Anyway, I felt the need for some silly hacking yesterday, and managed to put some working perl code together... Basically, it takes the list of sessions on this site and then goes hunting for latitude/longitude for the cities/towns/whatever. I feed that info to a program called xplanet and voila! it generates a map with dots. :D
The program is running on my computer right now, generating the marker file. I don't want to flood the server that's feeding me coordinates (and it will block my IP address if I try to), so it won't be finished until tomorrow, I think. (The program sleeps for one minute between every new city lookup, and since there are almost 800 sessions listed, it will probably take a few hours more)
...and at a suitable point to plug my tune-learning site - it's moved to http://www.worldfiddlemusic.co.uk , and there are some more Irish trad tunes on there now...and it's free!
I'm intreagued by the session in the middle of the Kara Sea, just SE of Novaya Zemlya. Does it happen all year round or only when the sea freezes over?
What a trip! And a good way to spend time "when" not practising.
I myself often make sheet music .pdf's from abc's "when" not practising. A friend of mine puts his sheet music into individual plastic sheet protectors, thereby spending money as well as time. How nice that your time benefits all of us!
Concertina.net did a similar exercise, mapping known concertina-owners on a woldwide basis. As is to be expected, Western Europe and the American coasts featured the most.
The script basically searches with town name, and selects among the results with country. This might lead to strange results, cities getting dotted even though they shouldn't, etc.
So this shouldn't be seen as an accurate map of the sessions listed, but rather as an ugly hack and a fun picture.
As for the XML stuff... It could make things easier, but it works right now. The problem really is in getting the lat/longs. And people maing mistakes submitting sessions (for example, the session in Örebro has "Pasta Baren" as area). Thanks anyway.
It's supposed to be finished now. As I said, there may be dots missing or dots in places there shouldn't etc etc. But it's a bit of fun. http://www.berzen.se/pontus/map.jpg
Session world map
Session world map
I think we discussed this some time back...
Anyway, I felt the need for some silly hacking yesterday, and managed to put some working perl code together... Basically, it takes the list of sessions on this site and then goes hunting for latitude/longitude for the cities/towns/whatever. I feed that info to a program called xplanet and voila! it generates a map with dots. :D
The program is running on my computer right now, generating the marker file. I don't want to flood the server that's feeding me coordinates (and it will block my IP address if I try to), so it won't be finished until tomorrow, I think. (The program sleeps for one minute between every new city lookup, and since there are almost 800 sessions listed, it will probably take a few hours more)
Anyway, you can take a look at what I got after a short while at http://www.berzen.se/pontus/map.jpg
I will update it with the complete map some time tomorrow. Some of the dots may be wrong, since the lat/long-thing is quite stupid. But it's fun!
# Posted on November 16th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Session world map
Very cool, pobe. However, you are obviously spending WAY too much time doodling on the computer. Go practice your tunes! ;-]
# Posted on November 16th 2004 by Batlady
Re: Session world map
Ouch. It's so true it hurts... ;)
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Session world map
...and at a suitable point to plug my tune-learning site - it's moved to http://www.worldfiddlemusic.co.uk , and there are some more Irish trad tunes on there now...and it's free!
Jim
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: Session world map
Well done pobe! I'll look for the completed version tomorrow--would make a nice desktop.
Woodshed locally, session globally....
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Will CPT
Re: Session world map
I'm intreagued by the session in the middle of the Kara Sea, just SE of Novaya Zemlya. Does it happen all year round or only when the sea freezes over?
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by granama
Re: Session world map
What a trip! And a good way to spend time "when" not practising.
I myself often make sheet music .pdf's from abc's "when" not practising. A friend of mine puts his sheet music into individual plastic sheet protectors, thereby spending money as well as time. How nice that your time benefits all of us!
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by cj
Re: Session world map
Why are all the sessions across the pond ? : (
I need one HERE!
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Sunnybear
Re: Session world map
Yeah, when does your engine hit the Stateside sessions? I'll check back later...
