[Mapserver-west] Gregor's example site for trees

[sjs7001 at humboldt.edu]

Hi folks,

Let me put a little context on Gregor's previous emails. The site actually
is going someplace, just slower than expected.

So, the end product will allow the students to input trees according to a
data form that is now being developed in collaboration with teaches in the
schools. (so they meet science education standards, etc.)

In the end students will not only be inputting tree data like species,
size, condition, native/non-native, etc. but also upload photos of the
trees. We're also going to be getting them out there with GPS to learn a
little about that, although in reality most trees will be identified
directly on the image layer with the other vector overlays provided via
the mapserver interface.

Give us another 6-8 months to get the interface together and tested and
then it'll be in better shape for true show and tell.

Gregor's point about flagging new data as hidden is important since we do
what the database and maps to reflect the most complete/current info.
However, knowing how students can be, we want to avoid them entering
invalid, vulgar or other inappropriate information. Ultimately, it will be
the classroom teacher or some other responsible person who will "approve"
entries.

Of course the basic tools Gregor developed for this have a variety of
other applications and we're already contemplating uses for things like
Christmas Bird Count data, Real Estate and Economic Development maps, or
even for grad students to map and enter field data into a system for
research contributing to larger long-term databases.

The annotate and email functions are new (in the last 3-4 days) and were
to meet a specific request of the county government for whom we're
building a prototype system. The idea here would be to allow someone to
come to the site, set up a map and set of layers of interest and then
annotate that for other purposes (e.g. inclusion in a report, to send via
email to a colleague, etc.) Again, we suspect this tool will have numerous
other applications down the line. In my mind this is a step towards tools
for public comment and community mapping that allow for sharing
perspectives without altering the actual database.

Steve