Entries from April 2011.
+ +Today, the first draft implementation of an +Open311 API for the Norwegian +service FiksGataMi started to +work. It is only available on the developer server for now, and I +have not tested it using any existing Open311 client (I lack the +platforms needed to run the clients I have found so far), but it is +able to query the database and extract a list of open and closed +requests within a given category and reported to a given municipality. +I believe that is a good start to create a useful service for those +that want to do data mining on the requests submitted so far.
+ +Where is it? Visit +http://fiksgatami-dev.nuug.no/open311.cgi/v2/ +to have a look. Please send feedback to the +fiksgatami +(at) nuug.no mailing list.
+ +The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for +the Open311 API in the +Norwegian FixMyStreet service. +Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit +reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the +New Zealand version of +FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to +me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and +municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service. +Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for +FixMyStreet. The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting +to get a draft limping along. In the process, I have discovered a few +issues with the Open311 specification.
+ +One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language +handling in the specification. The specification seem to assume all +reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the +receiving end to specify which languages are understood there. To be +able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers, +it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports. +I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers +of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the +submitter to specify which language the report is written in. +Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical +methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to +know which language to use when writing a problem report. I suspect +some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.
+ +A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided, +which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet. One issue I +run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for +each category. The specification do not state that the identifier +should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers +here. In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each +category. As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name +as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle +it.
+ +The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet +differ in a key part. FixMyStreet have a title and a description, +while Open311 only have a description and lack the title. I'm not +quite sure how to best handle this yet. When asking for a FixMyStreet +report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the +open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API +should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.
+ +The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems +near a geographic location. I believe this is important if one is to +use Open311 as the query language for mobile units. The specification +should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon= +and range= options.
+ +The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle +several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem +to assume only one administration. For FixMyStreet, this mean a +report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories +available depend on the location of the problem. Not quite sure how +to best handle this. I've noticed +SeeClickFix added +latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not +solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified. +Will have to investigate this a bit more.
+ +My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues +up with the open311 developer group. I really wish they had a email +list available via Gmane to use for +discussions instead of only +a forum. Oh, +well. That will probably resolve itself, one way or another. I've +also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one +seem to reply to my questions there. This make me wonder if I just +fail to understand how the open311 community work. It sure do not +work like the free software project communities I am used to.
+ +Det er morsomt å følge med hvordan bruken av FiksGataMi sprer seg +over det ganske land. Her er lenkene til fylkesoversikt på kart over +de (for tiden) 200 siste problemene. Bruker her GeoRSS-kilden i +FiksGataMi og presenterer enten via Google Maps eller en +GeoRSS-fremviser jeg fant for OpenStreetmap.
-Here is a small update for my English readers. Most of my blog -posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short -update in English.
- -The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work -done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port -of the British service -FixMyStreet up and running, -and it has been running for a month now. The entire project has been -organised by me and two others. Around Christmas we gathered sponsors -to fund the development work. In January I drafted a contract with -mySociety on what to develop, -and in February the development took place. Most of it involved -converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British -easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get -running in any country by now. The Norwegian -FiksGataMi is using -OpenStreetmap as the map -source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and -support for this had to be added/fixed.
+-
-
- Ãstfold [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Akershus [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Oslo [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Hedmark [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Oppland [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Buskerud [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Vestfold [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Telemark [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Aust-Agder [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Vest-Agder [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Rogaland [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Hordaland [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Sogn og Fjordane [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Møre og Romsdal [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Sør-Trøndelag [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Nord-Trøndelag [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Nordland [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Troms [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] +
- Finnmark [ Google Maps ] | [ OpenStreetmap ] -
The Norwegian version went live March 3th, and we spent the weekend -polishing the system before we announced it March 7th. The system is -running on a KVM instance of Debian/Squeeze, and has seen almost 3000 -problem reports in a few weeks. Soon we hope to announce the Android -and iPhone versions making it even easier to report problems with the -public infrastructure.
+Perhaps something to consider for those of you in countries without -such service?
+Neste mann ut er Marius Kotsbak, styremedlem i +FRISK og mangeårig +bidragsyter i +Skolelinux-prosjektet.
+ +Hvem er du, og hva driver du med til daglig?
+ +Jeg er en systemutvikler/kybernetiker og jobber med dette til +daglig. På fritiden tester jeg ut/bruker mye fri programvare, og +bidrar med testing og utvikling når jeg ser stort nok behov for det og +jeg har noe å bidra med.
+ +Hvordan kom du i kontakt med Skolelinux-prosjektet?
