[Roadster] Status & Roadmap

[Scott Bronson]

I am stoked to see Roadster showing a bit of action.  Way to go Jeff!

On 9/8/07, Carl Worth <cworth at cworth.org> wrote:
>   * New "database". I think using a general-purpose database like
>     MySQL probably made it easier to get started, but I think its the
>     wrong thing going forward long-term, (in terms of both storage
>     requirements and performance). I don't know if any existing
>     project has a good start on something appropriate yet.

Carl, didn't you (or somebody) come up with a strong database
specification a year or two ago?


>   * Keep things light enough for a small, embedded device. The neo1973
>     with integrated GPS looks _really_ interesting here, (especially
>     if free-software drivers for the GPS appear).

Totally agreed.  I'll buy one the instant they get that GPS working well.


>   * Of course, routing computation would be really useful. Getting
>     sufficient data is the hardest part, (how much does TIGER have
>     with respect to connections, one-way streets, illegal turns, speed
>     limits, etc?. anything?).

Not really.  I played around with routing via Tiger when I was living
in Boston (admittedly, one of the more difficult American cities to
route) and found utter failure.  Wrong way down one-way streets,
jumping from highway to city streets without an exit, ignoring
expressways, taking very roundabout paths, etc.  It was dismal.

http://openstreetmap.org would be an excellent, collaborative way to
fix this but it will take a *long* time and there seems to be very
little interest in the U.S.  (incidentally, what database format does
OSM use?)

I was toying with the idea of writing a program that would find
identical routes on any of the big maps (Google, Yahoo, etc -- they
all use Navteq) and Tiger to find specific areas where Tiger is
deficient.  Tempting, but I'd probably have to keep it on the DL since
-- even if I only used the results to show areas that need to be fixed
and didn't copy any data -- it probably violates their acceptable use
policies.  And, given my time lately, there's not much danger of my
ever getting around to this.  *sigh*