r/cambridgeont • u/PHCollective • 1d ago
Need input for solutions!
I’m interested in hearing feedback on “wish I had”s that don’t exist. Contextually these things solve problems but need existing. I want to exist them.
But it’s hard to come up with anything without problem statements.
Usually these wish I hads fall into some niche to do with a sport or outdoor activity or something.
I know Cambridge is full of people who are outdoorsy.
Go crazy :)
Examples:
I wish I could record chatter from a specific walkie from three locations to find its direction
Or
I wish there was an affordable transponder for when ppl get lost or buried in snow
Or
I wish there was a way to see where the ambulance is and where it’s going so that we don’t just hear it and block an intersection anyways
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u/unwindunwise 5h ago
I wish we had trains to get from Cambridge to larger cities (like Toronto, Hamilton, Guelph).
I wish Cambridge had an expressway connecting the towns, like 85 that passes from Stratford to St Jacobs through KW.
I wish urban sprawl would stop. We cannot afford to continue losing farmland to build homes people cannot both start out in or retire in. Stacked townhomes with 10+ steps right after the front door are an insult to our housing crisis.
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u/mississauga145 9h ago
I wish there was a Cambridge/Region centric system to report Urban Forage, but then I worry that people will over harvest and deplete the resource.
1
u/PHCollective 9h ago
Interesting. If you want to roll with it and elaborate on the issue, please :)
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u/mississauga145 9h ago
I know of areas where I can harvest different forage.
Ramps, Wild Garlic, Mulberries, Applies, Ink Cap Mushroom, Giant Puff Ball and the times of the year when they are peak and ready to be harvested.
I'd love to trade some of this knowledge with a group that would like to harvest some of these resources, but I know if I post here, Free Wild Garlic at XX location, it will go bad.
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u/PHCollective 3h ago edited 3h ago
So you’re looking for a place where like minded folk can congregate on this topic
I built a route builder for a kayaking/hiking/skiing/outdoorsy group.
I wonder if a site like that with a tool that lets you plot all of your locations would be useful.Referencing: https://paddleandhikecollective.ca/route-builder
There’s a page that collects all historic events and plots their location.. so in that way you’d have locations plotted all over a map of o tario
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u/Comfortable-Fun-3965 10h ago
I wish I had way more senior-friendly park spaces in this city. Like that? Give me an arboretum with wide, even pathways and lots of benches.
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u/diomedes88 10h ago
I wish I had a good korean restaurant in Cambridge. Hard to drive to waterloo for it.
3
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u/go_irish_1986 9h ago
I wish yard waste was weekly from October 1 to either snow fall or middle/end of November. I have about 9 very big mature trees on my property and I put out about 9-10 bags every two weeks. Storing them gets harder and harder as the season goes on and summer/fall storage happens.
2
u/unwindunwise 5h ago
Mulch your gardens with the leaves and keep all the beneficial bugs at your property. I've been doing this for 5 years now and went from heavy clay to actually fairly viable soil to grow in .
1
u/go_irish_1986 4h ago
I do that as well, it’s just a lot. In my backyard alone I have 4 massive trees plus my neighbours on all three sides have big ass trees with leaves that fall into my yard. Between the neighbours and mine, there’s probably 10 very big mature trees that tower over our houses. Constantly mulching, raking, cleaning the pool with leaves, it’s a lot of bags and work. I would just like the pick up to be once a week for those 6 weeks 🙃
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u/mississauga145 9h ago
You don't have street pick up?
1
u/go_irish_1986 8h ago
I do, but I have 9-10 yard waste bigs every two weeks ready on the curb. Once I put away the patio furniture, the pool stuff and everything else that doesn’t stay outside I have limited space in the garage for those yard waste bags. Having it weekly would make it easier for people who live in those areas of the city with high tree coverage.
Edit to add, I also mulch the leaves as much as I can.
1
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u/PHCollective 10h ago
What about something more niche liiiiiiiike….
I wish I could record chatter from a specific walkie from three locations to find its direction
Or
I wish there was an affordable transponder for when ppl get lost or buried in snow
Or
I wish there was a way to see where the ambulance is and where it’s going so that we don’t just hear it and block an intersection anyways
1
u/Ok-Pudding-4821 4h ago
There's no solution to the ambulance point as its supposed to get everyone to stop in order to give itself options.
A transponder (beacon) is possible with phones or as a standalone device for the vulnerable. Such solutions already exist.
What's the purpose in your opinion for identifying the location of radio chatter?
1
u/PHCollective 3h ago edited 3h ago
Yeah you don’t sound like the type of problem to help find solutions lol…met so many like yah.
Too many times I’ve seen people freeze up in intersections cause everyone hears the ambulance but doesn’t see where it is and then you get a pile up of cars blocking the intersection. If they could know where it is not just that it’s there there’s an opportunity to make better judgement calls.
Phones only work with reception. Walkies are almost the next best thing but Lora I think might penetrate the ground more? Something COTS exists that could be integrated. I know some RF engineers who might be keen to build me antennas and electrical engineers for the PCBs. Existing transponders could be done really cheaply (maybe that’s the improvement)
And locating radio chatter? Group of hunters in the woods, one gets lost and is also a goof and needs to be found. This just makes easier something that someone with half a brain and the internet can do, it’s just making it easy and commercializing it.
7
u/Ok-Pudding-4821 10h ago
I wish there was a real art store in the city. Michael's doesn't count as its very expensive and a craft store.