Wow...
3 years since my last entry, and not so much upload last year.
Well, life has continued since then.

OpenStreetMap has changed too.
From the weekly updated map with a big portion of blank parts, it's now one of the best available online map, and the most accurate one for sure, when mapping has been done.

While, 3 years ago, I could just go anywhere and be almost sure the route wasn't mapped. I know have to do that differently, based on my knowledge of things (which is a limited 10 km area) or by comparing satellite views or other maps to get an idea.
It's also more necessary to pay attention to all the tiny details. Because you often find roads and streets, but the POI are missing.

When I look at what I published here in 2008 about the hardware. It justs feels like a joke today. Come on, 2 MB?
But that is what the society and the marketing says.

I'm now using an Android Samsung Galaxy S phone to record GPS tracks. It works, but I find it less accurate, but the worst problem is battery life, and the fact that you can't just throw it in your bag and forget about it.
So, tracking in a car with a mobile power outlet is OK, but if you're going on foot or any mean of transportation without power supply, the smartphone just won't do it.
I found the Android application for OSM mappers to be useful. I only use its short-geopositioned-audio-files-recording capability, and it really saves time.

I've previsously worked with paper and pencil before. And, to be honest, it wasn't that bad. It's also easier to thing about where you will be heading in a second, when you do that. The problem is, this takes time, and you're not as fluid as just "talking". You must stop everytime to take note of street name, POI, etc.
The difference is the price. $500 smartphone vs $70 Bluetooth GPS data logger.

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October 11, exactly 1 month before my 18th birthday.
The sky is blue, and the temperature is about 20° C and higher. What a perfect day for a bicycle trip!

2 minutes to pump up the rear tyre of my bicycle (I think it has a hole, but, indeed it's 10 years old and maybe even more!), put my blue helmet and I'm gone, 1.5 L water bottle, some chocolate, usb gps unit and laptop in the bag.

"Sense", I'm coming. After cycling up the hill in Praroman, I widely open my eyes for the very long descent coming (Route de Thorin). Wow. Even my eyes catched teardrops.
Then, reality coming back. Junction without any road signs. So... let's thing, where do I want to go? Sense ? Javoll! "Talfahrt" geht weiter... => "Plunge" continues...

Oh, "regional cycle routes signs" on the way!
It seems that I took the good decision!
Schöne Strasse in den Wälder! Kein Auto, mmmh :-)

Stersmuehle, industrial zone. And little place to have a bath in the Sarine/Ärgera.

Then, after this long descent, it's time to climb, climb, climb, ...
And get afraid of crazy young riders (on motorcycle) coming in the opposite way!!!

Tentlingen. Schöne strasse mit "double cyclelanes" but only one lane for cars, so, the cars meet in a very special way when there's someone cycling there...
Something a little afraid for me, if you see what I mean...

Then, Giffers village. Oh! Children exiting a restaurant. Some child had his birthday lunch there. Schönxi!
Nowadays, get lost, and oh! I must go there : "Le Pafuet" or something like this. Long descent "Aergerastrasse" and medium climb after it.
Le Pafuet, Centre Sportif du Mouret. Go to "Route d'Oberried". Oh. What a awful climb. Then turn right to Montévraz.
Industrial zone, no road left! ?!?!? So take the mucky path strait ahead. Ouch!
Ok, and then, I found the "Route cantonale" again to Le Mouret, and took my way back to home.

Wonderful trip. Wonderful day. Wonderful "Bénichon"!

See you soon on the roads of Fribourg!

I completed the missing residential streets in my hometown. I went on my bicycle, and I didn't track the long climbing streets, for example "Chemin de la Molleyre", or "Les Palaz" (in front of "La Pala", descending to the forest.
I forgot "Pré du Château" and the footpath between it and "Au Village".
I'll do it next time.

Then, I went to Ferpicloz, using "Route de Ferpicloz". I mapped it and the streets connecting Ferpicloz to Le Mouret, and I was asking myself some questions at this point.

- Should I indicate "Parking" when cars can easily stop for a moment in front of a school, or in front of a shop?
- How many points and which proprieties do I need when there are a "surface" parking and an "underground" parking?
- How to set the "boundaries" of a village?
- In Le Mouret, they've built a new road, connecting the tertiary one with the secundary one with a roundabout inbetween. They put a barrier (this kind of thing : | | | | | |) only on the side of the old junction so that's the situation :
You can go both ways by bicycle and foot, cars may go from the tertiary road until they reach the secondary road, making it "noexit=yes" but only for cars.
How should I indicate it?
- In Marly, I've found a footway that goes under the road, in order to cross it.
I draw steps before, a long footway with "layer=-1", and steps after.
Is it the right solution or should I use "tunnels" or sthg like that?

Thanks in advance.

- Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Li-2727, 2GB RAM, built-in Wifi ; - NAVILOCK NL-302U (USB, I think you could guess it ;-)) GPS receiver, which runs out of the box (really!) - NAVILOCK NL-65AT MMCX GPS Accessory Antenna (that I can't use!) ; - Maxxtro 150W Mobile Power Inverter [DC --> AC] (really useful to power all this equipment in the car :-)) ; ... oh yeah! and an indispensable small punger, that comes with the GPS receiver! - Last but not least, my Panasonic DMC-FZ7 camera for mapping information and for "art" :-D (see my photographs on Flickr : www.flickr.com/photos/freebourg/)

Ubuntu Linux ; the usual tools 'gpsd', 'gpxlogger', 'gpsbabel' do the thing very well. For mapping, I'm using JOSM (retrieving, building and using the svn version every time I use it), the appropriate photo plugin, and GPicSync for the "normal" photographs. While geocaching on foot or by bicycle, I try to make the battery duration longer by doing some tricks [www.lesswatts.org] and almost killing every unnecessary program running and shutting down all wireless devices (Wifi (unload the kernel module, turn it off via the BIOS (?) option by sending 0 to the wireless led 'dev' file ('acerhk' module), Bluetooth). Then, I stop gdm (killing X), open tty1, sudo gpsd..., open tty2 gpxlogger, and go! Sometimes, for fun, I do some wardriving/warcycling/warcycling, and instead of gpxlogger I use kismet that give me logs in several formats, ready to be used. Afterwards I create a Google Earth KML from the Kismet XML to see the networks, and export the GPX (what a great and simple format!) to my "big monitor computer" ;-)

The day before yesterday ("avant-hier"), I took my bicycle and had a 2 hours ride around "Bois d'Amont". My battery was estimated to work more 60% by returning home! It was the first time I worked with JOSM. That's a great tool. I'm actually retrieving, building and using the svn version everyday, and can't find a good reason to use Potlach instead! This work (drawing roads, crossing, parkings, churches, shops, restaurants, and giving them the right properties took me 4 hours! But I'm proud of it. Of course, there isn't any residential road (unless one I took to join a pedestrian/cycle path) but the main (tertiary road, but in fact called "route secondaire" in the French-speaking part of Switzerland) is there, right on the Osmarender! Today, I tried all my material in the car, between Ependes, where I didn't have got "Route de Sâles" (road) gps traces to map it, and the end of this little car trip was near Saint-Jean in Fribourg old town (Basse-Ville). I corrected some turns, by adding more points to them, making them look more circular, added some bridges, roundabouts. And it was fine!