It has been a little while since we’ve talked about cycle parking, but you’ll be pleased to know that we’re still plugging away at it. The good news is, we have come up with a way of producing a map.
The map we have isn’t pretty. It’s got a touch of the geeky about it, but it’s good illustration of where we would like to get to, eventually. It involves querying the huge database that is OpenStreetMap for parking information. However, without being able to customise it too much, Cardiff is currently called “3.282382,51.432073,-3.058662,51.560906” which it is fair to say doesn’t really roll off the tongue.
However, the red circles can be clicked and will display the capacity if that is known, or the type of parking that is available. Also, the number of red circles is growing, albeit slowly.
Would you like to help?
Updating OpenStreetMap is surprisingly easy. Firstly, head over to OpenStreetMap. Then:
- Register for an account & login
- Navigate to the location you wish to edit
- In the top left corner, select the drop-down box marked Edit & select “Edit with iD“
- Zoom in as low as you can go and select the “Point” button in the toolbar
- Select the location of the bike racks you wish to add
- In the search box, look up “bicycle parking” and select it
- Fill in any details you know on the left-hand panel – rack type, quantity etc
- Click “Save” when done.
Once you have an account, there is also an iOS app that you can use whilst out and about called Go Map!!
Open the app, move the yellow ‘+’ to where you want to add a stand or rack. If you are standing next to it, you can press the arrow button on the far left and have your phone locate you, but it probably won’t be exactly right. Tweak as necessary and then press the + at the bottom of the screen followed by the ‘Tags’ button.
In the ‘Type’ box on the screen that follows, search for Bicycle Parking, select it and proceed to complete the remaining fields as best you can. Whichever way you decide to update OpenStreetMap, pay particular attention to the “type” field. If that entry is left blank it won’t appear on the map.
When done, press the save button (it’s the cloud with an arrow pointing to it). You may be asked for your login information, but once done your changes will appear on the map.
Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Cardiff By Bike 
£380,000 spent 2009-2012 on cycle stands by Cardiff Cardiff. Where did it all go?
Source:
http://www.bike-commuter.co.uk/2014/09/24/cardiff-council-cycle-spending-breakdown/
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What about the bike stands that are never used, put by Council pen-pushers in daft places – like Barrack Lane former market behind St Davids 2? Or the very useful bike stands in Working St, by the church Railings facing the St Davids 1 grand entrance, taken away by the city Centre Manager-dictator as interfering with his stalls ?No-one pulls him up for failing to restore them when the space is not used for stalls.
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Max, it’s worth including “everything” that we have, no matter how poorly thought out the placement is. There’s a field in the database for notes and observations, but the aim is to remove the uncertainty about parking provision by establishing a map that is easier to use than the council’s massive PDF, that also gives capacity and information on type. Worth making a comment about those stands by the church railings if and when they are added to the map.
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