What's new in these pages?

This page reports on the evolution of this collection of pages as it occurs, both for the sake of those who like to follow such things and to help us remember what was done and when. The changes are reported in reverse order, with the latest (the "news item") at the top. Dates of entries show when pages were installed on the Web server, which is not always the same as their internal dates of revision. Revisions to the list of non-carillon things will not be reported, nor will minor (cosmetic) editorial fixes (though the revision dates of such files will change).

2010/02/20 - Revised 15 site data pages and added 22 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Supplied two missing indexes for Central and South American chimes, with back-links from all 15 related site data pages.

Revised the regional index overview for Germany to explain how the designations BRD and DDR are used here.

2010/02/05 - Provided a separate set of index pages for all tower bell instruments in Germany, moving all existing entries for posted site data pages to those pages from the existing set for all tower bell instruments in Europe.

2010/02/04 - Provided regional locator maps for France, for traditional carillons and for all instruments.
Provided regional locator maps for Germany, for traditional carillons and for all instruments.
Provided a regional locator map for Italy (for all instruments).
Revised maps of adjacent countries to link the new maps.
Both sets of regional locator maps for the world (traditional carillons and all instruments) are now complete with respect to site data pages which have been posted.

Revised the "Direction" note block which follows (and floats in this page):

"To travel far, you must choose a direction"
William F. Woo, "Letters from the Editor" (chapter title)

The direction in which this Data section of the GCNA Website is traveling can be seen in the worklist which is set out below. In roughly prioritized order, this shows the major tasks which the author has set himself, and which are intended to result in future news items on this page.

Post to the site data pages all additions and changes reported by correspondents; incorporating links to Bing Maps' bird's eye views when available.
Finish replacing broken map links for North American chimes.
Find and fix obsolete links to the Global Gazetteer.
Look for Bing Maps bird's eye views for non-traditional carillons and chimes in North America, for chimes in the British Isles, and for all instruments in the rest of the world.
Finish adding site data pages for Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
Finish adding site data pages (and add index pages) for France.
Add numerous entries to the lists of great bells for Germany and other continental European countries, with locator maps.
Finish adding site data pages (and add index pages) for rings in Australia and New Zealand.
Extend the Google site locator map capabilities to show nearby sites upon request.
Add site data pages (and index pages) for chimes in Italy.
Add locator map links to those site data pages which do not have them (primarily those which were last updated before 2006; almost all are North American chimes).
Actively hunt for information to resolve various "unknown" statuses (foundry, year, weight, number, keyboard range, etc.).

The words "roughly prioritized" indicate that work on many of these tasks may be going on simultaneously, so that particular sub-tasks may be completed in a different sequence. There will also be changes from time to time that have no apparent connection to any of these major tasks. Furthermore, there will be no explicit description of revisions to this task list, nor any record of prior revisions, though it will move up on this page whenever such a revision occurs.
NOTE: This task list is independent of the author's work in maintaining the top level of the GCNA Website (home page plus everything that is not in this Data section), which takes precedence.

/signed/ Carl Scott Zimmerman, database owner

2010/02/03 - Provided a regional locator map for Finland (for all instruments).
Provided a regional locator map for Portugal (for all instruments).
Revised regional locator map for Europe (for all instruments) to include all sites in countries for which single-country regional locator maps are not provided. Revised some single-country regional locator maps to add links to the corresponding maps for adjacent countries.

2010/02/02 - Provided regional locator maps for Belgium, for traditional carillons and for all instruments.
Provided regional locator maps for the Netherlands, for traditional carillons and for all instruments.
All four maps are incomplete, since not all site data pages have been posted for these two countries.

Provided a regional locator map for Spain, for all instruments.
Provided a regional locator map for Switzerland, for all instruments.

Provided missing link for the existing regional locator map for all instruments in Denmark.

2010/01/25 - Revised 7 site data pages and added 6 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Replaced the regional locator map of Groningen province with a regional locator map of all Netherlands traditional carillons for which site data pages have been posted.
Added a regional locator map of all Netherlands instruments for which site data pages have been posted.

2010/01/23 - Removed the site data page for the Loughborough mobile chime, which was dismantled in 2008; added corresponding section to the British Isles sites that are no more; revised affected indexes accordingly.

Revised indexing of mobile instruments worldwide.

2010/01/22 - Revised additional indexes affected by yesterday's update.

Finished clustering improvements on the British Isles regional locator map (see 01/21 below).

