Free stuff that requires assemby
I managed to grab some free GIS data this evening, along with some open source software to manipulate the bits and bytes. It doesn’t really matter that I have NO idea what to do with this stuff. Think of it as a new toy. Maybe I’ll learn something useful.
I admit that based on a first look, this is arcane. Not nearly as user friendly as that free roadmap I received at provincial tourism. Not nearly as JIT (just in time) as my rambling with a Garmin. But, if ever I need to produce a “custom” map, this could be the tool of choice. Time to free up a few gigs of hard drive space.
There, done. Now I can pillage to my heart’s content. All this to say that any learning experience requires a minimum of preparation and content. I’m just getting ready for winter… part of the gene set that I share with squirrels.
Oops. From reading the instructions, I’m going to need some additional software to tie this all together. Pause.
While that thought set matures, let’s get back to the daily grind. Locally, the mayor is calling for a reduced number of councillors. Or as one pundit said, “The best size of council would be one”, wherein the only disagreements would be spawned by an individual’s schizophrenic nature. Would I feel better served by fewer deciders? Not exactly. There is a stirring in the underbrush, and we may have another political party “on deck” for the next set of elections. This would be a positive development.
