Planning for 2015 Unofficial Theme Camp Map

[Crockett]

Fellow Burners/Cartophiles,

Last year me and a team of awesome fellow Burners put together the Unofficial Map of Black Rock City, Burning Man 2014 (https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewe ... 5aPNbgSvFI). We added over 1,000 pins to the map, mostly via submission from other fellow Burners in theme camps. Though pin locations were approximate based on vague placement data, the map proved popular.

This year I would like to make improvements, laying out the updated map over the correct coordinates for an accurate KML output. However, from what I've heard this data is not usually available to the public ahead of time. If you have any information about how to do this, please let me know.

Also, I still need to explore any improvements Google may have made over the past year to the Map Maker tool that we utilized. If there are any Map Maker pros that can offer advice that would be much appreciated.

In addition, I would love to find a way to collaborate with Burner Map, iBurn, Time to Burn and/or any other app/map projects out there to create a more complete resource for our community. If you are involved with one of those projects and this interests you, please reach out! (Though if you prefer to keep your project independent as your own, I completely understand and appreciate your contribution all the same.)

Lastly, if you were a user of last year's map I'd love to hear from you how you and others you know used it - i.e. what unique utility did it provide? I'd like to focus our enhancements on most common use cases where possible.

-Crockett!

[mooserider]

Any chance we could load this into OpenStreetMaps? They used to have the map data for 2008 (!) in there, but someone finally deleted the obsolete data this past March. I am preparing to run an OpenStreetMap server in my camp on WiFi, rather than depending on the dubious amount of external link bandwidth that would be available once Black Rock City is in full operation.

I already have mapping code to convert the basic city survey information into OpenStreetMap Ways and Nodes. Now I just need to add the camps to it.

Andrew, KA2DDO
author of YAAC ("Yet Another APRS Client")
http://www.ka2ddo.org/ka2ddo/YAAC.html
http://www.openstreetmap.org

[Crockett]

I'm not very familiar with OpenStreetMaps but I suspect if we're able to get the accurate coordinates for this year's street layout then it will be possible. Google Map Maker, which we use, has KML export capability but it's worthless for GPS if we don't have the accurate map laid out when we get started. I think we need an insider or just plain more openness from the org with these resources.

[trilobyte]

You are correct, that data is not made ahead of time.

If you'd like to find out how to work together with those app makers, you should get in touch with those app makers directly (most, if not all, have some info you can use to reach out to them).

[LowePro]

I typically like to just 'Wing it" on the playa and be surprised as I wander around, but I did take a sneak peek at your map last year. It's cool and I'm sure some people use it a lot. I did drop a pin for our camp so our friends would know where to look for us.
One challenge is that when we hear from Placement in July, we just hear that we are "near 8:00 and D" or whatever, we don't get further details like what side of the street, how far into the block or which side of the corner. We don't know our exact spot until we get to the Playa and the escort shows us to our camp site. For me, this is fine because I like the surprise, but makes it hard for an accurate map. I guess one could try to get online after arriving on the playa and adding a pin, but I'm not going to do that personally because I don't like to get online when I'm at Bman. That's all, just a heads up that the pins might not be exactly accurate since many of us we don't know where we'll be until the day-of.

[chuckularone]

Last year, about a month before the burn, someone posted a KML file with all of the porta-potties, med tents and major art in it. It was a life saver. While out on the playa, I walked many a person in need to the JOTS in dust storms and at night using my GPS.

Does anyone know who produced that? I tried searching for it, but was horrifically unsuccessful.

Thanks!

[Crockett]

ars9754, I'm the same way. Despite working on that "unofficial map" for several weeks leading up to the Burn, I don't use it or anything else when I'm on playa. The various community resources give me an idea of what camps and friends might be in my neighborhood and just plain get me pumped up for my week+ in the dust. I've heard from others that did use it on-playa, but several simply used it as I do.

And I acknowledge the loose accuracy of the map. We have a disclaimer, which Placement suggested to us that I've posted below. This is key because we don't verify if pin submissions are officially placed camps so our map, while helpful, is not intended to be the gospel. It's only as accurate as any crowd-sourced material on the internet.

As for an accurate KML file, this is the best lead I've received so far: http://www.wkeller.net/BRC-GPS/

Unofficial Map Disclaimer
PLEASE NOTE: Pins DO NOT equal reserved space. These are approximate locations for registered theme camps who have volunteered to share their location. Remember, only the official Burning Man Placement Team determines the location for Theme Camps. If your camp has been placed, you must ask the gate to let your Placer know you've arrived so they can place you. If you are not in an officially placed camp, be careful not to set up inside the blue flags of placed camps. If you are unsure, find and ask Placement to help you!

