Welcome to Transit-Oriented Discoveries

One of my favorite stories as a kid was “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George. It’s about twelve year old Sam Gribley who decides to run away from his crowded apartment and live off the land in the Catskills. Sam takes with him only a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, some flint and steel, and a few other essentials. Over the course of the year, he carves a cozy home out of a massive hemlock tree, learns to fish, hunt, and trap animals, gather edible plants, and lead a life of independence and resourcefulness.

“My Side of the Mountain” is part of a tradition of books, such as “Robinson Caruso” by Daniel Defoe, “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau, the “Little House on the Prairie” series by Laura Ingles Wilder, and "Alone in the Wilderness" by Richard Proenneke that document lives of self reliance. Although some of these books were written decades or centuries ago, their themes of nature, survival, adventure, and discovery continue to draw us in.

This blog borrows from the adventure/survival genre. It will document my efforts to develop the “Transit-Oriented Discoveries” analytics database and platform. I’m planning a bi-weekly newsletter that describes my work to wrangle and join data, build interactive tools, and overcome challenges. However, I do not believe in going it alone! When I encounter problems, I’ll seek your advice on solutions. When I come to methodological forks in the trail I’ll seek your guidance on the right direction.

I’ve also brought a few tools with me on my journey, including my prior work developing code and geoinformatics while earning my masters degree in data analytics. You can learn more about my prior work at my wiki. And I am collaborating with experts in transit, urban planning, real estate, and other sectors to develop a product that is as insightful and useful as possible.

While many adventure stories take place in the wilderness, my work explores the built environment and our place in it. In the weeks to come, I hope to provide a mixture of personal narrative, philosophical reflection, and practical insights that will inspire you, just as adventure stories kept me up past my bedtime when I was a boy.