Sat Nav POI

With GPS satellite navigation technology commonplace in handheld devices and smart phones, if you provide services to cyclists it's probably worth the trouble to ensure that the master sat-nav Point Of Interest (POI) databases have your business in their listings. It's essential too that their maps accurately record local cycling infrastructure such as bike lanes or cycle paths. 

You can do this by checking the information held by Navteq, the main publisher of sat-nav databases. Unfortunately there isn't yet an official Bike Aid POI category but we're working on that.

Browse to http://mapreporter.navteq.com

Use the search box to find the place you want to report on or click-and-drag the map.

On the left of the web page are 4 main categories:

· Point of Interest. Here you can record or make changes to a shop, business, or other Point of Interest (POI). You can promote your community by listing local businesses as people often use their sat-nav as a 'Yellow Pages'.

· Address Marker/Location. Make changes to the location of a house or building.

· Road or Road Feature. Here you can add, edit or remove roads and road features such as signs, one-ways, or restrictions.

· Other not listed.

But if you right-click on a road itself, a dialogue box pops up:

· Edit details of this road

· Exit/Roundabout is new

· Turn restrictions have changed

· Signs are different

· Other categories

Click ‘edit details of this road’ and you will get a choice of:

· Edit Road Segment Details

· Data is correct, I want to report something else

If you click 'road segment' you can report any one-way restrictions, change the class of road, note any vehicle restrictions, the type of road surface and describe the house numbering. Quite often this data will be blank and so you will be providing a useful service to complete it.

Navteq classifies roads in their database as Class 1, 2, 3, 4. This corresponds to A, B, C, D roads. In the UK, only A and B are officially designated on signage although Highways Department will refer internally to C and D and Unclassified roads too.

If you click 'something else' you can add advice about road width restrictions or errors on the map that are not reportable elsewhere.

You can also attach photos of any errors or issues.

You can only report geographic information that can reasonably be reflected in a digital map. Therefore it is probably not much use to report “this road has a problem with speeding…” while reporting “the road is only eight feet wide at this point…” is more useful to the digital mapmakers.

Some GPS devices use data from another company Tele Atlas. You can enter less geographic information on their website but this database is more detailed in POI categories. http://mapinsight.teleatlas.com/mapfeedback/index.php

To research or record local features, or if you want to use maps without paying a hefty copyright fee, you can contribute to the OSM, a global ‘wiki’ map http://www.openstreetmap.org/ where you can record features of interest.

The UK Ordnance Survey gets its POI data from a company called Point X which the OS owns in partnership with Landmark Information Group. Point X doesn't indicate on its website how to correct or submit data but we have asked them and when they tell us we'll post it here. Landmark claims to be an unrivaled source of large scale current and historic digital maps together with high quality environmental risk and planning information.

PointX is a joint venture company established to provide the most comprehensive range of points of interest data in Great Britain. They have over 600 classifications ranging from airports to amusement parks, hospitals to hotels, petrol stations to pubs and restaurants to railway stations. Customers for this data are central government, the emergency services, local authorities and companies developing location-based services.

Point X says it has over 170 data suppliers including Market Locations (who replaced Thomson Directories), Department for Transport, Transport for London, Police, Fire and Ambulance Authorities, Education Authorities, Royal Mail, Visit Britain, LINK Interchange Network, The Court Service, UK Payphone Directory, Little Chef, National Trust for Scotland and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.

The Point X POI data is used for drawing the Traveline journey maps, in local government 'health checks' and by location pointing services such as finding your nearest swimming pool or ATM. It seems there has been some significant wrangling over merging this data with the 29 million entries of the seperate Postal Address File maintained by the Royal Mail, so these are not combined as yet though the postcode boundaries have been released to the Ordnance Survey.

I wonder how many POI errors that people familiar with Halesworth, Suffolk can find on this map Traveline served on 31/3/13. The public convenience #4 has been closed for a decade, public convenience #2 is non existent, but if it means those that were at the swimming pool, they were demolished in September 2010.

The Way I Roll

Suffolk Bike Aid was tipped off to this series of films made by Peter Sutherland and financed by gear maker Thule by the Photo District News which is indispensable reading for the professional photographer.

From these films Suffolk Bike Aid discovered pro rider Chris Van Dine and his partnership with Pedals 4 Progress, which is we suppose the point.

