Ok, it’s now on the 4/27 consent agenda! The results of our meeting’s official business was to change from being an independent committee to being a SIG under VCC. This motion was ratified passed with 4 yeas, 0 nays, and 3 abstentions (one being the VCC chair, another being a board member, and the third with this being his first meeting).
This will afford Civic Hacking more visibility, as VCC is a prominent committee in the pursuit of computer science, which is a big part of our endeavors. As your outgoing “chair” of this “committee” (going on four years!), we will be in good hands and should expect increased bandwidth and support to take on exciting projects.
As for the fun stuff, some of the project ideas we discussed in our brief 30-minute meeting (now I regret not making it longer, it was a good discussion):
- Tracking DART buses accurately so you know exactly when to arrive at the bus stop
- Stoplight sensor to help emergency responders time for green lights (because apparently not all cities have capability for them to change the lights remotely)
- Train sensor to tell you when the barricades are down (such as on Valwood, so you know to either take Belt Line or Valley View for instance)
- App that tells people to get over when emergency vehicles are present (besides a siren)
Class ideas:
- Leveraging open data
- Simple ways to create Web-based maps and/or leveraging OpenStreetMaps
- Slicing topological data to make physical maps on the laser cutter or CNC router
This is the most lively discussion we’ve had in a very long time and I hope the momentum will continue.
