As the next step in our C3Tech Initiative, Hackforge, in partnership with The City of Windsor Bicycle Committee, CWATS, and Parallel 42 Systems, is hosting a hackathon focused on extending and improving the features and functionality of WindsorEssexCycling.ca
Participation is free and open to anyone interested, including cyclists, project managers, designers, and developers of all experience levels. Join as a team or individual, and work on your own idea, or one of our community suggestions.
The C3Tech Cycling Hackathon will run for five weeks, with an official kickoff on April 1st, and a closing event on June 4th. Throughout that time, participants will have the chance to participate in weekly events to learn more about design and software development. There will also be access to mentors in various fields and disciplines to provide expert advice. Participants are welcome to collaborate with their teammates using their preferred method (in-person, Zoom, Discord, etc.)
Below is the full schedule of events. Please check back often in case of changes (participants will be notified of any schedule changes via email)
Date
Event
Time
Location
Friday, April 29
Pre-Hackathon Social
Meet judges, mentors, and other participants in this casual get-together
5:30 – 7:30 pm
Maiden Lane Wine & Spirits (494 Pelissier Ave, Windsor)
Sunday, May 1
Hackathon Kickoff
Featuring a roundtable comprised of transportation activists, cyclists, and municipal representatives, this event will help to set the stage for why C3Tech is happening and what we’re hoping this hackathon can help achieve. Learn more about the community-generated ideas for WindsorEssexCycling.ca and get pumped up to help solve local cycling problems!
Learn where OSM data comes from and improve the data available about Ford City in this free workshop (open to hackathon participants and non-participants alike) Visit WindsorJanesWalk.ca for more information
3 – 5 pm
Meet Outside of City Cyclery (1008 Drouillard Rd, Windsor)
Sunday, May 8
Week 1 Gathering: Share Your Plans
Discuss your idea and approach with judges, mentors, and other participants. Receive feedback and advice, ask questions, and get to know other people involved in the event! (attendance at this event is voluntary but encouraged)
Take a break from coding and engage in the activity we’re all here to support! Join Bike Windsor-Essex for a casual and leisurely ride around Kingsville (please bring your own bike and proper safety equipment)
10 am – 12 pm
Carnegie Visitor Centre (28 Division St. S, Kingsville)
Sunday, May 15
Week 2 Gathering: TBA
(attendance at this event is voluntary but encouraged)
Hear from a professional developer about the steps involved in properly wrapping up a project, including testing, debugging, and releasing, then ask for advice on your project (attendance at this event is voluntary but encouraged)
In the last weekly gathering, share your project once again with mentors, judges, and other participants to receive feedback on last-minute tweaks (attendance at this event is voluntary but encouraged)
During this event each team/participants will have a chance to show off their work and to explain how it makes cycling in Windsor-Essex safer, easier, and/or more enjoyable. Judges will consider each submission and confer with each other before announcing the winners at the end.(If local guidelines allow, this event will be held in-person, with the option for participants to join virtually. Stay tuned for more information)
We’ve launched WindsorEssexCycling.ca, received input from local cyclists, and looked into the code with developers, so now it’s time to bring it all together! This May, Hackforge, along with The City of Windsor Bicycle Committee, CWATS, and Parallel 42 Systems, is running a Hackathon to customize and enhance our digital cycling tools.
Some of the feature requests we’ve heard from the community include:
A-to-B navigation indicating the safety level of various routes
Pleasure-ride routes based on estimated time to accomplish
Suggested routes between local businesses (e.g. brewery/winery routes)
All city and county trails represented on a single map
Bike lane/path issue reporting to municipalities and publication for other cyclists
Interested parties can register for free as individuals or groups (or individuals looking for groups!) to participate. People of all skillsets and experience levels are welcome, including project managers, cyclists, designers, and developers. Participants will have access to expert mentors, weekly development training sessions, and more to help them improve their skills throughout the Hackathon process.
Hackforge Virtual Watch Party: Ip Man Friday, March 4th @ 8PM Discord
Starring Donnie Yen, 2008’s IP Man follows a group of people trying to survive in an occupied city during the Japanese invasion of China. Log in to Teleparty to join us for a watch-along of this martial arts masterpiece.
Optimizing Mental Wellness for Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners
Wednesday, March 9 @ 6pm Linkedin| Facebook | Meetup | Register
The Canadian Mental Health Association is joining us this month for a workshop devoted to mental wellness. Freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners have unique work experiences that can result in their own mental health concerns.
