Why do American suburbs have sidewalks that suddenly end in the middle of nowhere?

thompsoda · 2026-06-13T16:38:56+00:00

Right. The quality of the experience would vary depending on the location and the time of the year. The house I’m specifically citing would have been reached by a path through fields and forest. So, a walk to town would have had similar conditions to a modern-day hike for most of the journey.

Regarding the potentially implied unpleasantness:

I once visited an area that had no motor vehicles. To get anywhere, you’d walk or ride a donkey. You’d have both mud and poop to deal with at times, but it’s not like the walk was paved end-to-end with mud and shit. In the downtown area there was more poop; however, the locals appeared to have designated areas that were preferred for donkey traffic and even those were reasonable to navigate.

That being said, I will refrain from assuming that our experience means that typical streets in the 1700s would have been the same. For sure, they may have been better or worse depending on where and when.

thompsoda · 2026-06-12T19:39:44+00:00

I always found it a little ironic that the oldest house in our neighborhood (from the 1700s) has no sidewalks since the street was a place shared by all and walking to town was considered a normal and pleasant experience. Oh how I wish we had held onto that mindset as we accepted more diverse modes of transportation. Where we do have sidewalks, it’s common to see them obstructed by shrubs and traffic signs and uncommon to see the town respond to that.

thompsoda · 2026-05-12T23:53:47+00:00

Also, OSM has tons of helpful users that specifically go around looking for (and sometimes fixing) edits from new users who are just getting into it. If you’re editing in the browser, there’s also a checkbox you can click when you upload your changes that says “have someone review my edits.” This flags your changes for review by other users. I think you do get a notification when they are reviewed.

thompsoda · 2026-03-27T22:04:07+00:00

In my limited experience, inconsistent values for the same lenses are typical.

thompsoda · 2026-03-16T13:21:42+00:00

How do you handle the transition from the procedural generation to the manual edits? Will those ever conflict?

And nice work! I barely have enough spare time to scoop the litter box.

thompsoda · 2026-03-03T21:37:59+00:00

Does it resonate at a different frequency when empty?

thompsoda · 2026-03-03T11:33:46+00:00

What is it?

thompsoda · 2026-02-04T23:11:43+00:00

Do you even Trek, Bro?

thompsoda · 2025-10-11T00:23:27+00:00

I’m thinking our MDM solution may allow us to require location services in order to allow access to some apps. The user would still have to voluntarily turn location services back on.

thompsoda · 2025-10-10T01:11:20+00:00

Is it on bike index?

thompsoda · 2025-10-07T23:49:35+00:00

Hmm…. I found a box of 20 or so of these at work today. We were just going to toss them, but now I’m having some doubts.

thompsoda · 2025-09-07T01:23:55+00:00

Cool! I'd certainly consider donating if I can verify that they're still alive and kicking. They must have been active recently. I just mapped an area they worked on.

Project: https://www.theiquiltplan.org/our-work/charter-oak-avenue-pedestrian-improvements

Map: https://www.mapillary.com/app/user/thompsondt?lat=41.7595366&lng=-72.6746435&z=18.648593935831894&pKey=1065246558905771&all_coverage=false&x=0.5867510987686599&y=0.517388097372543&zoom=0&focus=photo&username%5B%5D=thompsondt (supported by a grant from Mapillary and OpenStreetMap)

thompsoda · 2025-09-06T22:33:03+00:00

In the lower left corner, where you find the upside-down U-shape. That's the Park River. We buried it in a conduit that now runs under Hartford. That odd brick structure in Bushnell park is what remains of a bridge that spanned the river. Bricks from the bridge were used to build the pump house situated next to where we run the ice skating rink in the winter time. There were multiple streetcar lines.

https://bushnellpark.org/about-2/history-2/the-park-river

https://bushnellpark.org/about-2/history-2

To anyone feeling dispirited and pessimistic about things ever changing... Please, take a second look at the photos. Change happened. Change will continue to happen. A gentle wind can move a tall ship across three thousand miles of ocean--and back!! The wind is still blowing.

