TimeWalk · private work plan

Sunil, the next three months.

Aug 11 - Nov 13, 2026 · Prepared by TimeWalker, reviewed by Ted

Mission: level up on the skills that matter for the future, GIS automation, spatial databases, and procedural audio, while shipping the data TimeWalk needs: Philadelphia 1776, then Boston 1776 as the capstone.

Skill priorities, in order

  1. PyQGIS / Python scripting Automate parcel-finding wherever possible (to make the process work with any city). Hand-drawing is too expensive time-wise. Batch attribute joins, SRID fixes, layer exports, semi-automated tracing. Processing to Python is a small jump.
  2. UE5 MetaSounds, one day a week Period soundscapes: 1664 waterfront, 1776 streets, Boston harbor. Uniquely yours; TimeWalk visibly lacks it; a real game-audio career path.
  3. PostGIS / spatial SQL ownership Own the timewalk schema: queries, views, constraints, SRID standards, duplicate cleanup.
  4. Git fluency Simple workflow: own branch, PR, merge. Never force-push main. One-page cheat sheet; no more lost hours to resets.
  5. AI delegation Design and verify, let TimeWalker execute the bulk work: research, migrations, attribution. Already going well; now we formalize it.

Why Philadelphia before Boston

Learn on good data, then infer from bad data

Philly 1776 has dense parcel sources, a simple grid, tax lists with owners, and PhilaGeoHistory's georeferenced atlases to check against. Boston is an inference problem, walking 1798 parcels back to 1776. That is a capstone, not a first rep.

Boston needs archival lead time

TimeWalker assembles Suffolk deeds, 1798 Federal Direct Tax schedules, and Bonner/Page map comparisons in parallel while you digitize Philly.

Scripts compound

Everything written for Philly, batch attribution, SRID normalization, footprint QC, gets reused on Boston.

Prioritized projects

1 · Philadelphia 1776 Parcels

ACTIVE

Goal: full parcel layer for Philadelphia 1776 in PostGIS: footprints, owners, land use.

New. Kickoff week of Aug 11.

Sources

  • Clarkson-Biddle map (1762), primary street and lot framework
  • Faden "Plan of the City and Environs of Philadelphia" (1777)
  • 1774 Provincial Tax lists, owner and occupation per lot
  • Mutual Assurance "Green Tree" fire surveys (1784+), building dimensions and materials
  • PhilaGeoHistory.org georeferenced atlases, validation layer
Milestones: georeference maps (wk 1-2) → schema + pilot blocks near the State House (wk 2-3) → scripted digitization at scale (wk 4-8) → tax-list attribution (wk 6-9) → QC + handoff (wk 10)

2 · MetaSounds Soundscapes

ACTIVE

Goal: period-accurate procedural audio in UE 5.6. One day a week, every week.

New. First session week of Aug 11.

Sequence

  • UE5 audio fundamentals
  • 1664 New Amsterdam waterfront ambience
  • 1776 Manhattan street soundscape
  • Positional / spatial audio pass
  • Boston harbor

Sources

  • UE MetaSounds docs, Epic sample projects
  • Your own Freesound / SndKit pipeline

3 · Manhattan Upkeep + PostGIS Ownership

ONGOING

Goal: own the timewalk schema as source of truth.

Supabase/PostGIS migration completed in July; now it needs stewardship.

Tasks

  • SRID 3857 standard enforcement
  • Duplicate table cleanup
  • Views for common queries
  • 1664/1776 parcel touch-ups as needed, secondary to Philly

4 · Boston 1776 Reconstruction

CAPSTONE

Goal: parcel-level 1776 Boston, reconstructed from fragmentary evidence. Starts ~Oct 13.

Research phase (TimeWalker, in parallel). Terrain + UE level already done. April's lesson: the Pelham 1777 siege map has no parcel detail, so this project is source-driven inference.

Sources being assembled

  • Clough 1798 atlas block sheets, 50 sheets georeferenced (Allmaps GCPs in hand)
  • 1798 Federal Direct Tax, per-owner house dimensions and materials
  • Suffolk County deeds, Bonner (1722-69) + Page (1775) maps
  • Massachusetts Historical Society holdings
Method: Clough 1798 parcels → walk back to 1776 via deeds and tax lists. Pilot: 2-3 blocks (North End / Dock Square) before scaling.
Optional early demo: shallow pass (streets, shoreline, fortifications, ~50 landmark buildings) for a visible Boston milestone before deep parcels.

5 · NYBG Research

SIDE

Goal: botanical and landscape data for period vegetation accuracy.

Emails sent; in-person visit being scheduled.

The three months

Month 1

Foundations + Philly kickoff

Aug 11 → Sep 5
  • Git workflow reset, one session + cheat sheet, week 1
  • PyQGIS bootcamp via real work: georeference Clarkson-Biddle + Faden, build the philly_1776 schema, script the first attribution job
  • Pilot blocks digitized around the State House
  • MetaSounds: fundamentals + first 1664 waterfront ambience
  • TimeWalker: Boston source assembly begins
Month 2

Philly at scale

Sep 8 → Oct 10
  • Scripted digitization across the city grid; 1774 tax-list owner attribution
  • PostGIS: views, constraints, SRID enforcement; Philly layers live in Supabase
  • MetaSounds: 1776 street soundscape, first in-level spatial audio
  • TimeWalker: Boston evidence base complete; pilot block dossiers ready
Month 3

Philly wrap + Boston pivot

Oct 13 → Nov 13
  • Philly QC + handoff, validation against PhilaGeoHistory
  • Boston capstone begins: Clough 1798 → 1776 walk-back on pilot blocks
  • MetaSounds: Boston harbor ambience
  • Retro: what scripts and methods carry forward; plan next quarter

Weekly rhythm

GIS, increasingly scripted, not hand-drawn MetaSounds, protected: one full day Database ownership Research / AI direction

Targets, not handcuffs. The MetaSounds day is the one block that does not get raided.

Hours tracking

Log hours as you go: date, project, description, hours. Monthly totals feed the invoice.

v1: shared Google Sheet linked from this page.
v2: TimeWalk Contributor app with direct submission.

Assigned issues (13)

Provisional prioritization — grouped by existing priority labels, newest activity first. Reflects the GitHub tracker as of 2026-08-11.

Next / High 2

Unprioritized 11