printers. The hard disk that they're firmware is assigned to is online. All I have to do is install one cooling fan on the chassis, plug some other ones in. Then insert every last remaining USB cable into the system.
The new heatsink on The Robot's CPU is working well. Since I don't game, it's hard to tell how well its working. But with Google Earth and surfing the Internet, my PGA 775 low grade Intel Core 2 Quad chips usually operates at a steady 30°C. With a traditional heatsink, it was at 37°C to 42°C
The 7 port USB Hub that's attached to the laptop, it's power is cutting in and out and I have yet to diagnose it. I'm going to try switching out it's USB mini cable first.
2016/02/23
Log 2016022301
Always exit Google Earth before you go to bed, or leave the computer for long periods of time. While I don't know all the facts, I believe that the longer the map is positioned over one area, the more detail it's going to download (and continuously so). That image and it's associated files might take up an increasingly large size, which have to be brought through fixed resources such as the RAM (memory) and the CPU. I find that if I leave the application on over night as I sleep, when I go to get back on the computer, it freezes and I have to perform a hard restart [by pressing the power button on the case for 6 seconds, it powers off, then I press it for less than one second to power it back on, or the reset button (most PC brands don't have one of these)].
I was just sifting through the Continuous Short Hikes document from 2013 and I was trying to identify the resource points that it was using on the on the map. Why just this year, I did an investigation that found that about 74% of the Buckeye Trail could be hiked at roughly 10 miles per day without transit. But by OTHR's method, that number was only about 38% in 2013. The OTHR method requires that the streak begin and end at regional transit, or be in range or transit range of it. So, without having done a recent OTHR one, it's hard to tell, but I looks like some long strings of days had to be cut in order to meet the standard. But on the other hand, there's a few more transit options these days.
- I just discovered that transit hiker can indeed reach the Toledo Express Airport via the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA) from the Buckeye Trail at Waterville. The trip would entail having reservations to ride the #29 (Waterville) and 04 (Spencer Township) Call-a-Rides. This is where the the #04 would drop the transit hiker off at the Kitty Todd Nature Preserve. The hiker would then walk 2.7mi to the airport.
They're both classified as "hybrid fixed routes" in the OTHR. They're like dial-a-ride service in that way that they have zones. The #04 Spencer Township Call-a-Ride does come within 4.0 walking miles of the North Country Trail in the Oak Openings Metropark, but TARTA requires somewhere to pull into, so they won't just get pick-up/ drop-off on the side of the road. By the time the transit hiker could enter the zone by the nearest means possible, they only have about a half mile left under the 4.0 mile restriction and there's just nowhere public for them to go around there. I know this because I drove out there to search the area in person. This part of the North Country Trail is 4.1 miles away from the Park-n-Ride and being within the Waterville Call-a-Ride zone. It's about 740' shy/
Well, for the most part, I just edited the guide back down to grammar checking. And the map's probably in condition to be packaged in to sections and independent arms with their respective transit amenities. That will be in Google Earth's native KML format, which will probably total about 32. They'll need to be converted one by one into the GPX format, which is the format that works on most GPS enabled devices.
Today, I spent time adding regional, interstate and international transit information to all dial-a-ride type agencies that only cater to the disabled. They have a few more regional and interstate transit options. Other than that, I eliminated a number of unmaintained amenity spurs in the BT's south because they exceeded 3.0mi. With the exception of the Road Fork and Whipple Sections - BT/ NCT, everywhere from Belle Valley Section 25 to Shawnee Section 25 is what I schedule at generally 15 miles per day maximum. With generally 20's, I use 4.0mi as the maximum for a spur. At 15's, they get cut down to 3.0 and 10's down to 2.5.
I was just sifting through the Continuous Short Hikes document from 2013 and I was trying to identify the resource points that it was using on the on the map. Why just this year, I did an investigation that found that about 74% of the Buckeye Trail could be hiked at roughly 10 miles per day without transit. But by OTHR's method, that number was only about 38% in 2013. The OTHR method requires that the streak begin and end at regional transit, or be in range or transit range of it. So, without having done a recent OTHR one, it's hard to tell, but I looks like some long strings of days had to be cut in order to meet the standard. But on the other hand, there's a few more transit options these days.
