The website http://www.grottocenter.org
has been really active for a few months. This message is a quick
overview of the project and will explain how you can contribute.
The www.grottocenter.org
web application is a worldwide database community dedicated to
speleology and based on the wiki collaborative system. The project aims
to list natural caves ; every caver can collaborate to the database.
All the data on www.grottocenter.org
is under the CC-BY-NC license which guarantees free access and free
usage of the data for non-commercial use with respect of the authors’
rights.
The
software running GrottoCenter is licensed under the AGPL license; all
source code is available on Github. This license is similar to the
CC-BY-NC license but is better-suited for web-application.
The 2012 GrottoCenter statistics :
Accounts
|
1340
|
Cave entries
|
31422
|
Caving Clubs
|
423
|
Languages
|
4
|
The international voluntary association WikiCaves operates the GrottoCenter web application. WikiCaves aims to:
- Promote the development of speleology in the world, especially through web-based collaboration.
- Share and spread the data related to speleology.
- Make access to the natural caves data easier, especially through the net.
- Highlight and help the protection of the natural caves and their surroundings.
- Help the exploration and the scientific study of natural caves.
WikiCaves 2013 officers:
- President, Frédéric Urien
- Treasurer, Nathan Boinet
- Secretary, Frédéric Delègue
- Webmaster, Benjamin Soufflet
We aim to internationally expand the trustees board.
GrottoCenter website is open to all, Wikicaves is an association open to all.
We offer several ways to get involved in the project:
Give your opinion
By answering this survey you will allow us to better meet your expectations for the version 3 of GrottoCenter which is scheduled for early 2014.
Contribute
You can easily contribute to the website by just creating an account (free). All caves can be added in the database.
If you have filed lists of caves we can format and insert them for you in the database. You can contact us for more information.
Do you represent a club, a committee, a federation? Contact us to establish a partnership.
Translate
Currently
the website GrottoCenter is available in 4 languages (English,
German, French, Spanish). We hope to offer more translations in the near
future. If you want to support this work please contact Nathan who coordinates the translations.
We
are also looking for "correspondents" who will accompany the project:
You are welcome to provide information, reply messages, attend meetings!
Software Development
If you want to get involved in the development of the software, you can get the sources and useful informations on Github.
For technical informations or to find out how you can help in the development of the application, contact our webmaster.
The goal is to define the features of the version 3.0 by June 2013. This new version should be released in early 2014.
Join
You can also participate in the association Wikicaves by becoming a member.
Simply complete the form on the association's website and send your contribution (€ 10 in 2013) to the Treasurer.
More informations : http://www.wikicaves.org