I live in an unincorporated area of my county, but my postal code is a nearby town. This is annoying, because when people get my address they think I live in the nearby town, when I really just live a few miles away in nothing. But that nothing has a name, and is on maps. How can this be? And what are the boundaries of this mysterious place?
As it turns out, that named nothing is a Census Designated Place (CDP), but I still didn't know if I actually lived there, and as an unincorporated entity, nobody really had boundary maps anywhere online. After digging around the intertubes, I found the Census Bureau's raw Cartographic Boundary Files. Bingo. I had already been curious about playing with the Google Maps API (i.e., creating custom maps on your own web page) and now that I had raw longitute/latitude data to process, I had a purpose.
I wrote a few scripts to convert the Census Bureau's files for Texas Incorporated Places/CDPs into a good database form, then created a mySQL database on my website and uploaded it. Then it was just a matter of tapping into Google's API and pretty soon I was displaying City and CDP boundaries. And yes, I do live in that CDP.
You can check it out here.
I'll probably add some more features to it at some point, but I'm not sure if I should wait until the 2010 Census data comes out before I go to all the trouble. We'll see.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Idea: GPS Enhancement
There is a fairly trivial enhancement to a car GPS unit that I think would be incredibly cool. The idea of gathering this data has interested me since I was a kid, but GPS technology makes it so trivial it should come standard.
The idea is this. As you're driving, you should be able to define certain routes by pressing a button as you get to different spots along that route. For instance, I could specify the end of my street as one point, the entrance to the highway as another point, the exit from the highway as a third point, and the entrance to the parking lot at work as the last point.
Then the car would drive for you.
No, just kidding. Then every time you hit those points again in that order, it harvests information about that route and stores it internally. Actually, you really only need the date/times you hit those points, from which you can get
There are lots of trivial details to iron out, like whether the GPS unit itself collates and processes the data and you have to try to figure it all out on the small screen, or perhaps stores it on an SD card and provides a PC app to analyze your data in the comfort of your home. You have to be able to remove spurrious entries, decide what to do with incomplete routes, etc., but those don't really affect the fundamental idea.
So is that a great idea, or the greatest idea? I'm awaiting my check from Garmin.
PS - I didn't google this one, so let me know if this already exists. I want one.
The idea is this. As you're driving, you should be able to define certain routes by pressing a button as you get to different spots along that route. For instance, I could specify the end of my street as one point, the entrance to the highway as another point, the exit from the highway as a third point, and the entrance to the parking lot at work as the last point.
Then the car would drive for you.
No, just kidding. Then every time you hit those points again in that order, it harvests information about that route and stores it internally. Actually, you really only need the date/times you hit those points, from which you can get
- The time it took to travel each segment
- The average time of day you hit each point
- Route and segment distances
- Your average speed for each segment
There are lots of trivial details to iron out, like whether the GPS unit itself collates and processes the data and you have to try to figure it all out on the small screen, or perhaps stores it on an SD card and provides a PC app to analyze your data in the comfort of your home. You have to be able to remove spurrious entries, decide what to do with incomplete routes, etc., but those don't really affect the fundamental idea.
So is that a great idea, or the greatest idea? I'm awaiting my check from Garmin.
PS - I didn't google this one, so let me know if this already exists. I want one.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Czech Trip - Day 8
After breakfast with the Holubovi we took a train back to Prague. This was our last full day of the trip, and our 5-day passes had long since expired, so we went on a very long walk all over the city to soak it all in again before we left.
We started off at Hlavní nádraží (main train station), which is just a hop skip and a jump away from the top of Vaclavské náměstí (Wenceslas Square) where we ran into the national museum.
Then we headed down the náměstí...
...and over to Česká Kuchyně to pick up some ovocné knedlíky (fruit dumplings) for lunch.
They were so good we forgot to take a picture until after we were done. Our appetites sated, we continued on to Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square).
Yes, there is a pigeon on Jan Hus's head. Next we wandered around old town looking for picturesque places like this...
...until we crossed over to Charles' Bridge on our way to Malá Strana.
We wandered around Malá Strana for a while, and checked up on the American Embassy (on the left)...