- I just discovered that transit hiker can indeed reach the Toledo Express Airport via the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA) from the Buckeye Trail at Waterville. The trip would entail having reservations to ride the #29 (Waterville) and 04 (Spencer Township) Call-a-Rides. This is where the the #04 would drop the transit hiker off at the Kitty Todd Nature Preserve. The hiker would then walk 2.7mi to the airport.
They're both classified as "hybrid fixed routes" in the OTHR. They're like dial-a-ride service in that way that they have zones. The #04 Spencer Township Call-a-Ride does come within 4.0 walking miles of the North Country Trail in the Oak Openings Metropark, but TARTA requires somewhere to pull into, so they won't just get pick-up/ drop-off on the side of the road. By the time the transit hiker could enter the zone by the nearest means possible, they only have about a half mile left under the 4.0 mile restriction and there's just nowhere public for them to go around there. I know this because I drove out there to search the area in person. This part of the North Country Trail is 4.1 miles away from the Park-n-Ride and being within the Waterville Call-a-Ride zone. It's about 740' shy/
Well, for the most part, I just edited the guide back down to grammar checking. And the map's probably in condition to be packaged in to sections and independent arms with their respective transit amenities. That will be in Google Earth's native KML format, which will probably total about 32. They'll need to be converted one by one into the GPX format, which is the format that works on most GPS enabled devices.
Today, I spent time adding regional, interstate and international transit information to all dial-a-ride type agencies that only cater to the disabled. They have a few more regional and interstate transit options. Other than that, I eliminated a number of unmaintained amenity spurs in the BT's south because they exceeded 3.0mi. With the exception of the Road Fork and Whipple Sections - BT/ NCT, everywhere from Belle Valley Section 25 to Shawnee Section 25 is what I schedule at generally 15 miles per day maximum. With generally 20's, I use 4.0mi as the maximum for a spur. At 15's, they get cut down to 3.0 and 10's down to 2.5.
2016/02/21
Log 2016022202
The information for other services reached by county dial-a-ride services has been input. But I'm sure that there are a number of mistakes, or omissions. So far, the 2016 Edition guide for the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource has ballooned up to 76 pages. During the editing process, the points and resource points must fit on one page, instead of being between them. So, the guide will get larger. And I plan to list other services that can be reached with dial-a-ride type transit that caters to the disabled only.
2016/02/20
Log 2016022002
When writing the guide for the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR), at the boundary of agency zones (usually counties), I note what other services are attached to them. Transit in the Cleveland area is the most interconnected. As the guide for Buckeye Trail coverage is written in the clockwise (CW) direction, then if the hiker were traveling on the Burton Section from Geauga to Portage Counties, they would come in range of the dial-a-ride services from the Portage Area Regional Transit Authority [coded T LTA (PARTA)].
In the guide it would read something like this:
CW: T LTA (PARTA) GP DAR (GP stands for "general public')
But PARTA is attached to the AkronMetro (AM) and Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authorities (gcRTA). It's also in range to the Barons Bus that's south of Ravenna in Rootstown of Portage County. (AM) and (gcRTA) also have some connections of their own. So it all looks like
CW: T LTA (PARTA)
T GLI (BAR)
T LTA (gcRTA) FR's (fixed routes)
T LTA (LT)...
T AIR - CLE - Cleveland Hopkins Int'l
T MEGA - Cleveland (megabus)
T GLI - Cleveland (Greyhound)
T GLI (GO) - Cleveland (Greyhound affiliate: GoBus)
T GLI (BAR) - Cleveland (Greyhound affiliate: Barons Bus)
T AMT - CLE - Lakefront Station (Amtrak)
T CVSR (various locations, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad)
T LTA (BrTA) FR's - Laurel Square Shopping Center - Brunswick
T LTA (MED) GP DAR
T LTA (AM) FR's
T AIR - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI - Akron
T GLI (GO) - Akron
T GLI (BAR) - Akron
T CVSR (various locations)
T LTA (SARTA) FR's
T AIR - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI (BAR) - Canton
T GLI (GO) - Canton
T AMT - ALC - Alliance
T LTA (CARTS) GP DAR - from Alliance
T CVSR - Lincoln Station in Canton
The other major markets have some interconnectivity, but they're not as elaborate as this. NE Ohio sections get variations of this pasted into the guide a total of 10 times.