2010/01/21 - Revised 18 site data pages and added 6 (see list or map); revised some affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Added links for British Carillon Society Webpages to all 15 site data pages for traditional carillons in the British Isles. Added links for Bing Maps bird's eye views to most of those pages as well as most of the pages for non-traditional carillons in the British Isles. (The remaining instruments do not have Bing Maps bird's eye views available now.)

Added regional locator map for the British Isles (all instruments), though clustering improvements remain to be completed.

2010/01/19 - Revised 24 site data pages (see list or map); revised affected regional locator maps accordingly. (Indexes were unaffected.)

Added links for Bing Maps bird's eye views to approximately 165 site data pages for traditional carillons in North America, as well as to those for a few other sites in the same cities. The remaining carillons (about 15) do not have Bing Maps bird's eye views available now.

Converted numerous "geocities.com" Weblinks (all obsoleted by the shutdown of Geocities last October) to "reocities.com" - with thanks to the rescuer.

2010/01/08 - Revised 23 site data pages (see list or map); revised affected regional locator maps accordingly. (Indexes were unaffected.)

Provided a page of usage hints for Bing Maps, covering the uses we make of them.

Revised the regional map system to handle composite instruments (e.g., a ring embedded in or overlapped with a chime).

2010/01/04 - Revised almost all site data pages for North American rings to add Bing Maps bird's eye view (when available), to follow the new standard method of presenting contact information for rings, and to add links to corresponding pages on the NAGCR Website.

Revised the page which describes standard format of site data pages, primarily to describe the new standard method of presenting ringers' contact information.

Revised the main page of Map Use Hints as well as the regional maps help popup.

2010/01/02 - Revised 83 site data pages and added 6 (see list or map); deleted the site data page for a chime in Fredericksburg VA after uncovering evidence that it must have been based upon an erroneous report; revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.
This update package is the second installment of replacements of broken locator maps links dating from from the shutdown of MapBlast by Microsoft (see Map Service History for July 2002) and the radical change in MapsOnUs by Switchboard (see August 2005 on the same page). The first such installment was done 2009/12/12; approximately 140 further repairs remain to be done.
This package also contains the first links to Microsoft's new Bing Maps service, utilizing the "bird's eye" aerial perspective views which are available for some cities and towns in several countries. Pages without Bing Maps links reflect the fact that no bird's eye view of the place was available at the time the page was updated.

Revised the Map Use Hints page to cover Bing Maps.

Split 2007 news into the separate history file referenced below, to save space here.

2009/12/16 - Deleted the site data pages for the Michigan Avenue Baptist Church in Chicago (IL) and for First Congregational Church in Braintree (MA), and added a paragraph about each to the page of sites that are no more.

2009/12/15 - Fixed cross-reference number errors in the lists of great bells of Germany and great bells of Europe by country.

2009/12/12 - Revised 162 site data pages, removed one and added 3 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.
(The 16-note chime at St.Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, NC, was found to be composed of tubular bells; it is correctly described by a page at TowerBells.org. The duplication between the two databases went undetected for years because the name of the church changed between the time when the Deagan chime was installed and the time when Verdin replaced the chime mechanism with one of their own, which typically had been used with conventional bells.)

2009/10/22 - Revised the Taylor bellfoundry index page to reflect the recent change in name, ownership and management.

2009/10/17 - Added a new page presenting an analysis of Meneely/Troy bell production over the course of the foundry's 80-year history, with four graphical figures.

2009/10/12 - Revised the description of the location of Hanks Hill in the Hanks-Niles foundry historical notes.

Revised the histories of both Meneely bellfoundries to emphasize that there was never any business relationship between them.

Replaced 1266 site data pages to provide more efficient links to MapQuest maps.

2009/09/07 - Added links for all new regional locator maps to appropriate regional index pages.

2009/09/03 - Added regional locator maps for Russia (XMRU), Norway (XMNO) and Sweden (XMSE).

2009/08/30 - Fixed regional locator map for Europe traditional carillons. Added regional locator map for Austria (XMAT).

2009/08/26 - Added regional locator map for the United Kingdom (XMUK).

2009/08/24 - Added regional locator map for Ireland (XMIE).

2009/08/17 - Revised 9 site data pages and added 7 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Revised the milestones of North American chime history upon determining the probable resolution of the mystery surrounding the Vanduzen chime exhibited at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

2009/08/12 - Added entries to almost all pages about great bells, based on the work of Alan Blair.

2009/08/03 - Added details for Korea to the Asia & Pacific Rim regional locator map), along with a subordinate map for Japan. This regional map is now complete.