...then headed up the hill, past Prague Castle (we'd seen that enough) to see where some of the streets ended.
Up behind the castle we found a portion of the wall that surrounds Petřin (hill) and followed that up and up and up...
...until we got to the tower at the top.
From there we headed back down the front side of the hill, first on some nice wooded trails...
... then on the paved paths that led past the tram thing that lazy people take up.
The hill does offer some very nice views of Prague as well.
Once we'd made it down the hill we found our way to Střelecký ostrov, an island in the Vltava river. It was Amber's idea and I'm glad we did because at that time in the evening the lighting was just right for some very nice pictures.
As our last touristy act we stopped and got that European pizza we missed out on earlier, then headed back to the apartment.
One thing I haven't really mentioned is the fun times we had with the Donicas in the evenings. On the nights that we could, we would come back and spend at least a little bit of time with them, eat dinner with them, and play with their kids. They don't speak English, and Amber doesn't speak Czech, Russian, or Moldovan, so I had to do some translating, but I think we all had a good time.
He took us to the airport the following morning, and after a brief visit to London and a long transatlantic flight, we were back home to our excited kids and our own house.
Just a reminder, I saved the best pictures for my photo blog, so keep an eye out there over the next few weeks/months if you're interested in seeing those. Thanks grandma, for watching the kids! Now back to my regular unscheduled programming.
We started off at Hlavní nádraží (main train station), which is just a hop skip and a jump away from the top of Vaclavské náměstí (Wenceslas Square) where we ran into the national museum.
Then we headed down the náměstí...
...and over to Česká Kuchyně to pick up some ovocné knedlíky (fruit dumplings) for lunch.
They were so good we forgot to take a picture until after we were done. Our appetites sated, we continued on to Staroměstské náměstí (Old Town Square).
Yes, there is a pigeon on Jan Hus's head. Next we wandered around old town looking for picturesque places like this...
...until we crossed over to Charles' Bridge on our way to Malá Strana.
We wandered around Malá Strana for a while, and checked up on the American Embassy (on the left)...
...then headed up the hill, past Prague Castle (we'd seen that enough) to see where some of the streets ended.
Up behind the castle we found a portion of the wall that surrounds Petřin (hill) and followed that up and up and up...
...until we got to the tower at the top.
From there we headed back down the front side of the hill, first on some nice wooded trails...
... then on the paved paths that led past the tram thing that lazy people take up.
The hill does offer some very nice views of Prague as well.
Once we'd made it down the hill we found our way to Střelecký ostrov, an island in the Vltava river. It was Amber's idea and I'm glad we did because at that time in the evening the lighting was just right for some very nice pictures.
As our last touristy act we stopped and got that European pizza we missed out on earlier, then headed back to the apartment.
One thing I haven't really mentioned is the fun times we had with the Donicas in the evenings. On the nights that we could, we would come back and spend at least a little bit of time with them, eat dinner with them, and play with their kids. They don't speak English, and Amber doesn't speak Czech, Russian, or Moldovan, so I had to do some translating, but I think we all had a good time.
He took us to the airport the following morning, and after a brief visit to London and a long transatlantic flight, we were back home to our excited kids and our own house.
Just a reminder, I saved the best pictures for my photo blog, so keep an eye out there over the next few weeks/months if you're interested in seeing those. Thanks grandma, for watching the kids! Now back to my regular unscheduled programming.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Czech Trip - Day 7
It was back to the train station in the morning to go to Plzeň, a city best known for being the birthplace of Pilsner beer. I served there twice, and when I emailed some people saying I was coming they set up a little gathering at the church building.
We got there early so we would have time to tour the city a little. I made the mistake of buying some food with a handful of coins, only to find out that public transit day passes can only be bought at the machines -- with coins. So after bouncing around a couple of stores we finally got some change and took a tram into the city center. Here is one of the streets leading to the main town square.
And this is the main square, Náměstí Republiky (Republic Square). As you can see, it is dominated by the Katedrála sv. Bartoloměje (Cathedral of St. Bartholomew).
But there are some other interesting buildings, like the Radnice (city hall).
The first order of business was of course to climb to the top of the church tower to take a look around.