[Token]

Will Keller's web page has been the gold-standard on accurate GPS data for a long time. Trust that source.

Once the golden spike gets pounded in, it is not too long before Will gets the info. End of July - Early August. Some variance year to year.

Keep a sharp eye here or tag the RSS feed. http://blog.burningman.com/category/building-brc/

[chuckularone]

Thanks Token. I will keep my eyes open.

[PocoJoe]

Howdy,
A dataset has been released with the golden spike latitude and longitude for 2015 (40.7864, -119.2065) along with the latitudes and longitudes for the 5 fence points.

http://innovate.burningman.org/dataset/ ... -location/

[motskyroonmatick]

Crimeney! Thats a gold mine! Wish I knew how to interpret it.

[Just_Joe]

Crimeney! Thats a gold mine! Wish I knew how to interpret it.

My take:
North to south is 10:30 to 4:30, identical to last year.
The Man moves ~1200 feet down 6:00 to halfway between last year's Man and Esplanade.
The distance from the Man to the esplanade is the same as last year, meaning the overall city size did not increase.

[Roundabout]

Does that imply that gate road may be 400 yards shorter than last year?

[Jovankat]

From what I can tell from my visit to the playa next weekend the city has been moved back into shittier surfaced playa and the inner playa is going to be pre-chewed up from last year's first few streets of camps.

[Token]

Intriguing that they posted this before the BLM closure order or permit issuance.

[GreyCoyote]

Intriguing that they posted this before the BLM closure order or permit issuance.

Think of it as a dare, or a calling out, for Dan Love. KIDDING!!!

In seriousness, ya gotta start somewhere, and daylight is wasting. We are something like 50-ish days (??) to gate, and there is much to be done, so getting this basic data out there is probably a real need. Just getting the survey points generated and inked is a huge effort, not to mention getting the keystone references pounded-in. After that you play connect-the-dots, and thats even more monkey-motion.

Which brings up a giggle, and I'm not sure how the layout folks have resisted it all these years: if someone wanted a laugh they could lay-out the city grid with an eccentric to the base circle. We on the ground would never notice, but the satellite photos would show a "fat" city... Ie, more like an omega than a true circle-based arc.

I know. Too much caffeine. Sorry...

[Jovankat]

From what I can tell from my visit to the playa LAST weekend the city has been moved back into shittier surfaced playa and the inner playa is going to be pre-chewed up from last year's first few streets of camps.

Oops. I do not in fact have a time machine

[Crockett]

Alright, we're ready for your theme camp pin submissions. Here is the 2015 Unofficial Map of BRC just starting to take shape:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

[Soapdish85]

Someone forgot the "e" in Walter.

[Crockett]

Someone forgot the "e" in Walter.

Fixed.

[mooserider]

Alright, we're ready for your theme camp pin submissions. Here is the 2015 Unofficial Map of BRC just starting to take shape:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

OK, where do they get this stuff from, and where are your road lines?

[mooserider]

If anyone cares, here's a first draft of my alternate map plot, based on the current 2015 survey data (which appears to have an error in it), and all the placements reported on ePlaya in the Neighborhood threads. Note this works without access to Google, so I can make it available in BRC without depending on the city's link to the global Internet.

[mooserider]

Found a typo in my map plotting software. But I'm still wondering where people are getting the data for things like the routing of the Gate road, etc., since they are not in the basic CSV file provided on the above-mentioned link to the BMORG website. I know why my map has fewer camps than the Google crowdsourced map: more people entered their placements to the Google map than posted on the neighborhood threads.

[bigbluedoggy]

Your effort is very cool and appreciated! For the record, Destiny Lounge is not a bar camp, so our representation with a martini glass may be a bit misleading. We are more of a fun zone.

[mooserider]

Your effort is very cool and appreciated! For the record, Destiny Lounge is not a bar camp, so our representation with a martini glass may be a bit misleading. We are more of a fun zone.

Thanks. I'll change your symbol for the next draft. Which type of amenity are you providing? Here's links to some standard type names I support:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:amenity
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:office
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:shop

[bigbluedoggy]

We have a lounge area for relaxing (not offering beverages this year) but our main draws are Rock Yer Balls (a large two player competition game), Free Blowjobs (all ages and genders welcome, kids are free!), and our new Vortex of Destiny, a sensory treat to be experienced!

[mooserider]

Next draft posted. The full image (not cropped by the forum software) is available at http://www.ka2ddo.org/ka2ddo/BRC2015-20150717.png. Some camps still don't have a nice icon because OpenStreetMaps hasn't selected an icon for those types of camps, so they just have a little square. Also, I'm guesstimating on camp locations based on peoples' posts in the 2015 Camps, Art & Activites section of ePlaya.