Photographer and filmmaker Peter Sutherland made his 2002 documentaryPedal, about the fast-paced, sometimes reckless work of New York City’s bike messengers, on a shoestring budget with his own funding. Though the film was picked up by the Sundance Channel and aired on the TV network for two years, Sutherland says, “I made no money.” Last year, however, his work on the film landed him a lucrative assignment producing six short, documentary-style films for Thule, the Swedish company that makes handlebar bags, saddlebags and other bike accessories. Ten years after the release of Pedal, says Sutherland, the Thule assignment “was an unexpected way to get compensated for making the film.”

Pedals 4 Progress rescue bicycles destined for landfill and ships them to developing countries where they are sorely needed and highly valued. The bikes are put to work not only as basic transportation, but are used as a supplement to school and community programs. The bikes are adapted for use as trash haulers, produce trucks, taxis, and farm machinery. Some municipalities even sponsor recreational cycling programs, making bikes available to all who care to participate.

The Way I Roll - six films about passionate bikers (Trailer) 

Join the Halesworth Bicycle Team

If anyone is interested in encouraging cycling in the Halesworth area, there will be a meeting on April 18th 2013 at 5.30 pm at the Halesworth library with Joseph Young of Cycle Suffolk to which local cycling groups and people have been invited.

In October 2012 the Local Government Minister Grant Shapps, the MP responsible for the Mary Portas town regeneration project, gave a £10,000 consolation prize to Halesworth after it applied to be a Portas Pilot Town. 

The Halesworth Portas Pilot Town Team who submitted the bid quickly allocated this funding, cutting the budget down to 10% of the original plan, but they obtained additional funding and were able to put several proposals immediately into place. The derelict print works off the Thoroughfare has been tidied up and is set to hold weekly markets, auctions and craft fairs and local food producers and gardeners and the community have been mobilized by Halesworth in Bloom projects as well as a branding campaign; HalesWorth Visiting to entice passing trade.  It's not sour grapes but it's a great shame that a year later some towns who won the £100,000 grand prize still have their money in the bank or have frittered it away on Christmas decorations instead of seeding sustainable projects.

Improving cycling facilities has always been a part of Halesworth's tourism and economic sustainability strategy. The Halesworth Town Plan cycling group (who were part of the Portas bid) came together in May 2012 as a refreshed group to action some ideas that could be taken forward, regardless if they had funding or not. Community development is often a case of Fast/Cheap/Good: you can pick any two. One of this group's actions was encouragement of the Halesworth Wheel and organising several turn-up and ride events around it.

This group have since been allocated £2500 of the Portas money. Half of that cycling pot has gone towards completing the Millennium Green Cycle Path (a scheme backed by the Department of Transport and Sustrans needing match funding), the other half will be spent on developing footfall by enhancing Halesworth's many advantages to the cyclist; be they the club, commuter or tourist rider (or is there a better typology?)

With the promise of this tiny pot, a 'bicycle team' will have to brainstorm some very clever ideas to develop cycling in Halesworth and so I have put some thoughts here to start the dough. What the town needs is more ideas and more people to see them through, so willing hands and feet are very welcome. 

cyclists' yellow jersey

Like many rural market towns, Halesworth faces many economic challenges but encouraging cycle tourism plays to its strengths. With good transport connections, key services, wide range of quality accommodation, location midway between the AONB coast and inland heritage attractions, nature reserves, excellent rural pubs, quiet roads and beautiful scenery; the various factors add up to put Halesworth as the top choice as a base for a cycling holiday or to visit on a tour. The attractions of the other Waveney 'four towns': Beccles, Bungay and Southwold and the wider Waveney Valley are part of Halesworth's offer too.

The Halesworth Tourism Group recently produced a leaflet touting the Blyth Valley Experience showing what the town and surroundings have to offer (opens a PDF).

This list is not in any order. The intent in sharing it is to stimulate other people to offer other ideas too. If other towns 'steal' these ideas and do them first, so much the better. My particular interest is tourism and commuting and not so much 'club' cycling so I hope my ideas will be balanced by others.

Some of these ideas will be easy to realize and everyone can take these actions at anytime. Some of these ideas will need further resources; contacts will have to be made, other financial support found and of course, having some people to take responsibility to see them through.