They were had an Easter market in the square here, too.
And we got some nice views of the city.
If you look closely in the previous picture, you can see the spires of the second-largest synagogue in Europe. After browsing the Easter markets we headed over there for a closer look.
Sadly, there are very few Jews left in Plzeň after WWII and the building is mostly used for concerts and exhibitions.
Perhaps the most interesting part about Plzeň is its connection with America. It was one of the few Czech cities liberated by the US army during WWII, while the remainder of the country (by negotiation) was liberated by the Soviet Army. When the communist government was in power, they made an effort to suppress acknowledgment of this fact, and it basically ticked off the people and made them more proud of it (many older people fondly recounted their stories of this event to me as a missionary). When communism fell, they started holding reunions and parades with the US veterans that were a part of the liberation and rebuilding of the city. Anyway, I wrote all this as a preface to this picture, which is a monument built at the end of ul. Americká (America street) to thank the US.
I was in Plzeň on September 11, 2001. Having this close war connection with the US, they were very sympathetic and this memorial was covered in flowers and candles for quite a while.
We still had some time before our scheduled soirée, so I took Amber out to the mission field -- a sídliště.
The word basically translates to neighborhood, or housing development, but specifically it means a big clump of these paneláks, or pre-fab concrete panel buildings, a very dull remnant of the communist era.
We got lunch at the local mini-mart, then took the tram back to the nicer side of town where the church building is to have our party. They did a very nice Easter presentation, then we got to talk and visit for a while. It was fun to see some of the members and I was able to see some of the more important ones to me, like Sister Komancová (former investigator) and Brother Vališ (former Branch President), shown here.
We stayed the night with the Holub family. Honza got back from his mission to England while I was serving in Plzeň, and he is now married to a member and is the current Branch President.
They both speak excellent English, so Amber was able to converse and I got a break from Czech and we had a really good time. They're a fun couple.
We got there early so we would have time to tour the city a little. I made the mistake of buying some food with a handful of coins, only to find out that public transit day passes can only be bought at the machines -- with coins. So after bouncing around a couple of stores we finally got some change and took a tram into the city center. Here is one of the streets leading to the main town square.
And this is the main square, Náměstí Republiky (Republic Square). As you can see, it is dominated by the Katedrála sv. Bartoloměje (Cathedral of St. Bartholomew).
But there are some other interesting buildings, like the Radnice (city hall).
The first order of business was of course to climb to the top of the church tower to take a look around.
They were had an Easter market in the square here, too.
And we got some nice views of the city.
If you look closely in the previous picture, you can see the spires of the second-largest synagogue in Europe. After browsing the Easter markets we headed over there for a closer look.
Sadly, there are very few Jews left in Plzeň after WWII and the building is mostly used for concerts and exhibitions.
Perhaps the most interesting part about Plzeň is its connection with America. It was one of the few Czech cities liberated by the US army during WWII, while the remainder of the country (by negotiation) was liberated by the Soviet Army. When the communist government was in power, they made an effort to suppress acknowledgment of this fact, and it basically ticked off the people and made them more proud of it (many older people fondly recounted their stories of this event to me as a missionary). When communism fell, they started holding reunions and parades with the US veterans that were a part of the liberation and rebuilding of the city. Anyway, I wrote all this as a preface to this picture, which is a monument built at the end of ul. Americká (America street) to thank the US.
I was in Plzeň on September 11, 2001. Having this close war connection with the US, they were very sympathetic and this memorial was covered in flowers and candles for quite a while.
We still had some time before our scheduled soirée, so I took Amber out to the mission field -- a sídliště.
The word basically translates to neighborhood, or housing development, but specifically it means a big clump of these paneláks, or pre-fab concrete panel buildings, a very dull remnant of the communist era.
We got lunch at the local mini-mart, then took the tram back to the nicer side of town where the church building is to have our party. They did a very nice Easter presentation, then we got to talk and visit for a while. It was fun to see some of the members and I was able to see some of the more important ones to me, like Sister Komancová (former investigator) and Brother Vališ (former Branch President), shown here.