2009/08/02 - Added one new site data page for the latest ring in Africa; revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Added locator maps to those rings in Africa which did not have them, and expanded the regional locator map of all instruments on this continent to include the four 6-bell rings.

2009/07/28 - Revised 7 site data pages (see list or map).

Added some details to the Asia & Pacific Rim regional locator map), including subordinate maps for Australia and New Zealand.

2009/07/25 - Revised 17 site data pages (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Added a regional locator map for all types of instruments in Africa and the Mideast.

2009/07/19 - Revised 41 site data pages (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Revised the page of other great bells in North America to expand the description of the Wanamaker bell.

2009/07/13 - Added all missing chimes to the regional locator maps for states in the USA and provinces in Canada, though many are not yet mapped accurately. Revised the Regional Map Help page to describe what happens when these places are sought.

Revised the Search page to show that since the redesign of the topmost section of this Website there is no change log page for that section corresponding to the one which you are now reading.

2009/06/18 - Revised 32 site data pages and added 1 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

2009/06/08 - Revised 26 site data pages and added 15 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Added details on the fate of the vanished chime of Normal, IL.

2009/05/04-09 - Provided regional locator maps for the remaining states in the USA and provinces in Canada, for all types of instruments (though many chimes are not yet mapped).

2009/05/01 - Provided workable locator map links for all sites in Central and South America which did not have them; provided an all-sites locator map for this region. Provided a standard index which had been missing from this region, and supplied back-links for all related site data pages. Renamed four index pages for this region for consistency.

Added state/province locator maps for Quebec and New York.

2009/04/29 - Added a lost chime to the McShane foundry index and the list of North American sites that are no more.

Revised and expanded the lists of great bells in Asia and the Pacific Rim - both Western profile and Oriental profile.

2009/04/27 - Fixed or supplied links for 9 pages.

2009/04/26 - Revised 28 site data pages and added 11 (see list or map); deleted site data page for chime reported at Christ Church, Peterborough, Ontario, which does not exist; revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Corrected/added link from data top page to worldwide locator maps. The existing single link, for all instruments, was mis-labelled as being for traditional carillons; now there are correctly labelled links to both maps.

Added regional locator maps for Ontario chimes) and all Ontario instruments);

2009/04/11 - Revised 37 site data pages and added 9 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Replaced a site data page with an entry in the list of sites that are no more; revised affected indexes accordingly.

Removed site data pages for Brandon and St.Petersburg (both in Florida), along with associated index references, after inspections revealed that these reported chimes are actually sets of bell shells.

Revised regional locator maps to use different colors (and sizes) of map-tack icons to represent different types of tower bell instruments.

2009/01/12 - Revised the descriptive material in the chimola index, including a link to similar information elsewhere.

2009/01/11 - Replaced a site data page with an entry in the list of sites that are no more; revised affected indexes accordingly.

2009/01/04 - Revised almost all foundry indexes to reflect that sites are listed in order by year of casting, which may be different from the year of installation. (It will certainly be different for relocated bells.)

2008/12/30 - Revised 69 site data pages and added 20 (see list); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Added two great bells to the McShane foundry index and to the list of North American great bells which are not in carillons.

Added a previously unknown McShane chime to the list of sites that are no more.

Added an entry to the list of North American great bells.

2008/10/05 - Revised the page about maintenance of the Website to include more information about the database and the program which processes it.

2008/10/01 - Revised 9 site data pages and added 4 (see list); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

2008/08/31 - Revised 21 site data pages and added 4 (see list); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

Revised the index of rings by year to reflect the completed installation in Seattle.

Fixed foundry indexing for St.Mary's of Redford, Detroit, MI.

2008/07/09 - Revised 3 site data pages and added 1 (see list); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly.

2008/07/01 - Revised 3 site data pages for zvons (see list); revised affected indexes and great bell lists accordingly. This change includes the replacement and repatriation of the Harvard University zvon, as the old bells return to their original home at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow.

2008/06/29 - Added world locator map link to the Site data top page.

2008/06/26 - Added live data for most of Europe to the regional locator map, which now be reached directly from the indexes to traditional carillons in Europe, as well as from the world map added yesterday.

Added a regional locator map for Denmark, which be reached most easily from the indexes to traditional carillons in Denmark, as well as from the Europe map updated today.

Fixed a bug in the Decluster/Recluster functions of the Regional Locator Map page.

