Welcome

This site is dedicated to keeping the memory of the Saskatchewan pioneers alive by documenting the houses, barns, churches, schools and final resting places of people who have gone before us.

This site is run by a team of non-profit authors and contributors who aim to keep the past alive for future generations.

I'm sure someone thought of this before I did but: "If you want to know where you are going, you need to know where you came from."

Each item contains a GPS location, either exact or approximate, and a map will be shown.

You can view all the items we have found on a map by visiting http://www.forgottenlives.ca/map/

We will make every effort to include as much information as we can about the places we find in the hopes that this reaches a wider audience. We hope connections can be made to the past, present into the future.

If you have any questions, comments, hot tips, or concerns, please email me @: tuxsteve(at)gmail(dot)com

New Map System

I have spent a great deal of time since this project began trying to invent a better way of tracking my movements and keeping the data in an easy to use format. This has progressed through Google Maps, Scribblemaps and I am now running my own solution based on OpenLayers, QGIS and Postgresql.

The Physical Hardware

When I go out on a day trip I take:

• My camera (Canon Rebel XS)
• Laptop (Lenovo Thinpad T420)
• Cell phone (Google Nexus 5)
• Bluetooth GPS (A+ 737 GPS Unit)

The Software

Under the hood I use the following software to make this all happen:

OpenLayers

http://openlayers.org/

Provides a browser agnostic, mobile friendly map to display data points and tracks on. The road map data is provided by OpenStreetMap. The data from my site is provided by QGIS Server which runs on the web server.

QGIS

http://www.qgis.org/en/site/

Provides a canvas to work on and a seamless way to make changes to the Postgres DB underneath.

Contains a server component that provides WMS services to OpenLayers or any other WMS compatible software

Postgresql

http://www.postgresql.org/

The only free database that I know of that can be GIS enabled. This contains all the point data and track lines.

PostGIS

http://postgis.net/

The GIS extensions for Postgres

Data Sets

These are most helpful when determining the navigability of a road and how far I might expect to get before it ends, or if it's a dead end.

Open Street Maps

https://www.openstreetmap.org/

• Places
• Railways
• Roads

Geo Base

http://www.geobase.ca/

• Municipalities / RM Boundaries

Geo Sask

https://www.geosask.ca/

• Quarter Sections
• Wetland
• Water Course
• Water Body
• Topography