In the guide it would read something like this:
CW: T LTA (PARTA) GP DAR (GP stands for "general public')
But PARTA is attached to the AkronMetro (AM) and Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authorities (gcRTA). It's also in range to the Barons Bus that's south of Ravenna in Rootstown of Portage County. (AM) and (gcRTA) also have some connections of their own. So it all looks like
CW: T LTA (PARTA)
T GLI (BAR)
T LTA (gcRTA) FR's (fixed routes)
T LTA (LT)...
T AIR - CLE - Cleveland Hopkins Int'l
T MEGA - Cleveland (megabus)
T GLI - Cleveland (Greyhound)
T GLI (GO) - Cleveland (Greyhound affiliate: GoBus)
T GLI (BAR) - Cleveland (Greyhound affiliate: Barons Bus)
T AMT - CLE - Lakefront Station (Amtrak)
T CVSR (various locations, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad)
T LTA (BrTA) FR's - Laurel Square Shopping Center - Brunswick
T LTA (MED) GP DAR
T LTA (AM) FR's
T AIR - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI - Akron
T GLI (GO) - Akron
T GLI (BAR) - Akron
T CVSR (various locations)
T LTA (SARTA) FR's
T AIR - CAK - Akron - Canton Reg.
T GLI (BAR) - Canton
T GLI (GO) - Canton
T AMT - ALC - Alliance
T LTA (CARTS) GP DAR - from Alliance
T CVSR - Lincoln Station in Canton
The other major markets have some interconnectivity, but they're not as elaborate as this. NE Ohio sections get variations of this pasted into the guide a total of 10 times.
2016/02/19
Log 2016021901
I continue to edit the guide for the upcoming 2016 Edition of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR). Today, I added two sections to it to compensate for transit on the Belle Valley and Delphos Sections of the Buckeye/ North Country Trails (BT/ NCT). So far...
The map needs:
1) For me to account for all resource points that don't pertain to transit. I may have used them for the Continuous Short Hikes document (both with and with out transit). This is where I write up two schedules for two mock hikers to test what parts of the distance trails can be hiked at 10 miles per day. Or they might be used in the thru hike compliance documents (also both with and without).
Here in Ohio, I deem a distance trail as able to sustain a thru hiker at a rate of 20 miles per day in the west, north and east, then 15 miles per day in the south with "just in case" reserves of 3.0 and 4.9 miles in addition respectively. The document assumes that the hiker isn't willing to walk more than 3.0 & 4.0 miles off trail and also respectively. That's just a cookie cutter. The daily mileages are often less, and invoking the reserve is rare. The distance hiking community as far as I know really doesn't really have a means to measure themselves. If they did, they could pin point their weaknesses and concentrate on those areas. Otherwise, what they want to do and where they want to do it might as well be a guess, or perhaps even a shot in the dark. They need to put together a realistic method based to meet the demands of their markets.
2) Some of the unmaintained amenity spurs in the south were accidentally drawn on the 4.0 mile standard. They need to be cut back to 3.0 miles or less to comply. That means that I might have to eliminate one or two from the map, and then the guide.
The guide needs:
1) "In transit range of" statements pertaining local transit and if it can access regional transit within a certain county. Then because of our county wide dial-a-ride agencies, it needs to state how far they'll have it.
2) Belle Valley and Delphos Sections - BT/ NCT need to be added. I use book marks in my table of contents so that digital users can just tap, or click on the name and go right to a section. Well, the bookmarks were done in Roman numerals, so they and the text (from Section's XV - XXXVII) need to be modified.
3) Single digit points and resource points need have a preceding zero. That's because all of the single digits in map data has them to conform with Google Earth's numbering system.
4) It seems that the former Greyhound affiliate "Lakefront Lines" no longer has regularly scheduled routes like they use to. I noticed something was up when the affiliates "GoBus" and "Baron's Bus" now stop in Cleveland. But I'm not complaining. This year the resource picked up two new regional transit stops in Caldwell of Noble County and Delphos of Allen County. Those are great locations for transit hikers on distance trails.
5) Between now and the 2013 edition, the New Straitsville and Old Man's Cave Sections of the Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail had rerouted to come along the property for a state natural area.
6) All paragraphs need to be indented
7) A statement in the Advisory Section needs to say something like "transit services cataloged in this resource are based on the content of the agency's website." OTHR catalogs one (that I know of) who may have given me contradicting information.
