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!
Today we officially launched C3Tech, in partnership with The City of Windsor Bicycle Committee, the County Wide Active Transportation Service, and Parallel 42 Systems!
Over the next eleven months we’ll be working with the community to create tools that will improve the cycling experience in our region, and we want you to be part of it! Submit ideas or code, test the app, or respond to our cyclist survey to contribute.
On Tuesday, February 8th at 12pm Windsor Hackforge is hosting a virtual event to announce the launch of a new initiative in partnership with The City of Windsor Bicycle Committee, The County Wide Active Transportation System (CWATS), and Parallel 42 Systems. Titled C3Tech (short for “City-County Cycling Technology”), this project aims to leverage open source software to create digital tools that will make navigating Windsor and Essex County by bike safer, easier, and more fulfilling.
Through community engagement, including townhall forums and hackathons, cyclists and developers will have the opportunity to contribute ideas, data and code to the initiative. Hackforge events are learning, networking, and community building opportunities for people of all ages and experience levels.
“The mandate of the Windsor Bicycling Committee is to enhance the safety and viability of bicycling in the City of Windsor. To that end, I was proud as Chair that we supported an initiative to make cycling more accessible to people in our community,” says Windsor Bicycling Committee Chair and Ward 9 Councillor Kieran McKenzie. “Working together with these partners and other stakeholders as well as the public will help us to create a tool that will put more riders on the streets and help us as a region to realize all of the social, environmental, economic and public health benefits that active transportation can create.”
“CWATS is excited to partner with the Windsor Bicycling Committee in creating a regional cycling app. We want to make it as easy as possible for cyclists to navigate the connections between the active transportation routes in Essex County, Windsor and Chatham-Kent,” said Diana Radulescu, active transportation coordinator for the County of Essex.
A strong proponent of the local tech ecosystem, “Parallel 42 Systems is glad to contribute resources and expertise to an initiative supporting active transportation in our region,” says Parallel 42 Systems lead consultant Doug Sartori. “Hackforge’s approach to the project will leverage the strength of the tech community and demonstrate the value of open data and open source software.”
Cyclists can contribute their thoughts and ideas through a short survey and anyone interested can join the Hackforge Discord to connect with organizers, mentors, and developers. Project information and event listings will be updated regularly on the Hackforge website.
Interested parties can use this link to join the launch event on Zoom without pre-registering.
About Parallel 42 Systems: Parallel 42 Systems is a partnership of software practitioners that provides consulting and software development services to companies large and small.
About CWATS:The County Wide Active Transportation System (CWATS) is a 400km+ network of active transportation facilities (including multi-use trails, paved shoulders, bike lanes, and more) connecting all seven municipalities within Essex County. Construction over the next 20 years will see the network expand to over 1000 km.
About The City of Windsor Bicycle Committee: The Windsor Bicycling Committee (WBC) is comprised of 10 members, including one City Councillor, who strive to enhance the safety and viability of bicycling in the City of Windsor.