2008/06/25 - Added a worldwide locator map to tie together the regional locator maps which have been produced for traditional carillons. It can be reached from the North American regional locator map for traditional carillons, which now has an alternate access point from the Site data top page. Revised the text of the Help which is available on regional locator maps to explain new map features.

2008/06/24 - Revised 26 site data pages (see list); no indexes were affected.

Revised some "GB" indexes to clarify the circumstances under which a few rings in the British Isles may be listed.

Revised the "Direction" note block which floats in this page.

2008/06/21 - Removed useless MultiMap locator map links from 65 sites in the British Isles.

2008/06/20 - Added a special regional locator map to the indexes to traditional carillons in the Netherlands, for the province of Groningen only, in support of the WCF Congress which will meet there in July 2008.

2008/06/19 - Revised the regional locator map base page to give the visitor control over whether or not clustering of close-together icons is shown; revised the associated Help popup accordingly. Revised the data files which are used for the existing regional locator maps to add clustering information for North America (3 maps), for Central & South America, and for the British Isles (including Ireland). All regional locator maps added in the future will contain clustering information from the start.

2008/06/18 - Revised the Map Use Hints to reflect progress in recovering from various catastrophes of the past three years.

Improved the text of the Help which is available on regional locator maps.

Fixed broken links in 33 files.

2008/06/05 - Revised 4 site data pages (see list); no indexes were affected.

Added a new regional locator map for carillons in Asia and the Pacific Rim, normally found on the page which lists all indexes to such carillons.

Revised the regional locator map facility to add a Help popup option, and to enable clustering of close-together icons for better visibility and easier access. Clustering is initially visible only on the new Asia/Pacific map (see above) and the regional locator map for North American rings, since those are the "smallest" of the existing maps for which clustering is useful. The data files for the other existing regional locator maps will soon be revised to provide clustering in a similar manner.

2008/05/30-31 - Revised 16 site data pages and added 3 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly.

Microsoft does it again! Following Microsoft's purchase of UK-based MultiMap, the MultiMap Website has been totally redesigned, breaking all existing locator map links for that service. Since the redesign also removed all of the features which we found especially useful, we will be removing MultiMap locator links from all UK site data pages.

Revised the map service history page and the map usage hints page to reflect this change.

Revised several British Isles index pages to distinguish Ireland from the UK as clearly as was already done in most of the rest of such pages. Revised the data top page (sitemap) to show more clearly the organization of the various geographic indexes for countries in Europe.

Revised all country index pages for Europe to reference the countries which are located on the British Isles as well as those which are located on the mainland, so that the regional indexes for the geographic area of the British Isles do not impose a prejudice against the Republic of Ireland (Eire).

Corrected a systematic link error in all Netherlands site data pages.

2008/05/20 - Moved all entries for sites in the Netherlands from the European indexes into a new set of indexes for the Netherlands; revised the data top page (sitemap) accordingly.

Revised 10 site data pages and added 32 (see list); revised affected indexes and regional locator maps accordingly. This more than doubles the number of instruments listed in the Netherlands, and includes all of the heaviest carillons there as well as all those which will be visited in the course of the World Carillon Federation Congress in July. (Of course, many more remain to be added.)

Revised the main great bells page and its subordinate pages for continental Europe and Germany, including the addition of 13 great bells which are basses in carillons of the Netherlands.

Revised the locator map page to support initial zoom to closer levels when they are available.

2008/05/19 - Added a new Regional locator map for carillons in the British Isles, normally found on the page which lists all indexes to such carillons.

Added Weblinks for the various national carillon societies (i.e., the member societies of the World Carillon Federation) to the appropriate carillon index list pages. While these are all available from a single source page on the WCF Website, this makes it easy to find the particular one which is comparable to a given section of these site data pages. For those regions or countries which have carillons but do not fall under the purview of any WCF member society, an appropriate remark to that effect now appears on the corresponding carillon index list page.

Removed the RSS feed added on 03/12 (see below) after examination of Weblogs led to the conclusion that it's a failed experiment.

2008/05/03 - Revised all site data pages for present and former North American rings to include a link to the index by year of completion (some were also updated for other reasons as well); added a hand-made site data page for the only mini-ring in North America, and revised affected indexes accordingly.

Revised 2 other site data pages (see list)

2008/04/26 - Revised 11 site data pages, including one degrade (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly.

Added a new Regional locator map for carillons in Africa and the Mideast, normally found on the page which lists all indexes to such carillons.
Added a new Regional locator map for non-traditional carillons in North America, normally found on the page which lists all indexes to such instruments.