We stayed the night with the Holub family. Honza got back from his mission to England while I was serving in Plzeň, and he is now married to a member and is the current Branch President.
They both speak excellent English, so Amber was able to converse and I got a break from Czech and we had a really good time. They're a fun couple.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Czech Trip - Day 6
If I remember correctly, we slept in on this day too. Partly because we were enjoying vacation, and partly because my knee was very sore from hiking up a mountain the previous day to the extent that I had a noticeable limp. We decided to go back to Prague Castle, because we hadn't yet been inside of St. Vitus Cathedral. It was closed the two previous time we went.
Since I wasn't walking well, we took the tram up the fun switchback (wonderful view) and went in the main street entrance.
We waited in line for a couple of years, then finally got inside. The wait is definitely worth it, though, it is an incredible building. Here's the view from the main entrance.
It's immensely huge, of course, and the sides are lined with wonderful stained-glass windows. You can see some in the background here.
There are also a few rooms off to the side, like this one.
Here's the view looking back from the main altar area.
How would you like to play this organ?
And of course, it is strewn with statues and fancy artwork of all kinds. My favorite is this more subdued statue of Jesus.
Afterward we wandered through the Prague Castle gardens.
From there you can get a good idea of how castle-y Prague Castle is.
We walked from there over to nearby Letná park near the LDS church to see the Metronome. This giant oddity replaced a huge statue of Joseph Stalin.
It's not really worth seeing on its own, but it has a nice view of the city.
We stopped off for lunch at a place I thought served good European-style pizza (either they changed their menu, or I got the wrong place) then we headed to the Kempinski Hotel. Jiří Matějček works there and since we were in such a rush to get to their house the day before, we weren't able to give him the beef jerky we brought. So we brought it to his 5-star hotel, and he gave us a little tour.
Here's the view from the vice-presidential suite balcony.
And the room.
We must have gone souvenir shopping or something for the rest of the day, because that's where the pictures end.
Since I wasn't walking well, we took the tram up the fun switchback (wonderful view) and went in the main street entrance.
We waited in line for a couple of years, then finally got inside. The wait is definitely worth it, though, it is an incredible building. Here's the view from the main entrance.
It's immensely huge, of course, and the sides are lined with wonderful stained-glass windows. You can see some in the background here.
There are also a few rooms off to the side, like this one.
Here's the view looking back from the main altar area.
How would you like to play this organ?
And of course, it is strewn with statues and fancy artwork of all kinds. My favorite is this more subdued statue of Jesus.
Afterward we wandered through the Prague Castle gardens.
From there you can get a good idea of how castle-y Prague Castle is.
We walked from there over to nearby Letná park near the LDS church to see the Metronome. This giant oddity replaced a huge statue of Joseph Stalin.
It's not really worth seeing on its own, but it has a nice view of the city.
We stopped off for lunch at a place I thought served good European-style pizza (either they changed their menu, or I got the wrong place) then we headed to the Kempinski Hotel. Jiří Matějček works there and since we were in such a rush to get to their house the day before, we weren't able to give him the beef jerky we brought. So we brought it to his 5-star hotel, and he gave us a little tour.
Here's the view from the vice-presidential suite balcony.
And the room.
We must have gone souvenir shopping or something for the rest of the day, because that's where the pictures end.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Czech Trip - Day 5
We took another train ride this day, to another castle. This one is called Karlštejn, one of the many legacies of Holy Roman Emperor Charles (Karel) IV, in addition to Charles Bridge and Charles University. Karlštejn was built on a rock way out in the middle of nowhere, mainly to house the crown jewels.
From the train station, you have to walk up tourist alley, but if you ignore the kitsch it's a pretty nice view.
Many castles I visited on my mission had been sissified by the Renaissance, but Karlštejn is one of those places that retains its "castle" feel. It's still very fortified, from its stone outer walls...
...to its inner walls...
...to its separately defensible buildings with elevated walkways and drawbridges.
Wemade the mistake of taking took the guided tour. It was neat to see the inside, but our "English-speaking" guide was some high school girl who was literally studying her notes from room to room.