To help us learn how to properly address them, Carrie Davis will be joining us to look at:
unique stressors of entrepreneurs
mental fitness and wellbeing of Canadas entrepreneurs
Last month Hackforge launched C3Tech, a joint initiative with The City of Windsor Bicycle Committee, CWATS, and Parallel 42 Systems. Over the remainder of 2022 we will be working with the community to build an app that provides bicycle riders with the information that will make cycling in Windsor and Essex County a safer and more viable form of transportation and leisure.
In order to build an app that serves the needs of the community, we need to hear from the community! To give everyone a chance to share their thoughts and opinions, we’re running a virtual Town Hall Forum and everyone is invited. The event is free to attend, but advance registration is required.
If you’re unable to make it on March 9th, you can still make sure your voice is heard by completing our cyclist survey or emailing lauren@hackf.org.
AWS U.G. Meetup – Re:Invent Recap! with Randall Hunt
Tuesday, March 15 @ 6pm Linkedin | Facebook | Meetup
On March 15th Randall Hunt, VP of Cloud Strategy & Solutions at Caylent, will deliver a fast, technical, and opinionated recap of re:Invent.
Randall has presented at over 1,000 AWS events and led technology and software teams at Meta (formerly Facebook), AWS, SpaceX, MongoDB, and NASA.
Join us for this fun and exciting event. The best part about attending UG events is the networking with other IT professionals
Get ideas how to solve current challenges; meet other geeks; perhaps team up with them on current or future projects.
6:00 PM EST Meet and greet
6:30 PM EST re:Invent Recap by Randall Hunt
Get into the details of OpenStreetMap, CyclOSM, and BRouter with Randy and Chris!
In preparation for our spring hackathon, this informal, exploratory session will take a look at the code that drives WindsorEssexCycling.ca. Developers and non-developers of all experience levels are invited to attend, with questions and comments encouraged!
Register to receive the Zoom link and we’ll see you on March 21st!
The ‘C3’ in C3Tech stands for “City-County Cycling,” and outlines the main goal of this endeavour – to create technical solutions that will make navigating Windsor and Essex County by bike safer, easier, and more fulfilling.
Join us on Tuesday, February 8th at 12pm to learn more about how we will be bringing the regions cycling and tech communities together – no advance registration required!
The Digital Twin of Windsor & Detroit: An Unreal Engine Project
The digital twin project of Windsor & Detroit is an initiative to build an advanced urban planning tool that is accessible to the community. Spearheaded by Geopogo Cities, this project looks to create a powerful public tool that combines the 3D digital twin of the city, civic data layers, and SimCity-like features. Ultimately, the goal is to empower the public by providing a platform through which they can visualize their ideas for what Windsor can become.
The current iteration was created through partnerships with students from St. Clair College in Windsor and UCBerkeley in California. Now, the developers are inviting YOU to become part of this unique and ambitious project.
Tune in on Friday, February 11 at 6pm EST to learn more about the Digital Twin of Windsor and Detroit, and how you can get involved.
Border City Data: Making Data Maps with QGIS Tuesday, February 15th @ 6pm Meetup | Facebook | Linkedin | RegisterIn this session Doug Sartori will provide a newbie-friendly introduction to building effective maps with open-source application QGIS. Available on most platforms, this app allows users to view, edit, and analyze geodata.
Join our free, one-hour event where Doug will show attendees how to source base layer data and combine it with spreadsheet data to create map-based data visualizations.
Technology has a role to play in the climate crisis, and it’s up to creators to decide exactly what that role will be. Will tech contribute to the warming faced by our planet, or will we use it to hold corporations – and ourselves – accountable? Could tech reverse the damage that has already been done?
To get us thinking more about how tech and climate change intersect, we’ve invited Mark Bartlett from The Climate Reality Project Canada in to discuss climate science, including what we’re currently experiencing and where we’re headed.
Following Mark’s presentation we will have an open discussion on what we can do as a group to positively influence the climate crisis.
On the first Friday of every month, Hackforge organizes a movie screening that allows members the chance to watch a movie together – from home.
We use our movie-screening-specific channel on the Official Hackforge Discord to share the streaming link and for mid-movie chatting, and the Teleparty browser extension to sync everyone’s Netflix playback. Please remember that all attendees require their own Netflix subscription to participate!
