MapMill is our tool for sorting imagery produced with [balloon mapping](/tool/balloon-mapping).

It takes hours to go through the thousands of images we're capturing from balloons and kites, to pick out the best ones for inclusion in our [free and open source maps](http://grassrootsmapping.org/data). Help us by choosing the [sharpest, clearest, best images](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1276/4703515530_4482bc2f15_o.png).

##Roadmap##

###Planning & proposed features###

* make mapmill able to rename sites -- also in database
* make mapmill able to store links to all formats
* tag sites "gulf coast" etc, and .org/sort/gulf-coast/ should let you sort just that tag
* use AJAX to load a new image

###Long-term goals & features###

* add a map of the site so you can make a guess where it fits, and possible use of a base map to assess the quality of a particular image

##Setting up your own local copy of MapMill##

If you have low bandwidth or don't want to share your map data, you can run MapMill yourself, on your computer. Follow these steps and email jeff@publiclaboratory.org with questions or for troubleshooting.

* Download the Bitnami "native" RubyStack for your computer: http://bitnami.org/stack/rubystack 
* Run the installer. 
* Go to the main Bitnami folder which was just installed, called "rubystack-2.2-2"
* [Download MapMill](https://github.com/jywarren/mapmill/zipball/master) and unzip it in the "projects" folder inside "rubystack-2.2-2".
* From the commandline:
  * go to the main Bitnami folder which was just installed, called "rubystack-2.2-2"
  * type ".rubyconsole"
  * you're now in the local Bitnami ruby shell
  * type "cd projects/mapmill" to get to the mapmill folder
  * type "rake db:migrate"
  * if it runs with no errors, type "script/server"
* Import your images
  * Copy a folder of JPG images into "/rubystack-2.2-2/projects/mapmill/public/sites/your-folder-here"
  * Go to "http://localhost:3000/admin" in your web browser
  * Click "Import sites"
  * Your site should appear in the list. Click "Import images"
  * After what may be a while (it has to actually scan each image and insert it into the database) the Admin page should reload showing how many images you've imported. Go to "http://localhost:3000/" or click on your site to see your images.
* Start sorting! 

To keep in mind:

* This may run slowly on a small, weak computer like my netbook
* We'll try to get Passenger installed or something soon so it can be multi-threaded, in the meantime it may only be able to handle one pageload at a time.
* To connect other computers, find out your IP address (linux/mac: type "ifconfig" and it's the one that looks like 192.x.x.x or something) and any computer on the same local network should be able to use it by going to 192.0.0.1:3000 (or whatever your IP address was plus ":3000".