8) The Allen County Regional Transit Authority (ACRTA) has be added back on to the OTHR for the upcoming 2016 Edition as a provider of Paratransit services for the disabled. The word disabled is like a "catch all phrase," where it could mean anything. And that could mean that some of them could hike, or given the right surfaces... "handihike."
9) It needs a spelling and grammar check.
10) OTHR uses a combination "Glossary & Site Index" to define terms and assist with search engine indexing. The terms and codes need to be bolded in the guide so that the user knows that they can look them up. OTHR works when it's materials are printed on paper, but it's really designed to be read on mobile devices.
11) When I convert the guide from it's word processor file to a .PDF, I'll need to make sure that the links and bookmarks carry over. That didn't happen in the 2013 Edition.
The map needs:
1) For me to account for all resource points that don't pertain to transit. I may have used them for the Continuous Short Hikes document (both with and with out transit). This is where I write up two schedules for two mock hikers to test what parts of the distance trails can be hiked at 10 miles per day. Or they might be used in the thru hike compliance documents (also both with and without).
Here in Ohio, I deem a distance trail as able to sustain a thru hiker at a rate of 20 miles per day in the west, north and east, then 15 miles per day in the south with "just in case" reserves of 3.0 and 4.9 miles in addition respectively. The document assumes that the hiker isn't willing to walk more than 3.0 & 4.0 miles off trail and also respectively. That's just a cookie cutter. The daily mileages are often less, and invoking the reserve is rare. The distance hiking community as far as I know really doesn't really have a means to measure themselves. If they did, they could pin point their weaknesses and concentrate on those areas. Otherwise, what they want to do and where they want to do it might as well be a guess, or perhaps even a shot in the dark. They need to put together a realistic method based to meet the demands of their markets.
2) Some of the unmaintained amenity spurs in the south were accidentally drawn on the 4.0 mile standard. They need to be cut back to 3.0 miles or less to comply. That means that I might have to eliminate one or two from the map, and then the guide.
The guide needs:
1) "In transit range of" statements pertaining local transit and if it can access regional transit within a certain county. Then because of our county wide dial-a-ride agencies, it needs to state how far they'll have it.
2) Belle Valley and Delphos Sections - BT/ NCT need to be added. I use book marks in my table of contents so that digital users can just tap, or click on the name and go right to a section. Well, the bookmarks were done in Roman numerals, so they and the text (from Section's XV - XXXVII) need to be modified.
3) Single digit points and resource points need have a preceding zero. That's because all of the single digits in map data has them to conform with Google Earth's numbering system.
4) It seems that the former Greyhound affiliate "Lakefront Lines" no longer has regularly scheduled routes like they use to. I noticed something was up when the affiliates "GoBus" and "Baron's Bus" now stop in Cleveland. But I'm not complaining. This year the resource picked up two new regional transit stops in Caldwell of Noble County and Delphos of Allen County. Those are great locations for transit hikers on distance trails.
5) Between now and the 2013 edition, the New Straitsville and Old Man's Cave Sections of the Buckeye/ North Country/ American Discovery Trail had rerouted to come along the property for a state natural area.
6) All paragraphs need to be indented
7) A statement in the Advisory Section needs to say something like "transit services cataloged in this resource are based on the content of the agency's website." OTHR catalogs one (that I know of) who may have given me contradicting information.
8) The Allen County Regional Transit Authority (ACRTA) has be added back on to the OTHR for the upcoming 2016 Edition as a provider of Paratransit services for the disabled. The word disabled is like a "catch all phrase," where it could mean anything. And that could mean that some of them could hike, or given the right surfaces... "handihike."
9) It needs a spelling and grammar check.
10) OTHR uses a combination "Glossary & Site Index" to define terms and assist with search engine indexing. The terms and codes need to be bolded in the guide so that the user knows that they can look them up. OTHR works when it's materials are printed on paper, but it's really designed to be read on mobile devices.
11) When I convert the guide from it's word processor file to a .PDF, I'll need to make sure that the links and bookmarks carry over. That didn't happen in the 2013 Edition.
2016/02/18
Log 2016021801
I made a lot of headway between the map and guide for the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource (OTHR). Right now, I can tell they have their bugs to work out. I've been working on the resources new edition since November. It's got until April 1st before I have to change course. By about then, the Whipple Section - Buckeye/ North Country Trail that I'm (volunteer) Section Supervisor of will require the reallocation of that regard. And regard is a limited resource.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)