Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

If you know Amsterdam and surroundings please help finding the location of the next Maemo Summit, planned for September 2009.

Add candidate venues and comment on the venues you know:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Summit_2...date_locations

Also, forward this to anybody you know in Amsterdam. Thanks!

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

Hey, this is really great news... I haven't been to Amsterdam in ages, although it's almost next door to here. It will be much easier for me to attend than Berlin :)

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

Some observations:

Dutch government imposed 'flight tax' on flying. This is 11,25 EUR per each flight in EU or till 2500 km. Else, it is 45 EUR per flight. This tax is due for each time you travel to/from NL. So if you come from US you pay 90 EUR extra. Taxi is expensive, but you pay a starting tarrif of 7,50 EUR and then you pay by the km; not by the time it takes.

Amsterdam airport (Schiphol) is on the south-west of Amsterdam, requiring public transport (or taxi) to the centre of the city. However, from there it is also already possible to grab public transport to Den Haag (The Hague) and Rotterdam which lie at about 40-45 min travel from Schiphol. They're cheaper to host a conference.

If you come by car don't bother to park inside Amsterdam. It is very expensive, and very difficult to park. Park it outside of Amsterdam (e.g. south) and use metro/tram or bicycle to travel instead. There are special parking places for this purpose, with sign P+R. This stands for Parkeren & Reizen (Park & tRavel).

Be sure to get the tram/metro data straight. They come every 5 minutes, so this goes for fast and quick travelling, but you have to know when to step out to catch another tram/metro. I don't know if there are applications for this though, and it depends on your hardware/software. POI for Amsterdam. Wayfinder POI, while IMO incomplete, are a good starting point.

Beware of pick pocketers and don't do stupid things.

Also see http://wikitravel.org/en/Amsterdam they also have an entry for hotels, on the bottom.

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

There's MetrO, a great tool. Unfortunately there's no NIT version. I run a version on my Palm PDA. There are versions for Palm, PocketPC, MS Smartphone (that's WinCE, isn't it?), and a number of Symbian versions and more. But no NIT version.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that the Palm version does work under GVM, likewise the networked updater tool MetrUp.

There's a web version though.
I gave it random start/stop points, output below:

Amsterdam
Aarschotpad Kingsfordweg (Tuesday 9:00)

Shortest route
Time about 21 minutes - 2 connection(s)

At Aarschotpad

Take Buslijn 19
Direction
Station Lelylaan

Get off at Station Lelylaan

Take Lijn 50
Direction
Isolatorweg

Get off at Station Sloterdijk

Take Tramlijn 12
Direction
Amstelstation

Get off at Kingsfordweg



Fewest connections route
Time about 42 minutes - 1 connection(s)

At Aarschotpad

Take Buslijn 19
Direction
Station Sloterdijk

Get off at Station Sloterdijk

Take Tramlijn 12
Direction
Amstelstation

Get off at Kingsfordweg

---
http://nanika.net/metro/

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

There is also metromap, with an existing maemo port, but no data for Amsterdam as far as I can tell. Maybe we could put the data together as a community project before the summit?

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

A friend of mine pointed me to this venue:

http://www.rai.nl/Voor_organisatoren.aspx

Looks cool, but it's probably expensive?

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

Leaving aside the price, it looks like a massive venue for commercial fairs - http://www.rai.nl/Voor_organisatoren...acilities.aspx

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

Yeah it is massive, indeed:

http://www.rai.nl/Voor_organisatoren...en_Hallen.aspx

and mostly focused on commercial fairs.

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

Here is direct link for online version of MetrO: Amsterdam iMetrO. GVB website (public transport Amsterdam, in English) at: http://www.gvb.nl/english/travellers

I've installed MetrO in Symbian indeed but it isn't useful for me. I know the metro. These are not very complex. Maybe because I always use the same one. The tram is far more complex if you ask me. In the centre of Amsterdam the metro is of little use. I suppose you might as well walk a lil especially if the weather is nice. Just take care when you're crossing streets. Trams do not stop for pedestrians. They will use their claxxon at best. There was even a discussion in the municipality for forbidding cyclists to use an iPod... ofcourse that failed. :D

For now, you can pay with strippenkaart and OV chipkaart.

Strippenkaart is a paper card you stamp on. In tram when you board you have to show the strippenkaart. Usually its 2 stamps (one zone) in centre. The guy in tram speaks English and will help you. In metro you stamp the card before you board in the yellow machine. Card with 2 stamps is usable for one hour, including connections.

OV chipkaart is a RFID infested card you have to upload money on although you can buy an 'anonymous' version of it. Do not forget to check out when you use this card else it will cost you money. You pay for the distance, not per zone. I don't have experience with the bloody thing but its mandatory in Rotterdam already.

From Schiphol you take train to Amsterdam CS (Central Station) and then take whatever you want from there. Takes 15 min to CS.

RAI is for commerciel vennues indeed. All kind of big expos are there about anything you can imagine. Jaarbeurs Utrecht, on 30 min from Amsterdam, also big expos. But probably cheaper than RAI. Maybe one can hire a smaller space though. I mean, a smaller space at Jaarbeurs. I'll look into that.

Re: Maemo Summit in Amsterdam: help finding a location
 

I remember visiting the Doors of Perception conference in 1996 in Amsterdam - they had a very nice location, an old theater in the center of Amsterdam called Stadsschouwburg.

Looking at the pictures now, it may be a bit too feudal for a get-together of hackers and gadget-freaks. And I guess it may not be available for rent unless you have some special connections. But googling this stuff up is a nice trip down memory lane for me :)