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Session world map
Wow, there seem to be quite a few sessions on a small landmass to the West of England ...
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Ottery
Re: Session world map
Well, it seems I triggered the "watchdog system" on the site I use to get lat/long again. Perhaps it will take more time than I thought. :(
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Session world map
This is fantastic. Don't despair pobe - however long it takes!
(and then someone else can map the image and make each sesh clickable
((no, not me!))
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Q
Re: Session world map
Sure, when I've got the coord file ready I'll make a zoomable, clickable version for you all.
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Session world map
Zoomable down to 1:1? Cos I hear the CIA is giving the keys to the spysats to pretty much anyone who asks these days
*waves at the sky*
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Q
Re: Session world map
Oh YEAH this is the coolest! WTG Pobe!!!!!! Desktop version please......
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by emily_bmore
Re: Session world map
Brilliant idea pobe, well done!
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Leftheris
Re: Session world map
Nice one pobe, I'm looking forward to the full picture.
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Pied Piper
Re: Session world map
You can see our house!
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: Session world map
Great stuff, Pobe - the thread I did a while back with Global session statistics ties in with this:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/2807/comments#comment55322
My statistics are probably well out of date by now, so maybe I'll update when I get some time.
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: Session world map
You've made Ireland look like a greasy, acne-ridden teenager who works in a chippy :|
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Murrough
Re: Session world map
I cant see what Sunnybear on about. All the sessions ARE this side of the pond.
;o)
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: Session world map
This is *exactly* what I asked for over here!!!!
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/2983
Pobe, you're a star! Now, anyone know how current the list is for New Zealand? Danny, let me know if you need any help number crunching.....
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by emily_bmore
Re: Session world map
Well, I've got a few more before getting blocked by their watchdog system. :P
See the latest version at http://www.berzen.se/pontus/map.jpg
It'll probably be finished by tomorrow.
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Session world map
That really is pretty nifty!
Pobe, what site are you querying for longitude and latitude? Do you pass them the name of the town and area?
If it would make your job easier, I could attempt to knock together some kind of web service that returns session locations in an XML file.
# Posted on November 17th 2004 by Jeremy
Re: Session world map
There appears to be one in northern Russia, on an Island!
Amazing.
Good work Pobe
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by Pied Piper
Re: concertina world map
Concertina.net did a similar exercise, mapping known concertina-owners on a woldwide basis. As is to be expected, Western Europe and the American coasts featured the most.
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by geoffwright
Re: Session world map
I use the one over at http://www.astro.com/atlas/.
The script basically searches with town name, and selects among the results with country. This might lead to strange results, cities getting dotted even though they shouldn't, etc.
So this shouldn't be seen as an accurate map of the sessions listed, but rather as an ugly hack and a fun picture.
As for the XML stuff... It could make things easier, but it works right now. The problem really is in getting the lat/longs. And people maing mistakes submitting sessions (for example, the session in Örebro has "Pasta Baren" as area). Thanks anyway.
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Session world map
It's supposed to be finished now. As I said, there may be dots missing or dots in places there shouldn't etc etc. But it's a bit of fun.
http://www.berzen.se/pontus/map.jpg
# Posted on November 18th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: Session world map
Great stuff, pobe!
# Posted on November 19th 2004 by Q
Re: Session world map
If you're happy with hacking some Java as well, the Alexandria Digital Library Gazetteer Protocol might help your location matching.
The gazetteer itself is at http://middleware.alexandria.ucsb.edu/client/gaz/adl/index.jsp
The protocol and downloadable code are at http://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/gazetteer/protocol/
I would offer some more practical help, but I'm busy on my dissertation until February
# Posted on November 20th 2004 by Wuhoo
Re: Session world map
Orson, that seems interesting. Java is no problem at all, and wouldn't it be great if we all could have our own zoomable, clickable session GUI?
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Pontus Adefjord