How are protected canals intended to be used?

I'd like opinions on whether I'm treating my canal appropriately, or abusing it.

I have a protected Linden canal on the north edge of Clonmel, and I own both sims to the north and south of the canal. The canal snakes its way in straight lines all through the Corsica continent, taking the edge off of sims as it goes.

I keep the canal clear, except I put 2 bridges over it, very high up so that most any boat could go under them. The bridges are made out of megaprims, and no prim centers are in the protected part. So I'm not using up any prims in the canal, but I'm obviously encroaching into it.

So is the canal supposed to be used for boating? Or is it a way for vehicles at any altitude to be able to navigate freely across the continent? Is any infrastructure ever intended for them, or are they just there, and that's the end of it?

Does anyone see the bridges as an abuse? I know they encroach, but I feel like I'm participating in the spirit of the idea: the build is transportation-related, and I'm making the environment sort of fun and attractive for people boating through there. If I knew what the intent for these was, I could make the environment more conducive to whatever that intent is. If the encroachment is just flat-out forbidden, I was thinking about trying to make a drawbridge.

Is there such a thing as sending a note to an appropriate Linden and just getting their approval?

Thank you,
--Avion

Hi Avion,

I think that they are a guarantee for boating or flying, but primarily boating. There are far too many rivers and inlets with no protected access. I own land at the end of one such river and it grieves me that there is no common access and that anyone could put up banlines and cut off access to the wider ocean. So I have no problems with the bridge, and I don't think LL would either, so long as it doesn't block access to the waterway.

Generally speaking, bridges that span a Linden parcel as long as they don't impede traffic on the road or canal or river under them, should be fine. I lived with a friend in magenta on the mainland for a while, and she hasd several bridges that spanned the Linden creeks that criss-crossed between her parcels. She made sure each linkset was firmly rooted in her own parcel, and that there was room for water traffic on anything big enough to be at all navigable. We never had a problem from that.

Using megaprins to do it, especially if those megaprims cross sim borders, might be more of an issue, especially on the Mainland. At the very least, they screw up the mini-map imahe, forming blots onthe map that are far larger than the megaprims themselves. And it's been stated repeatedly that a megaprim crossing a sim edge can cause problems in both sims that it intrersects.

Personally, I'd use a few more prims and do it without the megas, but otherwise, you should be OK.

Ceera,

I tried that, but couldn't get the center of the linkset on my own property, and still reach far enough across. Maybe this canal is wider than the creeks you were talking about. Is there a trick for forcing the centerpoint over?

If you're really worried about it, take a snapshot of it and visit Jack Linden's office hour - Jack owns the mainland so if he's ok with it, it's ok. Maybe even ask if you can send the bridges to a Mole and have them place it on the protected land..

Just the root prim needs to be on your land. So you should be able to span about a 70M wide gap, with room to spare, since with Havok 4 you can get 4 each 10 M long prims linked in a row. Just link those 4 to a 1M wide root prim on your end. You might have to build it over your land and then position it after it's linked.

If the bridges don't impede the public's right-of-way then I don't see any problem.

I spend quite of bit time exploring the public right-of-ways (roads canals etc) and I see quite a few builds like this. Some of them are excellent. Others hmm! In one region someone has put a footbridge across the public road. At ground level. But its got handrails on it. Great for them when crossing the road but gee! lol. Anyone moving along the road then doink! Another region there is a plaza built across the road with a great big fountain in the middle of where the road once was. arg! Some people have got no idea.

But thats not you =)

What you could do is volunteer your services to the Public Works Department and take responsibility for the public right-of-ways in your part of the grid. And having build privileges you could really beautify the canals by planting trees and bushes along the banks and a footpath or bike trail too if you wanted. I have seen a number of regions now where residents have taken on this responsibility and have really excelled.

I'm assuming the bridge goes from Clonmel to Liome. During the nine months I owned Liome I never saw a boater using the canal. I think what you have done is fine and won't bother anyone.

Check out Highcastle(80,136), my last piece of property in SL. Just down the Linden Road it is next to, a collection of real jerks has put an entire wall, way high, virtually across the road, blocking the use of the road for many if not most vehicles. AR'd to LL, but they've done nothing at all. I realize that there must be a lot of AR's, but after a few weeks, I'm guessing they filed this one in the circular file. Too bad. I don't really care (I only visit when one of my garage sale items is sold to add another), but it could ruin the experience for others. LL seems to have given up the effort on this stuff.

For what it's worth, I just checked out the bridge and it *does* impede traffic. A small sailboat such as a Flying Tako fits under the bridge with a metre or two to spare, maybe, but larger sailboats haven't a hope. My Trudeau Friendship sloop can't quite sqeeze under the bridge... and heaven help the Larinda schooner or Tradewind tallship that attempts it! Of course, it's not an optimum spot to sail a tall ship anyway due to being so narrow a channel surrounded by a build that goes right up to the boundary. But my little Friendship sloop would be able to handle it just fine if it weren't for that bridge.

If you want to be sure that you won't block water navigation, I'd suggest you make the bridge quite a lot higher above the water - twice as high, maybe?. That would allow sailboats bigger than a Tako through.

One thing though: You can turn on Phantom mode in Trudeau boats and sail right through bridges.

How about a lifting section. with a graphic on both sides to click for opening?

or

To minimise possibility of complaint, have the lifting section open by default, and closing only when someone want to cross the bridge.

kool =)

Hi Ray

You weren't looking at the right time.

I used to live in Liome folks, and that canal is not a good place to get into. Best navigated at low speed motor on if you have a Trudeau. The winds between the two sims generally result in a no win situation for sails.

And yes, phantom mode makes all bridges passable.

I like the draw bridge idea. Win win for everyone. Use a volume detection prim and rotate the center section up on collision.

Yes I like drawbridges. I already made a working drawbridge for people who are in the canal and want to turn into the Liome Harbor. I originally tried it for these protected waterway bridges too, but was having enough trouble overcoming the sim-crossing issue. I was unable to drive over the bridges when closed without falling through into the canal. But it sounds like it's possible to design for both problems, especially with the Havok 4 abilities the Ceera mentioned.

We were looking for scripts that could be used to build our own across a chanel,
but then I came across this little prebuilt beauty that fit right in with our build.
It's a swing bridge. =]

Very nice, Dallas!

Did they have it in an urban style too? I'll try to get with you in-world to find where to try it out.

Hi Avion, I'm not sure if there were any other models but it is copy/mod.
If you'd like to take a look at it, you can check it out here:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hubunny/210/144/21 all are welcome ;]

I found it on slx, http://slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=355833

-Dallas