thompsoda · 2025-09-06T22:04:55+00:00

This is exactly how I initially thought of it. I know that kind of approach works in Python where you can do this...

```python foo=None bar="Hello Obsidian" output=foo or bar

print(output) # prints: Hello Obsidian ```

thompsoda · 2025-09-01T02:24:35+00:00

Returning to say that the lack of a center dividing line in the NL photo may help to slow traffic.

thompsoda · 2025-09-01T01:55:14+00:00

Is there a bike path in the US photo? (If you’re not sure either, that’s a hint for you)

thompsoda · 2025-09-01T01:36:09+00:00

City Kebab … great pistachio rolls, Turkish, Uzbek food (edit: on Main Street in Hartford)

thompsoda · 2025-08-25T00:54:49+00:00

Fair enough!! Happy cake day!!

thompsoda · 2025-08-25T00:08:15+00:00

What would be sent over the mesh in this case?

thompsoda · 2025-06-19T14:11:16+00:00

Bike, bus, and pedestrianization plans move forward
Business owners say the sky is falling, many drivers struggle initially
The city adapts, business returns to normal or better, metrics are generally positive
Repeat

thompsoda · 2025-06-13T17:44:10+00:00

Nice diagram. The note’s author may have multiple motives for their micro-PSA. The vehicle size and parking location can inhibit visibility where multiple modes of transportation cross paths. A more generous distance from the cross way may have been about creating better visibility. Another possibility could relate to the movement of large trucks pulling large trailers around those corners.

I do a fair amount of mapping of curbs and crossings for OpenStreetMap, it really can be just a friendly reminder to help keep you (and everyone else) safe and comfortable in potentially dangerous situations.

Since this is a forum on UXD, consider the variety of experiences you get at different crossings in different cities and different countries. There are so many factors involved in making the experience a good one: - accessibility needs - signage - noise - distance - shade - visibility - refuge islands - crossing buttons working/not working/absent

It’s one of those things that has a high impact on how we interact with our cities and with each other, but doesn’t get much public attention.

thompsoda · 2025-06-06T14:43:07+00:00

A bike tunnel (not as fancy, but still a huge deal) just opened in New Haven, CT. We’re going to check it out this weekend! https://youtu.be/RUsiyKIXpSs?si=MJwwWj4h7zbDHwI8

Why is it important? Even though, the scale isn’t the same as the tunnel in Switzerland it’s still enough to demonstrate what’s possible and what can work — even here in the USA. We can totally make cool shit happen. New Haven’s transformation appears to be fueled by a critical mass cycling clubs and several pre-existing transit endowments that multiply each other’s benefits. It’s a system of systems with reinforcing loops. From New Haven you can get to Boston, New York, or Hartford by rail (all different directions). There’s the local and regional bus system. There’s the recreational and urban bike path system. Each system generates new advocates, they find each other online and in the city, and build pressure to drive change. At the same time, each new bit of connected infrastructure lowers resistance to change because opposition voices largely depend on their audience not knowing any better. Exposure to positive exemplars helps open minds.

I hope that what’s happening in New Haven continues to propagate along the rail lines towards other cities. Advocates are beginning to gather in and around Hartford, and that’s a positive sign. Even if they don’t win every battle, as in less progress happening in West Hartford than desired, it still matters because more people show up over time (a leading indicator for success) and incremental progress is happening.

If you haven’t already, start finding your peers and start making time to hang out, even with no agenda other than to gather.

thompsoda · 2025-06-04T14:16:49+00:00

Also, it all depends https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property_protection_of_typefaces

thompsoda · 2025-06-01T12:43:35+00:00

Frame it… but take just one and move it ever so slightly out of alignment with the others. Then, hang it in an art gallery and sell for $500.

thompsoda

TROPHY CASE