2011 Plans

I got to reading the 2010 plans I had for the Mt. Rainier NP photo guide and sat there kinda' amazed how little I have accomplished while adding and doing a lot of work on the guide. I wandered from the goals and plans. And so what can I say about my 2011 plans for the guide?

Well, for one, some of the same things I said then. "Deja vu all over again" as Yogi Berra said. And yes, I'll put these on the list, as you can read in the to do list. But that's just a list without much direction, except of course, "Yeah, right, work on that." I don't need to organize some of it into a vaguely defined plan which fits the rest of my life and work.

The first is the obvious, finish the area guides for the northeast (White River entrance) and southeast (Ohanapecosh entrance). As I said then, these take 3-4 weeks of committed time to research, write and produce. I still need to find a better map for this suite of Web pages (overview and 5 areas). I've looked and still haven't found a good one yet, but I need to do more research.

The second is finish the 1896 expedition Web pages and finish the early history (1880-1920) Web pages. I have most of the information for the pages but need to research some more, some of which aren't in the immediate area, like the National Park Service offices or universities. These goes along with the early photography and photographers (1890-1900) Web pages.

The third is to look at other map servers for the interactive maps. I like Google's pseudo-java programing and system for their maps, I just don't like their maps. I don't think I use different maps with Google's scripting but it's worth some research and testing or just keep what I have and look at adding features to the maps.

The fourth is work on a draft book. This is clearly after the area guides but I can start working on the framework and content for the book. The plan is still PDF format but that requires different maps in the PDF's. This is a lot more work (been there, done that with the USGS Annual Data Reports for Washington), and will need some help (no offers or volunteers yet).

The fifth is a followup with the book to see if I can get a real publisher. I'd love to have it in print with the Web pages providing the additional or supplemental information in the book. Right now that's a big wish and hope.

The last is look at an iPhone and iPad version. Not sure if that's a both since they are different formats despite shared operating systems. I may simply contract this out if I can't spend time learning what it takes, but I'll do the later first. I'd hate to sell all this out to someone making money on my work.

That's it for now. I'll review and update this during the year as events and work changes, and you're always welcome to send e-mail with your comments or suggestions.