Karlštejn is also a neat place for church members to visit, because the Czech lands were dedicated for the preaching of the gospel on neighboring Kněží Hora (Priest Mountain) in 1929. There is a stone monument there that I wanted to show Amber, and also a fabulous view of Karlštejn that most people don't know about.
My knee was feeling pretty good by this point, so we hiked up the mountain (strike three...). When it finally leveled off, I started looking around, but nothing really looked familiar. I knew about where the castle should be and after a while we saw this.
Not exactly the spectacular view I remembered. And no monument. So we followed the mountain in the other direction, thinking it maybe we just needed to change our line of sight a little. Eventually we were way out in the middle of nowhere and I knew we had gone too far.
Thinking hard, I remembered a turn off way back near where we started, before we climbed up half the mountain that brought back vague memories of 10 years ago when I was last here. So we went back that way and sure enough, right behind the ugly water utility thing was the stone monument.
The plaque is removed to avoid theft or vandalism, but is brought for anniversary gatherings, like this 75th anniversary one.
And if you tear through the thorns for a few more yards down the hill from the plaque, you find that elusive spectacular view.
After all that hiking up and down mountains, we just barely missed the hourly train back to Prague. Luckily, Amber's not too fussy when it comes to eating schedules, because I'm pretty terrible at planning in meals and I don't think we had lunch, we just ate some cookies and other stuff we had in the backpack while waiting for the train.
We got back with just barely enough time to meet up with the Matějček family. I met Renata when I was in Prague on my last visit in 2005. She had gotten baptized sometime after my mission and was one of the young single adults I hung out with while I was there. She has since gotten married to a great guy named Jiří, a returned missionary who served in Arizona, and they now live way in the outskirts of Prague.
They made us some traditional Czech food (svíčková) and gave me some herbal stuff for my knee, which by now was officially screwed up. They both speak excellent English, so Amber was able to join in the conversation and we talked late into the night before catching the bus-metro-tram home.
From the train station, you have to walk up tourist alley, but if you ignore the kitsch it's a pretty nice view.
Many castles I visited on my mission had been sissified by the Renaissance, but Karlštejn is one of those places that retains its "castle" feel. It's still very fortified, from its stone outer walls...
...to its inner walls...
...to its separately defensible buildings with elevated walkways and drawbridges.
We
Karlštejn is also a neat place for church members to visit, because the Czech lands were dedicated for the preaching of the gospel on neighboring Kněží Hora (Priest Mountain) in 1929. There is a stone monument there that I wanted to show Amber, and also a fabulous view of Karlštejn that most people don't know about.
My knee was feeling pretty good by this point, so we hiked up the mountain (strike three...). When it finally leveled off, I started looking around, but nothing really looked familiar. I knew about where the castle should be and after a while we saw this.
Not exactly the spectacular view I remembered. And no monument. So we followed the mountain in the other direction, thinking it maybe we just needed to change our line of sight a little. Eventually we were way out in the middle of nowhere and I knew we had gone too far.
Thinking hard, I remembered a turn off way back near where we started, before we climbed up half the mountain that brought back vague memories of 10 years ago when I was last here. So we went back that way and sure enough, right behind the ugly water utility thing was the stone monument.
The plaque is removed to avoid theft or vandalism, but is brought for anniversary gatherings, like this 75th anniversary one.
And if you tear through the thorns for a few more yards down the hill from the plaque, you find that elusive spectacular view.
After all that hiking up and down mountains, we just barely missed the hourly train back to Prague. Luckily, Amber's not too fussy when it comes to eating schedules, because I'm pretty terrible at planning in meals and I don't think we had lunch, we just ate some cookies and other stuff we had in the backpack while waiting for the train.
We got back with just barely enough time to meet up with the Matějček family. I met Renata when I was in Prague on my last visit in 2005. She had gotten baptized sometime after my mission and was one of the young single adults I hung out with while I was there. She has since gotten married to a great guy named Jiří, a returned missionary who served in Arizona, and they now live way in the outskirts of Prague.
They made us some traditional Czech food (svíčková) and gave me some herbal stuff for my knee, which by now was officially screwed up. They both speak excellent English, so Amber was able to join in the conversation and we talked late into the night before catching the bus-metro-tram home.
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