Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

First off, hi everyone, I'm new here! =D

When I first saw the main map, I thought "excellent! This will come in very handy on my trip to Amsterdam!" However, as I looked closer and compared it to the whole directory, I noticed alot of the areas of Amsterdam weren't covered by the map, and the ones that were, weren't completely covered.

So I got the idea to make my own map showing every coffeeshop, smartshop, headshop, growshop, and cannabar in Amsterdam. Now after looking at all my options, I've decided that making a placemarks set (kml) for Google Earth would be the best option.

I spent a few hours manually extracting data from the directory and compiling it all into a CSV (Comma Seperated Value) chart (the only thing left to add is shop type, and that should take no time at all). However, when I tried to import the data into Google Earth, I realized that there's no geocoding data (No way to convert street addresses into latitude/longitude pairs) for Amsterdam!

Well, not about to give up, I found a website that will let you look up an address in Amsterdam, and it will show you it's location on a street address map. Now, it's not the most efficient way by far, but one could use this website to visualize exactly where each of the shops on the CSV are, and find the corresponding location with Google Earth's satellite imagery, then plot a placemark on that location.

Sadly, my main computer took a waterbottle to the power supply, which fried just about everything in it, so I'm stuck using my old 600mhz/256mb ram Dell with integrated video. Hardly optimized for using any sort of GIS program. It would take days of tedious work to plot all 373 points on this old machine, which brings me to my reason for posting...

Would anyone be interested in collaborating with me and plotting a share of the points? (We'd later combine the resulting kml files for one massive file showing every cannabis shop in Amsterdam.) All you'd need is a decent computer (preferably a Pentium 4/AMD athlon 64 or better with at least 512mb ram and a relatively new video card), a basic understanding of computers, and Google Earth, a 12mb free download.

If you're interested just reply here (I'll check for replies once a day), or message me on AIM.

Hey man, firstly, good idea, secondly, good luck thirdly... I wish I could help but I lack the time, the knowledge and the computer to be of any help... but please keep us upto date with your progress.

Rez

Awesome idea man!!!

I don't fully follow what you are saying needs to be done but i think i could handle it......only problem is that i defintiely don't have the time right now.
If you can't get anyone else to help i will do what i can when i can....it would eventually get done.

If you wanna send me a little more info in a PM that would be great, and i'll get back to you when i can.

I'll just post here for anyone who might ask in the future as well.

Basically the first step is jsut installing and familiarizing yourself with google earth. Once you've become proficient at navigating the globe, and like, could find something relatively easily, you're more than ready to start contributing.

I have a big list of all the coffeeshops and such, taken from the directory. The computer reads the list kind of like an Excel spreadsheet, it just looks a little different to you. What I need help doing, is taking all the addresses, one at a time from the list and searching for them on http://www.atlas.amsterdam.nl/ . Once you know where in Amsterdam the shop is, you use your eyes to find the corresponding spot on Google Earth's satellite images, and put a placemark on it. Once the placemark is set, you just need to name it, and pick the icon to use (The coffee mug, the beer mug, the pipe, the plant, or the shroom).

It's really simple in theory, you just need some decent computer power to not be hindered by slow performance. Once all the shops are mapped into a single file, I'll just export the whole list into a small file and upload it to the net, so anyone can download it. I figure this would be more useful than any jpeg or gif map because with Google Earth, you can turn off layers and objects, and show only what you want to see, zoom in or out, rotate, tilt, move... it's basically a fully interactive Coffeeshop Directory. Possibly, once the map itself is established, people can contribute and write in descriptions for all the various shops, but I don't want to put too much focus on that until the base map is down. =D

You've earnt some respect there man... big task but count me in... similar to Mazdog I'm afraid tho... work, kids, wife, life.... not too much spare time but I'm happy to do as much as I can do, when I can do it...

I already got google earth and had had a wander around town just seeing what place looks like from above... a real nice way to look at the city and we are very lucky that alot of the city is covered in very good detail.

Here's the source files you'll be working from. I decided to be handy and convert them into htm documents so you can view them right from your browser, no hassles! =D Aren't I swell?

http://24-7gaming.net/$/dam/amsterdamshops(1of3).htm (Centrum)
http://24-7gaming.net/$/dam/amsterdamshops(2of3).htm (Canals and Oud West)
http://24-7gaming.net/$/dam/amsterdamshops(3of3).htm (Suburbs and Oud South)

You two take your pick from those 3, I'll take whichever is left. If more volunteers come along, we'll just chisel some of the load off the end of our lists. =D

PM me if you're still unclear on exactly what you need to do.

Hey I would love to help out - specially as it give my stoned little mind something to do beside watching football all day now that uni is over for summer. Plus I wanted to explore south city way so gives me a good chance to check out where many places are first hand (so start looking at the southern one if that helps).

I am familiar with google earth anyway but my only problem so far is the placemark icons - the coffeeshop ones are fine as there is an icon with a coffee mug on it; but the pipe, shroom, beer mug and plant don't seem to be there (unless the christmas tree is good for a plant).

Oh, when I was trying it out to see if it'd work, I just imported the icons from the directory itself. You just need to click custom in google earth and then browse for the icon on your computer once you've saved it from the webpage.

I thought that was a nifty feature, being able to use your own icons. =D

cool, i will start working on the "Canals and Oud West" when i have some time....whenever the hell that will be?!?!?

Hooray! I friend finally had a spare part to give me to make my slightly better computer functional again! This means no more choppy Google Earth. With this new development, I'd be happy to complete the entire project myself, but any and all help is still widely appreciated!

I'll begin work on the centrum shops, and check back when I'm finished. =D

i have a sneaking suspision that you will get to all of them before i can get to any.....so post some progress reports in here.

I did have a chance to install and play with Google Earth....that is simply crazy and a lil bit scary!!

=P

I got 32 plotted off the Centrum list. Next one up is 222. I'm on one of those big goofy canal streets where the odds and evens keep changing sides and don't keep up with one another. This makes for a headache or two's worth of shuffling around the map to find the right building number. =/

But I'm having fun! =D

I kinda like THIS one that Nemisis over at Channels put together. Maybe you can get some ideas from it.

Oh, dear, that IS a superb map! Lucky for you and I, there's companies willing to import a google earth kml into a flash file for google maps ( http://maps.google.com )! The result would be very similar to "Nemesis"' site, except the map would be dragable and zoomable.

http://www.amsterdamsat.com/coffeeshops.html

this map is pretty good, although it is a bit small.