[steephill]

I've received lots of good encouragement and support after making the Tour of California Community Video Project announcement last month and it has now been re-christened the Tour of California Grassy Knoll Project. The idea has been expanded and in order to pull it off I'll need to spend a lot more time than planned retooling my travelogue site during the first half of February. That means I won't be involved pre-rides, but starting around Feburary 10th, I'll be testing the new system with pre-ride photos and videos from those who are interested in helping test the system before the event starts. The best pre-ride photos and videos will be incorporated into each day's stage photo gallery and video recap along with the race photos.

I've also updated the race stage summary page you might have viewed in mid-January with links to the pdf route maps and route timetables recently made available on the official site. These maps will be useful in helping you know how and when to show up at key points along the route. If you have a digital camera don't forget to bring it. Even if you only take a few photos and videos they might be valuable moments for sharing in the Tour of California Grassy Knoll Project collective storyboard.

Updated race details and an explanation of the Grassy Knoll Project:
http://www.steephill.tv/2006/tour-of-california/route/

Note: During the event, if you wish to display any images from a Grassy Knoll photo gallery in a RBR Tour of California discussion thread then you'll be able to easily copy the necessary html code into your RBR message so the image(s) will show up (embedded inline) without readers having to click on a link.

 

[johngfoster]

Hey Steve

Sounds like a fun project. Hopefully I'll be able to get some footage from Stages 5 & 7 both stills and quicktime video.

 

[steephill]

Hey Steve

Sounds like a fun project. Hopefully I'll be able to get some footage from Stages 5 & 7 both stills and quicktime video.

Right on! I think from the ProCycling thread you said you'd be camping and then testing the climbs in the morning before the pros come by. Camping and pre-ride shots before pros come by would add to the story.

Looking forward to your quicktimes (640x480 and 30 fps for the action movies if you can). Have fun!

 

[steephill]

Now up and running

Hey Steve

Sounds like a fun project. Hopefully I'll be able to get some footage from Stages 5 & 7 both stills and quicktime video.

The system is now up and running. Here is the service in a nutshell:

- You can upload 8MB of images, video or audio at a time via the web or 200 MB per day via FTP.

- Upload both race day and pre-ride content.

- The photo/video gallery is totally dynamic ie. there are multiple ways to search and sort through the content to create galleries on the fly. Here's an example of a gallery that will grow as (real) prologue content is added:
http://www.steephill.tv/grassyknoll/storyboard.php?event=1&filter=9185

- You can vote on and summerize the best content using a "my favorite" feature.

- Geocoding isn't quite finished but you can enter a location description or the geocodes manually with the help of a link map. Hopefully, geocoding will be working in the next day or so. The next step will involve plotting the clips on a google map.

- The best contributions will be rolled into a nightly video recap of each stage.

I've removed the test photos so the system is ready to start with fresh content. Upload some photos of the stages you've ridden and of race day and see what you think:

http://www.steephill.tv/2006/tour-of-california/

enjoy the tour!

 

[rash]

I'll be at the prologue...

...and will upload any and all good pics. Don't know where I'll be on the course but I'll be there for all riders.

Rash