• Establish a loose identity as the local Bicycle Team as a point of contact and for re-distribution of info. Avoid committee meetings, do it via the web!
• Wider promotion of the Halesworth Wheel and its Sustrans/Mike Jackson supported cycle rides - signposting on websites, leaflet distribution in TICs and libraries.
• Support the Dunwich Dynamo and encourage more stay-overs.
• Linking the Bicycle Team with relevant tourism and business groups, partnerships etc. Priority local 'Four Towns' and Waveney Valley but thinking internationally as well, i.e. Dutch Flyer promotions.
• Establish points of contact with bus, coach and train operators i.e. Anglian, National Express, Greater Anglia (Abellio) Stena Line.
• Team to author strategy papers: The club, commuter, tourism rider; how to attract & encourage them - To be circulated relevant partners and town and parish councils, especially Waveney 'Four Towns' with tips on what to to and what not to do.
• Collate listing of cycling facilities, shops, hire etc. on Halesworth websites
• Produce yellow T-shirts of 'Hales-worth Visiting' for sale in town shops.
• Auditing and signposting of cycle-friendly B&Bs and facilities; which ones have racks, storage etc.
• Local B&B promotion (Halesworth Tourism Group's sheet) to include the standard cycle facility symbols.***
• Rapid response to cycling inquiries: if people tweet #Halesworth, they can get a response from many people who monitor that hashtag. Have the Town Clerk and other web hosts SMS or tweet cycling inquiries to the Bicycle Team.***
• Prepare cycle tourism/club/commuter media contact list and background press release with quality photographs.
• Signposting to Suffolk Bike Aid.
• Have a Bike Aid collection of spare tools and kit making session at events.
• Run a Suffolk Bike Aid/Cycle Suffolk/Bicycle Team stand at Latitude.
• Plant bicycle themed/bicycle accessible Geocaches.***
• Ask a local collector to open their antique bike collection for tours.
• Encourage museums to explore or highlight cycling heritage.
• Stage an annual Bicycle Jumble Sale ('saddlebag' instead of 'car boot') in Halesworth - key stands like Ipswich Mencap bicycle recycling project.
• Create a BMX track on waste ground somewhere.***
• Explore making the Thoroughfare a two-way cycle path.***
• Have a cycle info rack in the library - make contacts and have volunteers that replenish it.*
• Hold cycle repair classes - perhaps at the NSSA.
• Encourage an entrepreneur or social enterprise to open cycle hire business, perhaps a seasonal container/lock up? CAS can signpost to grants,  WDC can advise on rate relief and Town Council on sites.
• Investigate providing electric bicycle charging points.
• Encourage the CPRE 'quiet lanes' designation on local back roads.
• Form links to local cycling clubs with the Bicycle Team.
• Encourage volunteer cycling 'greeters': a contact that visiting touring riders can meet in Halesworth.***
• Audit to ensure all cycle features are correct on OS and OSM maps, Point X  datasets, Navteq, TeleAtlas and are signposted on local websites and included on local info maps.
• Web forum monitoring and signposting when any events are near Halesworth.**
• Support the Suffolk Churches cycle ride.**
• Encourage or lobby for 'bike' entry prices at events and repay with cross-promotion.
• Encourage bicycle/foot-only camp site operations away from car/caravan camping - Support planning permission applications and rural grants to establish them.
• Offer talks about cycling in Suffolk, Bike Aid, Millennium Green etc. to local groups like the WI etc.
• Encourage posting videos of local rides on Youtube etc. Either a competition or community media project through New Cut Arts.***
• Author and post GPX & photos of local rides  on trail report sites.**
• Put local routes on ride-planner websites.**
• Encourage young people to enter decorated cycles as part of parades. Contact parade organisers, encourage business to offer prizes for bike competition categories.
• Create a Community Action Suffolk resource map hosted on the web of local cycling resources.
• Have a ‘Cycle Only’ Weekend in Halesworth, promoted by Waveney District and Suffolk County Council who may spread this throughout their area.
• Link up with our Twin Towns of Bouchain and Eitorf to promote and participate in our/their cycle events.
• Hold an 'Edwardian' Cycling Picnic with cream teas and croquet.

* people have since offered to support.

If you found this page on twitter etc. and you have suggestions or questions, or would like to help, please get in touch: nat (at) pixlink.co.uk

Host Profile: Burnt House Farm

The first host recruited solely by this blog! 

Hayden Morris is a lapsed cyclist who lives just outside Saxmundham in Suffolk on the B1119 road which sees a lot of usage by cyclists, especially at the weekend. He thought it a marvelous idea to put together a Bike Aid kit out of his spare tools, pumps etc. It seems obvious to Bike Aid that by assisting other cyclists, Hayden will be getting encouragement from the community to keep cycling himself.

Burnt House Farm (formerly The Firs) Saxmundham

The postcode is shared with a farm .5 mile away so the directions are head 800 feet or so towards Framlingham from the junction of the A12 and B119 and Burnt House Farm is the first one on the left. The Bike Aid kit is accessible any reasonable hour. Please ring the brass bell on the front porch so that they know you are on the premises. 