+ +Hmm, det er lenge siden, så det er nesten så jeg ikke husker. Jeg +hadde vel hørt om prosjektet i media før en gjeng i Trondheim startet +opp SPIST, Skolelinux-prosjektet i Sør-Trøndelag, hvor vi hjalp noen +skoler i nærområdet med å installere Skolelinux og finne brukt +IT-utstyr til disse. Det var moro å gjøre noe praktisk for å spre +Skolelinux, og å se hvor fort gjort det var å sette opp utrangerte +klientmaskiner og få disse opp som tynnklienter på helt nye datasaler +på skolene, kun med kostnaden til servere.
+ +Hva er fordelene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?
+ +Det er et system spesielt skreddersydd for drift av et stort antall +klienter mot servere, og da spesielt i henhold til skolers behov. Det +er enkelt og billig å installere og drifte, og det trenger ikke ny +maskinvare for god ytelse.
+ +Hva er ulempene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?
+ +Hardwarestøtten kunne vært bedre og i enda større grad +installerbart rett ut av boksen. Distribusjonen har til tider hatt +litt gammel programvare pga. at den følger Debian sine utgivelser. +Kanskje man skulle vurdert en versjon basert på Ubuntu eller andre +distribusjoner i tillegg?
+ +Hvilken fri programvare bruker du til daglig?
+ +Oi, det er ikke lite. Her er det jeg kommer på i farta. Jeg bruker +Linux og Ubuntu, og på Ubuntu programene Firefox, Thunderbird, +Chromium, Pidgin, Digikam, OpenOffice, Wireshark, git og irssi. +Telefonen min er en Android, og der bruker jeg programmene K-9 Mail, +OI Shopping list, Shuffle, ZXing, OI Notepad og ADW Desktop. På jobb +bruker jeg JBoss, Eclipse, uCLinux for Blackfin, RCF-CPP, Qt, Maven, +og boost-bibliotekene for C++.
+ +Hvilken strategi tror du er den rette å bruke for å få +skoler til å ta i bruk fri programvare?
+ +En bør fokusere på totalkostnader inkludert driftsbehov, +fleksibilitet, åpenhet og ikke låsing til en leverandør framfor sparte +lisenskostnader, samt programvarens kvalitet og fortrinn, og at den +fritt kan brukes på et ubegrenset antall PC-er, også hjemme hos +elevene. En bør også forbedre den fri programvaren ved testing, +bugrapportering og kodebidrag om man kan, og ikke anbefale programvare +uten at man har forsikret seg at den har tilstrekkelig kvalitet, +ellers kan man lett oppnå det motsatte. Tror en bør selge inn +konseptet til fylkes-/statsnivå, kanskje med bidrag til +utviklingsarbeid fra disse som alle landets skoler kan få glede +av.
+ +The Gnash project is still +the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. +A few days ago the project +announced +that it will participate in Google Summer of Code. I hope many +students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support +into Gnash.
- - Tags: debian, english, fiksgatami, kart. - -I dag ligger an til å bli en trist dag for Norge. I dag skal etter +
I dag ligger an til å bli en trist dag for Norge. I dag skal etter planen Stortinget stemme over om det skal innføres elektronisk brev- og besøkskontroll for hele folket, og Arbeiderpartiet og Høyre utgjør et flertall som har annonsert at de er enige om at dette skal gjøres. @@ -197,55 +438,121 @@ er noen aktuelle lenker, både nye og gamle:
-Here is a small update for my English readers. Most of my blog +posts have been in Norwegian the last few weeks, so here is a short +update in English.
- - Tags: norsk, personvern. - -The Gnash project is still -the most promising solution for a Free Software Flash implementation. -A few days ago the project -announced -that it will participate in Google Summer of Code. I hope many -students apply, and that some of them succeed in getting AVM2 support -into Gnash.
+The kids still keep me too busy to get much free software work +done, but I did manage to organise a project to get a Norwegian port +of the British service +FixMyStreet up and running, +and it has been running for a month now. The entire project has been +organised by me and two others. Around Christmas we gathered sponsors +to fund the development work. In January I drafted a contract with +mySociety on what to develop, +and in February the development took place. Most of it involved +converting the source to use GPS coordinates instead of British +easting/northing, and the resulting code should be a lot easier to get +running in any country by now. The Norwegian +FiksGataMi is using +OpenStreetmap as the map +source and the source for administrative borders in Norway, and +support for this had to be added/fixed.
-
Archive
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- 2013
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- January (11) - - + +