2008/04/24 - Added a new Regional locator map for North American rings, normally found on the page which lists all indexes to such rings. Added a new Regional locator map for Central & South American carillons, normally found on the page which lists all indexes to such carillons. These locator maps as well as the one added 04/21 (see below) now include the city name in the drop-down menu of places mapped.

2008/04/22 - Relocated the carillon of East Northfield MA to Mount Hermon MA; revised affected indexes accordingly. The reinstallation in its new tower is occurring even as this is being written. It remains categorized and indexed as a traditional carillon, though it has not been confirmed that the original playing mechanism has been retained in the new installation.

Revised the page which lists all indexes to traditional carillons for better recognition of the new regional locator map (see yesterday's entry, below).

2008/04/21 - Added a new Regional locator map for North American traditional carillons, normally found on the page which lists all indexes to such carillons.

2008/04/18 - Revised 21 site data pages and added 2 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly. Thanks to the Verdin Company for providing dates for several Petit & Fritsen installations.

Revised the Map Use Hints to reflect the current status of the ongoing project to replace broken locator map links.

2008/04/09 - Revised 65 site data pages and added 2 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly. This completes the process of replacing broken MapBlast! locator map links (see revised map service history).

2008/04/05 - Replaced the site data page for Georgetown, Guyana, about the only Meneely/Watervliet chime in South America, with a paragraph about its destruction; revised affected indexes accordingly.

2008/04/03 - Added a paragraph about a newly-identified lost carillon.

Revised the index of traveling carillons and chimes in the world with the correct date of construction of the Mobile Millenium Carillon.

2008/03/31 - Revised 13 site data pages and added 30 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly.
The Gillett & Johnston foundry index now lists all their carillons; added a descriptive link to the new book about the foundry history.

Added new index of all traveling carillons and chimes in the world, with back-links from both new and existing site data pages.

Corrected the weight shown for the Brewster tenor.

Added year index links to site data pages for traditional carillons of Asia and the Pacific Rim; the index already existed.

Added a shared Weblink to the pages for Leuven (STP) and Barcelona (Palace).

2008/03/12 - Revised 5 site data pages and added 3 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly.

Reorganized the directory of European indexes to show more clearly which countries or areas are individually indexed; moved all entries for sites in Belgium from the European indexes into a new set of indexes for Belgium; revised the data top page accordingly.

Added Weblinks for most sites in Belgium. Regenerated most of the recently-added pages for Belgium because of formatting improvements in the page-generating program.

Revised the index of European sites by city to be a combined index for all countries regardless of whether they are individually or collectively indexed in other respects.

Added entries to the European page of sites that are no more.

Revised the main great bells page with links for Cuzco; revised its subordinate pages for continental Europe, moving Belgium to a separate page (with more entries added).

Added an RSS feed for access to this page.

2008/03/04 - Revised 8 site data pages and added 2 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly.

Revised the main great bells page and its subordinate pages for continental Europe and Germany.

2008/02/26 - Reorganized the pages of great bells of Europe to provide a table of bells of all countries (excepting Russia and the British Isles) in order by weight, with abbreviated identifications. The entries of this table are linked to individual detailed descriptions in a list of great bells by country plus a separate page for the great bells of Germany. (It is highly probable that a few other countries will eventually be split out into separate pages in the same manner.) The main Great Bells page was revised accordingly.

Added 17 site data pages for Belgium; revised affected indexes accordingly, with the addition of a new foundry index page for Vanden Gheyn. Countrywise, these pages are temporarily indexed with Europe as a whole; but eventually Belgium will have a separate set of index pages.

Revised the Side Note for the Rincker foundry index.

Revised the site data page for Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik, Iceland.

2008/02/19 - Revised 43 site data pages and added 1 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly.

Expanded the description of the defunct chime of Abberley Hall based on information supplied by Chris Pickford.

Revised the milestone for Nashua & Oakland chimes.

Significantly revised the Website maintenance description page, partly to reflect how the change in Webmaster which took effect some time ago has affected the maintenance process.

2008/01/10 - Improved indexing of all 31 site data pages in Africa and the Mideast; added locator maps to 23 of them, completing this smallest section of one task from the "Directions".

2008/01/08 - Revised 8 site data pages and added 1 (see list); revised affected indexes accordingly.

2008/01/02 - Added link for Italy to the world summary by type.

Added the green "Direction" note block which appears above.

Prior years' news has been moved into the following separate files to save space here.

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This page was created 1996/12/12 and last revised on the topmost date above.

Please send comments or questions to csz_stl@swbell.net