One fantastic outcome from yesterday’s blogpost was John Handelaar and others pointing out that I’d given up too easily on trying to extract the river level data from the Bandon FEWS web-site. And it turns out they were right. A small amount of messing around and I was able to extract out the water level and the date/time.

I’ve been meaning to do more with Google Fusion Tables for ages and this seemed like a good opportunity. It’s like a Google Docs online spreadsheet but with knobs on. So  you can populate, query, visualise etc using an API. I decided to use that to make the FEWS data available to everyone. Of course then I ran into the horror that is OAuth2. But a fair bit of messing and stomach cramps later, and I got that working too.

So we now have the hourly Bandon river level data available to use for whatever purpose your fiendish minds can come up with. I’m thinking trends, analytics, charts, maps, mashups with weather data, other alerting methods (email, Twitter DMs, iPhone Alerts), a Facebook Fan Page, widgets for other Bandon-related sites. What other ideas do you all have?

If you want to embed that live graph on your own site or blog, just paste this code in:

<iframe width="500px" height="300px" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="http://www.google.com/fusiontables/embedviz?gco_allowHtml=true&gco_displayAnnotations=true&gco_wmode=opaque&gco_chartArea=%7B%22top%22%3A%2230%22%7D&containerId=gviz_canvas&rmax=250&q=select+col1%2C+col0+from+2191951+&qrs=where+col1+%3E%3D+&qre=+and+col1+%3C%3D+&qe=+order+by+col1+asc&viz=GVIZ&t=TIMELINE&width=500&height=300"></iframe>

You can export the data to CSV and play with it offline in Excel etc or you can go fancy and query it live over the API.

e.g. this API call grabs all of the data in one go (you can test with your browser): https://fusiontables.googleusercontent.com/fusiontables/api/query?sql=SELECT+ROWID,+riverlevel,+datetime+FROM+2191951

But of course you will be able to do far more complex queries than that, once we have a decent body of data. See the Google Fusion Tables Guide here.

Note that I was forced to use that awkward date format to make the timeline feature in Fusion Tables work correctly.

I don’t know if anyone wants the data or will find a use for it but this first step was critical to enabling them to do so. Hopefully this will be a trigger for others to liberate locked-in non-private data on other public sector sites.

Or it could be an opportunity for County Councils to take this tough time we are all living in, where Capex projects are few and far between, and start a Data Liberation Project in every Council department in the country. Nothing I did over the past 24hrs cost a single solitary cent apart from people’s time. And based on recent conversations with old college friends, time is one thing a lot of Council Engineers have on their hands. If any Council people are interested in reading more they should have a look at the links in this post I did at the start of the year.

Comments? Thoughts? Improvements?

I have had a few thoughts on other things we could do with that live river-level data for the community. Web-apps, Twitter integration, Analytics, Trends etc etc.

However, despite several communications, I have been unable to get any response from Cork County Council about getting access to the live data. All the OpenData initiatives around the world (including Ireland) are obviously passing them by.

Even something as simple as a Twitter Account could be useful and interesting. So I created one called @BandonFEWS. Of course then I had to get at the data despite the CoCo’s silence. I dug around the Bandon Flood Warning site but it is built in such a way that the data is not machine visible or scrapable.

I discussed this problem with fellow tech-person Gordon Murray of Murrion Software just up the road in Carrigadrohid and of course he had a solution!

Gordon’s company has a very smart SMS service which can both send SMSes and receive them in order to act upon them. By signing up his service’s “phone” number to the FEWS SMS alerts, he can then do something with them. In this case, he takes the SMS, interprets it and then posts it automatically to the @BandonFEWS Twitter account.

Nice one Gordon! If you have any need of inbound or outbound SMS services, give him a shout.

Now if only Cork CoCo would give us access to all of the live data, we could do some really interesting things for the community for free. Anyone got any influence in there to make this happen?

The downside is that is doesn’t cover building rental but surely some joined-up thinker in the Council is already working on a deal with NAMA to get properties for rental at 10c on the Euro or less? What is the point of having unused empty crumbling buildings when they could be generating rental income and be maintained?

There is nothing even approaching hot-desking in Bandon. As I’ve written before, the lack of Fibre is a millstone around the neck of the town but at least 12 Mbs ADSL should be available to anyone near the exchange.

Based on my last post there is at least one NAMAfied office building in Bandon. Anyone interested in trying to do something with it? Maybe even some sort of Co-Working space?

More than 63 businesses have signed up to offer deals and there is also the chance to enter Bandon’s Lucky Dip and win one of six vouchers worth €200, redeemable in any member business.

Bandon’s Young Ambassadors will be on the street both days, guiding shoppers to the best bargains and the free refreshments.

Come on down!

My type of running is known, by experts in the field, as walking Last year I did the Courtmacsherry 10k, the Dingle Half-Marathon and the Galway Bay Half-Marathon. All done incredibly slowly and all tough. My dodgy ankle did not help.