Burnt House Farm, west of A12 on Rendham Road 01728 602622

South Gloucs gets a Bike Aid scheme

From the road.cc website

South Gloucs businesses install emergency cycle kits for commuter cyclists

Kits include locks, lights and high-vis gear, as well as repair tools

South Gloucestershire firms have grouped together to create emergency bike first aid kits - that they hope will encourage staff to cycle to work.

More than 20 firms along the A4174 ring road - which represent around 40,000 staff members and 30,000 students, have cooperated to deposit specialist kits at workplaces.

These include essential cycle maintenance tools and spare equipment such as lights, locks and high-visibility jackets, to help out riders who might otherwise be stranded when they forget something.

The employers involved include Airbus, HP, Mitie, Friends Life and the Bristol & Bath Science Park, as well as the University of the West of England and NHS Blood & Transplant.

The scheme was introduced by North Bristol SusCom, which stands for 'Sustainable Commuting' and is a partnership between local businesses.

SusCom Director Ann O’Driscoll said: "We all recognise the importance of sustainable transport, such as cycling, as a way of reducing congestion and promoting healthy lifestyles.

"Cycling to work is a great way to get fit and save money and this scheme aims to make it as easy as possible for staff to do this.

"Flat tyres or forgotten locks can be a big nuisance for cyclists and this scheme aims to encourage people to bike to work in the knowledge that help is at hand should it be needed."

SusCom also operate a pool bike scheme for businesses.

The National Composite Centre at the Bristol & Bath Science Park is one of many local employers to have recently taken delivery of a kit. Chief Executive Peter Chivers said: “The NCC is fully committed to providing our employees with sustainable and healthy travel to work alternatives.

“As a keen cyclist myself I had the misfortune of two punctures on my way to work by bike this summer. I can understand the impact and challenge that making a repair can make and the additional time which can impact on the working day.

“The NCC is therefore really pleased to participate in the scheme because it gives a win all round, benefitting the environment, the employee and the business.”

Cllr Brian Allinson, chairman of South Gloucestershire Council’s planning, transportation and strategic environment committee, said: "Many people live within three or five miles of their workplace, making cycling an ideal means of getting to work.

"And with recent investment in cycle routes in South Gloucestershire, there has never been a better time for people to get on their bike – especially with the added reassurance that any minor maintenance problems can be resolved when they get there, thanks to this excellent emergency kit scheme."

--

Suffolk Bike Aid got in touch with North Bristol SusCom to tell them about what we do in Suffolk and they kindly sent along images of the kit and the poster that goes up where kits are kept.

When we asked about adding their sites to our map, we were told these kits are aimed at employees and visitors to the company sites. SusCom did talk to providers about having more open access to the kits but security is pretty tight on many of their sites so it makes it difficult for the general public to access them. The kits are worth nearly £100 so they are usually kept with security and signed out when used but SusCom agrees with Bike Aid there is great benefit in having smaller cheaper kits at more publicly accessible locations and will make that suggestion to local councils and other partners.

Suffolk Bike Aid is elated that this effort has been made and considers it further vindication of the feasibility of our scheme. We hope local councils and employers can understand they don't need to invest very much to get any bike aid kit scheme going, people just need encouragement and assurance that Jobsworths won't interfere. There's a tendency to over-engineer the process.

New kits can be provided for £2 each and could be treated as disposable or provided for sale but our preference is that kits are used to build social capital and recycle surplus materials.

Surplus furniture recycled by Bike Aid

After the controversial Schools Organisation Review carried out by Suffolk County Council, a great deal of surplus school equipment and furniture was shipped to Halesworth Middle School in September for disposal. Being that our local school was closed in the reorganisation, we were keen to see that all this equipment and furniture didn't go to waste. After badgering a few people in the county council about what was going to happen, we were told that once the remaining schools had taken their pick, everything left would be available for free to Suffolk community groups. So through Suffolk ACRE's email list, Suffolk Bike Aid alerted hundreds of groups and many went and obtained very useful furniture and equipment. Suffolk Bike Aid got for itself one of these paper storage racks and the trays which is now the central sorting point for donated bike tools and all our fiddly spares and it's where we can keep the various kinds of materials we use to make Bike Aid containers. In the winter months ahead, we'll be tinkering in the shed with Bike Aid R&D on some ideas we've got to make presentable containers out of recycled materials.

We're sorry

We are very sorry to announce that due to personal commitments, Bike Aid will now not have a presence at the Latitude Festival as planned. This is due to a serious illness arising in the coordinator's and related volunteers' family.

