Belgian Parcel Post / Railway Cancel Project Is Now Underway... Comments?

Hi Everyone -

I finally have the time, inclination and motivation to get this
project underway.

As you may have seen, I've been posting requests for parcel post,
railway and related stamps in the .marketplace newsgroup for a few
years now. Many of you have answered my request and we've traded
stamps. I have built up a collection that must be a few 100 thousand
stamps, at least.

Now, however, it is time to "get down and get dirty". This project
has been on the back burner for at least 4 - 5 years, but always has
had my attention when information and new items come my way.

I am working on this as a 6 credit class at Empire State College (New
York). This will attempt to place what I've learned during my
computer career (23+ years) in sync with what I've learned about the
stamp hobby (well over 10 years) and get serious credit for doing the
work. This is almost a self-made class and is the Capstone class of
my degree. There will be NO charge for viewing / using this once it
is finished.

There will be 3 parts to this project, other than proper documentation
and exhibits.

1) An SQL based database due to the size it will eventually attain,
access to the data and portability. This database will focus on the
various markings, cancellations and other indicia associated with
these stamps. Plenty of scans will be available.

2) A web site will be created that will allow the user to query the
database and display useful information and scans about the
cancellations and the stamps.

3) An image map that will allow a user to select a starting point and
ending point and then display stamps and cancels of the train depots
between the two points. This should be a 2 phase part - one) with a
specific issue and two) overall stamps if there aren't that many to
produce an issue related "train ride".

As you can see, part 3 will be VERY time consuming.

I will be in contact with those people here in rcsd who have helped
and have offered stamps, information and general support - to see if
authorization and permission to use certain things is still valid.
This is a labor of love, not a test in plagiarism.

If anyone is interested in this project at all, please feel free to
e-mail me at:

tracy_barber -AT- frontiernet -DOT- net

and I will be more than willing to discuss this further.

I posted this message to let those who have helped me in the past that
their time was not wasted and that the project is underway. Thanks
again for your time.

Tracy

wrote in message
...

Hi Everyone -

I finally have the time, inclination and motivation to get this
project underway.

snip for brevity

Good luck, Tracy, this is really a great project!

Anyway, I hope to see you here from time to time ;-)

--
Victor Manta

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