13 October 2010

Walking West Hobart map - Meeting 13 October 2010

Tonight Margaret convened a meeting of the Walking West Hobart Map working group, held at Anne's. Present were:  John and Maria, Helene, Di, John and Carol, and Suzanne.

Margaret and Di outlined some background of the project, and there was some enthusiastic discussion of the objectives of the project.  These include: to encourage residents to walk, to enjoy what West Hobart has to offer, to connect more with each other, to improve health, to reduce dependence on the car, to identify little known shortcuts and to publicise them.   Perhaps in summary it is about celebrating West Hobart and promoting  walking.

The group discussed the geographic scope of the project.  It was felt that it would be wise to focus on West Hobart in order to keep the project manageable.  When this is complete we may be able to extend the concept into Sandy Bay and Lenah Valley in the future.

Many good ideas about what to show on the map were thrown in, such as : shortcuts, walking times, fruit trees, views, bus stops,  safe street crossings, contours, shortest routes to (State Cinema, etc), bike paths, parks, seats, toilets, points of interest, coffee shops, "park and walk", alerts for steps or non-pram-friendly paths.   People had some good ideas for improved signage of shortcuts including adding signs to "No Through Road" signposts.  Quite a few shortcuts and rights of way have already been contributed by Paul and several were suggested tonight.

It is likely that we will make a version of the map available online, but printed maps will definitely be produced.  There will be some thinking to do about what size and shape the printed maps could be.

Where to next:
Margaret will see whether Hobart City Council's mapping department can provide large and detailed maps that already show some shortcuts and rights of way. She will also enquire as to what level of support they can offer towards graphic design and production.

The group will meet again on Monday 25 October to start mapping ideas directly onto a map, 7.30pm at John and Carol's.   Contact Margaret for details if you would like to come along.

There will be more meetings to refine the map and to consult with more residents to gather more ideas.  One idea is to showcase the map at the Back To West Hobart day in May 2011.