We are very sorry to have dashed the expectations of our volunteers and apologise that the decision to withdraw has come so late but there were times when it looked as if things would get better. We are very grateful to the many offers of help received. We had found nearly all the equipment and personnel we needed so we shall consider it again next year.

Begging Bowl

With regret the Bike Aid participation in the Latitude Festival has been cancelled. See the relevant post for details. This remains here just as a record.

In order to create a Bike Aid cycling 'community centre' at the Latitude Festival, we need to obtain the following resources. Any offers of assistance or leads are welcome. 


We will need this by 11/7/12 in IP19. All the donors will be profusely thanked and linked to here and on the stand.


We believe doing this will greatly leverage the other resources we already have and so bring considerable benefits to the local community and wider Suffolk and cycling nationally. Ask us how.


Update: we are getting offers on some stuff. We'll tick off what we have secured soon as confirmed. Things marked ** are consumables, the rest we just need to borrow. It's all a matter of perspective; we think we don't need to buy anything new, most of these things we've seen thrown away or know they lying forgotten in storage somewhere.


done

structure
            tent or gazebo up to 6m
            groundsheets or waterproof matting
            rope
            stakes
            mallet
        decor
            bike aid banner
            bunting & flags
            poles
            bike aid pointers
            gaffer tape**
            cable ties**
            staple gun
        furniture
            folding tables
            folding chairs
            padlocks
        uilities
            powerstrips
            powercords
            smoke detector
        display
            leaflet display racks
            paper weights
            pinboards
            lighting
            projector screen
            projector
            laptop/dvd
        volunteer room
            sleeping bags
            airbeds
            billy set
            stove & gas**
            coolbox
            water carrier
            tea & coffee etc.**
            first aid kit**
            thank-you gifts**
            multi-plug solar charger
            hygiene supplies**
                wetwipes
                bin bags
                loo paper
                dry cloths
                hand wash
    bike aid facility
        bike tools
            bike workstand
            wrenches
            levers
            allen keys
            pliers
            cycle pumps w/ valve fittings
            puncture repair kits**
        bike stand
        tool collection tubs
        kit making demo
            clean empty Tetra Pak cartons**
            mailing tubes w/ caps**
            presentation liquor boxes or tubes**
            vinyl bike aid labels**
        refreshments**
            cupcakes & doughnuts
            local juices
            cups & spoons
            local food samples (non per)
    information facility
        leaflets
            topics
                arts
                amenities
                community development
                cycling
                tourism
                transition
                transport
        maps of local routes
        posters
        freebies
            local food samples (non per)
            beer mats
    comms
        hardware
            3G dongle
            mobile phone
                charge
        graphics/printing
            cost of
                leaflets
                signage
                pointers
                banner
                stickers
            someone to
                design a  leaflet
                design a sticker
                design & produce info boards
        media
            photographer to document
            people to tweet 
            press release writing and distribution
            festival programme
                content
                stand copies**
    transport
        small van
        wheelbarrow
    people
        onsite volunteers
            Weds
                schlep & set up
            very early thurs
                 schlep & set up
            Thurs
                Tour de Latitude stand
                bike aid stand
            Fri
                bike aid stand
           Sat
                bike aid stand
            Sun
                bike aid stand
            late Sun
                wrap & schlep
            Mon
                wrap & schlep
        support volunteers
            sustenance
            media
            transport
            art/design

Bike Aid sponsored by Suffolk ACRE

Suffolk Bike Aid can announce it has secured the rural development charity Suffolk ACRE as an in-kind sponsor to shoulder the small outgoings and insurance requirements so there will be a Bike Aid presence at the Latitude Festival at Henham from 12-15 July. It is now possible for Bike Aid to create a cycling community centre in the campsite amenity area for the 35,000 visitors to Latitude. Look for the banner above we've just ordered.

We are asking for any support that cycling-focussed organisations can give us with supplying local cycling and tourism literature, tents, folding tables, info boards, bike tools, puncture repair kits, folding chairs, lighting, bunting, banners, bike stand, stickers etc.

Along with information about Suffolk ACRE's work with rural communities, we aim to include information about local transition, local food groups and other things that fit in with the Bike Aid ethos of building communities and social capital by cycling; in the hope of course those groups will support Bike Aid somehow in kind. Bike Aid will be collecting unwanted bike tools and bike bits from the Tour De Latitude riders to recycle as bike aid kits or deliver to a local cycling workshop providing training and employment to disabled people.

We also need to recruit a few local-cycling-knowledgeable volunteers (i.e. people who actually cycle in Suffolk sometimes) to man the stall.

If you can help us in anyway, please get in touch, email is best, from the contact page.