My aim for Bandon is to shave at least an hour off my time. It’s not going to be easy since the route is pretty challenging due to hills. But that is balanced by the fact that the views are great. TBH I really didn’t enjoy the Galway race. Urban running, in traffic, even with sea views, cannot compare to something like the Dingle Peninsula. The Bandon run is in some of the lovely back roads between the Clon road and the Dunmanway road near the river. See below:

If you have never run before, why not go for the 10k route? It’s a great way to spend a morning and the pints taste mighty fine afterwards.

I believe the Dingle weekend is their busiest business weekend of the year. Let’s hope the same ends up being the case for Bandon.

Hopefully see you on the route. I’ll be the mentalist wearing these:

Future bonanzas will include €1 coffee days, Free Urru Cotton Shopping Bags , Massive Savings on Wines, Cookery Books, Farmhouse Cheeses, Easter Eggs, Lucky Dips and more.

Mmmm, latte.

I love seeing Urru making a mockery of the long-held belief that you can’t do gourmet in Bandon. Now we just need a few more really good restaurants.

“It Must be the Music” is a night of Musical entertainment in aid of Action Breast Cancer, brought to you by Laoise O’Hanlon, joined by a variety of Cork women singers, including Kay Deering, Jamie Harper Kingston, Roos Demol, Bernie Harrington, Sinead Tracey, Jenny Bradley and Molly Lynch.

The accompanist is Deirdre Long and the MC is Ciarán Bermingham

Tickets are only €15 and are available from Roos on 086-8508548 or An Tobairín on South Main Street, Bandon.

Lots of discussion about it over on Facebook if you want to know more.

I really am a disgrace. I can count on one finger the number of gardening days this year. And every Autumn I swear it’ll be different next year.

Please head over there and show your support.

The concert, which still has no name (ideas welcome) will be held on October 29th in the Brogan Inn in Bandon. At the moment we are practising a barbershop song. It is quite challenging, but we’re having a lot of fun with it.

A quick poke around confirmed that it is built on the same fantastic WordPress foundation as this fine blog.

A certain person named Donncha O’Caoimh is one of the main developers of WordPress and just lives a few miles away in Blarney. Bandon is clearly commited to buying local. OK WordPress is free but you get my point!

The site is now much easier for Trevor and the crew to update regularly and most importantly of all, the site now has comments. This might seem a small thing to you but the importance of giving people the ability to have their voice heard online about local issues should never be underestimated.

The site is  a superb local community resource, so head on over right away and check out the new site. And leave a comment there!

p.s. if you are a Twitter user and want to keep abreast of updates on the new Bandon site, just follow @bandon there and it’ll automatically post a link any time there is a update.

The allotment garden is located in Cloughmacsimon – a short distance off the bypass, right behind Coláiste Na Toirbhirte.

Plots are available in 2 sizes 5x7m for €80pa or 5x10m for €100pa. There are plenty of plots available so call 023 8852922 or 087 9567452 or email bandontransition@gmail.com for more information.

Bandon Community Allotments Open Day Sunday 16th May 1.30 pm

Plenty of family entertainment on the day with music, face painting, fun games and competitions like Wellie Throwing, Wheelbarrow Races, Tug O War, Make your own Scarecrow, prizes and more.

All the details over on www.bandoncommunityallotments.com.

They are also at Transition Bandon on Facebook.

Well done to everyone involved in this!

Lots more photos over on Pix.ie.

Also the dog owned by one of the kids who was going to perform has gone missing. Please keep an eye out for a sheepdog in the Crossbarry area. If the same happens to you, I encourage you to post it on LostandFound.ie.

It’s on Friday the 26th of March in the GAA Hall in Bandon. Doors opening at 7.15, show starts at 8 sharp. It is not a fund raising event so tickets will be at the very affordable cost of €5 each.

The show will include:

• A DJ
• Singing & Music
• Magic and Tricks (both kids and adults)
• Bingo
• Dance & Comedy
• Raffle
• Street Dancers

There will be spot prizes between performances.

Sounds like a great fun night for all the family. You should start seeing signs for it around the town soon.

In association with Partnership for Change they are organising a Special Christmas Charity Screening for Bandon Flood Appeal on Wednesday 30th December 2009 in St Peters Church, Bandon at 8pm

The movie is one of my top 5 of all time, The Princess Bride, starring the angelic Robin Wright.

If you don’t live in Bandon, get into your car and drive here for this. If you don’t live in Ireland, fly here. The recent showing of the original Phantom of The Opera in St Peter’s was a tour-de-force.

Not only will you enjoy a genius movie but you’ll be helping by contributing to the Irish Red Cross and St Vincent De Paul.

Further Information Contact:
Declan Waugh Tel: 023-8841933 M: 086-3853363

We were lucky. Apart from the inconvenience of no phoneline and some bad leaks in a bay window, we managed to escape pretty unscathed.

If you have any detour tips for those trying to get in and out of West Cork, please leave them in the comments. This route was still working at 2pm yesterday so hopefully it’ll work for you. (Click on it for larger size):

Bandon had been doing a large marketing push for November. Now more than ever, we should shop locally and help those businesses get back on their feet.

It’s on 29th Jan 2010 in Bandon.

They also need an audio system if you know of anyone willing to loan for the night.

Mail me on conor@loudervoice.com if you want to help out and I’ll pass on your details.