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This community might be interested in OpenBeta, a project to make something similar to Mountain Project, but with open data. Mountain Project asserts exlusive r

This community might be interested in OpenBeta, a project to make something similar to Mountain Project, but with open data. Mountain Project asserts exlusive rights to all user contributions. https://openbeta.io/ https://openbeta.io/ https://github.com/OpenBeta https://github.com/OpenBeta https://www.climbing.com/news/mountain-project-openbeta-and-the-fight-over-climbing-data-access/ https://www.climbing.com/news/mountain-project-openbeta-and-... https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/free-climbing-rock-climbers-open-data-project-threatened-bogus-copyright-claims https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/free-climbing-rock-cli...

tunap 4y ago
OT, but, I've often wondered why 'Beta' and not 'Meta' is the informal lingo for minutia in outdoor activities. A quick search of Wiki & TIL: >The original use of the term Beta in climbing is generally attributed to the late climber Jack Mileski. "Beta" was short for Betamax, a reference to an old videotape format largely replaced by the VHS format.[3] According to some sources Mileski would record himself on tape while completing routes and then share these tapes with friends. According to other sources, it was actually a play on words, as Mileski would often ask, "you want the beta, Max?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_(climbing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_(climbing)
- falsenapkin 4y ago
  Why would you assume meta? Genuine question. I see "meta" used a lot in gaming and I always assumed the etymology for that was like it became shorthand for "meta discussion" and then the intention of "meta" became less about general discussion and more about whatever strats are most effective/popular, thus "the meta". I have no idea if that's accurate. Do other communities say "the meta" like that? If it is just a gaming thing then I can see why climbing would have a different word given the respective ages of the activities.
  - tunap 4y ago
    The granular data that is derived from usage in a digital world is what I likened it to. I had no idea if beta was in long term usage, as my AZ climbing circle never used the term in the 90's.
  - splonk 4y ago
    I have often heard that the popularization of the "meta" term came as shorthand for the "metagame" of Magic:the Gathering in the late 90s, when the big tournaments like the Pro Tour came about. I do recall first coming across the term then, but I wouldn't care to make any definite claims about the actual etymology. Quick explanation for those not familiar: at an extremely simplified high level, MTG tournaments are a rock-paper-scissors game (with many more options). To some extent, part of the ability to play a tournament well is external to your ability to play MTG, and consists of your ability to predict the distribution of rocks/papers/scissors/etc in the field of players, and picking the appropriate countermeasure.
rockingclimber 4y ago
Thanks for linking us! Hello everyone, I’m Viet Nguyen, OpenBeta’s founder and project lead. I got hooked on climbing 11 years ago, and around the same time, I began a new dev job in the enterprise open source industry. Inspired by OpenStreetMap, I created OpenBeta as a platform for climbers to share climbing information under a fair and open license (climbing data: CC0, source code: MIT & GPLv3). *One clarification:* As an all-volunteer and nonprofit tech project, OpenBeta mission is about empowering the community with the data about rock climbing routes in human friendly and machine-readable format. It’s never about building digital guides and competing with guidebook authors. Everyone is welcome to incorporate our datasets & tools in their commercial projects. Besides climbing, many of us are hackers and data nerds. All we wanted is to be able to access and tinker with the community-generated climbing data to make maps of climbing walls, study Python Pandas and recommendation engines, etc. Open access to climbing data doesn’t have to be about the physical aspects of climbing. If I may leave 1 link, I’d like call your attention to our First Ascenionists data cleanup project. https://github.com/OpenBeta/fa-cleanup https://github.com/OpenBeta/fa-cleanup I’m looking for a project lead to help us out with the initiative. Best, Viet Nguyen

tunap 4y ago

OT, but, I've often wondered why 'Beta' and not 'Meta' is the informal lingo for minutia in outdoor activities. A quick search of Wiki & TIL: >The original use of the term Beta in climbing is generally attributed to the late climber Jack Mileski. "Beta" was short for Betamax, a reference to an old videotape format largely replaced by the VHS format.[3] According to some sources Mileski would record himself on tape while completing routes and then share these tapes with friends. According to other sources, it was actually a play on words, as Mileski would often ask, "you want the beta, Max?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_(climbing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_(climbing)

falsenapkin 4y ago
Why would you assume meta? Genuine question. I see "meta" used a lot in gaming and I always assumed the etymology for that was like it became shorthand for "meta discussion" and then the intention of "meta" became less about general discussion and more about whatever strats are most effective/popular, thus "the meta". I have no idea if that's accurate. Do other communities say "the meta" like that? If it is just a gaming thing then I can see why climbing would have a different word given the respective ages of the activities.
- tunap 4y ago
  The granular data that is derived from usage in a digital world is what I likened it to. I had no idea if beta was in long term usage, as my AZ climbing circle never used the term in the 90's.
- splonk 4y ago
  I have often heard that the popularization of the "meta" term came as shorthand for the "metagame" of Magic:the Gathering in the late 90s, when the big tournaments like the Pro Tour came about. I do recall first coming across the term then, but I wouldn't care to make any definite claims about the actual etymology. Quick explanation for those not familiar: at an extremely simplified high level, MTG tournaments are a rock-paper-scissors game (with many more options). To some extent, part of the ability to play a tournament well is external to your ability to play MTG, and consists of your ability to predict the distribution of rocks/papers/scissors/etc in the field of players, and picking the appropriate countermeasure.

rockingclimber 4y ago

Thanks for linking us! Hello everyone, I’m Viet Nguyen, OpenBeta’s founder and project lead. I got hooked on climbing 11 years ago, and around the same time, I began a new dev job in the enterprise open source industry. Inspired by OpenStreetMap, I created OpenBeta as a platform for climbers to share climbing information under a fair and open license (climbing data: CC0, source code: MIT & GPLv3). *One clarification:* As an all-volunteer and nonprofit tech project, OpenBeta mission is about empowering the community with the data about rock climbing routes in human friendly and machine-readable format. It’s never about building digital guides and competing with guidebook authors. Everyone is welcome to incorporate our datasets & tools in their commercial projects. Besides climbing, many of us are hackers and data nerds. All we wanted is to be able to access and tinker with the community-generated climbing data to make maps of climbing walls, study Python Pandas and recommendation engines, etc. Open access to climbing data doesn’t have to be about the physical aspects of climbing. If I may leave 1 link, I’d like call your attention to our First Ascenionists data cleanup project. https://github.com/OpenBeta/fa-cleanup https://github.com/OpenBeta/fa-cleanup I’m looking for a project lead to help us out with the initiative. Best, Viet Nguyen